Wedding songs will play an integral part on your wedding day, but many couples will underestimate just how many songs they need and when to play them. Most of us know we will need to have wedding songs for the ceremony and for the evening reception party. However, many of us forget that we also need songs for all the bits that happen in between the ceremony!

Basically you will need to choose appropriate wedding songs for the following elements of your day:

• The ceremony – processional, recessional and interlude
• The cocktail hour
• The wedding breakfast
• Cutting the cake
• First dance
• Evening party

Your ceremony will require a choice of songs for when you walk down the aisle, the interlude whilst you sign the register and when you walk back up the aisle. You may also need some music to play in the background whilst your guests take their seats. If you are having a religious ceremony you will also have the option of choosing some hymns to sing during the ceremony.

After the ceremony comes the cocktail hour. At this point you are likely to be busy having your wedding photographs taken so your guests will congregate, probably around the nearest bar, to chat and mingle amongst themselves. This is a nice opportunity for everyone to relax, look forward to the feast to come and to meet and greet old and new friends. So you can help to set the mood with some nice gentle background music – perhaps classical or instrumental songs.

Choose similar music to play during the wedding breakfast which will help to avoid any dramatic silences around the room! Music really does help to get people talking and to help relax the atmosphere in the room. Just make sure it isn’t too loud or raucous and that your guests don’t have to compete with it to make themselves heard!

You can choose a modern song for your cake cutting ceremony or continue with the background music already playing. Your first dance will see the two of you take to the dance floor on your own and many couples like to choose a romantic love song, perhaps one which holds particular significance to them.

Your timings will be crucial when it comes to determining how many wedding songs you will need. Ask your wedding officiant and reception venue about a timeline for the ceremony and the reception so you can make sure you have enough music to last each element of the day. It is also worth ensuring you have a few extra songs just in case you run over time, although having the repeat function selected on the sound system can work well as chances are your guests won’t notice that you have gone back to the first song! If you are compiling your own CD’s check the running time on the disc against the suggested timings for the particular section of the day you are recording for and make sure you mark all your CD’s according to when they should be played, i.e. Ceremony, Cocktail Hour.