A unique musical performance can be entertaining and expressive. If your father always sang you to sleep in his rich tenor, a solo by him would be unforgettable. Or choose pieces that are important to you as a couple; you could enter or leave to a song from the soundtrack of a favorite movie you saw together, or a contemporary tune that holds significance for you.

Kerry Smith and Kevin McNeil made music a big part of their ceremony in South Orange, New Jersey. "We hired a trumpeter to perform the processional and recessional," says Kerry, who plays the trumpet in her local symphony. "My brother, who's a semi-professional tenor, sang in the ceremony. And since Kevin and I are both Irish, we had a bagpiper playing outside as guests left the church."

Belinda Takahashi, a classically trained composer, wrote all the music for her ceremony when she wed Adam Adelman near Woodstock, New York. A chamber group of former classmates from her alma mater, the Eastman School of Music, in Rochester, New York, played the processional and recessional the bride had composed, as well as a special piece she wrote as a surprise for her husband-to-be.

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