History of Wedding March
The term "Wedding March" is generally used to refer to a traditional procession that takes place in most weddings. Shortly after the bride and the groom arrive at the spot, everyone is required to form couples and follow the bride and the groom up to the venue. Along the way, the procession branches out. Those attending the wedding move to the periphery, while those participating in the ceremony are made to remain near the centre. A wedding is a spectacular occasion for friends and family alike. It is an occasion that deserves felicitation and a lot of prior arrangement. The Wedding March makes a wedding a truly social occasion, where everyone may participate. Any tradition has a history attached to it. As such, there is also a history of the Wedding March.
An integral part of any wedding is the music that accompanies it. Music definitely plays an extremely important role in any wedding ceremony. The deep reverberation of the harpsichord contributes incredibly to the atmosphere of a wedding ceremony. Those who have attended several weddings know how crucial the role of music is, especially at the point of time when the bride is marching down the aisle. Different melodies are played at different points of time in wedding ceremonies. The Wedding March, incidentally, is accompanied by two tunes - one for the traditional processional, while the other for the recessional.
The history of the Wedding March dates as far back as the mid-nineteenth century. Music was generally not permitted at weddings. However, it soon became customary to play the music during the wedding ceremony. Richard Wagner's opera known as Lohengren harbors a tune that is familiar to almost everyone who has attended a wedding ceremony as "Here Comes the Bride". This has traditionally come to be chosen as the processional.
The recessional, on the other hand, is played after the wedding vows have been exchanged. The tune chosen for this is Felix Mendelssohn's piece composed for and titled A Midsummer Night's Dream. It became customary to play this tune only after Mendelssohn's death. In 1858, this tune was played as the recessional during the wedding ceremony of the English Princess Royal.
The history of the wedding march has been a landmark in incorporating music as an integral part of the wedding ceremony. It has continued for more than a century and a half till date, and will probably continue and evolve in the centuries still to come.
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