Weddings

A wedding is an occasion of immense spiritual significance, and from antiquity classical music has accompanied the service because it's aesthetic refinement symbolizes the purity of sensibility and emotion involved.  

Accent Strings specialize in wedding ceremonies and receptions. Our wide experience furnishes us with not only performance skills but also discretionary qualities of coordination, timing and subtlety. These are especially vital within the delicate dynamic of a service.

A Protestant (or denomination thereof) or Civil service usually equates to a booking of one hour and presents five musical opportunities; Guests Arrive, Processional, Signing of the Register, Recessional, and Guests Leave. These are are outlined below with an emotional cue indicating the general style of music required.  Appropriate pieces are then listed in general descending order of popularity, this is not a reflection of each pieces' musical merit but is simply a matter of tradition or taste.
  
A Catholic service contains additional musical opportunities during the Offertory and Communion.
 
Devotional pieces such as Ave Maria by Schubert or Panis Angelicus by Franck are suitable here, otherwise the style is similar to the Signing of the Register.  In our experience, other interludes such as the Lighting of the Candles or the Presentation of the Gifts do not last long enough to warrant musical accompaniment.

It is also effective to have a short period of silence prior to the Processional to build anticipation. Sometimes separate music for the Bridesmaids and Bride is desired. In this case the Bridesmaid's music should be of an emotional tone below the Bride's and a short silence between the two is necessary.

The duration of each piece is not a concern when planning your service. Most pieces are from three to five minutes long and thus fit well within each section. Otherwise most classical music contains repeats or recurring phrases which sound excellent if attenuated at a cadence point. For example Pachelbel's Kanon is based on a cyclical baseline which means we can always time your processional to perfection!

There is no input needed from you on the day. We take our cues directly or by liasing with the Priest or Celebrant prior to the ceremony.

For booking times we recommend the following

These booking times usually encouch the service nicely by providing music for about fifteen minutes pre-ceremony and five minutes post-ceremony. The uneven weighting in favour of pre-ceremony is due to the fact that pre-ceremony many guests are seated early but post-ceremony they leave the church immediately. For a standard 1 hour wedding we should start playing 15 minutes before the bride walks down the aisle. For example if the bride walks in at 2pm then we should be booked from 1:45 - 2:45pm

Please err on the side of caution and book us for longer initially if you are unsure about booking times or think that the wedding may run late. For overtime there is no guarantee that the musicians will be able to stay longer than they have been booked for.

Following is a suggested wedding layout. We usually play at the following times.

Click on the treble clef  symbol for audio samples. The samples will open in the below window, click on the weddings tab again to return.

All samples were recorded as a string quartet. These should be played automatically by your web browser or default media player but if not then click on the graphic below to download quicktime for free. Note - sometimes internet explorer does not play mp3 files, in this case please use firefox or safari as an alternate browser.

Time	Mood	Composer	Work	Audio
1. Guest Arrive	Peaceful, Orientation	Usually left to our discretion.
2. Processional	Stately, Noble, Attention Generating	J.Pachelbel	Kanon
		R.Wagner	Bridal March from Lohengrin
		G. Handel	Arrival of the Queen of Sheba from Xadok the Priest
		J. Clarke	Trumpet Voluntary
		G. Handel	Royal Fireworks
3. Signing of the Register	Contemplative, Devotional	J.S.Bach	Air from Orchestral Suite in D major
			Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring
		F.Schubert	Ave Maria
		C.Franck	Panis Angelicus
		P. Mascagni	Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana
		G. Puccini	O Mio Babbino from Gianni Schicci
4. Recessional	Ebullient, Overjoyed	G.Handel	Hornpipe from Water Music
		A.Vivaldi	Spring from The Four Seasons
		F. Mendelssohn	Wedding March from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
		L. Beethoven	Ode to Joy from the Choral Symphony
5. Guests Leave	Happy, Convivial	Usually left to our discretion

Links & more resources

Now that you might be done finalising the string quartet,

peruse our wedding links page for more helpful resources including Accent personal favourites!

Testimonials

• Dear Jane and the rest of the quartet,
  
  Thank you for the wonderful job you did at our wedding on 07.07.07.

  Your music and talent was a great addition to our wedding ceremony and added to the beautiful feeling of the church.

  We have had many positive comments about the string quartet and how you added such a beautiful mood.

  A lot of the ceremony was a blur we are sure due to emotions but the Con Te Partiro was so beautiful and we both remember enjoying it as we signed the registry.

  Thank you again we really appreciate it.

  Edward and Samantha

• Hi Emily,
  
  Am back from the honeymoon and just wanted to say a huge thank you to yourself and the string quartet that played at my wedding on the 29th of March.

  Although we didn’t get to meet or talk, myself, my husband, and family and friends were all impressed with the music and were very happy with everything on the day so I wanted to let you know.

  Thanks so much for everything and should anyone I know be looking for music for their wedding I will be sure to recommend you.

  Many thanks and best wishes,

  Diana

• Hi Leo,

  Just wanted to say thank you for playing at our wedding on the 29th of October. Pete and I have just got back from our honeymoon and our firstday back at work is today. The trio played absolutely beautifully on the day and everybody absolutely loved listening.

  Thank you also for staying overtime, everything was thrown out of order on the day due to the meals being late so thanks again for staying and for playing the special song that Pete had written, it sounded wonderful.

  It was great to have you at our wedding and we will recommend you to all
  our friends and family.

  Kind regards

  Pete and Tara

• Hi Guys,
  
  Adam and I would like to say thank you for the wonderful music you provided us with for our wedding ceremony on 24 Nov 2007. The music was absolutely beautiful, and exactly what we had hoped for. Our guests complimented your music as well.
  
  Thank you for all your help across the months (my many emails) and for performing so well on the day. I will definately be recommending you to my friends (who now know how great you are from hearing you at my wedding).
  
  Thanks so much !!!
  
  Melanie & Adam.
  
  
• Hi Leo,
  
  I just wanted to thankyou again for the amazing job you did on our wedding day! You guys were fantastic and made our day so perfect. Thankyou so much for all your help and understanding in the lead up to the day also. We will be sure to recommend you!
  
  Alicia
  
  
• Hi Emily,
  
  Just wanted to say a big thank you to you and your lovely team. We enjoyed the music very much and had a perfect day. All family and friends had a great time and the kids loved dancing around you! Hope you had fun as well. Thanks again and all the best,
  
  Carolyn and Byron
  
  
• Hi Leo – We just want to thank you and the other players for doing such a fantastic job at our wedding; we have received many compliments on the music - you really helped to make our day special!

  Best regards and thank you,

  Wendii & Adam.

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