Wedding Tunes

I'm taking the plunge and getting hitched. We're looking for some good old time/traditional tunes to be played at the various moments during the ceremony when you would usually have music. So far I have a mandolinist and guitarist lined up, and hopefully a fiddle player will be joining them. Although "Here comes the Bride" is a classic, and could sound quite nice on a mando, we both want something a little different and more creative. My thought was "Lonesome Moonlight Waltz" for when the bride is walking in...any other suggestions?

We're more intersted in a nice melody, than an aptly titled song. Some of the best melodies have depressing titles!

My best friend is a classical guitarist and we spend a lot of time working on classical music. And since the mandolin is a classical instrument it is very suitable for playing at weddings. My friend and I played at my sister's wedding and we played all the traditional material (Bridal March, Wedding March, Pavane, Minuet in G, Bourree) plus some other material which included pieces from Cantabile: Duets for Mandolin and Guitar and some pieces we wrote together. So just get some material you would like and let the musicians go at it.

Some great pieces are Sonata #483, Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, The Quadro Pavin, and Bolero(good spanish feeling dance tune). All of these can be found in Cantabile.

The Buckhannon Brothers have a great one on thier "Little River Stomp" CD called "Cape Breton Wedding March." It sounds way more interesting than "Here Comes the Bride" and it is a very learnable and playable intermediate-level tune.

How about The Honeymoon Waltz? I found it in a book called Don Messer's Favourite Fiddle Tunes. It is written with a harmony part and I've recorded it with mandolin/fiddle, mandolin/mandolin, fiddle/mandolin. I did both mandolins and my friend Zeke did the fiddle.
My wife and I had Mari's Wedding played at our wedding and performed John's Waltz To The Miller, by Tony Trishka at my brother's wedding.

I went to a wedding this year where one of my friends played mandolin solo. He played Margaret's Waltz, which seemed to fit a wedding well. And just for fun he played You Can't Beat Your Wife On Sunday. He didn't include the words but all the pickers knew what it was. The mandolin player has his own old time band and his wife told us later that at their wedding they also played it but also sang the words. You have to have a sense of humor.

I'm playing "A Place in The Heart" tomorrow at my Niece's wedding. #It really is a beautiful and very playable #tune (with a suitable name for a wedding). #There is a beautiful example of Scott T.'s playing of it here on the site, as well a very nice tab transcription that includes the tasteful guitar part.

You can search for it and find it pretty easily at the Cafe (I'm not good at posting links yet). #Another I am playing is Chris Thile's "Kneel Before Him" #from his Stealing Second album. #It's quite nice as well. #Good luck!

I think waltzes and aires are nice for weddings.

Michael's Waltz
Sheebeg Sheemore
Amelia's Waltz
Lover's Waltz
Cabri Waltz

and since it has wedding in the title how about
Haste To The Wedding and Mari's Wedding?

#http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/...andosmiley.gif

My guitar player friend and I played at a wedding a while back and one of our more popular choices was " For me And my Gal ", plus it's a real fun tune to play.

I strongly second the vote for "A Place in the Heart". Scott shared this advice to play it at a wedding I was asked to play at..Even I got misty eyed while playing it..It's just beyond beautiful..
Angelfire

OH..one more that's beautiful is "Everybody Needs Someone" by the Cox Family..Another Tear jerker...
This one should be sung though...
Angelfire

I am playing a wedding in three weeks, both the ceremony and the reception. For the ceremony we are playing Pachelbels Cannon, Ode to Joy, Jesu Mans Desiring, Fur Eliz, Here Comes the Bride, and then the "there she goes" March. Then we go bluegrass ballistic for 3 hours. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/...andosmiley.gif

I just gigged a wedding (reception, not ceremony) and fiddled Star of the County Down slowly in Am. The couple had their "first dance" to it and it came out real nice.

Haste to the Wedding would be another jig that you could slow down a bit.

How bout Molly and Tenbrooks. "Run, ol' Molly, Run"

David M.
An Ontario guitar finger-picker named David Wilson recorded a slowed down version of Haste To The Wedding and called it Amble To The Wedding. He and Marie Anderson released a tape, Summer Lightning, about 10 or 12 years ago. He also wrote an interesting book called something like: Ireland On A Tin Whistle And A Bicycle.

Yep -Haste to the Wedding to get'em down the aisle.

"The Girls I Left Behind"?

Mairi's Wedding. Good for reception, lively tune, lovely words if you have a vocalist.

Binkley Brothers Dixie Clodhoppers' Give Me Back My 15 Cents

My daughter (a singer) and I have performed 'Battle Hymn of Love' - which was written (I believe) by Tim O'Brien and originally released as a duet by Tim O'Brien and Kathy Mattea. VERY nice 'upbeat' tune with GREAT lyrics for a wedding. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/...cons/smile.gif

I'll add a vote for Jay Unger's Lover's Waltz. Another beautiful waltz (on that same CD) is Metsakukkia.