Georgetown University Wedding Music
Please contact the Director of Music and Liturgy as soon as possible to choose your music. Below are some brief points to keep in mind when planning a wedding liturgy at Georgetown.
Weddings at Georgetown University are celebrated in accordance with Church documents, therefore the musical selections are chosen with the intention to enhance the sacramental union of the couple in Christ.
In the document Liturgical Music Today, the bishops of the United States remind us that “the liturgy is a complexes of signs expressed by living human beings.” The voices and instruments of the gathered assembly should not be replaced by recorded music. The aim of fostering full, active and conscious participation by the entire congregation is to be considered above all else.
For your own reassurance that the music for your wedding will be of the highest quality, we require the use of Georgetown University organists and vocalists. Male and female vocalists are available, as are instrumentalists. “Outside” musicians and vocalists are generally not permitted unless special permission is given by the Director of Music and Liturgy. Please note that there is only one half hour of rehearsal time before the wedding available.
As in any celebration, music in a wedding Mass or ceremony is a very important element. It is a most powerful communicator. Great care should, therefore, be taken to choose music that is highly fitting and proper to this holy and sacred occasion.
Certain music is clearly inappropriate for Church use. Music with no religious significance is not allowed before, during or after a wedding Mass or ceremony in the chapel. Though a song or piece of music may be popular on the secular scene, may genuinely speak to you, and be replete with references to love, it nevertheless has no place at divine worship. Examples of this type of song are “We’ve Only Just Begun,” “Evergreen,” “Perhaps Love,” “Wedding Song,” “Sunrise, Sunset,” and “One Hand, One Heart.” Songs from musicals are never permitted. Follow the general rule that just as religious songs are inappropriate at your reception, so popular romantic songs are inappropriate at a religious wedding ceremony.
Church regulations—adherence to sound liturgical principles—require that the “Our Father” be sung or recited by the entire congregation, therefore, it can not be a solo piece during the ceremony.
For more information on Wedding Music,
please contact Mr. Russell Weismann