Brides Musical Stories

Kathy and Jerry: Jingle Bells vs. Wedding Bells

Some weddings come with a theme pre-ordained. Getting married in a Catholic church on December 28th, Kathy and Jerry knew that they would have to incorporate Christmas somehow. "We knew that getting married in December would give us a unique setting and we wanted to have a sense of the season," said Kathy. "But we didn't want to be overwhelmed by Christmas”.

In talking with the couple, I discovered that Jerry's three sisters sang Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming every Christmas at their church and that Kathy's family concluded their yearly Christmas party by asking everyone to join in singing Silent Night. My job was to organize the perfect arrangements and musicians of these two songs, as well as the rest of the non-Christmas related traditional music.

For the instruments we chose a harp, cello, violin and guitar. The musicians set the perfect tone for the day by playing Christmas carols as prelude music. The Bridesmaids walk down the aisle to Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring as it is a piece of music associated with both Christmas and weddings. For the Bride, we chose the very traditional Trumpet Voluntary. At offertory, Jerry’s sisters sang Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming the way they sang it every Christmas, accappella. At Communion we had two songs. First I sang Let There Be Peace on Earth which ended up being a perfect segue for Silent Night, which the congregation joined me in singing. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house as the Bride and Groom exited the church to Joy to the World.