The “Wedding March in C major, Op. 61 No. 9” is among the most celebrated ceremonial pieces in Western music. Written in 1842 as part of Mendelssohn’s incidental music to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, it gained world fame when played at the 1858 royal wedding of Princess Victoria (daughter of Queen Victoria) and Prince Frederick William of Prussia. The work opens with triumphant brass fanfares and stately orchestral writing that evoke unity, procession, and festivity. Its bright harmonic language and rhythmic regularity made it the archetype of the modern bridal recessional, transcribed for organ, orchestra, and countless ensembles. Over time it became a universal symbol of matrimony, celebration, and the blending of two themes—or lives—into harmony.