Wedding Music - Songs
Recommendations and Thoughts
How do I even start making choices for wedding music?
- The 1st choice to make is “Live or Recorded”?
- Live = Musicians
- Recorded = DJ (or someone running the
CD player or sound system)
- The 2nd choice is “Instrumental or Vocal”?
- Instrumental wedding music = a string quartet, harpist, violinist, or guitarist (or, if recorded, a full orchestra)
- Vocal wedding music = a capella, or
with a piano (or keyboard) or guitar accompaniment
- The 3rd choice is “Classical or Modern”?
- Classical = strings, or an older song
- Modern = 20th century songs
Once you’ve made these 3 choices, then the next thing to do is look at songs. Here are the most popular choices. You can choose anything you’d like, of course, but it’s nice to know what the classic, traditional songs are.
Instrumental |
Vocal
– Classic (Live or recorded) |
Vocal – Modern |
| Processional | Processional: |
Processional |
Canon in D - Pachelbel |
O Mio Babbino Caro from ‘Gianni Schicchi’ - Puccini Laudate Dominum - Mozart |
Have You Ever Been In Love - Celine Dion My Heart Will Go On - Love Theme from ‘The Titanic’ |
| Unity Candle | Unity Candle |
Unity Candle |
Ave Maria - Schubert Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring - Bach |
Let the Bright Seraphim - Handel Ave Maria - Schubert |
Wind Beneath My Wings - Bette Midler I Knew I Loved You - Savage Garden |
Recessional |
Recessional | Recessional |
Wedding March – Mendelssohn Trumpet Voluntary (Prince of Denmark's March) – Clarke |
Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring - Bach Rejoice Greatly from ‘The Messiah’ – Handel |
From This Moment - Shania Twain A New Day Has Come - Celine Dion |
Just FYI, here are the top 10 wedding ceremony songs:
- "At Last" (Etta James)
- "Only Time" (Enya)
- "Come Away With Me" (Norah Jones)
- "Appalachia Waltz" (Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Mark O'Connor)
- "Unforgettable" (Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole)
- "It's Only Time" (Magnetic Fields)
- "The Look of Love" (Dionne Warwick/Burt Bacharach)
- "The Vow" (Jeremy Lubbock)
- "Can't Help Falling In Love" (Elvis Presley)
- "What A Wonderful World" (Louis Armstrong)
I look forward to hearing from you!
