church wedding songs and hymns (part 3)

If you're just arriving, this is the fourth in a series of posts on music for

Irish wedding ceremonies

You might like to start at the beginning and read previous posts about one of the most popular irish wedding song  choices and follow up with a post detailing the format of the wedding ceremony and the places within the ceremony where you can include music (church wedding songs and hymns part 1) .
Part 2 in the series gives examples of instrumental music you can use for the brides entrance to the church.

Church wedding songs and hymns (part 2)

This is the third in my series of posts about the inclusion of music in your irish wedding ceremonies.
The first post covering the importance of music in your church ceremony can be found in Church wedding songs and hymns (Intro). The second in the series entitled church wedding songs and hymns (part 1) gives information on the format of an Irish wedding ceremony and the places within the ceremony where you can include music.

This post covers music choices for the first part of the marriage ceremony, the introductory rites.
Usually the brides entrance is accompanied by music rather than singing, at this stage all eyes will be turned towards the bride and we don't want anyone distracted by a beautiful singing voice.

Photo courtesy of in Pastel

Church wedding songs and hymns (part 1)

Before we talk about your choice of wedding songs and hymns for your church wedding it is important that we are actually aware of where exactly we can include music in our church wedding ceremony. A sample format of Irish church wedding ceremonies is listed below. All highlighted points represent areas where you can include music and wedding songs and hymns in your wedding ceremony. If you want to include a few Irish customs in your wedding refer to my previous post on  Irish wedding traditions and you might like to read church wedding songs and hymns (Intro).

Irish wedding traditions

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and a sixpence in your shoe.

Irish culture is steeped in tradition:

Traditionally, the Irish bride wore a blue dress, the colour symbloising purity.

The Magic Hankie was carried by the bride on her wedding day then stitched into a bonnet for the first born baby's Christening day.

A tier of the wedding cake was also kept for the first born baby's christening.

Candle ceremony
I love the role that candles play in the Irish wedding ceremony...it's such a beautiful, romantic and symbolic element of the wedding.

Image from wedding candles Ireland