How many minutes should a wedding processional for bridesmaids, than bride and recessional be?

KCahill7910: How many minutes should a wedding processional for bridesmaids, than bride and recessional be?
Our friends are playing acoustic guitar for us and asked how long they should plan to play the songs for…

We’ll need a song for the bridesmaid processional, my (bride’s) processional and than recessional. I have 9 bridsemaids walking, three sets of parents and two ring bearers……..

Approximately how long for each song should the guitar players plan for?

Answers and Views:

Answer by HIS!
I’ve played in weddings before. You can’t time it perfectly. Suggest the musicians have the appropriate music ready that you have chosen for the processional. They will keep on eye on the attendants to know whether to repeat (another verse) to give more time for the processional. Or they will be able to tell when it’s time to let the music fade away when everyone is in place. You don’t normally get to the end of a piece of music at a time like this. It’s not a concert. Explain to them they need to look at it as background music to the events that are taking place. When the processional is finished, they end the music at an appropriate place.

Answer by Brisbane Humanist Celebrant
How much music you need depends on the combination of another of things in addition to the number of people involved
1. how long the aisle is, i.e. how long it will take for someone to walk the length of the aisle and get into position at a ceremonial pace of walking
2. how much space you allow between the individuals in the processional
3. whether everyone walks in separately or some people walk in in pairs

Generally speaking you need to allow for at least 3-4 paces between people for the processional and less than that for the recessional. The recessional also tends to go at a faster pace.

So, the only way to calculate how much music you need is to pace it out, time how long it takes for one person to make the full walk and multiply by the number of individuals/pairs in the processional, and allow for the extra time taken up by the spacing. You do the extra time at the end of the calculation this way

Say the aisle is 30 paces long and you are having 11 individuals or sets of individuals in the processional. That means you will have 10 “spacings of 3 paces each” to allow music for and will need to have a music piece that is 12 times as long it takes for one individual to walk down the aisle.

It is always better to have the piece slightly longer, to allow everyone to setlle once they get into position (say an extra 10 to 20 seconds).

Answer by I love my love
well having musicians is a lot easier than using a stereo because they can just stop playing once the bride reaches the altar. if you ask the guitarists to play something like canon in D, that just goes on and on and repeats over and over, so they can just start it up and go until everyone’s in place. if your rehearsal isn’t until the night before the wedding, then you and the groom should go to the ceremony site asap and time yourself walking down the aisle with a stopwatch. multiply that by 13 and you know how long it will take to get everyone down the aisle, assuming the 2 ring bearers are walking together.

the recessional is longer, or the musicians can switch to another song after the wedding party has exited because the music should continue as guests mingle around on their way to the reception.

Answer by 4REEE
This is why you’re supposed to have a rehearsal at the actual site so you will know how long it takes.

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