What is Wedding Music Advisor™ ?

Wedding Music Advisor™ (WMA) is a web-based wedding music selection tool that guides the wedding couple through the process of selecting musical titles for their ceremony or service.  WMA displays music titles based on categories chosen for the style of the ceremony. The wedding couple then clicks to listen to the selections as they wish.

Wedding Music Advisor™ (WMA) helps you select the complete program of music for your wedding, whether religious, classical, or contemporary, and for all types of instruments commonly used in ceremony music.

WMA adapts to the level of detail desired: if you're in a hurry, we present the most commonly chosen pieces so you accomplish the entire selection process in a half hour. However, if you're interested in a thorough exploration of what's available and the history behind each piece, you can browse the repertoire library as you wish, and resuming your session at your leisure.

How It works

At Wedding Music Advisor™, we guide you through the ceremony music selection process by helping you focus on the style of your wedding and then providing music selections for you to listen to. As you listen, you can decide how they match your preferences for your ceremony. Wherever you are, and at your own leisure, you have our virtual wedding coach to show you the possibilities and guide you through the selection process.

We give you the basics of a typical American-culture wedding (Seating of the Guests, Processional, Recessional, etc.) and help you design your own individual and special ceremony (e.g., do you want to have  a "unity candle lighting"). Once you have planned the layout of the ceremony (Order of Service), we help you select the music you will have played during each part.

Even if you're planning an non-traditional or ultra-contemporary ceremony style, WMA can still introduce you to classical-oriented music selections for your consideration.

Music Selection - Made Easy

In WMA, you first narrow down what instruments you would like for your ceremony, and then we present you with Wedding Music categories begin your selection journey with a starting list of music titles to consider. Our Wedding Music Database contains hundreds of music titles & instrumentation combinations.

After you have made your final music selection, you can then cut and paste your titles/composers to email the list for inclusion in the ceremony program (order of service or "program") for your program printer and also for your musicians.

In planning your wedding, there are hundreds of choices and decisions to make. This guide is intended to help you through the musical aspects of your wedding ceremony. By exploring the musical choices well in advance, you can alleviate much of the stress of last-minute planning. The goals of having wedding ceremony music are many, and it’s important to think about what environment you want to create for your service.  There are four parts of the service where music is typically played:

• Pre-service (prelude) music, while the guests are arriving and being seated
• Processional (entrance of the officiant(s) and wedding party)
• Music during the actual spoken ceremony
• Recessional (exit of the wedding party, families, and guests)

Below is an (intentionally blurred) illustration of the wedding ceremony timeline that can be fully viewed once you sign up- an example of the many resources that Wedding Music Advisor can offer you. A great resource and visual aid for sorting out the different parts of a ceremony and how music fits into each part.

Bonuses - When you sign up for WMA Lite

In our Article on All About Wedding Music, we also offer advice for how to avoid faux pas—pieces that have negative connotations, disrespectful, or historical origins that are not suitable for a joyous wedding occasion. Read this so you won't be approached by a guest during the reception: "I loved your processional, but did you know it was originally written for a scandalous bedroom scene?"  How embarassing this could be!

Additional Services

We can also help you find musicians in the New England, Central Massachusetts, Boston-Worcester, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Connecticut areas.

For an hourly fee we can meet with you in person or on the phone to provide live consultation services.

What are you waiting for? Sign-Up now and start planning your ceremony!

Notes and Disclaimers

• The audio samples presented here are for selection purposes only. They strive to represent the musical composition faithfully. Musical performance interpretations may vary (louder/softer, slower/faster) among all musicians (even the same musician playing the same piece at a later time) - the musician is an artist and responds to the excitement of the moment to provide the thrill and responsiveness of live music. And, as with all instruments, the sound will vary depending on the instrument, acoustics of the room (including how many people are in the room to absorb the sound), and even the temperature and humidity-- thus the demonstrations here will not be exactly as will be performed on your wedding day. They are meant to give you a sense of the melody and mood of the piece. Having an acoustic instrument (as opposed to a synthesizer) and a live musician (as opposed to a CD recording) allows the magic of the moment to unfold in real time to most deeply affect the souls and spirits of your friends and family who are sharing a most wonderful day in your life.
  
• The vast array of titles shown here are of course not every possible musical selection that's ever been played at a wedding ceremony: there are many traditions, styles, and musical tastes. However, it is a good cross-section of the commonly used titles in traditional classical/religious (protestant) ceremonies in the U.S. culture. It is also necessary for you to confirm your selections because your particular officiant, venue, or musician may not allow or be able to perform a given title in your given circumstances.