Your wedding at St. Joseph the Worker Parish will be a highlight of your lives together and music can play a central role in making your ceremony a beautiful, Christ-centered event.  Planning the music for your wedding may seem like a daunting task, but if you keep in mind a few simple guidelines, it can be an easy process:

Role of Music in the Wedding:

• Beautiful music greatly enhances the time before, during and immediately following the wedding ceremony, especially during the pageantry in Processions in and out of the church.
• Most importantly, music fulfills an important role in the liturgy itself
  • During the wedding Mass, we will sing the Gloria, Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, Eucharistic Acclamations (Holy, Holy, etc), and Hymns, and, perhaps, while you are making a prayerful presentation to the Blessed Mother
  • Please keep in mind the sacred nature of this event when you are thinking about music for your wedding

Procedures - Practical stuff

• Please contact Norm Chapman, the Director of Music at SJW, as soon as the date and time of your wedding are finalized.  This will lock wedding into the Music Ministry Calendar and an Organist will be assigned.  (Norm Chapman plays most of the weddings at SJW, however, occasionally, Mass scheduling conflicts require that one of our other organists play some Parish weddings.)
• We can begin planning your music as soon as you are ready, but generally, about three months before the wedding date is sufficient.  The exception would be if you are planning to hire supplemental musicians, or to bring in singers from outside of SJW.  In that case, contact the Director of Music as early as possible so that all of the necessary arrangements can be made.
• There are downloadable Wedding Planners on this page.  They will help you with the music selection and offer links so that you can hear recordings of the musical options available.  You may, on occasion, go off of the list if there is something special that you would like played at your wedding.  Please let your organist know as early as possible to allow for adequate preparation.  Also, please keep in mind that Diocesan and Parish guidelines do not permit the use of secular music for the wedding ceremony - this includes instrumental versions.  Please reserve those pieces for your reception.
• Your organist is available to answer any questions you have.  You are welcome to utilize the online resources to select your music, or, if you prefer, the organist will be happy to meet with you personally to guide you through the process.  If you choose to compete the forms yourself, please email copies to your organist as soon as you can.

A note about cantors vs. soloists

• It is wonderful to have a friend or relative participate in the music for the wedding.  However, it is very important that the singer be comfortable leading the liturgical music for the wedding ceremony - that is the primary role of the Cantor.  Please notify your organist as soon as possible if you want to include a singer who is not from SJW.  We will ask if the singer is Catholic, and if so, in which parish do they normally sing?  If they are not Catholic, we may need to arrange for an SJW cantor to lead certain parts of the ceremony.  
• While a non-Catholic soloist may be well versed in singing Wedding Music, they may not be familiar with how to lead the congregation in singing the Responsorial Psalm, Alleluia, Holy, Holy, etc.  That's the primary difference between a cantor and a soloist.
• So, if you have a friend or relative that sings, but is not catholic, you may want to consider asking them to sing the solos, but you may also want a cantor provided by the church to lead the singing for the ceremony. It can be overwhelming to a soloist to be confronted with the reality of the music list for a Catholic mass. 
• Either way, please communicate with your organist so that we can make singing for your wedding a pleasant experience for your singer!

Brief note about stipends

• The organist stipend for SJW weddings is $200
• The cantor stipend for SJW weddings is $150
• Please forward stipend checks, made payable in the name of the organist and cantor, to the Parish Center at least two weeks prior to the wedding.  Mark your envelope to the attention of Norman Chapman.  The address is:  2001 Ardmore Blvd., Pittsburgh, PA 15221