Weddings
Alice Harvey is frequently booked as a wedding singer in Essex,
Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and
other areas of the UK
Your Special Day...
Alice Harvey can put your mind at rest by taking
some of the pressure out of your big day. She has a lot of experience
with co-ordinating the entertainment for weddings and can make
sure that you'll have one less thing to worry about.
Music can be provided for any part or parts of your
wedding day. Music is available for your ceremony, the drinks
reception, the wedding breakfast and/or your evening reception.
The part that most people worry about the most is the ceremony.
Help is always at hand for this part as her main pianist Eugene
Portman can help and advise in this area. Eugene has played for
hundreds of ceremonies and can make sure that yours goes smoothly.
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Wedding Music for Your Ceremony, drinks reception, wedding breakfast
and evening reception
A typical Christian wedding can be divided into four main sections:
the ceremony, pre-meal drinks, wedding breakfast, and evening
reception.
About half of the weddings Alice does have the ceremony
in a church. This means that if they do require live music; it
will be during the drinks reception (before the meal), the wedding
breakfast and maybe into the evening reception. Everyone's requirements
are different so do feel free to discuss any special preferences
with Alice or Eugene.
As far as the choice of specific pieces of music
is concerned, the only part of the wedding that you really have
to think about is the wedding ceremony and the first dance.
The Ceremony
The Church Ceremony
I
don't need to go into detail regarding the choice of music for
a church ceremony - there are so many religious denominations
which all have their differences. A church wedding is easier from
the music point of view in that you very seldom have to provide
someone to perform your choice of music - unlike the civil ceremony.
However, a church service is very straight forward - you'll be
able to discuss everything down to the finest detail with the
relevant cleric and the resident organist if there is one.
The Civil Ceremony
One thing that has become popular over recent years
is the civil wedding ceremony and I think that this is the reason
that more and more musicians are booked for weddings each year.
At one time you had to go to a registry office
to have a civil ceremony. Things have changed as many hotels and
other venues have been able to apply for a license to hold marriage
ceremonies on their own premises. The main advantage of a civil
wedding in a hotel is that everything to do with the marriage
can be carried out at the same place. That means less travelling
and less hassle for everyone.
Even though you will have to arrange the music for
a civil ceremony yourself there is an added bonus in that if you
choose live music for the service, the musicians can provide music
for the pre-meal drinks and for the wedding breakfast itself.
Your specific choices of music should be discussed with Alice
or Eugene well before the event and they can also help to provide
you with some ideas. If you don't want to pick each individual
piece of music for the proceedings then just give us an idea of
the style of music you would like or maybe a composer. For a civil
ceremony you can have any music you want as long as neither the
title or the lyrics have any reference to religion. Many couples
prefer to have classical pieces for the ceremony and to have something
lighter for the rest of the day. Eugene is classically trained
and can advise on some beautiful classical pieces if you need
ideas.
The civil ceremony has four main part's, as far as a musician
is concerned, and they are:
The Gathering of the Congregation
This section doesn't really have a time span, so
when a couple does select music for this part of the ceremony,
it may happen that either you won't be able to have all of your
chosen pieces, or more frequently, the performer will have to
play extra music of his choice.
The Procession
The next section is the entrance of the bride and
traditionally this is carried out to Wagner's Bridal March. Although
most people stick to the Wagner, you can have any music you like.
The one thing you must consider when looking for an alternative
is that it doesn't take long for the bride to walk down the aisle!
so it might be easier to stick to the Bridal March. Another idea
is to have a small snippet of the peice that you are going to
have for the signing of the register.
The Signing of the Register
There never seems to be a problem with this part.
A piece of up to five minutes is usually fine and anything goes
really. If you did choose something that was too long there would
come a point where the musician would have to stop playing - however,
the piece would have to be excessively long for this to happen.
The Recession
This is where everyone leaves the place of the
wedding ceremony and traditionally this was always carried out
to Mendelssohn's Wedding March. Nowadays wedding couples tend
to request everything but the Wedding March! Anything seems to
be appropriate for the recession but usually music of a joyeus
nature is preferred. Sometimes the music has to go on for quite
a long time during this part as the music usually stops as soon
as the last member of the congretation has left the room.
Drinks Reception
After the ceremony everyone usually has so much
to say because they've had to keep so quiet throughout all the
serious bits. There's not a lot to pre-arrange for the music after
the ceremony, but it is a good idea to discuss the style of music
you are looking for.
The Wedding Breakfast
Live music for the wedding breakfast has now become
very popular - there will often be jazz pianists, string quartets,
harpists or even flamenco guitarists. It's always nice to have
music while everyone is eating and chatting as long as the music
isn't intrusive. Most of the time musicians just go with the crowd:
playing more mellow music if everyone's quiet and the more lively
stuff if everyone starts making more noise. One of the most important
things to be aware of is whether the music is interfering with
the conversation of the wedding guests: if it is, then there's
something wrong. For most weddings you need the music to carry
on right up to the speeches and that's where it finishes until
the evening reception.
The Evening Reception
Trying to please everyone with the choice of music
can be difficult. if you are looking for something a little different
from the regular disco then a jazz or swing band can make a refreshing
change. Some weddings have jazz for the early part of the evening
followed by a disco.
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