Garden/Outdoor Ceremonies - Music?

[CrownJewel]

I''m having my ceremony and cocktail hour outdoors (weather permitting of course) and am trying to figure out what to do for music. What will you be doing? Or does anyone have advice as to what is best for an outdoor ceremony? Should I call up the high school marching band?

Seriously, I''m worried about the limited volume that a string quartet (or my friends...one playing saxophone, another playing trumpet) can produce outdoors. Is it difficult to wire microphones and speakers outside? Would that even help?

 

[Harleigh]

I am having an outdoor garden ceremony and will have a harpist playing before, during and after the ceremony...my wedding planner said he would have an amplifier and speaker, but I don''t think my area is very big, so I''m not too concerned about it!

Let us know what you decide...best of luck to you in your endeavor!

 

[violet02]

I REALLY want a harpist but it''s not in our budget.

We''ll have to work with our DJ to pick suitable music. I''m still trying to eek her back in the budget possibly anyways but probably not.

 

[zoebartlett]

We're having a harpist, a family friend, play before the ceremony as guests are seated (the prelude??). The DJ will do the rest -- the processional and the recessional. I'm not sure what we want for those yet.

For the prelude, we really like Ode to Joy, Canon in D, Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, Air from Water Music, Flower Duet, and Ave Maria. Our family friend recommended that Ane Maria be played as our moms are seated and we use Canon as my sister (matron of honor) walks down the aisle. I might save Canon though and use it for myself. We're not doing the more traditional wedding march.

ETA: I wanted to add that we're also getting married outdoors, weather permitting. We're using the gazebo and grounds of our venue, a restaurant. The brick path from the restaurant to the gazebo will be the aisle.

 

[sap483]

We''re having a steel drummer for the ceremony and cocktail hour.

 

[basil]

We''re having a string duo for the ceremony (cello and violin), and DJ for the cocktail hour and reception.

 

[CrownJewel]

Ack I keep getting conflicting reports from musicians re: sound carrying outdoors. My friend who is a saxophonist said it''ll be no problem...he says a string duet will be able to produce enough sound.

My other friend who plays every instrument known to man, and will be helping me pick musicians, says strings or saxophone may not be loud enough.

ANYWAY, I will keep you updated on the sound issue.

Harps!! Steel drummer! You gals are so cool! I just may have to ask about that!

I never even thought about those options, but they''re fantastic.

Basil, why did you decide to have the string duet play only for the ceremony? Why not the cocktail hour also? I''m just curious b/c maybe I should do the same???

 

[basil]

Partly cause of price. Per hour, DJ is way cheaper than the strings.

Partly cause I wanted a retro jazz feel for teh cocktail hour. I like classical music, but I think it kind of gets lost when people aren''t paying attention to it. I don''t think people will be listening to it, they''ll be eating and chatting, so I thought it was a waste paying for "real musicians".

 

[LauraLoo]

I am getting married in my moms backyard and having cocktail hour there before heading to the reception. We are having a bagpiper play as guests arrive, the processional, recessional and as guests leave for the reception. I am so excited! I love the sound of bagpipes. I wasn''t crazy about music from a speaker for the ceremony and violins and things like that are just not very us.

 

[karasue91]

Another outdoor ceremony here (I hope)! We are having a string quartet. I''m really surprised that your friend said he didn''t think they would be loud enough without an amp, I mean you don''t want them blaring during the ceremony and you really don''t want them blaring during the cocktail hour. I can''t imagine the instruments not being loud enough unless you are having a 500-person wedding, in which case I guess the people in the back might not be able to hear the music, but they won''t be able to hear anything that''s being said either unless you have microphones on.

Are you guys having microphones and amps set up so that people can hear the JOP/minister and your vows? If so, I wouldn''t think it would be too much harder to just set up a couple mic''s for the band too?

 

[misysu2]

We're having a garden wedding and the DJ is setting up there. We're having nontraditional music. I think I'm walking to "At Last" by Etta James. This worked out well because the DJ gave us a good deal where he offered to do ceremony music and fully mic the ceremony for free if we paid him 100% upfront for the 4 hours of reception.

I'd strongly recommend getting some kind of mic help for the ceremony speaking. I've been to a few outdoor ceremonies, and if there wasn't a mic set up in front of the couple, the wind just blew all the sound away and people (who love you and traveled so far!) didn't get to hear anything.

 

[karasue91]

Misysu I think I''m walking to At Last too!! Only played by the quartet instead so it will be just instrumental.

I haven''t heard anyone else say they were walking to it, have you? I think it would be such a great song to walk to, perfect tempo and perfect message.

 

[misysu2]

Date: 2/12/2008 1:29:57 PM
Author: karasue91
Misysu I think I''m walking to At Last too!! Only played by the quartet instead so it will be just instrumental.

I haven''t heard anyone else say they were walking to it, have you? I think it would be such a great song to walk to, perfect tempo and perfect message.

No I haven''t heard anyone else saying they were going to walk to it. I hear a lot that it''s a favorite for first dances, though.

It''s the perfect song for a processional! Great minds think alike, I guess!

 

[happy in love]

We are having our ceremony outdoors and the company setting up our dinner tent is providing a soundsystem for the ceremony that will be moved into the dinner tent afterwards. It was less expensive to do that than to add an hour to our DJ time. I don''t know why I never thought of live music for the ceremony, but I just assumed from the begining that we would have recorded music.

 

[turtledazzle]

We had an outdoor ceremony with musicians - a string trio plus a trumpet player. We had 120 people at our wedding, and hearing the musicians was not a problem without amplification. I think it depends on what instruments you want. From our musicians website: For outdoor ceremonies, "Certain individual instruments may require small amplification - such as the harp, keyboard and guitar, depending on the setting."

One thing to consider: all of the musicians I contacted required that they be in a covered area (to protect instruments against potential weather, bright sunlight, etc.) Not sure if that will be the case for you, but I thought I would mention it. We were able to do this without a problem.

Our selections:
Seating of Families - Canon in D (Pachelbel)
Matron of Honor Processional - Ode to Joy (Beethoven)
Bride Procession - Trumpet Voluntary (Clarke)
Recessional - Hornpipe (Handel)
Postlude - La Rejouissance (Handel)

 

[ladyciel]

Our ceremony is in a botanical garden and we''ll have 75-100 guests. We''re having a classical guitarist play for the ceremony and he will follow us to the hotel for the cocktail hour and dinner. He has his own PA system that he hooks up to his guitar, which is how he makes sure everyone can hear him outdoors.