Wedding Songs for the Aisle, First Dance and Dance Floor (Including South African Favourites)

Wedding music has six jobs: walking the bridal party down the aisle, filling the signing of the register, walking you out as a married couple, carrying your first dance, honouring your parents and filling the dance floor. Below are song ideas for each moment, written as ‘Title’ by Artist, including South African and Afrikaans favourites to get a South African wedding crowd on its feet.

A list is only a starting point. The songs that work best are the ones that mean something to the two of you, played at the right moment, at the right length, through a sound system the guests can actually hear. So after the lists you’ll find the practical side: timing music to the aisle, live musicians on a beach, and how to brief your DJ.

Processional songs for walking down the aisle

You want something that builds, with a clear moment to switch when the bride (or the couple) appears.

• ‘Canon in D’ by Johann Pachelbel
• ‘Bridal Chorus’ by Richard Wagner, from the opera Lohengrin
• ‘A Thousand Years’ by Christina Perri
• ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ by Elvis Presley
• ‘Marry Me’ by Train
• ‘Here Comes the Sun’ by The Beatles

Many of these exist in instrumental versions for strings, piano or acoustic guitar, which suit a ceremony better than a vocal track that starts mid-sentence. If you’re unsure who walks when, our guide to the wedding processional order sets out the usual sequence.

Songs for signing the register

Signing the register takes longer than people expect. Allow five to ten minutes once the witnesses and the photographs are included, pick two or three relaxed songs and let them run.

• ‘Lucky’ by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat
• ‘Better Together’ by Jack Johnson
• ‘Lovely Day’ by Bill Withers
• ‘Make You Feel My Love’ by Adele (written by Bob Dylan)

Our ceremony order of service shows where the signing falls and how long each part of the ceremony usually takes.

Recessional songs for walking out as a married couple

This is the happiest walk of the day, so choose something upbeat that starts strongly.

• ‘Wedding March’ by Felix Mendelssohn
• ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)’ by Stevie Wonder
• ‘You Make My Dreams’ by Daryl Hall and John Oates
• ‘Home’ by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
• ‘Happy’ by Pharrell Williams
• ‘Doo Be Doo’ by Freshlyground
• ‘Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes’ by Paul Simon, with Ladysmith Black Mambazo
• ‘Ndihamba Nawe’ by Mafikizolo

First dance songs

A first dance song should be one you both actually like, at a tempo you can sway to without counting.

• ‘At Last’ by Etta James
• ‘The Way You Look Tonight’ by Frank Sinatra
• ‘Wonderful Tonight’ by Eric Clapton
• ‘Thinking Out Loud’ by Ed Sheeran
• ‘Perfect’ by Ed Sheeran
• ‘All of Me’ by John Legend
• ‘Die with a Smile’ by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars
• ‘Dela’ by Johnny Clegg and Savuka, for a livelier first dance

Before you commit to any song, especially one in a language you don’t speak well, listen to the whole thing and read a translation of the lyrics. Plenty of lovely melodies turn out to be about leaving.

Most first dances work best at two to three minutes. Ask the DJ to fade out at a natural point, then invite everyone onto the floor.

Songs for parent dances

If you’re including a father-daughter, mother-son or both-parents dance, these are gentle options:

• ‘My Girl’ by The Temptations
• ‘What a Wonderful World’ by Louis Armstrong
• ‘Isn’t She Lovely’ by Stevie Wonder, written for the birth of his daughter
• ‘A Song for Mama’ by Boyz II Men

A shorter alternative is to invite both sets of parents to join you halfway through your first dance, which saves time and makes no one feel left out.

South African songs for the dance floor

Songs that tend to get a South African crowd of every age off their chairs:

Classics

• ‘Pata Pata’ by Miriam Makeba
• ‘Weekend Special’ by Brenda Fassie
• ‘Vulindlela’ by Brenda Fassie
• ‘Burn Out’ by Sipho “Hotstix” Mabuse
• ‘Special Star’ by Mango Groove
• ‘Scatterlings of Africa’ by Juluka

More recent

• ‘Jerusalema’ by Master KG featuring Nomcebo Zikode
• ‘Khona’ by Mafikizolo featuring Uhuru
• ‘Ke Star’ by Focalistic featuring Vigro Deep
• ‘Water’ by Tyla
• ‘Mnike’ by Tyler ICU and Tumelo_za
• ‘Tshwala Bam’ by TitoM and Yuppe

Afrikaans favourites and a sokkie set

If your crowd likes to sokkie or dance langarm, give the DJ a block of songs people can dance to in pairs. A beach wedding practically demands ‘Kaalvoet Sokkie’. Our guide to Afrikaans wedding traditions has more on where sokkie fits into the evening.

• ‘Kaptein (Span die Seile)’ by Kurt Darren
• ‘Loslappie’ by Kurt Darren
• ‘Kaalvoet Sokkie’ by Kurt Darren
• ‘Ska-rumba’ by Juanita du Plessis

And for the late-night singalong, when everyone has their arms around each other:

• ‘Afrikaners is Plesierig’ by Karen Zoid
• ‘Stuur Groete aan Mannetjies Roux’ by Laurika Rauch

For a mixed crowd, alternate blocks rather than single songs: twenty minutes of sokkie, twenty of amapiano, twenty of eighties pop. People stay on the floor for a block they like and refill their drinks during one they don’t.

International dance-floor fillers to round it out: ‘September’ by Earth, Wind & Fire; ‘Dancing Queen’ by ABBA; ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)’ by Whitney Houston; ‘Uptown Funk’ by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars; and ‘Shut Up and Dance’ by Walk the Moon.

How to time the music to the aisle

Most songs run three to four minutes. Your processional probably doesn’t, so the music needs a plan.

Time a practice walk at the rehearsal with a phone stopwatch, from the first person setting off to the bride arriving. Say four bridesmaids walk a 20-metre aisle about ten seconds apart and each walk takes around 30 seconds: the bridal party needs about a minute of music, and the bride another 30 to 45 seconds. Then:

• Use two pieces of music, or two sections of one. One for the bridal party and a clear change when the bride appears, so guests know to stand.
• Mark the switch and the fade. Give the DJ or musicians the exact timestamp where the bride’s music should start and a natural place to fade.
• Allow extra time on sand. Soft sand slows everyone down, especially in heels. Matting on the aisle helps.
• Have someone cue it. The coordinator or a trusted usher should signal the DJ, not the bride from behind the dune.

Live musicians at a beach ceremony

A guitarist, a string trio or a singer on the sand can be lovely, but a beach is a demanding stage.

• Power. Most beaches have none. Musicians need battery-powered amplifiers or a quiet generator placed well away from the ceremony and downwind of the guests.
• Wind. On the Eastern Cape coast the wind usually picks up in the afternoon in summer. Microphones need foam windshields or furry covers, music stands need weights or clips, and sheet music needs pegs.
• Sand, salt and sun. Keep amplifiers and keyboards off the sand on boards or mats, give the musicians shade, and have covers ready for instruments.
• Surf. An unamplified acoustic guitar seldom carries over waves and wind to the back row of 80 guests. Light amplification usually makes the difference.
• Amplified-sound rules. A beach is public space, and permission for a ceremony there can come with conditions about amplified sound. Ask the municipality or park authority before you book a band. Our guide to beach wedding permits in the Eastern Cape explains who to ask.
• A backup. Keep a downloaded playlist on a phone and a charged battery speaker in the coordinator’s bag.

Giving your DJ a must-play and do-not-play list

A good DJ reads the room. A great DJ reads the room and knows what you want.

• Keep the must-play list short, ten to fifteen songs. Any longer and you’ve written a playlist, not given direction.
• Write a do-not-play list. Songs tied to exes, songs with lyrics you’d rather your grandmother didn’t hear, and any song you simply can’t stand. Be specific: name the song and the artist.
• Specify versions. Clean or explicit, live or studio, the full song or the radio edit.
• Give the DJ a cue sheet for the formalities: entrance song, cake music, first dance, last song, with the words the MC will use to trigger each one. Our guide on how to MC a wedding covers how the MC and DJ work together.
• Tell the DJ about the crowd. How many guests are Afrikaans, how many are under 30, whether the older generation dances. It changes everything.

If you’re still deciding between a DJ and a band, our wedding reception entertainment ideas compare the two.

Next steps

Pick the songs for the ceremony first, because those need to be timed, rehearsed and shared with the musicians or the DJ well before the day. Then choose the first dance, write the must-play and do-not-play lists, and add every cue to the running order. If Tarika is coordinating your day, the music cues go into the running order we write for the day, so the DJ, the MC and the musicians follow the same plan. You can see how our wedding services work.