Wedding Processional Songs: Modern Picks for Walking Down the Aisle

Your processional is the first thing your guests hear when the ceremony starts, and it sets the tone for the whole day. You don't need the same three songs every wedding uses. Here are the processional songs we reach for most at Discoboxx weddings around Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, plus how to pick yours.

Start with our processional playlist below, then use the lists to build your own.

How to pick your processional songs

• Plan three moments, not one. Most ceremonies have a song for the wedding party, a different song for the final entrance, and an upbeat recessional when you walk back up the aisle together.

• Go instrumental or gentle. Piano and string versions of songs you love work beautifully. Heavy lyrics can compete with the moment.

• Think about length. A wedding party walk usually takes two to three minutes, and the final entrance about a minute. A good DJ fades each song so it lands right when you reach the front.

• Match the setting. A garden ceremony and a downtown loft call for different energy. Pick songs that feel like the room.

Modern instrumental picks

• Can't Help Falling in Love — piano or string cover. A classic that feels fresh when it's stripped down

• A Thousand Years — Christina Perri. Best as a piano or string version

• Yellow — Coldplay. Beautiful as a string quartet cover

• River Flows in You — Yiruma

• Experience — Ludovico Einaudi. Builds slowly, perfect for a longer wedding party

• Clair de Lune — Claude Debussy

Indie and soulful picks

• Bloom — The Paper Kites

• First Day of My Life — Bright Eyes

• Make You Feel My Love — Adele

• Sea of Love — Cat Power

• Harvest Moon — Neil Young

• La Vie en Rose — Louis Armstrong

Songs for the big entrance

• Here Comes the Sun — The Beatles

• Somewhere Over the Rainbow — Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

• Canon in D — Johann Pachelbel. The traditional choice, and still a great one

• Can't Help Falling in Love — Elvis Presley

Recessional songs that start the party

• Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours) — Stevie Wonder

• Mr. Blue Sky — Electric Light Orchestra

• September — Earth, Wind & Fire

• Dog Days Are Over — Florence + The Machine

• You Make My Dreams — Daryl Hall & John Oates

How Discoboxx handles ceremony music

Ceremony sound is included in every Discoboxx wedding package, with wireless and wired mics so your guests hear every word. We plan your processional with you ahead of time, time each song to your walk, and fade cleanly so nothing gets cut off mid-moment. Then we carry that same energy into cocktail hour and the dance floor.

Getting married at Angus Barn Pavilion? Read how we set up there. Ready to talk music for your ceremony? Check your date and see pricing.