How do our wedding musicians choose prelude music for wedding ceremonies?

When we work with wedding clients, the primary concern is to put together music for the wedding ceremony, while not much thought goes into prelude music.  Most of the time musicians play their own choices of wedding music selections, depending on the setting of a ceremony.  If a wedding ceremony is outdoors – the musicians will play music that is on the bright side volume wise, making sure it is heard by wedding guests as they arrive.  The absence of good acoustics during outdoor venues is to blame. If a wedding ceremony is to take place indoors, the prelude music choices might be on the softer side, more mellow, especially for church weddings: traditionally, prelude music is played quietly for these.  

In summary, here is the list of some of the factors that our wedding musicians consider when making choices for prelude music.

• The location of the wedding ceremony
• The style of the wedding ceremony
• For indoor wedding ceremonies – acoustical qualities of the room/hall where musicians are to play
• The number of wedding musicians playing
• The amount of time reserved by the client for prelude music
• Client’s requests for prelude music should match the rest of the music selected by the musicians
• The prelude music should not be more “exposed” than the first piece for the wedding ceremony