I’m in dire need of suggestions.
So far, Pachelbel’s Canon has been nixed on grounds of excessive Pachelbel’s Canon.
I thought Toccata and Fugue was appropriate, our wedding being on 31 October, but that was nixed too.
Any suggestions? And yes, I’ve seen *that *youtube video, and neither of us have the dancing legs. 
“Por Una Cabeza” by Carlos Gardel (from Scent of a Woman)
Alternately, if you have live musicians, consider asking them. There’s a ton of great music that no one has heard of, and musicians sit around hoping for the opportunity to play something other than Pachelbel
Are you wanting a classical piece or are you prepared to have something more modern? What is the overall style of your ceremony?
Modern is fine too… actually, anything short of techno would probably be okay.
Others we were thinking of were:
Love Story - Shirley Bassey
Quando quando quando
There will be a church service and a dinner banquet, so a good mix would be interesting!
We had the church organist play the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah as the recessional - because we were glad the whole thing was over with.
The trumpet voluntary aka Prince of Denmark’s March
I used Handel’s Water Music and Music for the Fireworks and Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto. We had a “no church music” policy (as per both my father and the Rabbi) so that tended to cut down on the choices.
I wanted “You’re So Cool” by Hans Zimmer (theme from “True Romance”) but my musicians said it was hard to find and expensive, and we had to stay in budget.
We had a Catholic ceremony so we couldn’t go too modern. We used “Gabriel’s Oboe” from *The Mission *for our processional. It’s a sentimental favorite, and I too was sick of Pachelbel’s Canon.
The Knot has a good list of all types of wedding music, from the ceremony prelude to the first dance.
A favorite of mine is My Only Love by the Statler Brothers.
We used the Vitamin String Quartet’s version of Queen’s “Somebody to Love” for the processional, and their cover of Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love With You” for the bridal march. It was amusing when our guests, after hearing what sounds like traditional classical music ask, “That was Queen, wasn’t it?”
I really like Bach, and I hate Pachebel’s Canon (and most other wedding music… trumpet voluntary, Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring, Mendelssohn, etc.), and we had a pianist/organ (we couldn’t have piped music, and I was too cheap for anything else), so we walked in to the Sarabande from Bach’s Partita No. 1 and out to a Bach fugue. My sister had piped music, so I convinced her to walk out to the Gloria from Bach’s Mass in B Minor (which, okay, is a little… ostentatious, but is a wonderful piece). The Dona Nobis Pacem from the B Minor Mass is the most gorgeous piece I know (and bonus for non-religious types, isn’t explicitly religious). I guess the Barber Adagio for Strings also falls in that general category as well.
A few that are lovely pieces but not of a classical nature:
John Berry “Your love amazes me”
Joe Cocker “You are so beautiful”
And the great Roy Orbison singing “Unchained Melody”
And best wishes by the way!
How about the opening movement of Vivaldi’s Gloria?
If you haven’t already done so, it would be worth checking with the church to see whether it has any guidelines regarding the sort of music that is/isn’t allowed.
Yes, it’s lovely. I’ve often sung it at weddings. However, I’m not so sure about the non-religious bit. It is, after all, a prayer to God to grant us peace.
Oh, Vivaldi’s Gloria is excellent!
Well, my atheist friends tell me that they can ask for peace without asking anyone in particular. Same for Thanksgiving, apparently. And I understand Ralph Vaughan Williams wasn’t very religious when he wrote his anti-war Dona Nobis Pacem. But maybe my friends are weird Anyway, I would certainly agree that Bach’s purpose in writing it was religious.
We used Trumpet Voluntary.
How about as a recessional, “Orpheus in the Underworld”? Aka the can-can dance.
I plan on using Mouret’s Rondeu as a processional. You may know it as the theme to Masterpiece Theater. I think it’s nice.
I really wanted to use Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Procession of the Nobles”, but I don’t know if an organ transcription exists, and it’s better with a full orchestra anyway (which was, obviously, out of our league).