Music is the Ultimate Mood Maker at Your Wedding

Music is the ultimate mood-maker.  It lets you control the energy of your celebration, sets a mood, creates a memory, and renews the spirit like nothing else.

Welcome your guests with instrumental music. Whether you've hired live musicians to line a stairwell or tunes are playing from your iPod, there should never be silence anywhere guests are present.

If you're getting married at a house of worship, request the choir or other performers be ready to commence 15 minutes before invitation time, with a mutually agreed selection of favorites.

If your ceremony is at a hotel, ask if you can plug into the sound system and pipe in a mix of tunes you've prepared in advance, on a compilation CD or an iPod. If you've hired live musicians, you may want to use their sound system.

When your ceremony is over, notch up the volume for your walk back down the aisle. Select a song with a celebratory tune that's upbeat, with vocals, to add great energy.

Ensure the music at the cocktail area is set a few notches higher and have it starts the minute you're pronounced husband and wife --- it will draw your guests in that direction. When cocktails are over, shift the tone of the music down as you bring up the volume in the area where dinner and dancing will take place.

Reception at The Palms Pavilion. Image courtesy of Drozian Photoworks.

It's not just the beat of the music you need to consider, but the volume level too. Have a written schedule of events with a set timeline so your band and caterer are in sync: background music playing while dining and dance music when you're ready to hit the dance floor. It's no fun sitting around a table with the music so loud it's impossible to think, let alone chat and create conversation. When it's dance time, the volume needs to be punched up a level or two, not blasting from the four corner speakers around the room.

Music is one of the most powerful "tools of the trade." By manipulating the volume and beat of the music, your guests will experience a carefully thought out beginning, middle, and end to a well orchestrated celebration.

Check WeddingsNorthValley.com for our musical recommendations.