Catholic Church Wedding

Some churches give a lot of say to the music director, as you noted.

We were lucky we were able to use an alternate ensemble our church had. They asked for songs in advance so they could practice--could that be the case?

We are having Catholic wedding, not full mass, but yes only have list of 10 songs we can choose from for walking down aisle, songs during ceremony and then leaving church

That is why I am not doing a catholic service. They said no secular music or readings. I said goodbye

Aw man michelle d, that's too bad. Our priest was ok with most anything (love him). We had "All I Ask of You" as our recessional.

I'm surprised you need to know a year out !! But many Catholic Churches do require church approval for songs that are not "church songs" such as canon in d and trumpet voluntary .

I think they need to know in advance to practice! I'm very involved in my church, so I'm not sure if this is the reason but our priest let us choose what we wanted.

Can you ditch the organist all together and just play from an iPod? I'm not sure if that's tacky or not lol but I'm not going to pay for someone who isn't doing anything half the time and I just need a song to walk in and walk out.

Same deal in the Anglican chapel at the college i went to! i would've got free use of the chapel and college grounds if we'd used it as a venue, but their organist had final say on everything and there was no secular music allowed. womp womp.

Our Catholic Church gave us a list to choose from. It probably has to do with owning the rights to the music, they can't just play any song. So maybe they don't own the sheet music, which you could offer to get? I'm not sure.

That's a shame Lauren. Our organist/church music director did have final say in the music we used, but we certainly didn't need to have our music chosen a year in advance, that seems a bit excessive.

Yeah.. They get final call and say on what they play. Started thinking about doing a catholic wedding but decided against it, from alllll the church asks/requires.... Like my FH has to be baptized in the Church before having the wedding, (which can take a year with classes), but he's catholic, but his church is in a different state.. wtf are these rules.. a "parenting class" to teach you when to have sex to make babies, like uh. We have one kid already, I don't think we need help in that area... Just dumb stupid requirements, don't even get me started on what dress you can wear. The priest needs to approve it before the wedding...

The Liturgical Director is responsible to ensure all music is prayerful in nature since the mass is celebrated by not only the couple, but the congregation as a whole. They usually have a list of approved songs that you can choose from and you'll most likely not find any secular songs on that list . Will your family be singing every musical part of the mass such as the processional, recessional, and Psalm as well? If not, the organist will be playing those parts. I do think having to have those items set in stone a year out is odd, but at least they're on the ball

Yes - FH's family will be singing/playing everything and we HAVE to pay the organist regardless if we use her so it's a bummer that she has final say (and boy is she strict) because we aren't using her at all. She has even said that she will be attending the wedding to be sure we don't go against her wishes last minute. But I'm happy to see that it's pretty much standard in the fact that someone DOES approve the music when we choose it. We just may have offended her by letting her know we are bringing in someone else to play the music and that is why she is being so strict. Thank you all!

What is the song?

A lot of churches only allow religious and/or classical music

There is a website (for your marriage) that explains a lot of the typical restrictions and why

For example we weren't allowed to use the bridal March

I just picked out our music for our Catholic wedding mass last weekend & I LOVE LOVE LOVE every single one of them. the prelude music is absolutely beautiful & I am walking down too Cannon D with my dad. the mass is the part I am MOST looking forward to because of all the significance.

@Liz I'm so glad we are having a catholic mass too! We got a big book of all our options so we know exactly what we can and can't choose. They made it pretty easy for us

So I am having a Catholic priest officiate my wedding and he did give us a packet of information about weddings. One item in the packet mentioned using traditional ceremony music. My priest said that because we are marrying outside of the church, he just asks that we are respectful of the type of music being played at the ceremony. Normally there are strict guidelines if your ceremony is in the church.

Thank God, I didn't have any problem with mine. My organist is even learning 3 songs I chose (after it was approved by our Parish priest) . Our parish assigned a wedding church coordinator for us, who also acts as a go between for the music ministry. If you have one, discuss with her/him your concerns.

@jenny Catholic Churches normally doesn't allow iPods/karaoke as they are considered artificial music.

Most of the time, it isn't the organist who has the final say; its the priest. Most of the time, the organist knows what is acceptable and what isn't. The catholic church is very strict on what is allowed and what isn't.

Ask for a list of acceptable songs and pick from those. Don't scroll through your playlist and pick songs that way.

My best friend's husband is a Catholic church music director/organist and my friend is a cantor, plus I have a few friends who are music directors. The issue is all music is supposed to be liturgical, music is an extension of prayer. Most churches are ok with classical instrumental music for professionals and recessionals, popular music, even instrumental, is not really ok. But other music must be liturgical. There is a whole lot of variation in this because some priests are a little loose with the rules (or totally discard them.) I also recently read on my diocese website that under no circumstances can recorded music be used. I'm guessing the organist wants to make sure you are on the right track with musical choices.