Choosing Your Wedding Song

I have wanted to write a post about first dance wedding songs for so long, but I’ve had such mixed feelings about them, it’s taken me a while to get everything straight. I feel like the tradition of choosing a wedding song for the first dance has been lost. When I was growing up, the song that was chosen by a couple for their first dance, was usually the first song they danced together to, or the song that was playing in the background when they first met, or first kissed etc., and that became “their song“, not necessarily a traditional wedding song, but it held a significance and meaning which was unique to them. It felt like for a while there, whatever the latest Adele or Ellie Goulding song was, or worse again, that John Legend song, became the first dance wedding song for couples up and down the country!

“You don’t dance to lyrics, you dance to music.”

It’s easy to get carried away with the lyrics of a song, but actually it’s the musicality, rhythm and beat that’s most important. You don’t dance to lyrics, you dance to music, so choose a musical song that has a good rhythm and steady beat to guide you around the dance floor, especially for those of you who have two left feet! My top tips for choosing your wedding song are:

1. Make sure it’s got good rhythm and beat.

2. Avoid songs with a long intro, or ending – it can lead to an awkward few moments of not quite knowing what to do with yourself, whilst under the watchful gaze of all your wedding guests #awkward

3. Pick a song that suits who you are as a couple, your style, personalities and relationship.

4. Avoid a song that is gender-specific. The song should work both ways, the words should work for either of you singing it to the other one. Do ya get me?

5. Remember, it doesn’t have to be a slow song…..you can have fun with it.

Image by Jonathan Ong

Don’t worry, if as a couple, you don’t have a song that is your song, then here’s some of my personal favourite choices for that unforgettable first dance. These songs combine beautiful lyrics full of meaning, with musicality and rhythm making them perfect for your first dance.

Grow Old With Me by Tom Odell

This is a beautiful song, and the lyrics are very fitting to what your big day is all about. Personally, I think this song is best suited to a choreographed ballroom-style dance routine, and it’s got quite a long intro so just be prepared for that; maybe organise with your DJ to do the introductions over that part so you’re not left hanging out there on the dancefloor. That said, it ends perfectly, and is especially suited for a big flourish at the end. You can listen to this song here.

At Last by Etta James

It’s an oldie but a goodie, again, best suited to a choreographed routine and often popular with older couples tying the knot. A really great song to waltz around to, think one-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three. This is the song you want to dance and twirl around to, especially if you’ve got a dress with a big skirt, definitely ten points for twirl-ability! A great ending to the song too, which is just as important as the intro. If you’ve been hiding under a rock since 1961 and haven’t heard At Last by Etta James {and countless cover versions} you can listen to it here.

Latch by Sam Smith

Perfect for a Viennese Waltz! Sam Smith is the king of love songs right now, and this is a beautiful song. For those of you who want something a little different for your first dance and like to mix old and traditional with new and modern, play the start of the acoustic version of this song until the chorus, then BOOM change it up to the remix by Disclosure and get that dance floor popping! I wish I had the mixing skills to make that mash-up happen, because although I haven’t actually heard it, in my head, it sounds amazing! The acoustic version of this song can be found here.

You’re the first, the last, my everything by Barry White

Where’s all my people at who watched Ally McBeal? Do you remember the insanely awesome dance routine they used to do in the toilets to this song? If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you can watch it here. I was pretty young when I used to watch that but even then, I imagined how cool it would be to do that along with the bridal party on the dance floor. This is a song that you can have fun with, pretty much everyone knows the words and it’s just an all round, good-feeling, happiness-inducing song, one of my favourites! Sure the dance routine is cheesy, but it’s going to be so much fun and will undoubtedly be a real crowd-pleaser.

Stay With You by John Legend

If I was John Legend, I’d be pretty pissed that All Of Me is more popular as a first dance choice than this one. Stay With You, both lyrically and musically, is a much better option {in my wedding-obsessed opinion}. Also, have you tried dancing to All of Me?! Try it, just get up and have a little go right now – it’s impossible to do it in an elegant, effortless fashion. Stay With You is much easier to dance to, even for those with zero dance skills; just follow the beat and you won’t go wrong, throw in the odd twirl here and there and Bob’s your uncle! This song has a great ending to it as well, I can just hear everyone clapping and cheering as I listen to it. You can listen to Stay With You here.

But I’ve saved the best to last…..

The One by Kodaline

ARGH! This song!!! This is my absolute favourite, all-time, number one choice for a wedding song! It’s full of hope and optimism, the lyrics are absolutely beautiful and I also really like that it’s not gender-specific; either the bride or the groom could be singing this, you are both marrying each other, and this song perfectly represents that. The song has a lovely bridge to it about a minute and a half in, which is an ideal time for the rest of the bridal party to join the dance floor, as staying out there on your own can sometimes be daunting so a few fresh faces to take the heat off is often welcomed. This song also ends really nicely too, and requires very little dance capability, you can literally just shuffle around to the one-two, one-two, one-two beat together. You can listen to The One here, and did I mention they’re Irish!!!

There you have it, my top six wedding songs. I hope I have inspired you an encouraged you to really take this opportunity to make your first dance memorable, unique and special to you as a couple. I really took my time researching and composing this post, I even danced around my kitchen with my seven year old son to every one of these songs, and the one’s that didn’t’ make the cut too!

Gabriella x