DIY Wedding Tips: How to Coordinate Your Own Wedding Music

To save money on weddings, many couples on a budget are opting to do the wedding music themselves, by either drawing on friends and relatives who are talented musically, or by using a playlist of pre-recorded music. However, this task is not nearly as simple as it may seem, and there are a number of things to think about when you are coordinating your own wedding music.

Coordinate your Own Wedding Music: Start Early

Especially when you and your fiancé are planning your wedding from scratch and coordinating many of the other elements yourself, it can be really tempting to put off the music part of it until the week before the ceremony when everything else is set. Resist the temptation, and start on it early. It is a good relaxing project to listen to some tracks together and pick your favorite version, and it will ensure that you have plenty of time to mull over your music selections.

Coordinate your Own Wedding Music: Find a Reliable Music Person

Early on, decide on who is going to be running the music player at your wedding. This person should be very responsible, familiar with the type of music player you will be using, and attentive to detail. You don't want them arriving 10 minutes late to your wedding, or forgetting to bring the music player. This could be the same person who you are using to run the rest of your sound system with the spoken audio on microphones.

Coordinate your Own Wedding Music: Consider all Elements of the Service

You will not only need a track to play when the bride walks down the aisle and when the bride and groom leave together, which are the two most traditional places to have music, but you will need prelude music while guests are being seated, maybe a special song for when the ushers seat the families, music for the entrance of the bridesmaids, and even some post-service music if you would like. You should also consider what music you want to be playing during your reception, other than the music for the dance time.

Coordinate your Own Wedding Music: Decide if you want Accompaniment

Some tracks can be complemented well with some live music, such as adding a live violin to just one song that would sound great with violin in it. Also, if you will be singing any congregational hymns, consider having a vocalist singing into a microphone to lead the rest of the congregation who may not be as familiar with the track as you are.

Coordinate your Own Wedding Music: Rehearse Cues with your Music Person

It is not enough to just have a person who knows sound system technology, but who has no idea what song is playing when. You will want to carefully go over the order of service with this person and have them at your wedding rehearsal so they know exactly what the cues are to start each track, and when to stop it if it needs to be stopped early as well. This will help all of your music to go smoothly on the day of your wedding!