Wedding Information

Wedding Information : Wedding Music

Initial Contact With The Music Coordinator
Once you begin your marriage ceremony preparation at St. Mary Parish, please contact the Parish Music Coordinator to schedule a visit and to begin selecting the music for your wedding.  You may contact the Music Coordinator by calling 740-363-4641 during normal parish operating hours.  You should try to schedule a meeting with the Music Coordinator no earlier than six to eight weeks before your wedding.

Selecting Your Music

A Church wedding is not only a very personal event; it is also a sacrament of the Church.  As such, the religious nature of the ceremony must be carefully preserved.  However meaningful some music may be to the couple personally, the principle that governs the sacredness and acceptability of the wedding music is the religious aspect.

With all due respect to other styles of musical expression, only liturgically appropriate music may be used at weddings.  Popular and secular music, such as Broadway, film music, top 40 songs, and taped music (previously recorded music) are not appropriate for liturgical use in Church during the wedding ceremony.  This general policy also refers to vocal and instrumental music performed during the Prelude, Communion Meditation, and Postlude, etc.  All music, sacred or classical in nature, is to be approved by the Music Coordinator.  The Wagner and Mendelssohn wedding marches associated with secular operas have not traditionally been used in the Catholic Church.  St. Mary Parish would ask that you honor these customs and regulations.

The Parish requests that you also honor the tone of the liturgical season that corresponds with the date of your wedding.  For instance, some types of music may not fit with the more subdued nature of the Advent or Lenten seasons of the Church’s liturgical calendar year.  The Music Coordinator,  Muriel Byers 740-363-4641 ext 35, will guide you through these sensitivities as they relate to the liturgical calendar and will help you make suitable musical selections for the wedding liturgy and assist you in completing the Music Selection Form.  All music for weddings must be approved by her.

Musicians For Your Wedding Ceremony

It is the responsibility of the Music Coordinator to preserve the integrity of the liturgy as regards the musical portion of your ceremony.  Ordinarily, the Parish’s Music Coordinator or Assistant Organist will be the primary musician leading the music program for your wedding.  Outside of the Parish’s staff of musicians (or those musicians contracted by the parish to play at your wedding), the Music Coordinator will be responsible for approving any friends, relatives or acquaintances of the bride or groom wishing to offer their vocal or instrumental assistance for your wedding at St. Mary.  If there are any musicians that you wish to play at your wedding, please inform the Music Coordinator at the time of your meeting with her.  Also, have your guest musicians contact the Music Coordinator to discuss the Parish’s musical guidelines, set a time for a possible audition, and schedule a meeting to rehearse the music.

Day Of The Rehearsal

There may or may not be musical accompaniment during the wedding rehearsal at St. Mary.  The purpose of the rehearsal is to serve as a “dry run” for familiarizing the wedding party with the flow of the ceremony.  So it is very important that any guest musicians chosen by the bride or groom set an appointment to meet with the Music Coordinator well before the actual wedding rehearsal and day of the ceremony.

Musician Fees

In order to avoid any confusion on the day of your wedding, please remember to bring all musician fees for staff musicians and musicians provided by the Parish to the wedding rehearsal.  These fees are also to be paid 2 weeks prior to the rehearsal date.  However, all fees must be remitted no later than the rehearsal.  You may give the fees to the presiding clergy or the Music Coordinator.  Here is the schedule of Musicians' fees for St. Mary Parish:

 
Fees for instrumental or vocal musicians recruited by St. Mary Church from outside the parish music program will depend on prevailing custom and the rates of the individual musicians.  The Music Coordinator can guide you in these at the time that you meet with her.

Fees for instrumental or vocal musicians recruited by the bridal party from outside the Parish are the exclusive responsibility of the bride and bridal party.  St. Mary Church accepts no responsibility for payment of musicians recruited by the bride or groom.

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