The Ceremony and Cocktail Hour Playlist

I've obsessed for hours over the perfect playlist for my outdoor wedding ceremony and cocktail hour.  How I went about coming up with the perfect playlist is from first deciding on what mood I wanted to capture during the Ceremony and Cocktail hour.

I knew that during the ceremony I wanted very traditional classical music and the cocktail hour I wanted things that were much more lively.

How I got to exactly what I wanted was by searching and exploring the interest for playlists and listening to string groups on youtube.

I would recommend if you're doing a very traditional ceremony indoors or outside, you search for groups that have playlists on their websites of weddings.  You can get a good idea of the traditional stuff and what you would like removed or added to that list.  From there, listen, listen and listen some more to cd's, amazon samples of music and youtube.  On youtube I typed in search terms for string quartet, string trio and various songs with "string" in them that I was not familiar with.

The other thing you'll need to figure out is what musicians you'd like to have at your ceremony.    Do you prefer all strings?  Want a floutist?  Or, maybe you'd like a harp?  All have very different sounds, and the pricetag can be very different as well.  Traveling with a harp is difficult; but if you love the sound and can afford it, it can be a very nice touch.

Are you thinking of nixing the live band because of cost?  I'd hate to see someone rely on a CD or Ipod (which could have technical difficulties).  At the very least have the DJ for your reception (if you're having a dj), setup a small set outside just for your ceremony.  It usually doesn't cost much more if your ceremony and reception are in the same location.

So without further adeau, here is the playlist selection for my very traditional ceremony:

Ceremony Playlist

Pre-Ceremony Music –

Hornpipe Water music

Eine kleine Nachtmusic

Spring – Vivaldi
Music of the Night – Phantom of the Opera

Beauty and the Beast – Seating of the parents / grandparents

Processional – Rondeau

Bridal Chorus – Canon in D

Gospel Acclamation\song  – Ave Maria (sung by Jean)

Bride & Groom Recessional – Trumpet Voluntary

For the Cocktail Hour, I definitely wanted something fun, lively and different.  I have a wide variety of music, but nothing that I feel will sound too out of place.  I wanted a mix of swing, jazzy, modern and upbeat music.  I really like how this mix turned out. 

Anything "too out there" for the string group I told them to substitute since I was sure they wouldn't have all the sheet music requests on the list below.  Anything in parenteses below was my way of telling them I saw "such and such" a band playing that song on youtube.

Cocktail Hour Playlist

Viva la Vida – Coldplay

You give me Fever

American Patrol – Glen Miller

Paragon Rag – Scott Joplin

Puttin on the Ritz (modern string quartet Vienna)

Cantaloupe Island – Herbie Hancock (modern string quartet)
Sweet Georgia Brown

It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing

Hello Goodbye – Beatles (the string quartet)
In the Mood – Glen Miller

Penny Lane – Beatles (Vitamin String Quartet)

Bittersweet Symphony – The Verve (vitamin string quartet)
U2 – All I want is you (Vitamin String Quartet)

Dare you to move – switchfoot (the string quartet)

Clocks – Coldplay (vitamin string quartet)

Por Una Cabeza – Carlos Gardel

When I’m sixty-four - beatles