Bishop Stephen Platten of Wakefield and Dean Colin Slee of Southwark debate appropriate choices for music at weddings. The segment begins at about 20 minutes and 50 seconds in and lasts about 5 minutes.
Go here to find the audio link (only available 6 more days).
It’s a matter of personal aesthetics combined with theology (if any). It’s amusing to read of clerics discussing what is appropriate when such matters are merely the opinions of ecclesiastical bureaucrats.
I think actually it’s a bit of a power thing: “there was never a love like ours, so there will never be a wedding like ours either– and how dare you, as society’s representatives, lay down any sort of rules.”
Also, a lot of people simply aren’t paying attention to the music. I remember when we got married, we first talked to the organist at the church in question, and we started out talking about Lohengrin, which we didn’t want anyway. And she recounted what her extremely baffled and very German teacher said: “Vhy do tey vant dis musick? Don’t tey know de opera? Tat vedding didn’t last at all!” I got sucked into this myself, arranging a song from Phantom for a friend’s wedding. Of course they are now divorced.