“The music was beautiful for the ceremony. I especially loved Pachelbel coming down the aisle and A Thousand Years by Christina Perri during the signing.” Brittany, bride

Brittany was great to work with. She has lots of great ideas for choosing the wedding songs, and we worked together to make sure that there was variety in the styles of music, as well as a great flow, which is very important. I enjoyed the fact that the ceremony started out with classical selections, and moved on to more modern selections as the ceremony progressed. The classical selections were quite upbeat: Bach's Jesu Joy has great movement as it is based on a dance tune, and it is also fun to walk down the aisle and Pachelbel Canon (in our version) also moves along at a stately yet brisk pace. The two of them work very well together for this reason. For the signing, A Thousand Years is a great addition to the program, as it slows things down a bit, yet injects a more modern vibe into the ceremony, which continues with  the great Beautiful Day, which not only ended the ceremony, but reinforced what a beautiful day it was!

Wedding party: Bach: Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring

Bride: Pachelbel Canon

Signing: Christina Perri: A Thousand Years and Enya: Only Time

Recessional: U2: Beautiful Day

Toronto Wedding Vendors:

Event Planner: Jenny Foster Vaya

Venue: Atlantis Pavilion

Videographer: In the Moment Productions

Wedding ceremony music Toronto/GTA: Duo d’Amore-violin and cello duos, string trios and string quartets

It would be an understatement to say that music was important to this wonderful couple, because music was at the absolute center of the wedding ceremony. The groom’s cousin is a professional opera singer, and her husband is a composer—how perfect is that? Between the two of them, they gave us and the bride and groom and the guests a real treat: they arranged wedding ceremony music selections for singer, guitar and violin and cello duo for the ceremony.

Prior to the start of the ceremony, the guests had drinks upstairs at the Berkeley Church, and then moved to the mezzanine for the ceremony. The ceremony was beautiful, and we were glad to have rehearsed with the singer and guitar player just prior to make sure that we were all on the same page as far as the music was concerned, and everything worked out spectacularly at the ceremony, and we received rave reviews from the guests.

Program:

Wedding Party Processional: Dodi Li-traditional Jewish

Bride: Ave Maria-Bach-Gounod

Signing of the Registry: Songbird-Fleetwood Mac

Recessional: All You Need is Love -Beatles

Wedding ceremony musicians Toronto: Duo d’Amore-violin and cello duos, string trios and string quartets

Where do I start with the wedding? There are some ceremonies where there is one thing that stands out—perhaps the bride has an amazing dress, something funny or unexpected happens at the ceremony, the music is particularly beautiful, or the officiant does an especially fine job. This wedding, just it all the right notes, and the ceremony was at once beautiful and traditional, while at the same time had an unexpected twist that was lovely and special.  When I first spoke with Amy, the bride, she knew that she wanted to walk down the aisle to Elvis’ Can’t Help Falling in love, and were happy to oblige, as it is a beautiful song, and very well suited to the processional. As sometimes churches have issues with more modern music being performed during wedding ceremonies, I was glad to hear that the Church had no such issues, and we were given the go ahead to perform this song. Prior to the bridal processional, our string duo performed Bach’s Jesu Joy, which is a traditional song for weddings. I always like the bridal processional to be a bit more showy and elevated than the preceding song, as after all the processional is the brides moment, and the music should really reflect that. In this case the song was a perfect contrast. The signing music moved back to the classical spectrum with the wonderful and ‘cooling” Largo from the Four seasons by Vivaldi. The plucked strings of the cello are sound like a snowfall, while the violin part soars above, for a stunning effect. As the couple triumphantly walked down the aisle at St John’s United Church, we finished off the ceremony music with Handel’s second hornpipe from the Water music.

Bridesmaids: Bach Jesu Joy

Bride: Elvis: Can't Help Falling in Love

Signing: Vivaldi: Largo from the Four Seasons

Recessional: Handel: Hornpipe II from the Water Music

Wedding string musicians Oakville: Duo d’Amore-violin and cello duos, string trios and string quartets