Great Music to Play at Your Wedding
Advice 13.07.2021
As they say, music is the food of love. So when it comes to choosing the music for your wedding it’s worth giving it a bit of thought. From chilled instrumental music while your guests are eating to hands-in-the-air bangers when the party kicks off: here’s our guide to picking the best music for your wedding.
Music for mingling
Chances are there will be few occasions during your wedding day when your guests will be standing around chatting, such as on arrival as canapes are served, or after the ceremony when the photographs are being taken.
Live music is perfect is for these moments. Create a laid back and welcoming vibe and book a New Orleans street band, a string trio or even a traditional shanty group to keep guests entertained.
Music to walk down the aisle to
What music will you choose for your grand entrance? If classical music is your thing, then you can’t go wrong with these classics.
Canon in D - Pachelbel
Ave Verum Corpus - Mozart
The Swan (Le Cygne) - Saint Saens
The Flower Duet from Lakmé - Léo Delibes
Cello suite No. 1 – Bach
The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba – Handel
Or why not walk down the aisle to the instrumental or piano version of a favourite song and then play the original for your first dance? Both versions of the following songs are lovely.
At Last - Etta James
Here Comes the Sun - Beatles
Stay with Me - Sam Smith
Perfect - Ed Sheeran
You are the Reason - Calum Scott and Leona Lewis
I Get to Love You - Ruelle
A Thousand Years - Christina Perri
Music during the wedding breakfast
When everyone is eating and chatting, you need some light background music playing to create an ambient atmosphere. If you’ve booked a string trio or a guitarist for the mingling part of the day, ask them to play during the wedding breakfast too. But equally you can create your own playlist of laid-back tunes.
The world is your oyster here but it’s probably worth going with some kind of theme. Create a cocktail lounge feel and play Rat Pack songs like:
Come Fly With Me - Frank Sinatra
Volare - Dean Martin
Fly Me to the Moon - Frank Sinatra
Or 80s soul classics:
Where is the Love - Roberta Flack
Wishing on a Star – Rose Royce
What’s Going On – Marvin Gaye
Or choose a whole playlist of chilled songs that have the word love in them. Such as:
Nobody’s Love - Maroon 5
Love Story - Taylor Swift
All Your Need is Love - The Beatles
Love Yourself - Justin Bieber
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow - The Shirelles
First dance music
When it comes to choosing a first dance, pick something you both love, something that’s a bit on the romantic side and something you can both dance to. Now’s probably not the time to choose that late 90s hip hop classic or drill track.
The following all deserve an honourable mention in the first dance category.
Everything - Michael Buble
All of Me - John Legend
Thinking Out Loud - Ed Sheeran
Can’t Take My Eyes Off You - Andy Williams
Let’s Stay Together - Al Green
Stand by Me - Ben E King
My Girl- The Temptations
Ho Hey - Lumineers
Can You Feel the Love Tonight - Elton John
She’s the One - Robbie Williams
Make You Feel My Love - Adele
Somewhere Only we Know - Keane
Bonfire Heart - James Blunt
Can’t Help falling in Love - The Elvis rendition always hits the mark but listen to the Kina Grannis version too
And we all deny it, but who doesn’t love a bit of Take That? There are a few classics to choose from including Never Forget, Greatest Day and A Million Love Songs.
Remember those full-on choreographed numbers where couples re-enacted the Dirty Dancing routine? They may be a thing of the past. But it’s probably worth taking a dance lesson or two if you don’t want to look like a couple of teenagers swaying at the school disco.
Evening entertainment
So the age old question is do you choose to have a live band or a DJ? We’re seeing more and more couples opt for both, with live music early in the evening and a full-on club night from 11pm onwards.
If you go for a DJ, give them a handful of songs you absolutely want played and those you absolutely don’t. Yes, we’re talking about the Chicken Dance, Macarena, Agadoo, Cotton Eye Joe and YMCA.
On your invitation RSVPs, you might want to ask your guests which three tracks they’d love to hear. But don't be shocked when granny opts for Sex on Fire by Kings of Leon, Livin’ on a Prayer by Bon Jovi or Sweet Child o’ Mine by Guns N’ Roses.
It’s also worth thinking about the age range of your guests and playing music with cross generational appeal. Motown is the genre that absolutely everybody loves, so opt for a few classics.
Baby Love - The Supremes
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough - Marvin Gaye
Respect - Aretha Franklin
And also choose a few songs that everyone knows the words to.
Sweet Caroline – Neil Diamond
Dance with Somebody - Whitney Houston
Uptown Funk - Bruno Mars
Oh What a Night – Frankie Valli
Billie Jean - Michael Jackson. The original version still cuts it. But we’re also loving the deep house version by Eduardo Luzquinos
But also trust your DJ to read the room and choose tracks that will get everyone up out of their chairs. According to wedding DJ and Sunday Times columnist, Dave Fawbert, his absolute floor fillers include:
Wake Me Up Before you Go Go - Wham
Boom Shake the Room - DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince
Don’t go breaking my Heart - Elton John and Kiki Dee
We Found Love - Rihanna
A Little Respect - Erasure
As for Marry You by Bruno Mars. This regularly tops lists as one of the best wedding songs ever AND one of the worst, thanks to all those proposal videos on YouTube. So we'll let you decide if it makes your playlist or not!
Check out all the above tracks on the Ash Barton Wedding Playlist on Spotify.