1. Wedding Songs For Your Ceremony Background Music

When guests arrive for your wedding ceremony, they should be greeted by a beautiful setting, a comfortable atmosphere, and appropriate wedding background music. These songs are heard before the official start of the ceremony, which is usually keyed by the first processional, or the parents processional (which will be covered later here at Wedding Songs and Music Ideas). Of course, Metallica and the Black Eyed Peas are probably not what you want to play here, but that doesn't mean you have to use music that will put your guests to sleep!

A lot of people will go the classical route, playing string quartet or trio music from artists such as Bach, Brahams, and the like. Another typical route would be piano, guitar, or some other solo instrument playing the same. If this is what you have always dreamed of hearing before the start of your wedding, then go for it. Many couples use classical for their ceremony music or have that solo instrument playing classical. These are fine, but in today's wedding arena, people are spreading their wings and branching out!

I recently had a string quartet playing love song arrangements from the Beatles, Journey, and Dave Matthews. of course, they needed to get the sheet music for these songs, but they did so for free, as an investment for their group. There's also modern pianists, like Steve Siu, who recently put out his versions of contemporary songs from Toni Braxton, Josh Groban, and even Coldplay! There is an electric harpist named Hillary Stagg that has some great pre-ceremony music on CD or on iTunes. Another popular artist is Enya. I know, seems a little too early 90's but she's always putting out new stuff that works great for before the ceremony.

Finally, picking love songs, old or new, works well if kept at the appropriate level. Just about every artist on the planet has recorded a love song so it shouldn't be too hard to find the 5 to 10 artists that work for you. Give your list of 20 songs to your DJ or put them on a disc and you're ready to go.

The wedding songs you pick for before the ceremony should reflect your music ideas, style and taste. Don't be afraid to express yourself. It is, after all your wedding. Choose your wedding songs. Your music ideas. Be yourself and your guests will love you for that!