Catholic Wedding Ceremony Music

 About the Catholic Wedding Music

Catholic wedding music depends on the nature of the wedding ceremony: with or without the Mass.  In most cases typical Catholic wedding ceremony involves the Mass, however, the Roman Catholic Church also allows a nuptial ceremony without the Mass.  According to the type of the Catholic wedding ceremony you chose to have there will be different kinds of requirements and wedding music involved. 

In general, there are two types of wedding music when you celebrate your ceremony during the Mass.  The reason for this is that according to the Catholic tradition both the Mass and the Marriage are Sacraments (simplistically stating: visible signs of the invisible grace).  For Catholics each sacrament carries different theological interpretation and its own mystical meaning.  Accordingly, these two sacraments are accompanied by a music that appropriately reflects their meaning and creates the proper environment for the celebration of each sacrament.  Consequently, the music for your Catholic wedding ceremony is a liturgical music focused on the two sacraments: Mass and Marriage. 

The Catholic Church remains rather reluctant when it comes to permitting secular wedding music during the celebration of the Sacrament of Marriage.  This is not to say that the Catholic clergy has a hard time appreciating nice pieces of modern secular music or trying to frustrate your ideas for the greatest musical wedding selection ever.  Rather it is so because the secular music frequently used during outdoor wedding ceremonies, no matter how beautiful, romantic or touchy it is, may have little or nothing to do with the illustration of the Sacrament of Marriage.  For the Catholic Church wedding ceremony music needs to somehow reflect, create a reflective environment or at least to harmonize with the mystery of God’s love for his people.  More specifically it is about the love of Christ for his Church (community of believers) that is illustrated through the symbolism of marriage.  Christ is the Groom who loved his Bride the Church till the point of sacrificing his own life. 

When speaking about the Catholic wedding music it is important to keep in mind that this music is not set in stone.  Although the Catholic Church has its own general rules and regulations expressed in the Code of Canon Law much discretion is given to local churches.  Thus, Catholic wedding music varies in the Catholic churches of Sweden and Argentina, of Australia and Italy, or France and Slovakia.  There could be even a noticeable difference in the Catholic wedding music requirements and preferences within the places in the same country, let’s say the States of New Mexico and Massachusetts.  So theoretically speaking for you as a future wedding couple getting married in a Catholic church there is some margin to negotiate musical selection for your wedding ceremony.  For all practical reasons people who will finally approve or reject your musical choice for the wedding ceremony will be your local pastor and to some extend your parish music director.