Choosing Wedding Music
Some wedding music is so traditional that, even if you aren't a fan of classical music, you can recognise it as soon as you hear it. The advantage of choosing something so familiar, especially for a church wedding, is that it helps the guests to get into the right mood very quickly and it also gives them some useful cues as to what is likely to happen next.
Music to play while the guests are arriving
Air from the Water Music (Handel)
Canon in D (Pachelbel)
Air on a G String (Bach)
Ave Verum Corpus (Bach)
Chanson de Matin (Elgar)
Largo from Xerxes (Handel)
Minuet (Boccherini)
Music for the bride
Arrival of the Queen of Sheba (Handel)
Bridal March from Lohengrin (Here comes the bride) (Wagner)
Grand march from Aida (Verdi)
The Wedding March (Mendelssohn)
Hornpipe from the Water Music (Handel)
Salut D'amour (Elgar)
Wedding March from The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart)
Signing the register
Ave Maria (Schubert)
Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (Bach)
Arioso (Bach)
The Call (Vaughan Williams)
Let the Bright Seraphim (Handel)
Panis Angelicus (Franck)
Music for the bride and groom as they leave the ceremony
Trumpet Voluntary (Jeremiah Clark)
Toccata (Symphony No 5) (Widor)
Music for the Royal Fireworks (Handel)
Brandenburg Concerto No 3 (Bach)
Coronation March (Walton)
Ode to Joy (Symphony No. 9) (Beethoven)
Trumpet Tune in C (Purcell)
Wedding March from A Midsummer NightsDream (Mendelssohn)
Hymns for a church wedding
Although not specifically wedding hymns, these are all popular choices for weddings:
All Creatures of our God and King
All People that on Earth do Dwell
All Things Bright and Beautiful
As I Kneel Before You
Blest Be the Tie that Binds
Colours of Day
Come Down, oh Love Divine
Dear Lord and Father of Mankind
Oh God, whose Loving Hand has Led thy Children to this Joyful Day
The King of Love my Shepherd is
Lead us, Heavenly Father, Lead us
The Lord is my Shepherd
Lord of all Hopefulness
Lord of the Dance
Love Divine, all Loves Excelling
Morning has Broken
Oh Perfect Love
Praise my Soul, the King of Heaven
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation
Shine, Jesus, Shine
Walk with Me, oh my Lord
