Wedding Songs !

Ave Maria is often performed/sung at Catholic and Episcopalian weddings, but it is not necessarily acceptable in all faiths.....In those other faiths, it might be ok as an instrumental only.

Rahul---with what faith, if any, does the bride and groom identify? Is the wedding to be in a house of worship of any type, or will it be in a secular setting? This is an important consideration in choosing music.

Margaret

Well ...we are hindus and its more probable that many people may not recognize the english songs.Yet i will do 2 or 3 english (maybe more , it just depends how well i practice :wink: ) and then other hindi , our native language ( in which all can sing together).Infact i will encourage singing together rather then going solo...Its easy that way.

The DJs are very popular in marriges here now and music is essentially a part of a wedding.But its hardly that any guitarist or instrumentalists are going to be called.Being from the family i would probably be the first one to do so.

I need to be really good so as to get some approval.In span of about 4 months and playing guitar for one hour everyday , i am trying to envisage some good songs on the guitar.

That's not a very short period , nither a long one.It only depends as to how seriously i practise (and not just fiddle around ) , which i am determined to do this time.I want to be the first one to perform live in this function (which never happens here.)

And even if by any chance i am not allowed to perform at the wedding (though that should be extremely improbable) yet me and my uncle , my cousins and other relatives can just sit together and sing-a-long to have a nice evening.

I would be learning some new good songs on my guitar resulting in widening my reptoire and having fun doing that.

Between...'Sunshine of my life' by stevie wonder comes to my mind as a nice romantic song :D (and lets not forget , someday i will also be married ...so i am making a reserve for that day too !!!)

Rahul

WTG rahul! - I like that approach.

(did something similar in a wedding in France. In Norway, weddings are allways packed with speeches and songs. That is NOT common in France. When one of my friends married a french girl last summer I thought why not? and did "She loves you" - that was extremely well received (not due to fantastic playing...). Think I could've kept on playing all night were it up to the other guests...)
Lars

Lars i would certainly check out the beatles songs you have mentioned.I am trying to listen as many beatles as possible. (how about 'don't let me down' ?)

Also i have started on 'Canon on Dmaj'.Now i know its going to keep me busy for some weeks and its turning out pretty slowly , yet i am getting a hang of it.

I am sure i can nail down that classical piece if i could play 'blackbird' and 'scarborough fair' on guitar which initially seemed so tough and then came to dirt easy after david's lesson torn them down. :D

Rahul

Rahul,

Sounds like you are working hard! Having a particular date set helps put a little friendly pressure on the practicing, doesn't it? :)

DJ's are popular here, too, for wedding receptions (the party afterward), and live music is usually performed during the actual ceremony. Often they are solo or duet vocalists, or just instrumental music. And it is usually a friend or family member who is asked to perform. They usually sing or play before the wedding while guests are being seated, and one or more times during the ceremony (for example, during a special candle-lighting, or during a silent prayer/meditation time).

For our wedding, I picked a couple of songs where the lyrics were good, but in just a couple of places weren't quite appropriate for a wedding ("The Search Is Over" by Survivor was one of the songs), so I just rewrote a phrase or two, keeping the rhyme, but making it more wedding-like. No one but the singer realized that I had changed anything.

Margaret

Rahul,

Just heard a catchy, upbeat, fun song about love on the radio--"I'm a Believer." It was originally made popular by the Monkees (maybe in the late 1960's), and was more recently recorded by Smashmouth. Their version was used in the first Shrek movie.

From the lyrics:

"I thought love was only true in fairy tales.........
Then I saw her face, now I'm a believer..."

Check it out.

Margaret

Randy Travis did a good country song a few years back, called "Forever And Ever, Amen." Thought of that while reading this thread this morning, and a little while later it came on the radio.

Well I think I'd lose all the recognition I've recieved as a Clapton stalker if I didn't mention Wonderful Tonight - Eric Clapton.

Whatever you do DO NOT play the song I used to begin my wedding reception! It seemed appropriate enough, starting out with the line, I saw her today at the reception..., but the chorus has had me in hot water ever since:

You can't always get what you want.

Ah, live and learn.

(It is on the Easy Song forum, however)