Which acoustic songs work at each point of a wedding ceremony?
A ceremony is five separate jobs, and each has a different length and a different person to watch. Guests arrive over twenty minutes or more. The walk in lasts seconds. The signing takes as long as the paperwork and the photographs do. The walk out is short and loud. Then the drinks begin and you are a background act again.
Each of these works on one guitar or piano, with or without a voice, and can be stopped early without sounding broken.
The notes under "Where it fits" are our suggestions for where a song can sit in a set. They are not facts about the song, and the list is not a ranking or a measure of popularity. Titles, artists and years were checked against MusicBrainz or Wikipedia when this page was written. We list no keys or tempos, because bands change both.
Guests arriving
| Song | Artist | Year | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Here Comes the Sun | The Beatles | 1969 | Bright start as guests find seats |
| Songbird | Fleetwood Mac | 1977 | Quiet, works as an instrumental |
| Blackbird | The Beatles | 1968 | Fingerpicked, short, easy to repeat |
| Fields of Gold | Sting | 1993 | Calm, unhurried background |
| God Only Knows | The Beach Boys | 1966 | Gentle, suits a duo with harmonies |
| Somewhere Only We Know | Keane | 2004 | Last song before the entrance |
The walk down the aisle
| Song | Artist | Year | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Thousand Years | Christina Perri | 2011 | Entrance, loops well on the intro |
| Can't Help Falling in Love | Elvis Presley | 1961 | Slow entrance, fits a long aisle |
| Turning Page | Sleeping at Last | 2011 | Piano-led entrance |
| Marry Me | Train | 2009 | Soft entrance on guitar |
| Bloom | The Paper Kites | 2010 | Fingerpicked entrance, outdoor ceremonies |
| How Long Will I Love You | Ellie Goulding | 2013 | Short entrance, simple chords |
| Love Me Tender | Elvis Presley | 1956 | Very short walk, older families |
The signing
| Song | Artist | Year | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your Song | Elton John | 1970 | First song of the signing |
| Come Away with Me | Norah Jones | 2002 | Quiet, stays under conversation |
| I Will | The Beatles | 1968 | Brief filler if the signing overruns |
| Harana | Parokya ni Edgar | 1997 | Acoustic serenade for a Filipino wedding |
| Tenerife Sea | Ed Sheeran | 2014 | Soft and steady during photographs |
| The Luckiest | Ben Folds | 2001 | Piano song for the signing |
The walk out
| Song | Artist | Year | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| All You Need Is Love | The Beatles | 1967 | Walk out, starts on the kiss |
| Ho Hey | The Lumineers | 2012 | Stomping exit, guests clap along |
| Home | Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros | 2009 | Upbeat exit for a duo |
| Marry You | Bruno Mars | 2010 | Bright exit, strummed hard |
| I Choose You | Sara Bareilles | 2013 | Cheerful exit at a walking pace |
| Beautiful Day | U2 | 2000 | Exit into the open air |
Drinks straight after
| Song | Artist | Year | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riptide | Vance Joy | 2013 | First song of the drinks |
| Three Little Birds | Bob Marley and the Wailers | 1977 | Easy and sunny, outdoors |
| Budapest | George Ezra | 2013 | Light strummer while photos happen |
| Island in the Sun | Weezer | 2001 | Laid-back, mid drinks |
| Sunday Morning | Maroon 5 | 2002 | Relaxed groove under chatter |
| I'm Yours | Jason Mraz | 2008 | Closes the drinks block |
Start a setlist with these 31 songs
Opens StageFloww with the titles typed in. Free plan, no card. Search can miss a song, and you can add it by hand.
What does the ceremony look like as a running order?
Written out as a timeline, with what you are waiting for at each change. You will not finish most of these songs, and that is the plan.
This running order is one suggestion built from the list above. Change it to suit your band and the room.
- Here Comes the Sun
- Blackbird
- Fields of Gold
- Somewhere Only We Know
- A Thousand Years
- Your Song
- Tenerife Sea
- I Will
- All You Need Is Love
- Riptide
- Three Little Birds
- I'm Yours
Songs 1 to 4 cover the arrival, and the fourth is the one you may have to stop the moment the celebrant stands. Song 5 is the entrance. Songs 6 to 8 are the signing, with the short one last as a spare. Song 9 is the walk out, and the final three begin the drinks. Add more from the first and last tables if either block runs long, which the arrival often does.
How do you watch for the cue, loop a section and stop cleanly?
Agree one person who cues you. It is usually the celebrant or the planner, sometimes a venue coordinator. Meet them before guests arrive and settle the signal for three moments: stop the arrival music, start the entrance, start the exit. A nod is enough if you can see each other, so set up where you can see both the celebrant and the door. If you cannot see the door, ask somebody to stand where they can and relay it.
Know what the entrance is made of. Ask who walks, in what order, and whether the bride or the couple want a change of music or one song throughout. A change means two short pieces and a clean join between them, so practise that join.
Loop, do not race. For the entrance, pick a section of the song that can go round as many times as needed: the introduction or a verse pattern, usually four or eight bars. Play it until the last person arrives at the front, then move to your ending. Do not start the tune's biggest moment while people are still walking, because you may have to abandon it halfway.
Prepare an exit from every bar. Decide in advance the chord you will finish on, and practise reaching it from the middle of a phrase with a slowing strum or a short held note. An ending that takes five seconds sounds intended. A stop mid-line sounds like a mistake, and a whole extra chorus keeps a silent room standing and waiting.
Treat the signing as elastic. It can take two songs or five. Play quietly enough that the photographer can give directions, keep one brief song in reserve, and watch for the couple standing up.
Start the exit on the action, not the words. The cue for the walk out is the kiss or the announcement of the couple. Have your hands ready and the first chord loud.
For outdoor ceremonies, clip your music or your screen down, check where the sun will be at the ceremony time, and find out where power comes from before you agree to amplification.
What does StageFloww do for a ceremony, and what does it leave to you?
StageFloww, the setlist and stage-lyrics app, shows the ceremony as one ordered list with your own notes on each song. In the setlist builder, write the cue into the notes ("stop when the celebrant stands", "loop the intro"), and save the finished order as a template for the next ceremony. The Free plan allows 40 songs per setlist, enough for the ceremony and the drinks together.
It cannot watch the door for you, and it does not loop or play anything: it displays your running order and your words. The song search needs a connection, which a field or a chapel may not have, and it can miss a song, so add the songs at home.
The set length calculator helps with the drinks block, where time is predictable. See also StageFloww for acoustic duos.