The last wedding I went to was my own, and I don’t remember what music the organist played. I suspect there wasn’t any “Here Comes the Bride”, but I can’t say for sure. Maybe I should watch the video some time…
When we got married 13 years ago (Episcopal Church) our priest discouraged us from using it for these reasons. Not that we needed much discouragement.
I’m loving imagining the priest explaining #6: “Well, you could have ‘Here Comes the Bride’ when you walk up the aisle, but, you know, it was written by Wagner, and, um, he was kind of a prick.”
In my only professional gig as a pianist, when I was 17, I was hired to play that piece. At a Jewish wedding. So much for boycotting Wagner! (They also had me play the Mendelssohn, though.)
I don’t go to many weddings, but I’ve never been to one where it wasn’t played.
Same here. The idea of caring where the song comes from does not fit my social group. It’s the traditional wedding song, so it’s the song we use. The actual wedding is a very formal occasion, even if it’s not the expensive fairy tale wedding some of the brides had always dreamed of.
I doubt they even know it isn’t religious, let alone that it came from an opera.
We sang, “Here comes the bride/all dressed in white/Where is the groom?/He’s in the dressing room!”