National anthem at wedding ?

[itsallgoodinthehood]

Getting married at Windsor Guildhall next year . Windsor being the key point here.
We went to look around yesterday and I was surprised how emotional it made me feel . It was so overwhelming with all the history in one room .
My fiancé is Windsor born and bred hence he is very patriotic.
He goes along with the flow on most things and seriously doesn't ask for much .
BUT we were told yesterday that we needed to have 6 songs at the start of the ceremony then one for my entrance and then 3 for when we are signing the register. He wants to have two verses of the national anthem played after Ive come in and just before we start out marriage bit with the registrar.
Im quite liking the idea .
Its not too put there is it ?

@Verfremdungseffekt

Given 90% of the wedding blogs, wedding photographer blogs, wedding magazines who all have 10s of 1000s of British weddings on them including loads of trendy city ones and untraditional LGBTQ ones too, ALL have fathers or relatives walking the bride down the aisle - you must have a very niche sample size indeed.

I'm not sure you've thought this through. The 6 songs at the start are the general hubbub while people get seated. Then the one for your entrance is what you're"walking down the aisle to"... In which case this is the one you're saying you want as God Save Our Gracious Queen? It'd be really inappropriate but quite funny. Not sure that's what you're going for! You could play it after if it doesn't count as religious.

I still want to know who told the OP they "needed" to have all these "songs".

I didn't have any music at either of my civil ceremonies but if you want music to fill the silence as people are arriving, etc, just play some light classical.

@KatherineofGaunt

You'll get people thinking they should be singing along.

And... Two different versions?! Unless one is a grunge version, they're going to sound like the same song.

NOW you're talking, @KatherineofGaunt

I'm sure you & John know more about royal protocol than us commoners btw.
Perhaps OP & her fiance should hire you as musical consultant?
This "national anthem" she is proposing is such a dirge - these youngsters & their modern music!

I’d judge you and really really not in a good way.

Firstly, I’d find it odd that you were having a civil ceremony, yet asking “God” to save the Queen. Which way are you having it, are you into God or not?

Secondly, I’d be pretty judgmental of someone called on someone to “reign over them” at their wedding.

The Queen’s only there because her uncle happened to fall in love with someone who was married before. What right does that give her to “reign over” anyone.

The monarchy’s had a pretty rough ride on racism, climate change and sexual abuse recently - none of which are a vice that I would like at my wedding.

@shouldistop

I'd probably have a wee chuckle if someone played the national anthem at their wedding. I'm Scottish though (although I don't mind the royal family). Maybe it wouldn't raise as many eyebrows down south.

There's a verse of the N A just for the Scots!!! The only time I've encountered the N A being sung at a wedding has been during military weddings, a very pretentious acquaintance had it because he was a Scout leader and considered that to b appropriate.

Oh gosh, Rule Britannia played at our wedding without us having signed off on it and it was cringy / hilarious (over half the guest list was Indian or American, oops) but certainly not patriotic or nationalistic.

@InkKeepsRunning

I’d judge you and really really not in a good way.

Firstly, I’d find it odd that you were having a civil ceremony, yet asking “God” to save the Queen. Which way are you having it, are you into God or not?

Secondly, I’d be pretty judgmental of someone called on someone to “reign over them” at their wedding.

The Queen’s only there because her uncle happened to fall in love with someone who was married before. What right does that give her to “reign over” anyone.

The monarchy’s had a pretty rough ride on racism, climate change and sexual abuse recently - none of which are a vice that I would like at my wedding.

You'd truly go to the wedding of someone you loved and judge them?

ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba "the length of music is supposed to cover the time they spend singing the register"

Oh no, please don't tell the OP that she's got to sing the register. That would be even more cringeworthy!

He wants to have two verses of the national anthem played after Ive come in and just before we start out marriage bit with the registrar.

The implication being that you are the queen? 😂

Surely the guests will be looking round for which Royal is attending?

Since I attended a church wedding at which the bride came in to Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries, nothing surprises me!

@barkminsterblue Absolutely I would definitely judge them. I wouldn’t wish them ill or hate on them, but I’d definitely judge them on the lack of consistency and logic in their choices.

That said - I’m not sure anyone I love would even consider doing this, even if they have different views on religion and the royal family to me.

InkKeepsRunning

The Queen’s only there because her uncle happened to fall in love with someone who was married before. What right does that give her to “reign over” anyone

Err every right as it happens. She would just have had to wait until 1972 instead.

Plus the 'happening to fall in love' bit was a good excuse for DofW to get out of being king. WSimpson was said to have been more than a bit dischuffed when she found out what he'd done. She wasn't planning her future with him.

Why play a dirge like that when you could cover the pompous royalty aspect by entering to this magnificent piece?

(if that hasn't worked, it's Coronation Anthem No. 1 HWV by Handel)

Would people (in)voluntarily stand when it strikes up?
I'd love to be at a wedding where it was played just so I didn't, but DH and I came out of church to the Eurovision theme tune so what do I know.

@CustardySergeant

ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba "the length of music is supposed to cover the time they spend singing the register"

Oh no, please don't tell the OP that she's got to sing the register. That would be even more cringeworthy!

@CustardySergeant

🤣
I guess I mixed it up with the bit when the couple briefly leaves during a church wedding.

different places have different routines.
we got married in Hungary in a CofE church by a Catholic priest who was from New Zealand (I'm Hungarian, DH is English).
I had "Arrival of the Queen of Sheba" as my going in music, we walked out for the well-known Pachebel (sp) piece. had 4 lovely hymns and also a piece of music BIL1 composed especially for us.

we had to have a registry office wedding a few days before because legally you could only get married there and because I needed my Visa back to the UK sorted asap.
So we had two wedding days, 2 meals, I had 2 wedding dresses and 2 bouqets etc.
We don't do usual or simple stuff🤣🤣

@NeverDropYourMooncup
Zadok was a priest and Nathan was a prophet and there's a bit about God Save the King a few times(!) so it's disqualified, I'm afraid.
Good piece though

@Borka

Unless either of you are actually royal, I would think you had delusions of grandeur.

I've never had someone post something , that I was about to post, exactly word for word!

But yes, total delusions of grandeur, to the point that I doubt it would be allowed.

[quote campion]@NeverDropYourMooncup
Zadok was a priest and Nathan was a prophet and there's a bit about God Save the King a few times(!) so it's disqualified, I'm afraid.
Good piece though[/quote]
This is clearly why Pachelbel's Canon is a compulsory item for all wanky weddings. There's bugger all else you can play from prior to 1950 that doesn't have a tenuous link to God, is there?

@NeverDropYourMooncup I was contemplating how hilariously vainglorious it would be to blast Zadoc out at one's own wedding - just as your post popped up. Ta for the link!

It's perfect for the processional aspect, & the perfect backdrop for some discreet Royal Waving.

@campion

InkKeepsRunning

The Queen’s only there because her uncle happened to fall in love with someone who was married before. What right does that give her to “reign over” anyone

Err every right as it happens. She would just have had to wait until 1972 instead.

Plus the 'happening to fall in love' bit was a good excuse for DofW to get out of being king. WSimpson was said to have been more than a bit dischuffed when she found out what he'd done. She wasn't planning her future with him.

You can never know what the counter-factual is.

Edward & Wallis we’re sympathetic to Hitler, so maybe that would have seen the end of the Royal Family? Wallis was 40 when Edward abdicated, maybe as King & Queen they could have had children as there would have been pressure to do so? Maybe Elizabeth would have gotten more used to not being Queen by then and not actually wanted to step up. Who knows?

The simple fact is she became Queen because her Uncle loved a woman who had been married before (and of course her father subsequently died).

That’s fact not supposition or a counter-factual of what may have happened by 1972 in a parallel universe - which may or may not have ended up with her becoming Queen.

I, for one, don’t think that’s sufficient qualification to “rule over” me or anyone else.

This is without doubt one of the most bonkers things I've seen on here

Tbh i find this v☺️a bit self indulgent and almost like you consider yourselves royalty. I'd find it difficult to keep a straight face. I thought you were about to say that the venue were forcing you to do it!

Having said that it's your day and you should have it exactly as you want it 💕

I know lots of people want to feel like a princess on their big day but unless you are one it seems a little odd. Also the placement of the song in the service could be seen to infer the queen is there or you are her which is even more odd.