Your Full Checklist to All the Wedding Music You’ll Need to Choose

Your wedding day is going to be FULL of music from start to finish. Many of the times of day, you will likely have some sort of background sound throughout your wedding day and it’s important to know what you need to select yourselves. We thought it would be best to walk you through the music from the very start to the very end to make sure you have everything covered and you have selected all of the music you’ll need for your wedding day to be a success!

Wedding Morning Playlist!

Starting off bright and early, most people will put together a playlist for the getting ready portion of the morning. If you don’t feel like this is necessary, you can always bring a Bluetooth speaker and connect to your favorite Spotify playlist while you’re getting hair and makeup done or just hanging out with your family and friends. Generally, having a few hours of music ready for the morning will help you get energized for the party ahead!

Ceremony

Prelude:

There are typically about 30 minutes before the ceremony when your guests begin arriving that you might want some background music. With the average song being about 3 minutes, you should have a selection of 10 songs or so to lead up to the wedding processional. You can also just let your DJ or musicians know the vibe that you’re looking for and they can select the songs that fit for this timeframe.

Processional:

Depending on who is walking down the aisle for your day, some couples choose a song for the parents/grandparents, partner #1, the full wedding party, and then a final song for partner #2. Most often, though, couples will only select two songs - one for all of the parents, partner #1, and wedding party, and then a second song for partner #2 to have a special moment down the aisle.

Ceremony:

If you’re having any unity ceremonies, sometimes couples will select music for that so there aren’t any awkward silences. If you’re also thinking of having a church service or following any other traditional cultural outlines, you might also have hymns or songs sung throughout the middle of the ceremony.

Recessional:

After your first kiss and you’re pronounced as married, there is typically one song that you choose to walk back down the aisle to with your wedding party and parents. This is also sometimes the song that leads into your cocktail hour depending on if you have your ceremony and reception in the same space, so many people will choose an upbeat song for this.

Cocktail hour

For your cocktail hour music, you can choose a style of music or genre and let your DJ or live musicians take care of the rest! You can also put together a playlist if you have a specific set of songs you’d love to hear, but your DJ can likely help pick songs for you so you don’t have to worry about putting together a literal hour of a playlist! Many couples will choose something a little jazzy, but if you have a genre of music that you love, this is a great way to play the music that is a little harder to dance to such as punk, 50’s, or other nontraditional routes.

Reception

Grand Entrance

When your wedding party enters the reception, there are usually songs for everyone to get announced to. Most often, couples that have their parents and/or wedding party announced will have one song for all of those people, and then one song for the couple to walk into. Some other couples opt to have all of 1 side of the wedding party walk in together to one song, and then the other side of the wedding party walk into another song, and then finally the couple has a 3rd song. We don’t recommend having an individual song for each “couple” in the wedding party to walk out to because it really takes a long time to cue up that much music back to back.

Cake Cutting

We HIGHLY recommend selecting a cake cutting song if your DJ doesn’t suggest it - the awkward silence is so loud for the moment you cut the cake otherwise!

Dinner Music

This is similar to cocktail hour with selecting a genre or a vibe that you would like and let your DJ handle the rest. Some couples are more often now looking to have the DJ transition the music progressively during the dinner to more hyped up dancing music so that people are excited for the dance floor too!

Formal Dances

Typically, couples will have their own song for their first dance together, each parent or tribute dance, or any other culturally specific dances that they choose to do. Every once in a while, couples will have joint parent dances, so make sure it is a song that applies to both of your parent relationships!

Open Dancing

Your DJ or band will definitely be able to bring the house down with feeling out the vibe of the wedding! We recommend listing a few “must plays” and “do not plays”, and then just let your DJ or band know that the vibe or genres you would like to stick to! It’s best to let them have flexibility in this section to feel out the crowd. If you do want a few slow songs (or none at all!), it’s good to let them know for this too!

Other Formal Moments

You don’t have to do anything else that you aren’t feeling, but having songs picked out for any specific other moments for the day is definitely important! If you’re doing anything like a bouquet or garter toss, or a few songs for a money dance, that would be ideal!

Last Song of the Night

The last choice of the night is typically because most people want to hear a specific song at the end of the night! Some couples also have a private last dance that couples want to have right after the “last song” for all of the guests too, so make sure to talk with your DJ or band about it.

You made it to the end of the list! There are a lot of things listed here, but the good news is that if you have an amazing DJ or band they can likely give you some recommendations for music if you’re unsure and they will take care of most of the larger playlists too. We recommend also looking up common wedding songs if you need some help in that area too! If you’re looking for a wedding DJ in the Chicago area, you can use this blog post to find our top recommendations and if you’re looking for a live band you can also look at this blog post! We know our couples care deeply about having an amazing dance party with their family and friends, so it’s important to set the vibe with the music for the day!