In recent months, we’ve worked to put together some playlists to help inspire your music selection for your ceremony. Sure, ceremony music is possibly less FUN than cocktail hour music, but it can also be far more meaningful. In our first go-round, we crowd sourced classical music selections for non-cheesy traditionalists. In our second go-round, Maddie collected some hip ceremony music. (Which? Confession time: I thought I wasn’t going to love, but I did.)
Religious ceremony music needed its own playlist. Originally, it had been grouped with classical music, but it took me five seconds to realize that you don’t have to be religious to love Jeremiah Clarke’s Trumpet Voluntary, but you do need to be religious to want “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” in your service. (I’m not being ironic in the slightest here, by the way. That was one of my grandmother’s favorite hymns, and is also one of mine.) So in that spirit, here is a serious compilation of completely un-cheesy religious music for your wedding. It’s mostly Christian, with a few Jewish selections thrown in. In my experience, Christian weddings are loaded with music in a way that Jewish weddings are not (possibly because they are also about four times as long), so the balance is skewed for that reason. Some of these are beautiful covers of hymns that you’ll probably have the congregation sing, some are instrumentals that you would most likely play a recording of. We didn’t include music from other religions because we didn’t have that knowledge base, but if you do, please please please share in the comments. I’m very excited at the idea of learning more. Without further ado, beautiful religious music for your excellent wedding.
- “What A Friend We Have In Jesus” as performed by Ella Fitzgerald
- “Amazing Grace” as performed by Soweto Gospel Choir
- “Dodi Li” as performed by Oranim Zabar Troupe
- “Down by the Riverside” as performed by Etta James
- “Oh Happy Day” as performed by Aretha Franklin & Mavis Staples
- “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” as performed by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
- “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” as performed by Cambridge Choir of Kings College
- “You Satisfy the Hungry Heart” as performed by Stacy Kowalczyk
- “Bless the Lord, O My Soul” as performed by Gunter Schwarze
- “Yerushalayim Shel Zahav” as performed by Naomi Shemer
- “Ave verum corpus” as performed by Westminster Abbey Choir
- “Magnificat” as performed by Pavol Brslik
- “Ubi caritas et amor” as performed by Cambridge Choir Of St. John’s College
- “Sheva Brachot” as performed by Ribi David Kadoch
- “Thou Art the Vineyard” as performed by Nana Peradze And The Harmony Choir
- “Lift Up Your Heads, O Ye Gates” as performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra And Choir
Last Dance Songs (For Your Wedding)
Photo Gabriel Harber
