This year was certainly better for weddings than 2020! I’m so happy for the couples who were finally able to celebrate with family and friends this year. If you are making plans for your ceremony music, this list is a great place to start! You’ll find many traditional favorites, as well as some pieces you might not have considered.
Instead of creating just a “Top 10” list, the listing below includes ALL of the music chosen by my couples in 2021. Each list has the most popular pieces at the top, and the numbers in parentheses tell you how many times I have played that song for that particular moment of a ceremony. Click on the songs highlighted in blue to hear a sample of me playing those pieces on the harp. You’ll also see pictures of a few of the venues where I played for weddings this year.
This was the first year, in over 18 years of playing for weddings, that not a single couple chose the traditional “Bridal Chorus (Here Comes the Bride)” for the bridal processional! “Canon in D” is still a popular choice, used by my couples for the family seating, wedding party processional, and bride’s entrance.
But popular music is becoming even more requested! It’s a natural choice for the recessional at the end of the ceremony to send your guests off to the party (the Beatles topped this section), but other pop songs are making appearances for other moments of the ceremony. Your wedding music is about YOU – so it should be whatever songs speak to you!
If you are looking for a musician for your wedding, contact me to discuss the music for your ceremony, reception, and rehearsal dinner!
Bridal Processionals (entrance music for the bride):
- Can’t Help Falling in Love (6)
- Canon in D (5)
- A Thousand Years from Twilight: Breaking Dawn (4)
- Hallelujah (2)
- All of Me (1)
- At Last (1)
- Ave Maria (1)
- Beautiful in White (1)
- Bridal March from Skjevik (1)
- Candle on the Water from Pete’s Dragon (1)
- Chaconne from The Fairy Queen (1)
- First Arabesque (1)
- How Beautiful (1)
- I Giorni (1)
- I See the Light from Tangled (1)
- La Vie en Rose (1)
- Marry Me (1)
- Perfect (1)
- Processional (1)
- Sea of Love (1)
- She’s Always a Woman (1)
- Turning Page from Twilight: Breaking Dawn (1)
- Young and Beautiful (1)
Family seating:
- Canon in D (2)
- Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (2)
- Autumn Leaves (1)
- Edelweiss from The Sound of Music (1)
- Flightless Bird, American Mouth (1)
- Hallelujah (1)
- I Giorni (1)
- I Was There to Hear Your Borning Cry (1)
- Just the Way You Are (1)
- La Vie en Rose (1)
- Perfect (1)
- Prelude in C (1)
- Sheep May Safely Graze (1)
- Spring from The Four Seasons, Mvt. 3 (1)
- Sunrise, Sunset from Fiddler on the Roof (1)
- Tale as Old as Time from Beauty and the Beast (2)
- A Thousand Years from Twilight: Breaking Dawn (4)
- To Make You Feel My Love (1)
Wedding party processional:
- Canon in D (3)
- Marry Me (3)
- Can’t Help Falling in Love (2)
- Prelude in C (2)
- To Make You Feel My Love (2)
- All I Ask of You from Phantom of the Opera (1)
- All of Me (1)
- Aria from Rinaldo (1)
- Arioso (1)
- Balamb Garden from Final Fantasy VIII (1)
- Cantique de Jean Racine (1)
- Hallelujah (1)
- Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (1)
- Landslide (1)
- Over the Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz (1)
- Rainbow Connection from The Muppet Movie (1)
- Reverie (1)
- She Will Be Loved (1)
- Spring from The Four Seasons, Mvt. 3 (1)
- Stairway to Heaven (1)
- Stand by Me (1)
- Take Me Home, Country Roads (1)
- The Prayer from Quest for Camelot (1)
- A Thousand Years from Twilight: Breaking Dawn (1)
- To Zanarkand from Final Fantasy X (1)
- Turning Page from Twilight: Breaking Dawn (1)
- Wanted (1)
- You’re Beautiful (1)
Mid-ceremony interludes (for the unity candle/sand, etc.):
- The Lord’s Prayer (3)
- Ave Maria (2)
- A Thousand Years from Twilight: Breaking Dawn (2)
- Amazing Grace (1)
- Arioso (1)
- At Last (1)
- Bridal Prayer (1)
- Cantique de Jean Racine (1)
- Conversations in the Dark (1)
- Grow Old Along with Me (1)
- How Beautiful (1)
- I Get to Love You (1)
- I Was Made for Loving You (1)
- In My Life (1)
- Loch Lomond (1)
- Suogan (1)
- The Prayer from Quest for Camelot (1)
- The Wedding Song (1)
- When I Say I Do (1)
Recessional:
- Here Comes the Sun (5)
- Wedding March (3)
- Great Day (3)
- Trumpet Voluntary (2)
- Ain’t No Mountain High Enough (1)
- All I Ask of You from Phantom of the Opera (1)
- All My Loving (1)
- Aria from Rinaldo (1)
- Bridal March from Skjevik (1)
- Fat Bottomed Girls (1)
- From the Moment On (1)
- Glad You Exist (1)
- I Choose You (1)
- Imagine (1)
- Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (1)
- Lover (1)
- Married Life from Up (1)
- Moon River (1)
- Perfect (1)
- Over the Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz (1)
- Stand by Me (1)
- Tale as Old as Time from Beauty and the Beast (1)
- Tenerife Sea (1)
- Think of Me from Phantom of the Opera (1)
- This Will Be (An Everlasting Love) (1)
- Toss a Coin to Your Witcher (1)
- Wildest Dreams (1)
If you are planning your wedding, please visit my website: The Classic Harpist. I work with couples worldwide to plan their wedding music. With the harp, that can be anything you want it to be! I play all of the classical wedding favorites, as well as non-traditional options: jazz, pop, rock, Broadway, Bollywood, Arabic, Celtic, Renaissance, and more!