Wedding Songs

Canon In D, a timeless wedding ceremony song

The engagement ring is on your finger. It’s time to make plans for the big day. Your big wedding day starts with your wedding ceremony. The music you choose for this celebration can set the entire mood of your event. If you want to have a more traditional ceremony you could consider on choosing some time-honored classics such as “Here Comes the Bride” or Pachelbel’s “Canon in D.”




These are oldies but goodies instrumental classical tunes that are the most requested by couples getting married. These pieces have been played at weddings nuptials since before our great-grandparents were married.

But, what do you know about the beautiful and timeless Canon in D Major by Pachelbel beside the fact that it is one of the most famous pieces of instrumental music of all time? The piece was written by Johann Pachelbel’s in 1680 for his love for music and it was based on his childhood.

Johann Pachelbel was a German Baroque composer, organist and also teacher, who brought the German organ tradition to its heights. The large quantity of sacred and secular music has placed him among the most important composers of the middle Baroque age. His music was very famous and popular during his lifetime.

Canon in D was written by Johann Pachelbel in 1680 as a piece of chamber music for three violins and basso continuo. Pachelbel’s piece combines the techniques of canon with those of ground bass.

Considered to be one of the best one hit wonders in the history of classical music, Canon In D became extremely popular after it was used in the movie Father of the Bride and has been used in countless celebrity weddings since. Usually wedding couples choose to play this song for their wedding processional for the bridal party.

Canon in D has been arranged for a variety of musical versions, including an electric guitar version that you can find on YouTube.  The chord progression version has been one of the most popular choices used for a wedding. Being such a famous wedding ceremony song and currently the most requested one, it should be easy on finding musicians willing to play it for you.

From the simplest to the most elaborate arrangements, you will find lots of versions for this wonderful tune. On YouTube you will find recordings made by a variety of musical ensembles such as orchestra, string quartet, harp and piano to make an idea about the different sounds.

You can find Pachelbel’s Canon in D arranged for brass quintet by the Canadian Brass, for flute by James Galway and for flute and voice by Cleo Laine. Another version for string quartet was arranged by George Rochberg as part of the String Quartet No. 6.

The piece even has a version for synthesizer made by Tomita and called Canon of the Three Stars. And this is not all. As I said before, there are hundreds of other arrangements for every existing instrument. Check out the Internet for all the interesting variations of this everlasting song and choose the right one for your wedding ceremony.

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