The traditional church wedding features two bridal marches by two different classical composers. The bride walks down the aisle to the majestic, moderately-paced music of the “Bridal Chorus” from Richard Wagner’s 1848 opera “Lohengrin.” The newlyweds then exit to the more jubilant, upbeat strains of the “Wedding March” from Felix Mendelssohn’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
The custom dates back to the royal marriage in 1858 of Victoria, princess of Great Britain, and Empress of Germany, to Prince Frederick William of Prussia. Victoria, eldest daughter of Britain’s Queen Victoria, selected the music herself. A patron of the arts, she valued the works of Mendelssohn and practically venerated those of Wagner. Given the British penchant for copying the monarchy, soon, brides throughout the Isles, nobility and commoners alike, were marching to Victoria’s drummer thus establishing a Western wedding tradition.
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Source:
Wedding Traditions. http://www.gagirl.com/wedding/wedding5.html
