Monday 3 September 2012

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).


Format for Irish church wedding:
Introductory rites
Brides entrance - also called processional,entrance Antiphon, lighting of your individual candles, penitential rite, the Gloria, opening prayer.

Liturgy of the word
First reading, responsorial Psalm, second reading, Alleluia/gospel acclaimation, gospel, homily.

The marraige sacrament
Declaration of consent, blessing of the rings, exchange of the rings, exchange of gifts
unity candle ceremony, prayer of the newly married couple, prayers of the faithful.

Liturgy of the Eucharist
Offertory procession, liturgy of the eucharist, prayer over the gifts, the Eucharistic prayer
the Lords Prayer, nuptial blessing, prayer for peace and sign of peace ,Communion, prayer after communion.

Concluding rite
Final prayer, signing of register,recessional - walking down the aisle as husband and wife

I am going to break down each area of the mass and address your wedding music, songs and hymns in each area in future posts.

In the meantime, I love this version of Pei Jesu (perfect song choice for communion) as sung by Charlotte Church.

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