Weddingbee Blog

For months, I worked on the music for our wedding day. I spent hours putting together my perfectly crafted playlists for various times throughout the day, before the band would start. I searched through my entire music library, and I found online recommendations for “love songs” of all different genres that could appeal to the many different generations represented at our wedding.

(Image with G-pa Husky courtesy of Mark Hayes Photography)

At times, I thought this a stupid endeavor, a complete waste of time. But I was shocked to receive many compliments on the soundtrack of the day.

So, if you are interested in doing something similar, I will share my playlists, in order, with you. For each song, I will do my best to link it to a video or audio clip. So without further ado:

Pre-Ceremony

(guest photo)

This music played as guests were arriving and taking their seats. This list is approximately one hour long and played on repeat until the ceremony began.

• Blind Pilot: “3 Rounds and a Sound”

• The Beatles: “And I Love Her”
• Rhett Miller/Old 97’s: “The Question”

• Chris and Thomas: “You’re the One I Want”
• Jack Johnson: “Better Together”
• Hank Williams: “Baby, We’re Really in Love”
• Ben Harper: “Everything”
• The Platters: “Only You (And You Alone)”
• Bob Marley & the Wailers: “Satisfy My Soul”
• The Avett Brothers: “Offering” (Live version. If you listen to just one song in this post, it should probably be this one.)

• Iron and Wine: “Love and Some Verses”
• Johnny Cash: “Rose of My Heart”
• Dispatch: “Carry You” (I have no idea why this song is set to scenes from Gladiator—was it used in the movie? Anyone know?)
• Peggy Lee: “Fever”
• Jason Mraz (ft. Colbie Caillat): “Lucky”
• Amos Lee: “Arms of a Woman”

Recessional/Post-Ceremony

(Mark Hayes Photography)

This playlist began with our recessional and continued to play as guests cleared the ceremony area. The play time is approximately 30 minutes.

• Nina Simone: “Feeling Good” (We modified this song to start right as she sings “…and I’m feeling good…” just before the music starts. It’s approximately 0:38 into this video. Edited version below—click to watch on YouTube.)

• Ray Charles: “Hallelujah, I Love Her So”
• Barry Louis Polisar: “All I Want is You” (This one has kind of a creepy ending that we edited away.)
• Ingrid Michaelson: “The Way I Am”
• Jason Mraz: “I’m Yours” (from the Casa Nova Sessions)
• Al Green: “Let’s Stay Together”
• Yardbirds: “For Your Love”

Happy Hour

(guest photo)

By far the longest of the playlists, this played as people enjoyed appetizers, lawn games, and mingling and the wedding party gathered together and took photographs. The total play time of this list is approximately three hours.

• Morphine: “You Speak My Language”
• Marvin Gaye: “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)”
• Frank Sinatra: “Fly Me to the Moon”
• Stevie Ray Vaughan: “Pride and Joy”
• Cream: “Sunshine of Your Love”
• Arctic Monkeys: “Baby, I’m Yours”
• Langhorne Slim: “The Electric Love Letter”
• The Black Keys: “Keep Me”
• Bright Eyes: “Mushaboom” (live recording)
• Jason Mraz: “I Melt With You”
• VHS or Beta: “You Got Me”
• Ana Serrano: “Paradise”
• Sam Cooke: “You Send Me”
• Ray LaMontagne: “Hold You in My Arms”
• Van Morrison: “Crazy Love”
• Dave Matthews Band: “Crush”
• Ray Charles: “Come Rain or Come Shine”

• The Maccabees: “Toothpaste Kisses”
• Eels: “Fresh Feeling”
• M. Ward (ft. Zooey Deschanel): “Never Had Nobody Like You”
• Al Bowlly: “Guilty”
• Wilco: “On and On and On”
• Holly Golightly: “My Love Is”

• 311: “Love Song”
• Louis Armstrong: “La Vie En Rose”
• Brett Dennen: “The One Who Loves You the Most”
• Tom Waits: “Sea of Love”
• Bright Eyes: “First Day of My Life” (This video makes me tear up every time!)
• Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes: “Home”
• Death Cab for Cutie: “Soul Meets Body”
• The Beatles: “Besame Mucho”
• Keller Williams: “Love Handles” (or audio only)
• The Cure: “Just Like Heaven” (acoustic)
• Devendra Banhart: “Baby”
• Bob Marley and the Wailers: “Is this Love”
• The Features: “The Idea of Growing Old”
• The Pipettes: “I Love You”
• The Postal Service: “Such Great Heights”
• Louis Armstrong: “On the Sunny Side of the Street”
• Feist: “My Moon My Man”
• The Refreshments: “Down Together”
• Marvin Gaye: “If I Could Build My Whole World Around You”
• The Scabs: “Where I’m At”

• The Ordinary Boys: “I Love You”
• The Black Keys: “Nobody But You”
• The Rifles: “She’s the Only One”
• The Pixies: “La La Love You”
• Tears for Fears: “Head Over Heels”
• Islands: “Jogging Gorgeous Summer”
• Matt Costa: “Sweet Rose”
• The Cure: “Lovecats”
• Peggy Lee: “Hallelujah, I Love Him So”

Additional Suggestions

These are songs that didn’t quite make the cut for my primary playlists but may fit within your playlist a little bit better.

• Billie Holiday: “Love is Here to Stay”
• The Black Keys: “Hold Me in Your Arms”
• The White Buffalo: “Love Song 1″

• The Black Keys: “Everlasting Light”
• Buena Vista Social Club: “Dos Gardenias”
• Citizen Cope: “Sideways”
• Death Cab for Cutie: “I Will Follow You Into the Dark”
• Dispatch: “Out Loud” (audio only)
• Hooverphonic: “Mad About You”
• Jack Johnson: “Do You Remember”
• Johnny Cash: “Would You Lay With Me (In a Field of Stone)”
• Kevin Devine: “You Are the Daybreak”
• Joshua Radin (ft. Schuyler Fisk): “Paperweight”
• Madeleine Peyroux: “Always a Use”
• Nina Simone: “Turn Me On”
• Paul Michel: “You, My Only One” (audio only)
• Sia: “Breathe Me”
• Curtis Mayfield: “So in Love”
• Dean Martin: “Sway”

• Michael Jackson: “The Way You Make Me Feel”
• Ray LaMontagne: “You Are the Best Thing”
• James Brown: “I Feel Good”
• Michael Buble: “Everything”
• Pearl Jam: “Just Breathe”

Whew! That’s a lot of music. I hope this list can help some of you, but it is certainly non-exhaustive. What awesome songs have I forgotten?