Vogue Season Wedding Tips

58 Wedding Songs for Every Moment of Your Wedding

Woman Getting Married
Woman Getting Married – Unique ideas for wedding venues, wedding decorations, wedding dresses, and more!
Photo by Basia
As I’m sure most of you know by now, finding the perfect mix of wedding songs is NOT an easy task. Nevermind the fact that so many people have different music tastes, but there’s this sense of pressure to pick the RIGHT song for the RIGHT moment. It can all get a bit overwhelming! That’s why we came up with this handy guide to which wedding songs you’ll need and when, alone with our suggestions for the best ones. We’re going to be adding to this list on a regular basis, so check back to see if there’s a new wedding song we’ve recently added that you love!
The Prelude Wedding prelude music is what you would start playing as soon as the doors open. Classical works well for this, as does any kind of instrumental music. For our wedding prelude music we had our DJ play an entire CD of Django Reinhardt’s greatest hits.

The Processional Wedding pro..

Woman Getting Married
Woman Getting Married – Unique ideas for wedding venues, wedding decorations, wedding dresses, and more!

wedding songs

Photo by Basia

As I’m sure most of you know by now, finding the perfect mix of wedding songs is NOT an easy task. Nevermind the fact that so many people have different music tastes, but there’s this sense of pressure to pick the RIGHT song for the RIGHT moment. It can all get a bit overwhelming! That’s why we came up with this handy guide to which wedding songs you’ll need and when, alone with our suggestions for the best ones. We’re going to be adding to this list on a regular basis, so check back to see if there’s a new wedding song we’ve recently added that you love!

The Prelude

Wedding prelude music is what you would start playing as soon as the doors open. Classical works well for this, as does any kind of instrumental music. For our wedding prelude music we had our DJ play an entire CD of Django Reinhardt’s greatest hits.

The Processional

Wedding processional music plays when the family and wedding party comes down the aisle, including the bride. You can mix several of these songs for your wedding processional, and choose the one you love the most for your big moment!

Religious/Traditional:

Whether you’re having a religious wedding ceremony or you just love the sound of the classics, these are all gorgeous choices for wedding processional songs. Just remember that if your ceremony is in a religious venue, you will want to clear your music choices with them ahead of time as some might have restrictions.

“Ava Maria” by Franz Schubert

“Canon in D” by Johann Pachelbel

“Laudate Dominum” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

“The Hornpipe” from The Watermusic by George Friederich Handel

“Clair De Lune” by Claude Debussy

“Bridal Chorus” from Lohengrin by Richard Wagner

(Note: Some people find this song offensive. Read more about why this song and a couple other classics aren’t people’s favorite, though honestly unless it personally bothers you we say forget about it!)

SEE MORE: 17 Beautiful Catholic Wedding Songs

Modern:

I’m a big, big fan of choosing sweet (and cinematic!) processional songs, especially for your big moment when you walk down the aisle. One of my favorite memories from our wedding day was walking down the aisle to “Feeling Good” (one of our picks, below), which was a surprise in itself, but then we also hired two horn players to stand in the back and start playing along to it as soon as I came out. I only wish I had it on video!

“Sweet Thing” by Van Morrison

“All You Need is Love” by The Beatles

“Do You Realize” by The Flaming Lips

“Sea of Love” by Cat Power

“Marry Me” by Train (wedding version)

“Kissing You” by Des’Ree

“Somewhere Over the Rainbow” by Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwo’ole

“Feeling Good” by Nina Simone

“Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” by The Smiths (instrumental version by The Dream Academy)

“Here Comes the Sun” version by Nina Simone

The Recessional

Recessional music plays as soon as your ceremony ends and you’re about to turn around and walk back down the aisle a married woman! This music should be happy and uptempo and basically be a big moment of celebration. We played Whole Wide World by Wreckless Eric for ours (starting at around the 1:50 mark, which we used below) and it was so fun! Don’t be afraid to go a little kitschy with this one if you’re looking for something modern vs. traditional.

Religious/Traditional:

“Wedding March” by Felix Mendelssohn

“Ode to Joy” by Ludwig Van Beethoven

“Brandenburg Concerto No.4” by Johann Sebastian Bach

“Spring” from “The Four Seasons” by Antonio Vivaldi

“Trumpet Tune” by Henry Purcell

Modern:

“Whole Wide World” by Wreckless Eric

“You’ve Got the Love” by Florence + The Machine

“Just Like Heaven” by The Cure

“Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen

“Heroes” by David Bowie

“All Day and All of the Night” by The Kinks

“I Feel Good” by James Brown

The Cocktail Hour

Cocktail hour music takes place during the–you guessed it–cocktail hour! LOL. This is a great time to look for compilations if you’re DIY’ing your wedding music, or to talk to your DJ about playing a certain genre of music (Ie: songs by classic singers like Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday, country and bluegrass, motown, etc.). If you’ve hired a band or quartet you can also talk to them about the style of music you like best. We’re a big fan of blues or jazz during cocktail hours. See how we made our cocktail hour playlist here, and even incorporated wedding favors around it! Here’s a few of our favorite cocktail-hour worthy songs, below:

“My Girl” by The Tempatations

“That’s Alright” by Arthur Crudup

“All of Me” by Billie Holiday

The Intros

This is the song (or songs) that are played when your parents (both sets) and the wedding party are introduced by your DJ or emcee as well as you and the groom. There are really no rules for this, and it’s actually the one song I totally let my husband pick since he gave me so much leeway for other parts of the wedding!

“Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses

“Hold On, I’m Comin'” by Sam and Dave

“You Really Got Me” by The Kinks

“What a Feeling” by Irena Cara

The First Dance

Aside from the wedding song you choose to walk down to the aisle to, this is most likely the one you’ll obsess over the most. Go for one that really moves you, even if you’re hearing it for the first time (I mean, does anybody really have their own special song anymore??)

“Into the Mystic” by Van Morrison

“Harvest Moon” by Neil Young

“Never Tear Us Apart” by INXS

SEE MORE: 20 First Dance Songs That Aren’t Played to Death

“Fly Me to the Moon” by Frank Sinatra

“California Stars” by Billy Bragg and Wilco

“Fade Into You” by Mazzy Star

“Lucky Man” by The Verve

The Bride/Father of the Bride Dance

After the couple’s first dance, it’s tradition for the bride and her father to have the next dance. We personally think this song can be particularly hard, because so many classic love songs have a romantic undertone. We think these picks below are about as neutral as you can get.

SEE MORE: Father/Daughter Dance Songs That Won’t Make You Cringe

“That’s How Strong My Love Is” by Otis Redding

“What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong

“The Way You Look Tonight” by Frank Sinatra

The Groom/Mother of the Groom Dance

We think this dance gets overlooked too often! It’s so sweet to see groom’s dance with their moms, and it definitely deserves a special song. We like these, below.

“Songbird” by Fleetwood Mac

“The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Roberta Flack

“Sweet Child o’ Mine” by Luna

The Dinner Reception

Just like the cocktail reception, this is a great time to pick upbeat music that is not super distracting. I would alternate genres more for this (vs. the cocktail hour where I think one theme tends to work great).

“Crazy Love” by Van Morrison

“Here Comes My Girl” by Tom Petty

“Oh Marie” by Louis Prima

“I’ve Got a Woman” by Ray Charles

The Dance Party

This needs no introduction! Whether you’ve hired a band or a DJ, you’ll want to pick songs that work for multiple generations and span difference decades. For instance our friends might love The Strokes or Jay-Z, but your mom and her friends will probably love Gloria Gaynor or Donna Summer. And your dad? Sign him up for Journey! These are a few of our favorite wedding reception songs, below.

“Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond

“Last Night” by The Strokes

“Empire State of Mind” by Jaz Z. featuring Alicia Keys

“Bennie and The Jets” by Elton John

“Hollaback Girl” by Gwen Stefani

“I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor

SEE MORE: 25 Totally Awesome 80s Songs You Need On Your Wedding Playlist

58 Wedding Songs for Every Moment of Your Wedding
Woman Getting Married.

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