ceremony | OneWed

Wedding Ceremony Musical Cues

OneWed — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:31:28 -0500

HITCHED WITHOUT A GLITCH: WEDDING CEREMONY MUSICAL CUES
Specal to OneWed from Marissa Latshaw of GigMasters.com

As your walk down the aisle approaches, you imagine every last detail falling into place. After all, you’ve worked hard to bring endless moving parts into sync and make choices that reflect you and your fiancé’s personalities, interests and love for one another. For this dream day’s soundtrack you’ve hired the perfect musician(s) and chosen ideal music. But how do they know when to start and when to stop? When to play what? Defining musical cues is essential for a seamless ceremony.

GigMasters has a massive roster of top-notch wedding musicians and we asked them how musical cues are best defined. Here are some of their insider tips.

• Prior to the wedding date you should outline the ceremony with your officiant and convey that information to the musician(s).
• A written sequence of events, estimated durations and accompanying music is tremendously helpful to officiants and musicians alike.
• There should be a point person like a site coordinator or wedding planner to give visual cues to signal the start of the ceremony and any musical changes in the course of the processional. One musician swears by a system where the designated person holds up cards to signal mothers with a big magic marker M, attendants with a big A, and the bride with a big B.
• At the rehearsal make sure that the musical talent has a good line of sight to the person giving cues. Otherwise all of your careful planning could be out the window!
• When the musician(s) know the exact wording that the officiant will use to present the couple at the close of the ceremony it provides a concrete musical cue for the recessional. Some oldies but goodies include “I now pronounce you husband and wife,” and “you may now kiss the bride.”

Ceremony music is a huge part of your wedding for you and your guests. Done correctly, musical cues and transitions will seem like an effortless and organic ceremony component. Talk to your musician(s), give them any and all information you think might be helpful, and ask them to share their tried and true strategies. With a little careful planning your ceremony and its music will come together in perfect harmony. Good luck and have fun!

For more tips on wedding music without a hitch, check out these articles:
• Taking the Guesswork Out of Ceremony Music and Cues
• How Will Your Wedding Sound?
• The Singer Is Wearing THAT?...and Other Avoidable Wedding Day Surprises

Marissa is the VP of Marketing at GigMasters.com, the #1 event entertainment booking service. Over 30,000 couples have found and booked their wedding entertainment on the site, tapping into the Internet’s largest database of client-rated performers. With 7,000+ nationwide acts, you can find everything from live bands to classical ensembles, party DJs to balloon twisters…and that’s just the beginning. Marissa and the GigMasters team are dedicated to helping people book the perfect entertainment for their most special events.

Ask the Experts: Wedding Programs

Marta — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:36:18 -0500

Ask the Experts is a weekly column that lets you tap into a panel of wedding professionals to get expert opinions on all your wedding questions.

If you have a question for the panel write asktheexperts@onewed.com.

Dear Ask the Experts
My fiancé and I are trying to decide whether or not to have wedding programs. Are wedding programs important? Are they necessary? What are some good ideas for making them personal, but not over-spending on them?

Thanks

From Brandi of All Events Planned
Programs are a decorative way to inform your guests of what is going on during your service. If you are not interested in the additional cost of programs then you should definitely skip them, except in certain circumstances.

If you are having a formal ceremony that will last an extended period, you should give guests a program. This way they are able to follow along with each section of the service. If you are following a religious or traditional ceremony and will want guests to be involved in prayers, kneeling or song, then have the programs available. This will allow guest from all religious backgrounds to understand what is happening in the service as well as to keep them involved in the traditions of your ceremony.

If there will be multiple guests from out of town or guests that will not be familiar with some, or all of your wedding party, then you certainly should have something available for them to know whom you have chosen for such places of honor. If you are having guests that may not speak the same language, then you will want programs printed in languages that are utilized by both sides of the family.

From Heidi of Three Graces Design
Wedding programs are helpful for your guests, especially if they are not familiar with your religious or cultural traditions. Beyond listing your scripture and music, the wedding program is also a means to share other information with your guests. Many couples choose to include a listing of the members of the bridal party and those involved in the service. Sections to remember loved ones, share words of thanks with the guests and provide your new address information can also be included in the wedding program.

Churches will often provide a standard wedding program at no additional cost to you. There are also DIY materials out there to work with. If you would like to leave it to the professionals, a custom designer can create your wedding program. For a wedding program that has one piece of paper with an embellishment (like a ribbon), our charges start at $2.00 per piece.

Brandi Hamerstone is the owner & senior wedding planner for All Events Planned. In her nine years of experience in the wedding industry, she has planned over 300 weddings.

Heidi Ruehle-May is the co-owner of Three Graces Design, a custom-design invitation business in Oak Park, Illinois, Heidi has years of experience in design and event planning.

Ask the Experts: How Much Time Do I Need Before and After the Ceremony?

Marta — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:06:58 -0400

Ask the Experts is your chance to get wedding advice from a panel of wedding experts. If you have a question for our panel write us at asktheexperts@onewed.com

We are getting married at a church and the church is having multiple weddings the same day. How much time do I need before the ceremony and after? I don't want to be too rushed, so if they can't give me enough time I may need to go somewhere else.

From Mark of Video Magic Productions
It is not uncommon for a church to have multiple weddings in a day, particularly if it's a highly attended or sought after ceremony location. Thus, you'll have to make the decision for yourselves, but here are some things to consider as you ponder the idea. To begin with, an ideal amount of time to have access in your church would be 60 minutes before the ceremony begins. This will provide ample time for the videographers to setup their equipment and the florist to prepare their displays. Additionally, if some pictures are desired at the church beforehand, you will need this extra time. Otherwise, you really don't need access to your church more than 30 minutes in advance. On the flip side of your nuptials, approximately 30-45 minutes is usually necessary to take pictures and get on your way. If this is the case and you're time is limited, make sure to advise your photographer of the most important shots that you'd like captured and make sure he/she can work fast if necessary. All in all, if you really love the location or it's your home church, don't let time constraints get in the way. Good luck!

From Brandi of All Events Planned
Here are some things to consider. Will you want to get ready at the church? If not, then will you be arriving completely ready to go or will you want time for prayer and celebration with your bridal party, as well as touch ups before you head down the aisle?

A huge chunk of time can be spent on the before/after shots of the family and bridal party at the church. Your photographer will have a good idea of how many photos he can fit into a certain amount of time. You will want to decide how many photos you want, who you want photos with and if you are going to be happy feeling “rushed” through sets of pictures on your wedding day.

Are you planning to release pews or have a receiving line to greet all of your guests? This could take as little as a half hour to as long as two to three hours depending on your guest count. A typical receiving line with 100 guests can take up to an hour, so plan accordingly. When releasing pews, it can take 25 minutes or more.

Consider what type of setup you wanted to have at the church for your ceremony and then who will be doing the cleanup. Will there be enough time for your florist to setup and then quickly tear down any décor before the next service?

If you truly have, your hearts set on this church and are willing to add another element of stress to your day (i.e. a tight ceremony schedule) then I would allow for at least one hour before and after the ceremony, absolutely no less.

Brandi Hamerstone is the owner & senior wedding planner for All Events Planned..In her nine years of experience in the wedding industry, she has planned over 300 weddings.

Mark Salloum is the owner of VideoMagic Productions based in Canton, MIchigan. He has traveled the country producing weddings for nearly 2 decades while earning countless awards for the quality and creativity of his cutting-edge wedding movies.

Doing your homework: Finding the right readings for your wedding

editor — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:31:32 -0400

Special feature by Chloe’ Yelena Miller, personalized wedding poet and wedding blogger.

Your wedding should reflect you and your love, not a generic love story. Your goal is to find something meaningful to share with each other and your guests.

Once you know you are getting married, keep an eye out for interesting ideas. They can come from anywhere: song lyrics, passages from novels, poems, quotes, or even bumper stickers.

A bride who was an art historian told me about a beautiful description of a painting that showed two lovers. She decided to use it as a reading because it represented their love.

Rasheea and Royce Hall integrated e-mails into their readings. They had been long-distance for a time before they got married. At their wedding, the best man and maid of honor read some of the e-mails from that period as if they were a conversation between the two of them. These informal, loving e-mails were also humorous and shared their relationship with their guests.

Rasheea writes, “I came up with the idea very randomly-- sort of like an 'A-ha moment'. I knew the traditional vows would not sufficiently set the tone for the type of ceremony we wanted -- I am very open -- so we both wanted to let people into our relationship in a very intimate way. I was organizing and clearing out papers when I found this binder I made for Royce of all of our early correspondence, and a light bulb just went off...”

I think you’ll enjoy this sample as much as I did:

Rasheea to Royce: "Sometimes I get so overwhelmed with these emotions that I have for you - I can truly say I have never felt this way about anyone else. I so believe that God sent you specifically to me as a gift, even as a way for me to feel less alone. Royce, I love you sooo much. To be honest, I already feel like we are a family together...

As I write this my eyes burn with tears welling up in them. I love you so much and as Kelly Price sings, 'There are many things about tomorrow that I do not seem to understand, but I know who holds tomorrow and I know who holds my hand, and I know SHE ;-) will hold us together.' We are soul mates, Royce!"

Royce's reply: "Hey, just wanted to apologize officially for forwarding your email. I was just really excited about it, and wanted to share with my good friends. It should just show you the way I feel about you...

The important thing is that in 5 days, you will be here with me. And we will never, ever have to do the long-distance thing again... Only 5 days till I have you in my arms. And, only 5 days until we start our life together. Life can be a wild ride, but I'm glad that I have you in the passenger's seat. I love you. I welcome you into my family and I welcome you into my heart."

What a great idea! Mull over things you’ve done together (such as trips, holidays, birthdays, or books you read) and consider how aspects of them might fit into the ceremony.

You may decide to use the readings to make a political statement at your wedding. Bride Bethany Albertson decided to choose a political passage for her wedding and she blogged about it.

Your creativity might need a jump start. I wrote about finding the right poem for your wedding on my blog here. There are a few good resources you might enjoy too.

After you find your readings, the next step is to share them with your wedding party. Discuss who will read what and give them enough time to feel comfortable reading the work. (Don’t spring it on them the morning of the wedding!) You might even ask them for suggestions regarding other pieces to add.

Happy readings!