Everyone wants a smooth wedding rehearsal and wedding ceremony. Many times church pianists find themselves in the role of wedding coordinator, wedding consultant, pianist or all of the above.

There are many good books on the market dealing with wedding planning and such but I wanted to share important practical tips I observed in my son’s wedding rehearsal.

The wedding coordinator was wonderful!  She was so personable and patient.  Her main objective was to honor the bride’s wishes on how to conduct the wedding rehearsal/ceremony. If  someone asked her a question she was unsure how to answer… she directed it right back to my son’s bride-to-be in a very polite manner.

The pastor was a natural leader and very hospitable. Of course it helps to have a cooperative wedding party 😉

Rehearsal Observations:

(Parents and grandparents  were seated in the auditorium) *Seats were marked with our names 🙂

• Pastor opened in prayer and briefed wedding party on order of ceremony and how rehearsal would be conducted as follows:

First run-through: Bridesmaids, Groomsmen, bride & groom exit from stage (recessional)

Second time: Entire ceremony with all music

Third time: Entire ceremony with short excerpts from music

• Pastor introduced wedding coordinator
• Wedding coordinator positioned bridemaids, groomsmen, bride and groom onstage for exit (recessional) *everyone’s place was already marked with piece of tape.  *Excellent time-saver and anti-confuser  (I like to make up words)
• Now…everyone is in the back of the auditorium ready to march in  (Hearing entire music selections allows those involved to know how much time they will have to perform their actions such as:  candle-lighters or…parents lighting the unity candle) 
• Final run-through gave everyone a chance to nail down their moves (especially helped pianist know how much filler music was needed)  🙂

I must give the ultimate credit to the Lord.  Many thanks to all of my friends and relatives who prayed for our safety and for a beautiful wedding to God’s glory.

Tags: church pianist, wedding tips

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 13th, 2011 at 9:34 pm and is filed under wedding music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.