Most Beautiful Songs & Hymns to Include in a Wedding Ceremony
Much time is spent lavishing attention on the visual details of a wedding ceremony: gowns, flowers, décor. Yet music is such a poignant—and often overlooked—aspect of choreography. Recall some of the most beautiful artistic moments you have witnessed: a ballet, an opera, a couture, or theater moment. What would those moments be like without music? And wasn’t the song that played so instrumental in setting your heart aloft, in bringing everything together in a charged way? In this blog post, I argue that music should be brought from the background to the foreground of the design. That it should be chosen with utmost craft and care and, above all, speak deeply to your heart. Music isn’t only emotional: music has aesthetic qualities and conveys levels of sophistication.
Read on for the list of—in my opinion— twenty of the most beautiful songs & hymns to include as a part of your wedding ceremony—songs that can elevate an already beautiful moment into one worthy of the name fine art.
1: “Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us”
A hymn that can be offered as a prayer for a new marriage: for guidance, for love, and a heavenward focus. Listened to in this light, the hymn reminds us that marriages, in their highest form, can be an instrument of worship. The lyrics recall some of the most consoling passages of Scripture, from Psalm 23 to John 10, and the tender care of a Shepherd who promises never to forsake His own.
2. “Méditation” from Thaïs
The hauntingly beautiful symphonic intermezzo from Thaïs promotes an atmosphere of artistry, reverence, and tranquility. This violin piece seems to emerge from nowhere—a piece that, when played, almost feels like music happening in the moment of artistic creation. Pensive, even a bit plaintive, “Méditation” has the power to create a hush over the room. I’ve always loved Lucia Micarelli’s ethereal version.
3. “Un Giornio per Noi (Romeo e Guilietta)”
The is a tough one. I’ve questioned its inclusion because, of course, Romeo & Juliet is a tragedy—and does a tragic theme really belong in a wedding? In the end, I could not, simply cannot, deny its overcoming beauty. The exalted language of Shakespeare’s play, the tender choreography of the ballet pas de deux, Sasha Cohen’s interpretation of Juliet on ice—few works of art, few performances, matter to me more. This is music I long to hear, interpret, and express—music that lends itself to artistic wedding design. I imagine this music filling the cool, dark interior of a church. Softly, flower girls and maids process, and finally the double doors open to reveal a bride—right at the climactic moment. Pair with thousands of candles, yards of Italian lace, and a profusion of romantic, maybe even slightly gothic, flowers for peak drama.
4. “Hymne À l’Amour”
I love the wholehearted commitment expressed in this Piaf song, which stands in stark contrast to the practiced nonchalance and swipe-left callousness of present-day dating culture. To translate, in essence: I’d go to the ends of the earth, I’d dye my hair blonde (a big ask, for some of us), I’d take down the moon, and give up all my fortune, if you asked me to. If you’ve found someone who loves you with such abandon, proclaim it through this song. Josh Groban’s version is exquisite.
5. “Spring” by Vivaldi
This piece is the perfect complement to a garden-style wedding. Choregraph a walk down a garden allée while cradling joyful bouquets of blousy spring blooms.
6. Mendelssohn, Wedding March from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Op. 61
In an era where couples are free to choose pop songs and lyrics, simply going back to a classical piece can feel grander, more important. Sometimes it isn’t necessary to overthink it—what is the moment asking for? Music like this. A triumphant, rejoicing burst of song. Surrender to the matchless beauty and majestic stature of a piece composed precisely for a wedding moment.
7. “Fields of Gold” by Eva Cassidy
Figure skating fans know exactly why this gem made the list. But really, what enduring imagery is created in the song—images walking together through golden fields, of a woman being taken in a man’s arms as her hair falls, of the couple returning to the field years later, with their children. It’s gorgeous stuff, made even more heartrending for the late Eva Cassidy’s delivery.
8. Elgar, Salut d’Amour
Consider this piece the equivalent of a diamond engagement ring, exquisite enough to propose marriage with (which is exactly what Elgar did for his beloved, Caroline Alice). The charm of piece is that it is light and winsome, like wedding cake. For this very reason, it may not have gravitas for a bridal entrance or even the procession. It would work well, however, for pre-ceremony music played while guests are being seated—a piece that calms and introduces the guests, gently, to the environment and sets the stage for more emotional moments to come.
9. “Jesú, Joy of Man’s Desiring” by Bach
Read this beautiful explication of the piece, from Art & Theology, which reveal a piece that is a confident affirmation of faith:
“You’ve probably heard this lovely lilting Baroque piece performed as an instrumental at weddings. But the composer who popularized it—the inimitable J. S. Bach—originally programmed it as the finale to a ten-movement liturgical work celebrating the miraculous pregnancies of Mary and Elizabeth from the Gospel of Luke, and God’s subversion of the world order through the birth of Christ. “The wondrous hand of the exalted Almighty / is active in the mysteries of the earth!” the work proclaims.
Under Bach’s design, those pastoral triplets… gird up a choir-song of praise to Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, our joy and our strength. Even when the light, bright major chords give way to the minor in line five, signifying the turning of life’s circumstances, the Christian’s confession remains the same: Jesus is mine; what shall I fear?”
It’s the ultimate confluence of music that feels wedding-ready—and music that reaches a higher strain, to the very heavens, as a gift of passionate praise.
10. “Your Love, My Home” or “If”: by Joshua Payne:
These songs feel dated in the absolute best way—as though they hearken back to some simpler, purer time. Joshua Payne’s vocals are gorgeous, and his interpretation, honest. The original “Your Love, My Home” is a wonder, and Payne’s voice elevates the ‘70s ballad “If” to something so fine, we are left to realize—perhaps for the first time—how thoughtful the lyrics truly are. “If the world should stop revolving, spinning, slowly down to die / I’d spend the end with you, and when the night was through / Then one by one the stars would all go out / And you and I would simply fly away.” Those of us who have experienced disappointments of love will be especially endeared by this kind of earnestness.
11. “Arrival of the Queen of Sheba,” Handel
An appropriately ceremonial piece that creates a lofty, regal air. Depending upon where the music is placed, different moods can be evoked. The song is composed for an arrival, so it’s only intuitive to do what the music asks for and place it for the processional. And yet how elevating this would be also as a recessional piece—a kind of emotional release at the end of the ceremony that conveys the magnitude of what just took place.
12. “Morning Has Broken”
A hymn that recreates the feeling of dew fresh on the grass and flowers turning their faces to the sun. This hymn touches on the loss we all, in our fallen state, feel—the loss of perfect intimacy with God, of walking in the garden with Him. May our wedding morning, in its purity and beauty, echo—even imperfectly—something of the blessedness and favor of the very first morning.
13. “Come Away With Me”
A song that perfectly captures the quietude and intimacy of an elopement. “I wanna walk with you / On a cloudy day / In fields where the yellow grass grows knee-high / So won’t you try to come / Come away with me and we’ll kiss…”
If I could pick one image to explain love, it would be this. Walking the fields hand-in-hand with the one you love. At dusk. It’s intimate, it’s simple, it’s profound. The lyrics are so quiet, so stripped down, and yet they capture the desire of all beloveds—to steal away, to be alone, to experience this sacred feeling that only they understand. It reminds me of some of my favorite poems– Marlowe’s “Come live with me and be my love” and Rilke’s “Pathways” from First Poems: “Understand, I’ll slip quietly / away from the noisy crowd / when I see the pale / stars rising, blooming over the oaks. / I’ll pursue solitary pathways, / through pale twilit meadows, / with only this one dream: / You come too.”
14. “To Build a Home” by the Cinematic Orchestra
There are few words in the English language as longed-for as home. For love often feels more like a return to something than a totally new discovery—a reclaiming of something pure, something lost to time and cynicism. This song has a tinge of melancholy but oh, how it soars, with simple lyrics carried to sweeping heights. “This is a place where I don’t feel alone / This is a place where I feel at home / ‘Cause I built a home / For you / For me.”
15. “Heavenly Day” by Patti Griffin
All our days are loaded with graces—some of those graces come disguised as trials, and others are invisible to the seeing eye. But some days are a revelation. Hopefully, your wedding day is one of these: a joyful, uncomplicated, happy day, free from fear and striving. “No one at my shoulder, bringing my fear / Got no clouds up above me, bringing me tears.”
16. “Blue Skies,” Birdy
This song is, in a word, sweet. If you’re marrying on a Texas ranch or in an Aspen lodge, feel free to go for Willie’s version. This darling song contains similar sentiments of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” while feeling a bit fresher and more surprising.
17. “How Long Will I Love You” by Ellie Goulding
Another song so sweet, it breaks your very heart. It’s the perfect vehicle for Ellie Goulding’s lovely voice and the perfect vehicle, moreover, for a wedding. The music equivalent of a mint green Ladurée box landing on your doorstep—something so simple and sweet yet so utterly enchanting, meant just for you, and wrapped up in ribbons too.
18. “Bénédiction de Dieu dans le solitude”
A piece that begins quiet and contemplative before reaching an exalted finish—much like the progression of the mind in prayer. Author Timothy Judd writes of the piece in The Listener’s Club:
“Supreme serenity still remains the Ideal of great Art. The shapes and transitory forms of life are but stages toward this Ideal, which Christ’s religion illuminates with His divine light. -Franz Liszt
We often think of Franz Liszt (1811-1886) as a kind of nineteenth century rock star whose piano music is filled with dazzling displays of bravado and virtuosity. But there’s another more contemplative side of Liszt which seems to transport us into a solitary dreamworld. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the 1845 solo piano work, Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude (“The Blessing of God in Solitude”), part of a larger ten-movement cycle called Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (“Poetic and Religious Harmonies”). The title refers to a collection of poems by Alphonse de Lamartine (1790-1869).
This piece is set in what pianist Philip Thomson calls “the luscious key of F-sharp major”- a key which feels strangely remote with its abundance of sharps. Within the frame of F-sharp, a fascinating harmonic scheme takes shape. Each new episode falls a third (F-sharp, D, B-flat) until we return home to F-sharp in a moment of glistening ecstasy. You can hear seeds of Wagner (the falling seventh at 2:08), Mahler, (there are echoes of the rising line of the Fifth Symphony’s Adagietto), and even Debussy (listen to these parallel chords).”
19. “Love Makes the World Go ‘Round” by Patti LuPone
Simply a darling song.
20. “Air on the G String” or “Celebrated Air” by Bach
What is there to say? How could words ever adequately express its virtues? Angelic in its beauty, the piece remains a classic for a reason.
