When Rachel Armstrong got engaged to her now-husband, Chris, in 2021, one of the first decisions she made about her wedding was what music would be played for her entrance.
“I had visualized this wedding in my head even before I got engaged. I knew it would be romantic, but also a little fun and quirky,” she says. And when the day came to walk down the aisle, she did so to a violin arrangement of Canadian pop singer Carly Rae Jepsen’s 2015 hit, “I Really Like You.”
The Armstrongs are among a growing number of couples choosing contemporary songs performed in a classical style for their wedding music, a trend that’s thought to be partly linked to the popularity of Netflix. Bridgerton The series, a Regency period drama, premiered in December 2020 and features orchestral arrangements of pop songs throughout the series, including Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own,” Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball,” and Taylor Swift’s “Wildest Dreams.”
A spin-off series in 2023, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Storywas released with a classic reinterpretation of Alicia Keys’ 2003 hit “If I Ain’t Got You,” with Keys re-recording the song with an orchestra made up of women of color.
“I’ve been doing weddings since 2018. Bridgerton” he said. Jay Eme“My repertoire always had some pop songs in it, but couples would hear Mozart and Bach and request songs like that,” said Keys, a cellist who played at weddings and events and was also in the orchestra that accompanied the Keys. Bridgerton It came out and exploded.”
Eme says some couples request songs straight from the show, like a Keys song, but others want something more custom. One couple recently asked for a mashup of a traditional wedding march and Earth, Wind & Fire’s 1978 hit “September.” Another couple asked for a drum-and-bass song to be reworked. And “there’s always a ton of Taylor Swift songs,” Eme says.
Craig Parker, guitarist in Scottish wedding band FrancoSwift is also one of the most requested artists for acoustic ceremony and reception sets, where she performs with a violinist, she said.
He’s been offering the service for about eight years, but says demand has grown over the past four years to the point where he’s now getting an average of two bookings per weekend.
“Having a violin is a bit more traditional and sounds nice and classy in a typical venue, but most people want to hear songs they know,” he says. “Live music is nicer than having it blasted through speakers, but it’s still a bit more relaxed than having a singer play.”
“It creates a sophisticated atmosphere,” agrees Aimée. “There’s something special about having strings and classical music at a wedding. A lot of people don’t have access to a lot of live instruments, but they still want to hear their old favorites. It breathes new life into old favorite songs.”
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Aime and Parker say their music is most often used as background music for key moments like ceremonies, register signings, entrances and exits, while traditional pop music holds its own later into the night.
“For the party, we still wanted to sing and dance to our favorite songs,” Armstrong says, “but for the ceremony, we wanted something special, emotional and ‘us.’ A lot of our guests told us it took them a while to realize what the songs were because they thought they were just classical, but once they did, they were truly memorable.”
For Aimé, the process of arranging pop songs is just as rewarding as her traditional classical training. “In a way,” she says. [couples who want something unique and bespoke] “Classical music is my dream combination because I was so resentful of the classical music system,” she says. “I love orchestral playing and the buzziness of it. The bigger the better, but having the freedom to play the songs that I know and love, the songs that I hear on the radio every day, gives me variety and is a lot of fun.”
“If there’s something you love, and it’s not classical music, there’s always a way to play it on a classical instrument. You’re almost never limited.”
