Wedding Ceremony Processional Songs

The Processional at a Wedding is the time BEFORE the actual start of the ceremony when the Families, Wedding Party and finally, Bride comes down the aisle.

How Many Processional Songs Should I Have?

The processional can be made up of multiple songs, depending on how big the overall wedding party is to other factors such as how long of a walk does everyone have.  Most weddings have at least two songs, one for Family / Wedding Party and one for the Bride:

  • #1 – Parents Processional – Grandparents + Parents
  • #2 – Wedding Party Processional – Bridesmaids, Flower Girls / Ring Bearer
  • #3 – Bridal Processional – Bride + Father, Bride + Other

Or, if shorter distance and/or smaller wedding party:

  • #1 – Parents* + Wedding Party
  • #2 – Bride

*On rare occasion, parents are sometimes not included in the Processional and the ceremony starts with them at their seats.  That’s more common if you have elderly parents, an odd number or way offset balance due to divorce or similar.

While the traditional wedding processional songs are “Canon in D”, “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”, etc. here is a broader list of Wedding Processional Songs:

Modern & A/C Wedding Processional Songs

  • “Marry Me” by Train
  • “I Do” by Colbie Cailat
  • “Come Away with Me” by Norah Jones
  • “First Day of My Life” by Bright Eyes
  • “This I Promise You” by ‘N Sync
  • “You and Me” by Dave Mathews Band
  • “Yellow” by Coldplay
  • “God Gave Me You” by Blake Shelton

Most if not all of these can (and maybe should 😉 ) be in Instrumental form.

Vitamin String Quartet

  • Vitamin String Quartet (VSQ) is a classical yet modern string quartet group that covers almost every popular song, from Metallica to Jason MRaz to Bach to The Police.   ANYTHING you pick from them will work, so I’m not going to list specifics.

Oldies Processional Songs

  • “In My Life” by The Beatles
  • “God Only Knows” by The Beach Boys
  • “L-O-V-E” by Nat King Cole

Traditional / Classical Wedding Processional Songs

These are some of the traditional, classical processional songs.

  • Pachelbel’s “Canon in D”
  • “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”
  • Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”
  • Handel’s “Largo”
  • Bach’s “Air on the G String”
  • Vivaldi’s “Spring”