4 Tips for Choosing Music for Your Wedding Ceremony

I've been very fortunate in my life to find someone that I desire to spend the rest of my life with, and I couldn't be more certain and excited for my future. Now, I gotta get through this darn wedding.

Not that I'm actually worried about the wedding itself, but more so, I'm stressed by the planning stages of it all and what it will entail. I'm not a fashion guru, nor do I really have any true insights when it comes to planning the perfect wedding.

What I feel I am good at, and what my fiancée has graciously allowed me to help with, is picking the music for our wedding.

I want everyone attending my wedding to be an emotional wreck of happiness when they see me and her standing at the altar.

I feel like song selection and the playlist of a wedding can get lost in the shuffle behind the millions of other things that have to be crossed off the check list.

We can set up a beautiful ceremony with greenery and all the exquisite bells and whistles, but music will truly move a person.

Again, I am no expert. Really, I'm a novice. I don't work with music for a living, nor do I have any type of background in wedding planning.

These are some things that I've learned from attending weddings and viewing them online that I'd like to talk about and give my own personal opinion on, and we'll see if maybe this will help others when choosing their playlist.

Don't Make the Obvious Choices

I've been at the beach this week enjoying a family vacation, and while we were all sitting on the beach. a beautiful beach wedding was getting set up before our eyes.

We were pretty much in attendance for this random couple's wedding since it was being had on a public beach.

The wedding itself was small and well done by the company providing the equipment and decor. You could tell it was perfect for exactly what this couple was looking for.

I'm sure they weren't thrilled about having a strange family within earshot of their entire wedding ceremony, and we'll probably be in a few of that couples wedding photos forever, but the ceremony was still amazing.

But the music was too cliché for me. The bride's walk up music was "A Thousand Years" by Christina Perry, and the exit song was "Marry Me" by Train.

Both are beautiful songs, and both achieve the ambiance that a wedding is looking for. They are just used so often that the beauty of the moment is lost on me.

Again, I didn't know these people, and it is rude of me to be critiquing their wedding, but it is something I couldn't get out of my head while watching it.

Some other usual suspects during a ceremony:

• "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran
• "Marry You" by Bruno Mars
• "Better Together" by Jake Johnson

Just to name a few of the heavyweights. All work perfectly fine, but when I hear them, I just think of the multiple other weddings and proposals I've heard the songs at, and then I start comparing all of those weddings and proposals.

Find Unknown Songs

At the current moment, our wedding songs playlist is full of songs that have more than likely never been played on the radio, and they probably have not been heard by a vast majority of people.

They're great songs that are perfect for a wedding, but they're by artists that haven't hit their stride yet in their careers.

It helps that my fiancée is an avid music listener whose phone is filled with these types of songs.

But, you can do searches on YouTube to find music that's under the radar to help give your ceremony some originality.

I found this song by Kina Grannis & Imaginary Future in a matter of ten minutes while writing this article to use as an example, and I'm now going to send it to my fiancée and see if we can add it to our playlist.

Extra tip: using a Kina Grannis song for any romantic moment is never a bad idea.

Look for Covers of Popular Songs

I don't know why, but I love finding classic songs covered by newer musicians.

It allows you to evoke the same emotions that some of those more popular wedding songs would convey, but in a new tone that makes it unique.

If you can find older songs from decades ago that have been updated and covered properly, then it can also be a great way to connect your generation of music with your parents and grandparents in attendance.

Perhaps Elivis' "Can't Help Falling in Love" was played at your parent's wedding. Well, there have been plenty of covers of such an iconic song.

A quick search and you can find something like this by Fleet Foxes:

There have been so many legends who've left their marks on music, and while covers will never compare to the original, they are still a way to give your ceremony that classic feeling while presenting it in your own style.

Go for Instrumentals

For me personally, instrumental music without lyrics offers the most beautiful moments for a bride's walk down the aisle.

Whether it's piano, violins, or a harp, whatever you think sounds best is right to set the mood. This could be from a live band or a recorded track.

You could go with classical or modern, and while there are still clichés to be found in instrumental form, there's also a uniqueness to it nowadays because a lot of couples are opting to play music with lyrics.

Sometimes hearing someone singing while the bride is walking down the aisle can be more distracting than you'd really want it to be.

The perfect way to incorporate instrumentals into your ceremony, though, is to mix the last section with this one and find instrumental covers of songs.

Daniel Jang is a popular violinist on YouTube that is a perfect example of this. He's talented, and while he makes original music that sounds wonderful, his covers of popular songs made me a fan of the violin.

Even an overused wedding song played beautifully by a talented musician who can create their own sound makes it seem less cliché.

Use What Feels Right

A wedding is about only two people. You and your partner must decide what your own style is, what you're trying to convey, and what feels right.

If you love all the "cliché" songs I listed above, then use them; it's the one day in your life where it will be all about you and your partner's love. Use the music that expresses that love.

Try and find songs that make you think of your best moments. Hopefully your first time meeting wasn't at the gym to the sound of Justin Bieber's "Baby" over the speakers, but if it was, then find a way to incorporate that into your wedding, even if it's just for after the reception.