Ideas for Reception Music
For your reception, consider music for entertainment. There are many choices such as ensembles,
an orchestra, live band, pianist or other instrumentalists for an afternoon reception. For evening
weddings, pianists or other instrumentalists are nice during the dinner hour. After dinner,
consider a live band or disc jockey as well. DJ's are currently the most popular form of musical
entertainment for wedding receptions. If you opt to hire a DJ, make sure they will be versatile
and provide many types of music to keep all your guests happy. If however, there are particular
songs or types of music that you absolutely do not want played, make sure he/she will honor your
decision (some won't if they feel it will get people dancing).
Once you have chosen the type of musical entertainment,
contact several professionals from industry, church, or local universities/colleges. If possible,
attend one of their performances or listen to a tape. Ask for references.
Discuss whether you can supply lists of your
families' favorite songs or if the group's routine is already set. It is a good idea
to choose about ten songs that you really want to hear. That way you can
ensure hearing those. Choose a few songs you absolutely do not want to hear is
also a good idea.
Make sure the groups' wedding
attire has a professional look. Find out how often and how long they take breaks. If you expect
the band or DJ to act as MC for the announcing of the bouquet/garter toss, cake cutting, etc., make
sure that they can provide this service too. For more tips, visit
Jon Boroshok's Advice on Selecting a Band for Your
Reception page or Lifetime
Online's tips on selecting entertainment for your wedding.
You will also want to provide the group with your
musical selections for the first dance and other important dances. If you'd like to hear sound
bites of a few suggested songs take a look at
ProDJ.com Top 25 Bridal Songs or the
Lifetime Online Wedding Songs
Home Page.
Some other sites to check out for music ideas are the
Ultimate Wedding Song Library
page and Mobile Beat's Top 292 Songs.
Your guests will follow your lead when it comes to dancing. If you
want people to dance, dance yourself until the floor is full, and return often
to keep people dancing.
A list of possible songs to play during a reception follows:
Songs for the First Dance
Title |
Composer |
|---|---|
| A Kiss to Build a Dream On | ? |
| A Sunday Kind of Love | Reba McIntyre |
| A Whole New World | Aladdin |
| After All | Cher and Peter Cetera |
| All I Ask of You | Phantom of the Opera |
| All I Have | Beth Nielson Chapman |
| All I Want is You | U2 |
| All My Life | Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville |
| All My Love | Led Zepplin |
| All The Man I Need | Whitney Houston |
| All the Things You Are | ? |
| All the Way | ? |
| Always | Atlantic Starr |
| Always and Forever | Luther Vandross version or Heatwave |
| And I Love Her | The Beatles |
| Angel Eyes | Jeff Healy Band |
| Arthur's Theme | Christopher Cross |
| As Time Goes By | many versions, from Casablanca |
| At Last | Etta James |
| Babe | Styx |
| Baby, I Do | Natalie Cole |
| Baby It's You | Beatles (get the Live at the BBC version) |
| Battle Hymn of Love | Kathy Mattea |
| Beautiful in My Eyes | Joshua Kaddison |
| Because You Loved Me | Celine Dion |
| Can You Feel the Love Tonight | Elton John, from The Lion King |
| Can't Fight This Feeling | REO Speedwagon |
| Can't help falling in love | Elvis, Sting or Corey Hart |
| Can't Smile Without You | Barry Manilow |
| Can't Take My Eyes Off You | Frankie Valley and The Four Seasons |
| Chances Are | Johnny Mathis |
| Cherish | Kool & The Gang |
| Circle of Life | Elton John |
| Close To You | The Carpenters |
| Colour My World | Chicago |
| Come Rain or Come Shine | Sinatra,Bennett, Ray Charles |
| Crazy For You | Madonna |
| Danny's Song | Anne Murray |
| Destiny | John Berry (from his self titled CD) |
| Do I Have to Say the Words | Bryan Adams |
| Do Right Woman, Do Right Man | The Commitments |
| Don't Know Much | Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville |
| Do You Remember | Phil Collins |
| Do You Wanna Dance | Bette Midler, on Experience the Divine |
| Endless Love | Lionel Richie and Diana Ross/Mariah Carey and Luther Vandross |
| Eternal Flame | The Bangles |
| Even the Nights | Air Supply |
| Evergreen | Barbra Streisand or Luther Vandross |
| Everlasting Love | U2 |
| (Everything I Do) I Do for You | Bryan Adams, from Robin Hood |
| Fairy Tale Love | from Princess Bride soundtrack |
| Faithfully | Journey, Peter Cetera |
| Fallen | Lauren Wood, from Pretty Woman |
| Fields of Gold | Sting |
| Follow Me | John Denver |
| Follow Me, Follow You | Genesis |
| Forever | Kenny Loggins |
| Forever Is As Far As I'll Go | Alabama |
| Forever Live and Die | OMD |
| Forever Tonight | Peter Cetera |
| For Sentimental Reasons | Nat King Cole |
| For You | Tracy Chapman |
| Friends and Lovers | Gloria Loring and Carl Anderson |
| Giving You The Best That I Got | Anita Baker |
| Go West | The Village People |
| God Only Knows | The Beach Boys |
| Groovy Kind of Love | Phil Collins |
| Grow Old Along With Me | Mary Chapin Carpenter |
| Happy Together | The Turtles |
| Harvest Moon | Neil Young |
| Have I Told You Lately that I Love You | Van Morrisson / Rod Stewart |
| Heaven | Bryan Adams |
| Here and Now | Luther Vandross |
| Here to Stay | Harry Connick, Jr., from When Harry Met Sally |
| Hero | David Crosby/Phil Collins |
| How Deep is Your Love? | The Bee Gees |
| I Can See Clearly Now | The Holly Cole Trio |
| I Can't Help Falling in Love with You | Irish/Celtic folk song version (w/ drums, pipes, Gaelic accents;faster tempo than Elvis' version) - on the soundtrack of Some Kind of Wonderful or version by UB40 |
| I Could Write a Book | Harry Connick, Jr. |
| I Cross My Heart | George Strait, from Pure Country |
| I Don't Need Another Hero | Concerte Blonde |
| I Go Crazy, When I Look in Your Eyes | |
| I Got You Babe | Sonny & Cher |
| I Love to See You Smile | from Parenthood |
| I Love You | Climax Blues Band |
| I Love You a Thousand Ways | Tim and Mollie O'Brien (folk duet) |
| I Promise You | Michael Bolton |
| I Swear | John Michael Montgomery, Kickin it Up CD, or All 4 One |
| I Wanna Know What Love Is | Foreigner |
| If You Ask Me To | Celene Dion |
| I'll Always Love You | Taylor Dayne |
| I'll Be There | Michael Jackson/Mariah Carey |
| I'll Be There For You | Bon Jovi |
| I'll Stand By You | The Pretenders |
| I'll Still Be Loving You | Restless Heart |
| In My Life | Beatlesm, Bette Midler |
| In Your Eyes | Peter Gabriel |
| Is This Love | Bob Marley |
| Isn't It Romantic | Michael Feinstein/Sinatra |
| It Had to Be You | Sinatra/ Harry Connick Jr., from When Harry Met Sally |
| It Might Be You | Stephen Bishop, from Tootsie |
| I've Been Waiting for a Girl Like You | Foreigner |
| I've Got a Crush on You | ? |
| I've got you under my skin | Sintara |
| I've Had the Time of My Life | Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes |
| I Will Be Here | Billy Dean, Men'll Be Boys CD, written by Steven Curtis Chapman |
| Ice Cream | Sarah McLachlin |
| Just Say You Love Me | Chicago |
| Just the Way You Are | Billy Joel |
| Just the Way You Look Tonight | Julius La Rosa |
| Just You and I | Crystal Gayle and Eddie Rabbitt |
| Just You and Me | Chicago |
| Keeping The Dream Alive | Freiheit |
| Kiss the Girl | from Disney's The Little Mermaid |
| Lean on Me | ? |
| Leather and Lace | Stevie Nicks and Don Henley |
| Lights | Journey |
| Lipstick Sunset | John Hiatt |
| Longer Than | Dan Fogelberg |
| Lost in Love | Air Supply |
| Lots of Possibilities | Air Supply |
| Love is All Around | Wet Wet Wet, from Four Weddings and a Funeral soundtrack or Troggs (from the '60s) |
| Love Lift Us Up | Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes |
| Love Me Tender | Elvis Presley |
| Love Me Tomorrow | Chicago |
| Love Of a Lifetime | Firehouse |
| Love Song | The Cure |
| Love Song | Tesla |
| Love Theme From St. Elmo's Fire | ? |
| Love Will Keep Us Alive | Eagles, Hell Freezes Over CD |
| Lucky One | Amy Grant |
| Margaritaville | Jimmy Buffet |
| Marry Me | Neil Diamond |
| Masterpiece | Atlantic Starr |
| May I have this Dance for the Rest of My Life | Anne Murry (waltz) (country) |
| Maybe I'm Amazed | Paul McCartney |
| More | Sinatra |
| More Then Words | Extreme |
| My Eyes Adored You | Frankie Valley and The Four Seasons |
| My One and Only Love | a jazz standard |
| Never Say Goodbye | Bon Jovi |
| Never Tear Us Apart | INXS |
| Never Thought That I Could Love | Dan Hill |
| Night and Day | Cole Porter |
| Now and Forever | Richard Marx |
| Now that I've Found You | Michael Bolton, Time Love and Tenderness CD |
| Once is Enough | Lyle Lovett |
| Once Upon a Dream | from Sleeping Beauty |
| One Good Woman | Peter Cetera |
| One Hand, One Heart | from West Side Story |
| One In a Million | Larry Graham |
| Only You | Frank Sinatra |
| Open Arms | Journey |
| Power of Two | Indigo Girls |
| Put Your Head On My Shoulder | Paul Anka |
| Ready To Take My Chances Again | Barry Manilow |
| Saved the Best for Last | Vanessa Williams |
| Search is Over | Survivor |
| Shape of my Heart | Sting |
| She's Got a Way About Her | Billy Joel |
| Simply The Best | Tina Turner |
| Smoke Gets in Your Eyes | The Platters |
| So This is Love | from Cinderella |
| Some Enchanted Evening | from South Pacific |
| Somebody | John Berry, from his self titled CD |
| Someday My Prince Will Come | from Snow White |
| Someone Like You | Van Morrison |
| Someone to Watch Over Me | ? |
| Somewhere | from West Side Story or Barbra Streisand |
| Songbird | Kenny G. |
| Soul Provider | Michael Bolton |
| Stand By Me | Ben E. King |
| Standing Right Next to Me | Karla Bonoff, from soundtrack of 8 Seconds |
| Starting Over | John Lennon |
| Storybook Love | Marc Knopfler, from The Princess Bride |
| Suddenly | Billy Ocean |
| Sunshine on Leith | The Proclaimers (waltz) |
| Take Me Back | Tim & Mollie O'Brien (folk duet) |
| Take My Breath Away | Berlin |
| Tennessee Waltz | ? |
| That's What Friends Are FOr | Dionne Warwick |
| That's What Love is For | Amy Grant |
| The Best is Yet to Come | ? |
| The Colour of My Love | Celine Dion |
| The Flame | Cheap Trick |
| The Glory of Love | Peter Cetera |
| The Harbour of Each Other's Arms | ? |
| The Love Theme From St. Elmo's Fire | David Foster |
| The Maker Said Take Her | Alabama |
| The More I see You | Nat Cole |
| The Nearness of You | ? |
| The Power of Love | Jennifer Rush, Celine Dion |
| The Rose | Bette Midler, Conway Twitty |
| The Spy Who Loved Me | Carly Simon, from The Spy Who Loved Me |
| Sunshine on Leith | The Proclaimers (a Scottish band) |
| The Sweetest Days | Vanessa Williams |
| The Time of My Life | Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, from Dirty Dancing |
| The Very Thought of You | Cole, Bennett |
| The way you look tonight | Frank Sinatra |
| The Woman in Me Needs the Man in You | Shania Twain |
| Vision of Love | Mariah Carey |
| The Voyage | Irish singer Christy Moore |
| The Way You Look Tonight | Fred Astaire |
| The Wind Beneath My Wings | Bette Midler |
| There's No Way | Alabama |
| This is The Time | Billy Joel |
| Through the eyes of love | from Theme from Ice Castles |
| Through The Fire | Chakka Khan |
| Through The Years | Kenny Rogers |
| Time and Tide | Basia |
| Time in A Bottle | Jim Croce (waltz) |
| Tonight I Celebrate My Love | Roberta Flack |
| True Companion | Marc Cohn |
| True Love | Patsy Cline |
| True Love Ways | Buddy Holly |
| Try a Little Tenderness | The Commitments |
| Turn Around | Harry Belafonte (or Nanci Griffith) |
| Two Less Lonely People in the World | Air Supply |
| Unbroken Chain | Grateful Dead |
| Unchained Melody | The Righteous Brothers |
| Unforgettable | Nat King Cole/Natalie and Nat King Cole |
| Vision of Love | Mariah Carey |
| Walk Forever By My Side | The Alarm |
| Warmth of the Sun | Beach Boys |
| We Can Last Forever | Chicago |
| Wedding Song (There Is Love) | The Lettermen |
| We're All the Way | Clapton |
| We've Only Just Begun | The Carpenters |
| What a Big Surprise | Chicago |
| What a Wonderful World (This Would Be) | Louis Armstrong, Sam Cooke |
| What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life? | |
| What do you do/The Glory of Love | Lyle Lovett |
| What the World Needs Now is Love | Jackie DeShannon, from Forrest Gump soundtrack |
| When a Man Loves a Woman | Percy Sledge/ Michael Bolton |
| When I Fall in Love | Celene Dion and Clive Davis, from Sleepless in Seattle/Nat King Cole |
| When I Look Into Your Eyes | Firehouse |
| When I See You Smile | Bad English |
| When I'm Sixty-Four | The Beatles |
| When I'm With You | Sheriff |
| When that Evening Sun Goes Down | Van Morrison |
| Wild is the Wind | David Bowie |
| With You I'm Born Again | Billy Preston and Syreeta |
| When you put your heart in it | Kenny Rogers ? |
| Woman | John Lennon |
| Wonderful Tonight | Eric Clapton |
| Wouldn't It Be Nice | The Beach Boys |
| You and Me Against The World | Helen Reddy |
| You are my home | Billy Joel |
| You Are So Beautiful | Joe Cocker |
| You Decorated My Life | Kenny Rogers |
| You Light Up My Life | Debbie Boone |
| You Mean The World to Me | Toni Braxton |
| You Send Me, an R+B song | Sam Cooke |
| Your Love Amazes Me | John Berry |
| Your Own Special Way | Genesis |
| Your Song | Elton John |
| You're in My Soul | Rod Stewart |
| You're My Best Friend | Queen, Don Williams |
| You're The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me | Gladys Knight |
| You're The Inspiration | Chicago |
| You're the One | Karen Carpenter |
| You've Got A Friend | James Taylor |
Songs for the Father/Bride Dance
Title |
Composer |
|---|---|
| A Kiss to Build a Dream On | Louis Armstrong |
| Butterfly Kisses | |
| Can You Feel The Love | Elton John, from The Lion King |
| Childhood | Proclaimers |
| Daddy's Girl | John Paul Walters |
| Daddy's Hands | Judds, Holly Dunn |
| Daddy's Little Girl | Burke and Gerlach, Al Martino, Red Sovine |
| Father's Eyes | Amy Grant |
| He Is, They Are | Harry Connick, Jr. |
| Hero | Mariah Carey |
| House on Pooh Corner | Kenny Loggins and Messina |
| I Love to See You Smile | ? |
| If I Could Write a Song (As Beautiful As You) | Billy Craddock |
| Isn't She Lovely | Stevie Wonder |
| It's Impossible | Perry Como |
| Moonlight Serenade | Miller, Glenn |
| More | Andy Williams |
| My Dad | Paul Peterson |
| My Girl | The Temptations |
| My Heart Belongs to Daddy | Cole Porter |
| Our Love is Here to Stay | Michael Feinstein |
| Sentimental Journey | ? |
| She Thinks I Could Rope the Moon | John Michael Montgomery |
| Sunrise, Sunset | from Fiddler on the Roof |
| Sunshine of My Life | Stevie Wonder |
| Thanks Again | Ricky Skaggs |
| Through the Years | Kenny Rogers |
| To Sir With Love | Lulu |
| True Love Ways | Buddy Holly |
| Turn Around (You're A Young Girl) | Harry Belafonte, Nanci Griffith |
| Unforgettable | Natalie Cole & Nat King Cole |
| What A Wonderful World | Louis Armstrong, Sam Cooke |
| Wind Beneath My Wings | Bette Midler |
| You Make Me Feel So Young | ? |
| You Are My Child | Barry Manilow |
Songs for the Mother/Groom Dance
Title |
Composer |
|---|---|
| A Certain Smile | Mathis, Johnny |
| A Groovy Kind Of Love | Collins, Phil |
| Bridge Over Troubled Water | Simon & Garfunkel |
| Child of Mine | Carole King |
| Close To You | Carpenters |
| Do You Remember | Collins, Phil |
| Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue | Gayle, Crystal |
| Don't Know Much | Ronstadt, Linda/Aaron Neville |
| Ebbtide | Righteous Brothers |
| Evergreen | Streisand, Barbara |
| Glory Of Love | Cetera, Peter |
| Have I Told You Lately | Morrison, Van or Stewart, Rod |
| I am Your Child | Barry Manilow |
| I Just Called To Say I Love You | Wonder, Stevie |
| I.O.U. (ode of thanks to his mother) | Dean, Jimmy |
| I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song | Croce, Jim |
| Imagine | Lennon, John |
| I Remember You | Bette Midler |
| Just the Way You Are | Billy Joel |
| Kiss Me Goodbye | Clark, Petula |
| Mama | Thomas, B.J. |
| Moon River | Williams, Andy |
| Moondance | Morrison, Van |
| Moonlight Serenade | Miller, Glenn |
| More | Williams, Andy |
| My Way | Sinatra, Frank |
| One Moment In Time | Houston, Whitney |
| Perhaps Love | Domingo, Placido & J. Denver |
| Rock And Roll Lullaby | Thomas, B.J. |
| Sea Of Love | Honeydrippers |
| Show Me The Way | Frampton, Peter |
| So Much In Love | Garfunkel, Art |
| Sunrise, Sunset | from Fiddler on the Roof |
| Tender Years | Cafferty, John |
| Thanks Again | Ricky Skaggs |
| That's Amore | Martin, Dean |
| That's What Love Is For | Grant, Amy |
| The Impossible Dream | Williams, Andy |
| The Long and Winding Road | Beatles |
| The Power Of Love | Jennifer Rush, Celine Dion |
| The Rose | Midler, Bette |
| The Warmth Of The Sun | Beach Boys |
| The Way We Were | Streisand, Barbara |
| Through The Years | Rogers, Kenny |
| 'Til The End Of Time | Como, Perry |
| Times Of Your Life | Anka, Paul |
| What A Wonderful World | Armstrong, Louis |
| Wind Beneath My Wings | Bette Midler |
| You Decorated My Life | Kenny Rogers |
Songs for the Bride and Brother
Title |
Composer |
|---|---|
| Brotherly Love | Keith Whitley and Earl Thomas Connally |
| Come Dancing | The Kinks |
| He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother | The Hollies |
| I Wish You Love | Nat King Cole or Natalie Cole or Barbara Streisand |
| Lean On Me | Bill Withers |
| Memory | Barbara Streisand or Barry Manilow |
| Rainbow Connection | Kermit the Frog |
| Through The Years | Kenny Rogers |
| Unforgettable | Nat King Cole or Nat and Natalie Cole |
| What A Wonderful World | Louis Armstrong |
| Wind Beneath My Wings | Bette Midler |
| You've Got A Friend | James Taylor or Carole King |
Songs for the Cake Cutting
Title |
Composer |
|---|---|
| ??(cakewalk song) | Gottshalk |
| ??(cakewalk song) | Scott Joplin |
| Push It | Salt and Peppa |
| SugarPlum Fairy | ? |
| When I'm 64 | The Beatles |
Songs for the Bouquet Toss
Title |
Composer |
|---|---|
| Dance of the Flowers (from the Nutcracke) | ? |
Songs for the Last Dance
Title |
Composer |
|---|---|
| A Kiss to Build a Dream On, from Sleepless in Seattle soundtrack | Armstrong |
| Anything for Your Love | Eric Clapton |
| Bang Bang | David Sanborn |
| Could I Have This Dance (For the Rest of My Life) | Anne Murray |
| Goodnight Sweetheart | Nat King Cole |
| Happy Trails | Van Halen or Roy Rogers |
| Hit the Road Jack | Buster Poindexter or Ray Charles |
| Hot Hot Hot | Buster Poindexter |
| I Could Have Danced All Night, on Come Dance with Me | Sinatra |
| I've Had the Time of My Life | Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes |
| Last Dance | Donna Summer |
| Lost Together | ? |
| Blue Rodeo | ? |
| Melt With You | Modern English |
| Mickey Mouse Club Alma Mater | Mickey Mouse Club |
| Moonlight Serenade | Glenn Miller orchestra |
| Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye | Steam or The Nylons |
| Saved the Best for Last | Vanessa Williams |
| That's What Friends Are For | Dionne Warwick and Friends |
| The Last Dance | Sinatra |
| Turn Your Lights Down Low | Bob Marley |
| Wasn't That a Party | The Rovers |
| What a Wonderful World, from Good Morning Vietnam soundtrack | Armstrong |
| Wonderfult Tonight | Eric Clapton |
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