The style of your wedding will dictate the style of wedding songs you have, particularly for your wedding ceremony. For a religious ceremony the music is more traditional and may include hymns during the service. A civil ceremony is more relaxed and you can choose any style of music so long as it doesn’t have any religious references.

If you are having a religious ceremony you may be handed a list of pre-determined wedding songs to use during the ceremony. This is not because the venue only wants you to have music of their choosing, but because these are songs they deem suitable and for which the organist has music.

Many venues though may be happy for you to choose songs of your own, so long as you discuss them with your officiant first and get their approval. If you are choosing hymns for your service then choose hymns that are popular and which your guests will know, otherwise your service could be filled with random mumblings rather than a chorus of uplifting voices!

Civil wedding ceremonies will allow you to choose any style of music you want and many couples like to have a mixture of traditional and modern wedding songs. As a civil service tends to be shorter than a religious one you will really only need music for when you enter, signing the register and when you leave. You may also want to choose one or two pieces of background music which can be played quietly as your guests take their places.

Whichever type of ceremony you are having it is important that you listen to the chosen wedding songs in their entirety and if possible get hold of a copy of the lyrics. Some songs which may at first listen seem suitable can actually turn out to be totally unsuitable once you read through the lyrics. It is also important that if you are entrusting a third party to source or even play the music that they know which version to play. There is a tale about a bride who requested the theme song from Robin Hood to be played as she walked back down the aisle. On the day the organist broke into ‘Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen..’ when what she actually meant was ‘Everything I Do, I Do It For You’ – the theme from the movie Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves!

Here are a few suggestions for traditional and contemporary wedding songs for your wedding ceremony:

The Prelude: Traditional Songs

Awake My Heart With Gladness –Flor Peeters

Chorale in A Minor, Adagio –Cesar Franck

Concerto in D Minor, Adagio –Tomaso Albinoni

Contemporary Songs

Loving You –Kenny G

Truly –Lionel Richie

Unchained Melody –The Righteous Brothers

The Processional: Traditional Songs

Romeo and Juliet Love Theme –Tchaikovsky

Spring, from the Four Seasons –Antonio Vivaldi

Te Deum –Marc-Antoine Charpentier

Contemporary Songs

The Vow –Jeremy Lubbock

Wedding Processional from the Sound of Music –Rodgers and Hammerstein

Wind Beneath My Wings –Bette Midler

The Recessional: Traditional Songs

Hornpipe –George F Handel

Ode To Joy –Ludwig van Beethoven

Spring, Allegro from the Four Seasons –Antonio Vivaldi

Contemporary Songs

Oh! You Pretty Things –David Bowie

Signed, Sealed, Delivered –Stevie Wonder

Sunshine of My Life –Stevie Wonder