Wedding Songs for Your Wedding Ceremony

By Jason Hennessey

Your choice of wedding songs for your ceremony will depend on the type of ceremony you have. A religious ceremony will require traditional music, whilst a civil ceremony which tends to be less formal will give you a wider choice of wedding songs to choose from, just as long as they don’t have any religious references.

Here are a few suggestions for each type of ceremony including suggestions for the processional (walking down the aisle) and the recessional (walking up the aisle as man and wife).

Religious CeremonyA religious venue may have a set list of music that they will want you to choose from, whilst others are happy to let you choose but impose some criteria first. Whatever you choose make sure your officiant is happy with it and that the organist is happy to play it!

Processional Music1. Air in F, Handel2. Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, Handel3. Prince of Denmark’s March, Clarke4. Pastoral Symphony, Handel5. Trumpet Concerto, Torelli6. Ave Maria, Gounod7. Bridal Chorus, Wagner8. Sheep May Safely Graze, Bach9. Canon in D, Pachelbel10. Sleepers Awake, Bach

Recessional Music1. Wedding March, Mendelssohn2. Hornpipe, Water Music, Handel3. Air On The G String, Bach4. Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, Bach5. Spring, The Four Seasons, Vivaldi6. Trumpet Voluntary, Purcell7. Ode to Joy, Beethoven8. Autumn, The Four Seasons, Vivaldi9. Processional To Te Deum, Charpentier10. Sonata in G, Tartini

Civil CeremonyYou can choose music from across all genres for a civil service, however, as mentioned above there must not be any religious references to your choices. Many couples will

choose a traditional song for the processional, such as any of those listed above and a modern love song for the recessional.

Processional Music1. Bach to Basics, Paul Mottram2. In My Life, The Beatles3. When You Say Nothing At All, Ronan Keating4. Close To You, The Carpenters5. Salut d’Amour, Elgar6. Because You Loved Me, Celine Dion7. Trumpet Voluntary, Clarke8. Day Dream Duet, Tim Garland9. Clair de Lune, Claude Debussy10. Romance, Christopher Slaski

Recessional Music1. What a Wonderful World, Louis Armstrong2. Signed, Sealed, Delivered, Stevie Wonder3. The Prayer, Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion4. Walking on Sunshine, Katrina and the Waves5. Laudamus Te, Vivaldi6. We’ve Only Just Begun, The Carpenters7. This Will Be An Everlasting Love, Natalie Cole8. Belle Vie, Paul Mottram9. Can’t Get Enough of You’re Love Babe, Barry White10. All You Need is Love, The Beatles