OfficiantScript

Wedding reading

A recorded song

The family’s choice

“A recorded song” (the family’s choice) is a piece of music read at weddings and funerals alike. It takes about 4 minutes read aloud, usually by a musician. We do not reprint the words here — the note below says why, and what to bring instead.

Why the words are not printed here

Name the track and the artist as the family say them, and let the venue handle the playing. Three things to settle beforehand: who presses play, whether it is the full track or faded at a set point, and whether you sit down while it plays. You almost always should — standing at the front for four minutes with nothing to do is the longest four minutes of the day.

Pieces still in copyright are listed by title and author only — we name them and tell you where to get them, but we do not reproduce the words. Public-domain text is printed in your script in full.

What it says

A recorded song is played through the venue’s sound system rather than sung by the room. It can be anything: the couple’s first-dance song played as they walk in, the song a grandfather always hummed, the album playing in the car on every family holiday. Its job in the ceremony is to say something the words cannot, in the person’s own taste. On the run-sheet it is a fixed block of time with a clear start and end, and someone other than the officiant is responsible for it.

For anything modern. Add the title, and the run-sheet gives it a cue and a slot. Read at weddings and funerals alike. Themes: their favorite song · played not sung · a slideshow · the entrance or the exit · anything modern.

Who it suits

Any ceremony, religious or not, and anything modern, since the venue’s license covers playing a recording. It suits a funeral where a song carries the person’s character better than a hymn could, and a wedding where the couple want their own music at the entrance or exit. It is often played over a photo slideshow. Lyrics matter: listen to the whole song first, because a well-loved chorus can sit in a verse that says something nobody wants said at a funeral or a wedding.

Where it goes in the ceremony

At a wedding, during the processional, the signing of the register, or the recessional. At a funeral, as the coffin is brought in or carried out, during a slideshow, or in a reflective pause after the eulogy. The venue’s technician, the funeral director or a nominated friend presses play.

Reading it aloud

Allow about 4 minutes on the run-sheet, and trim it to the track or set actually chosen.

Questions about reading it aloud

How long does “A recorded song” take to read aloud?

“A recorded song” takes about 4 minutes read aloud at a ceremony pace, which is slower than conversation — roughly 130 words a minute. That is the figure the run-sheet uses when it works out the timing for the whole service.

Who usually reads “A recorded song”?

A musician rather than a reader. “A recorded song” runs about 4 minutes, and whoever is running the sound needs the exact cue point agreed in advance.

Can “A recorded song” be printed in a ceremony script?

Not by us. Name the track and the artist as the family say them, and let the venue handle the playing. Three things to settle beforehand: who presses play, whether it is the full track or faded at a set point, and whether you sit down while it plays. You almost always should — standing at the front for four minutes with nothing to do is the longest four minutes of the day.

A reading is two minutes of the hour.

The rest is the welcome, the vows, the ring exchange, the pronouncement — and the timing that holds them together. Answer some questions about the couple and get the whole ceremony, written out, with this reading in its place.

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