Don’t know about Stairway… as a wedding song, but when I was in (Catholic boy’s) high school, they played the song during the [del]fidgeting and whispering[/del] quiet contemplation period while we waited to go to confession. :dubious:
Sounds like the organist had a bit of a sense of humor. Back in my Catholic days, I used to help out on big masses or services by playing keyboards along with the church organist. We had one service at a cemetery, and I couldn’t help myself but to sneak in a few bars of Stairway while we doing some meditative modal thing in A minor. Nobody in the congregation seemed to notice, but the look he shot me! 
It would be the sly joke a high school organist would try to slip past the Brothers, but a recording of Stairway…, lyrics and all, was played on a tape player. One of the Brothers consciously chose it as the meditation music. 
In my early 20’s I worked as a wedding DJ, probably did over 200 weddings. I cannot recall ever playing Stairway to Heaven or any Zeppelin song at a wedding. And I was hired to DJ at weddings cover the gamut of budgets - from backyard pool-party affairs to country club swanky.
Oh, well, then, huh. Odd.
Because people don’t listen to lyrics. Often they just hear a few key words in the hook. Stairway to Heaven, duh, 'cause getting married is supposed to be “heaven”. Churches are all about “heaven”.
Similar to how Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” became sort of a big right wing patriotic anthem when it came out, nobody actually listened to the lyrics - they only caught the hook. It’s not a patriotic song, it’s an indictment of America.
Did they play that other hymn, In A Garden Of Eden, by I. Ron Butterfly?
Yup, the imigrant song
Went to a wedding in the burbs maybe 12 years ago where the wedding party was introduced to “Rock N Roll.”
Great wedding, by the way. One of the best playlists I’ve heard. The marriage, maybe not so much.
double post
Gallow’s Pole?
:tilts head: It’s weird that this sort of makes sense.
I like the Tiger Lillies so…yeah.
Concur on your organist having a sly sense of humor. He would’ve gotten more points from me if he also did the organ intro to Zeppelin’s “Your Time Is Gonna Come”.
How about Aqualung? Was that requested very often?
My ex wife told me her cousin’s first dance song at her wedding was “All My Love”
When I responded suggesting ours could be “Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You” she wasn’t amused.
Even more popular is I Will Always Love You. So your new spouse will know that even after you break up, you’ll still be thinking of them.
And don’t get me started on The Hokey Pokey.
No, can’t say I ever remember that being on the song list for a wedding. But Stairway was. It was a long time ago, and I didn’t have that job for all that long, but I vaguely remember that our version was toned down quite a bit in the third section.
I don’t think it was played at every wedding, but I remember learning it, so it must have come up at least once.