Matt talks about a wedding songs checklist for planning your wedding music. Important Links Download the wedding songs checklist. See all Wedding Songs Podcast episodes Podcast Transcript Welcome to 2023! Even though at the time of this recording it is December 29th. I am going to be doing things a little differently. If you want to see my ugly face, then you can do so now on YouTube, or you can listen to our podcast on Spotify, or I Heart Radio, however, you want to listen. You know, I just want to change things up a little bit in 2023 and give you some different advice and hopefully get some interviews, and really change the direction making this more interactive for all of you. So I just want to start off the year by going over a wedding songs checklist. Like I said, if you are looking on Spotify I am going to share my screen real quick. I have a wedding song checklist that I offer on the website that you can download for free. On this checklist, we go over the ceremony music, the reception, some of the formal dances, and then some of the overall feel of the music as well. This is really what I am going to talk about today, which is what songs you should be playing for your wedding day. If you haven’t figured any of that out you’ve come to the right place. So, I am going to start off with the ceremony and the prelude. That is industry jargon that really means the music that is playing as your guests come in and are being seated. You want to have this as really setting the mood for the day. A lot of couples will choose instrumental music, like Vitamin String Quartet or The Piano Guys. Instrumental music is very common music that is played for the prelude. Next up is “the marriers processional”, this is also the groom's processional. A lot of grooms do not have their own song as they walk down the aisle, but they most certainly can. You know, you can walk down to the Star Wars theme, the James Bond theme, or something that really means something to the groom. Just make sure you really talk it over with the officiant and the venue. A lot of churches may limit songs you can play during the wedding ceremony. So, make sure you talk it over with them and the celebrant to see what may be acceptable for that location. Next up are processional for the wedding party. This could be the flower girl, the ring bearer, the bridesmaids, the groomsmen, or whatever songs you want to play for the processional. You can have all of these as one song but I can tell you the next one, the marriers entrance song or the brides' entrance song (the bridal march) is typically the bridal party and they walk down the aisle to their own song. This is where you can bring in your personality as well. Here you can have a special song. Say you are a Disney fan then you could have “What Dreams Are Made Of” which is very popular by Brent Morgan. OR you could have the ukulele version of a Disney song as well. As I said, you could have the Vitamin String Quartet, The Piano Guys, really make this designed to your personality and the songs you like. A lot of people play an instrumental song from the Twilight series, so you know, just bring in your personality. A lot of couples choose a unity song for their ceremony so this could be the “tieing of the knot”, unity candle lighting, or whatever you are doing to signify the unity of two families becoming one. It could even be a black and tan beer, so whatever you have as the unity of two families/people becoming one. You could have a special song for that. Then also, maybe you want to have songs for the communion or the readings or other moments your ceremony includes. You don’t have to have music, that is up to you. Typically the average wedding is only about 15-20 min long unless you are going to have a full-on religious ceremony which could take up to an hour. So, just pick out your music but make sure you are speaking wi...