Your ceremony songs carry you down the aisle, fill the quiet while you sign, and send you back out married.
They're worth choosing slowly, because a ceremony asks something different of a song than a dance floor does.
I'm Solly Fern, an Adelaide wedding singer and singer-songwriter, and I play ceremonies on guitar alone, or guitar and piano.
Every couple I sing for goes through the same 4 steps with me, and you can use them to choose your own wedding ceremony music, wherever you're getting married.
Every song in this guide comes from my own covers list.
The parts of a ceremony that need music
A ceremony has 4 places where a song does real work.
- Guests arriving, while people find their seats and the nerves settle.
- The walk down the aisle, often called the processional.
- The signing, the few quiet minutes while you and your witnesses sign.
- The walk back out as a married couple, the recessional.
Each asks for something different, so it's worth choosing for each one on its own.
Guests arriving
This is the place for familiar, gentle songs that let people chat and settle in.
From my list, Que Sera, Sera (Doris Day), Put Your Records On (Corinne Bailey Rae) and Budapest (George Ezra) all sit warmly in the background.
For a ceremony in the Adelaide Hills, Take Me Home, Country Roads (John Denver) is a sweet nod to the roads that brought everyone there.
The walk down the aisle
The aisle song is the one your guests turn around for, so choose it for how it makes you feel in its first few bars.
Can't Help Falling in Love (Elvis Presley), Perfect (Ed Sheeran) and Make You Feel My Love (Bob Dylan) are slow and steady, with room for every step.
If you'd like an Australian song with a folk feel, Mess Is Mine (Vance Joy) makes a lovely walk.
The signing
The signing gives you a few quiet minutes, which makes it the perfect place for a song with meaning that feels too slow for the aisle.
I Say a Little Prayer (Aretha Franklin) and The Rose (Bette Midler) both shine here, and so does any song that belongs to your story.
The walk back out
This is your first walk as a married couple, and it's the place for something joyful your guests can clap along to.
Feeling Good (Nina Simone), I'm a Believer (The Monkees) and Dog Days Are Over (Florence + the Machine) all send a ceremony out on a high.
My 4-step process for choosing your ceremony songs
These are the steps I take with every couple, in this order.
1. Hear your songs stripped back
Most of the songs couples love were recorded with a full band, a string section or layers of production.
At your ceremony, they'll be played by 1 musician, so before you decide, I show you how each song on your shortlist sounds stripped back to voice and guitar, or voice and piano.
It's the clearest way to know how a song will feel on the day, played live, in the space you've chosen.
Some songs open up beautifully when they're stripped back.
Dog Days Are Over is all handclaps and drums on the record, and on guitar alone it turns into something close to a folk song, with every word out in front.
2. Read the whole lyric with your day in mind
A chorus can feel perfect for years before anyone listens closely to the verses.
So I go through the full lyrics of every song on your shortlist, and I point out any line that tells a different story from the one you're telling that day.
Love Yourself (Justin Bieber) has a melody soft enough for an aisle, and its words are a farewell.
For a song like that, I'll suggest another with the same feel, such as Make You Feel My Love (Bob Dylan), and the choice stays yours.
That way, every line you walk down the aisle to is a line you'd happily say out loud.
3. Shape the song to fit the ceremony
A recording runs from its first bar to its last, and a ceremony runs on its own time.
So I adjust each song until it works for the part of the ceremony it's for.
For the aisle, that can mean an intro that holds until the bridal party is in place, a tempo that suits a walking pace, and an ending that lands as you reach the front.
For the signing, it can mean a song that stretches gently to fill the time you need.
For the walk out, it can mean starting straight on the chorus, so your guests are singing before you've passed the front row.
It can also mean a slower feel or a softer key, so a pop song becomes a ballad you can walk to.
I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Whitney Houston), slowed right down on piano, can turn from a dance-floor anthem into a tender walk down the aisle.
Tell me about the aisle and the space when you enquire, and I'll shape each song around them.
4. A playlist of suggestions, if you're still choosing
Some couples arrive with a shortlist, and some arrive with a feeling and no titles yet.
If you're still deciding, I'll put together a playlist of suggestions for you to listen through at home, together.
Pick the songs that make you look at each other, send them back to me, and the process starts again at step 1, with your new favourites stripped back.
My sample covers list on the weddings page runs from the 1950s to today, and I take song requests, so send me your shortlist as it stands.
How a song changes on guitar or piano alone
Stripped back, a song trades size for closeness.
That closeness is why acoustic wedding songs suit a ceremony so well.
With no drum kit or bass line underneath, the melody and the words carry everything, and every lyric reaches the back row.
Guitar keeps a song moving, which suits guests arriving and the walk back out.
Piano holds long notes and wide chords, which suits slower songs like The Rose (Bette Midler) and Make You Feel My Love (Bob Dylan).
The music for your wedding ceremony comes from my compact set-up, guitar alone or guitar and piano, with a big, rich sound.
I studied Classical Vocal Studies at the Elder Conservatorium, and I bring that training to every ceremony I sing.
The look of the music
A ceremony is something your guests watch as well as hear.
I bring rugs to mark out my space, fairy lights and vines for the keyboard and mic stand, and I dress for the occasion, so the music looks like part of the day as well as sounding like it.
A few tips for your wedding ceremony songs
- Start with songs that already mean something to you both, including the unexpected ones.
- Choose the aisle song first, because it sets the feel for everything around it.
- Save the big singalongs for the walk out, when everyone's ready to cheer.
- Give the signing a song with a story, since it's the quietest stretch of the ceremony.
- Tell me about the space when you enquire, from the length of the aisle to where your guests will sit.
Planning the rest of the day
If you've got an engagement party coming up first, I play private functions too, and it's a lovely chance to hear a ceremony song live before the day.
You can read more about me, from songwriting in my teens to a beat-up van and my EP Into Halves, on my about page.
When you're ready, send your shortlist through the wedding enquiry form, and I'll start with step 1.