Some Wedding Music Suggestions:
Processional Marches:
Trumpet Voluntary Henry Purcell
Trumpet Tune in D Major David Johnson
Te Deum Marc Charpentier
Procession Alegre Garry Cornell
Trumpet Tune and March Henry Purcell
Canon in D Johann Pachelbel
Musique Royale Richard Delalande
Nuptial Mass – Major Propers
According to the 1972 Graduale Romanum (GR) for the Ordinary Form, the Nuptial Mass has several options for the sung propers:
Introit
GR: God is in his holy dwelling place; the God who causes us to dwell together, one at heart, in his house; he himself will give power and strength to his people. (Ps 68 (67): 6, 7, 36)
Roman Missal: Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 19: 3, 5
May the Lord send you help from the holy place, and give you support from Sion. May he grant you your hearts ‘ desire, and fulfill every one of your designs (E.T. alleluia).
Roman Missal, option B Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 89: 14, 17
At dawn, O Lord, fill us with your merciful love, and we shall exult and rejoice all our days. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us and upon the work of our hands (E.T. alleluia).
Roman Missal, option C Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 144: 2, 9
I will bless you day after day, O Lord, and praise your name forever and ever, for you are kind to all, and compassionate to all your creatures (E.T. alleluia).
Opening Hymns:
Joyful, Joyful, We Adore You
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
God Is Love (Text: Timothy Rees, Tune: Hymn to Joy)
God of Love and Joy and Laughter (can be sung to Ode To Joy)
- God of love and joy and laughter, 2. When we join in celebration,
Calling us to fruitful days. Grateful for abundant gifts,
May we be the echoes after Send again that revelation
Church and people sing your praise. Of your grace that heals all rifts.
Your love calls our love to being, Grant us love that’s deeper, stronger,
Grows, surrounds, up-builds and holds, As the days turn into years,
Clears our eyes for keenly seeing Wisdom fuller, patience longer
All the world your love enfolds. Faith and hope through joy and tears.
3. Now we ask your benediction—
Blessing, challenge, all in one.
Calm our stress, but use its friction
That, through us, your will be done.
Keep our hope as fresh as morning.
Keep our zeal warm as the sun.
Keep our joy, as spring aborning
Cheers the hearts of everyone.
Text: 87 87 D; Jane Parker Huber from A Singing Faith ©1987 The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, PA
Let’s Praise The Creator (can be sung to Kremser)
Let’s praise the Creator who gave us each other
In friendship and kinship to celebrate life,
Let’s sing our delight in this man and this woman,
The promise of joy as a husband and wife.
The love that we wish them, the love that we pray for
Is stronger than storms and more gentle than breath,
Endures every trouble, is selfless and faithful,
More precious than life and more lasting than death.
In vows that are honored, in kissing and blessing
May happiness shine like the gold of a ring,
In passionate joy and compassionate caring
May theirs be the gifts that true loving can bring.
Text: 12 11 12 11; Shirley Erena Murray; ©1992 Hope Publishing Co.
Hear Us Now, Our God and Father (can be sung to Hyfrodol)
Hear us now, our God and Father, Give them joy to lighten sorrow!
Send your Spirit from above Give them hope to brighten life!
On this Christian man and woman Go with them to face the morrow,
Who here make their vows of love! Stay with them in ev’ry strife.
Bind their hearts in true devotion As your Word has promised, ever
Endless as the seashore’s sands, Fill them with your strength and grace
Boundless as the deepest oceans, So that each may serve the other
Blest and sealed by your own hands. Till they see you face to face.
May the grace of Christ, our Savior,
And the Father’s boundless love,
With the Holy Spirit’s favor
Rest upon them from above.
Thus may they abide in union
With each other and the Lord,
And possess in sweet communion
Joys which earth cannot afford.
Text: 87 87 D; Vss 1 & 2 Harry N Huxhold, ©1978, Lutheran Book of Worship. All rights reserved. Used with permission of Augsburg Fortress. Vs. 3 John Newton, 1725-1807, alt
God, Who Created Hearts To Love (can be sung to Lasst Uns Erfreuen)
God, who created hearts to love, Jesus at Cana gave a sign,
Show’ring all blessings from above, Turning the water into wine:
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Give these who come to you with praise, Sign that continues as he said—
Peace, love and laughter all their days. Love, living, risen from the dead.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Spirit of God, be at their side: Sing, friends and fam’ly gathered here,
Wisdom and comfort, guardian, guide. Voices in witness ringing clear;
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Make of their hearts a resting place; Here is the mystery begun:
In ev’ry trial, gentle grace. Woman and man becoming one.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Text: LM with alleluias; M.D. Ridge, © 1992, M.D. Ridge. Published by OCP. All rights reserved.
Music: Auserlesene Catholische Geistliche Kirchengesänge, Cologne, 1623
At a Wedding Mass the Penitential Act is omitted. The Glória in excélsis (Glory to God in the highest) is said or sung.
Communion, Option 1
GR: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God; blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God; blessed are those who suffer persecution for the sake of justice, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Mt 5: 8, 9, 10)
Communion, Option 2
GR: Seek first the kingdom of God, and all the rest will be given to you in addition, says the Lord. (Mt 6: 33)
Roman Missal: Communion Antiphon Cf. Eph 5: 25, 27
Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her, to present her as a holy and spotless bride for himself (E.T. alleluia).
Roman Missal, option B Communion Antiphon Jn 13: 34
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you, says the Lord (E.T. alleluia).
Roman Missal, option C Communion Antiphon Ps 33: 2, 9
I will bless the Lord at all times, praise of him is always in my mouth. Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed the man who seeks refuge in him (E.T. alleluia).
Communion Hymns:
Love One Another• James Chepponis
I Have Loved You• J. Michael Joncas
Taste and See• James Moore
Eat This Bread• Jacques Berthier
Gift of Finest Wheat• Robert Kreutz
Wedding Vocal Solos and Choral Pieces:
Where there is Love Johann S. Bach
Whither Thou Goest Flor Peeters (The Wedding Song)
Whither Thou Goest Heinrich Schutz
Ave Maria Franz Schubert
Ave Maria Bach-Gounod
Thy Perfect Love John Rutter
Servant Song Richard Gillard
The Gift of Love arr. Hal Hopson
May Love Be Ours Michael Joncas (Not for Tongues of Heaven’s Angels)
May the Grace of Christ our Savior Johann S. Bach (Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring)
Panis Angelicus Cesar Franck
Laudate Dominum Wolfgang Mozart
Let the Bright Seraphim George F. Handel
The Call Ralph Vaughan Williams (Come My Way, My Truth, My Love)
Ave Maria Philip Stopford
The Call Randall Stroope
Recessional Marches:
Trumpet Tune Henry Purcell
Hornpipe George Handel
Ode to Joy Ludwig van Beethoven
Rondeau Jean-Joseph Mouret
Trumpet Tune John Stanley
Psalm 19 Benedetto Marcello
