Wedding Music: Ceremony, & Reception

Picking out music is easy for some people if they don't care much about it, or put a lot of thought into it. I am a traditional girl as I mentioned in a previous post, but I like to be a unique in my traditions. Because I am a singer, and I come from a singing family, it took me forever to pick out my songs. I am very picky, and for me it is all about the details. I think the only unique song we were able to think of was the song I walked down the aisle to and our first dance song. 


While guests arrived we had a guitarist playing instrumental music. He played right up until the ceremony, and during cocktail hour. From what I was told some of the kids were crying during cocktail hour, and he started to play rainbow connection, and it calmed them all down and made them smile!


I went back and forth on what song to use for me and my bridal party. I finally decided to go with Somewhere Over the Rainbow, by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole.


Although this choice was not very unique, I was ok with it because the song I selected to walk down the aisle is unique. 

For the song that I walked down the aisle to I selected Marry You, by Bruno Mars. Bruno's version is definitely too fast to walk down the aisle, so when I discovered a cover artist who sang a slower version, I was thrilled! Allow me to introduce you to the talented Michael Schulte. This guy is amazing and very talented! His version is so beautiful!!!

Once again, I was stuck on a recessional song. I thought so much about my music selection by the time my selection was due, I was just picking random songs for some of my music and this was one of them. Although, I actually like this song, so it was fine, just not unique. We went with Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours by Stevie Wonder. Quite fitting eh?

For our Bridal Party Announcements, we selected the following songs:

For our Parents, Ushers, and Ring Bearer, we selected Children by Robert Miles. It was the instrumental version. Our DJ actually picked out this song. He found it to be intense for announcements.

For our Bridal Party which included our flower girls, we went with the LMFAO, Party Rock Anthem, but only up to the first 47 seconds. It was on a loop if needed. Such a great party song! It really got the crowd going.

For the Bride & Groom's entrance, we went with The Black Eyed Peas: I Gotta Feeling. I actually love the Black Eyed Peas, so I was very happy with this selection even though it was not unique. My husband is not a fan of this group, but agreed that this song would be fine for our intro. There were so many other songs that I had selected originally, but lyrically they did not make sense.

For our first dance as Husband and Wife, we went with "The Way I am", by Ingrid Michaelson. Initially, I was going to dance to "Eternal Flame" by the Bangles to honor my Late Brother. It was his favorite song with his former fiance, Christy. 

I decided to honor him by wearing his talit during the ceremony instead. We selected "The Way I am" because I would always hum this song around the house or in the car. Every time I would hum it, about 20 minutes later my husband started to hum it without even realizing it. So every time we heard it on the radio while driving, we would hum or sing it together. It was very fitting, and the lyrics were perfect for us!

The image below most likely will be a little larger than I normally would post an image, but I wanted you to be able to read the wording.

We decided to combine our Father/Daughter Dance and Mother/Son Dance together. Everything goes so fast at a wedding, and we felt this would be a time saver , and the Groom hates personal attention, so I wanted to spare him! We selected "Stand By Me" which was a perfect song for both the Father of the Bride, and Mother of the Groom. 

My Father and I dancing, and my Mother-in-law and Husband dancing in the background. 

For my Bouquet Toss I decided to go with "Single Ladies" by Beyonce. This obviously is a very fitting song for a Bouquet Toss, but it is also an inside joke between the Groom, one of the Groomsmen, and I. We will leave it at that. ;)

My Father is a great singer. He used to sing in various venues all over Florida. He also sang for the President of Costa Rica back in the 90's. My Father honored me by singing two of my favorite songs from him. He sang "It Had to Be You" by Harry Connick Jr. He also sang Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond. He was such a hit, that people were asking him to sing more the entire night! I would not let him because I really wanted him to enjoy our wedding, and no work for our wedding. Thank you Dad! I love you!

It Had To Be You

Sweet Caroline

We selected Sugar Pie Honey Bunch for our Cake Cutting Ceremony.

Sugar Pie Honey Bunch by The Temptations

Every Jewish wedding always has to play the traditional Hava Nagila dance song. We were no different! Everyone got around in a circle and then made circles within circles and dance together. It was a lot of fun. I am thankful that no one grabbed a chair to start lifting us. I would have ran!!! This song is a lot of fun, and I highly recommend it for a wedding. It is great to play toward the end of the wedding as people tend to be less stiff after all that drinking and dancing!

We finished the night with Last Dance by the late great Donna Summers.

Of course we had a lot of other songs in between, although I can't say that my DJ played all of the songs I requested. He was an excellent MC, and a talented singer, but for some reason he repeated some of our songs from our ceremony and bridal party announcements.  Overall I was satisfied with his work, and loved his energy.

The first dance song of the evening was a request by me called Stuck in the Middle With You- Reservoir Dogs. I can't express what a hit that song was! Everyone was on the dance floor instantly!

I hope you have enjoyed my song selection and meaning behind the songs, and find this helpful with your decision process. Good luck!