13 Alternative Processional Songs For Your Walk Down The Aisle

  • The ‘walking down the aisle’ music, otherwise known as processional or bridal entrance music, can be one of the hardest tracks to choose.

    Especially if you’re not a traditional ‘da da da daaaah…Here Comes The Bride’ (on the organ) kind of bride.

    There are so many things to consider when choosing your processional music.

    Do you want to make a grand entrance?

    Or perhaps you’d prefer a track that starts off slow but builds up to a crescendo?

    Do you want instrumental music? Or a song with meaningful lyrics?! Decisions decisions…

    bride beautiful dress looking at path ahead

    Photo by Juliet Elizabeth via gabba gabba gorgeous

    Lucky for us John from  Aria Melody DJ is here to help with some beautifully quirky, alternative processional music options for your wedding.

    I’ve DJ’d quite a few weddings lately held in unique venues all over the NYC area and many brides have chosen unique songs to which they walked down the aisle so I thought I’d share of a few of them.

    Each song sets a different tone and mood – so no matter if you’re going for sweet & sentimental or dramatic or contemporary…there are many, many songs out there just waiting to be found.

    Your DJ should be able to trim or edit the parts you like or cut the weird lyrics (there are always weird lyrics). Of course, there are hundreds of great modern-tracks-with-a-classic-twist from the very popular Vitamin String Quartet.  Or, if you’re looking to go back to the classics, the Lumiere String Quartet has great selections.  

    bridal entrance alternative wedding songs

    Photo by Erin Brown Photography via Soundtrack To I Do

    Click the play button to listen to each track and don’t forget to turn the volume up nice and loud!

    1. “Reign of Love” – Coldplay

    Reign of Love ~ Coldplay

    2. “I Love NYE” – Badly Drawn Boy

    I Love NYE ~ Badly Drawn Boy

    3. “Longing to Belong” – Eddie Veder

    Longing to Belong ~ Eddie Veder

    4. “Can’t Help Falling In Love” – Ingrid Michaelson

    Cant Help Falling In Love ~ Ingrid Michaelson

    5. “She” – Elvis Costello

    She ~ Elvis Costello

    6. “Hoppipolla” – Sigur Ros

    Hoppipolla ~ Sigur Ros

    7. “Moth’s Wings”  – Passion Pit

    Moths Wings ~ Passion Pit

    8. “Rose of My Heart” – Johnny Cash

    Rose Of My Heart ~ Johnny Cash

    9. “Halo” (Beyonce cover) – One Republic

    Halo (Beyonce Cover) ~ One Republic

    10. “Sparkplug Minuet”  – Mark Mothersbaugh

    Sparkplug Minuet ~ Mark Mothersbaugh

    11. “Let Me Tell You About My Boat” – Mark Mothersbaugh

    Let Me Tell You About My Boat ~ Mark Motherbaugh

    12. “Sky Cloud Winter Breeze” – Orba Squara

    Sky Cloud Winter Breeze ~ Orba Squara

    13. “Falling In Love At a Coffeeshop” – Landon Pigg

    Falling In Love At A Coffeeshop ~ Landon Pigg

    I thoroughly enjoyed listening to these songs as I put this post together. You may not recognise the titles but after listening you’ll recognise some of the instrumental songs from adverts and film scores. There are some truly beautiful songs on this list.

    Have you got any other alternative processional song ideas? I’d love to hear them!

    To find out more about New York based Aria Melody DJ ’s services, check out their website and visit their blog for more awesome playlists.



    Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

    January 31st, 2012 | Elizabeth | 29 Comments |
  • Adeline Keirle

    We’ve just decided on ours! I mm going to walk in to ‘Sparks’ by Coldplay!

    • Anonymous

      Gorgeous choice!

  • Anonymous

    LOVE this post Elizabeth, absolutely brilliant idea and something not too often thought of until the very last minute. Great selection too xx

  • Allie

    Ohh great idea!! I’ll be walking down to a vitamin string quartet song…cannot wait! :)

  • Rowan January

    Love this post. For us it’s At Last by Etta James. After eight years it seemed appropriate :)

  • Gloria

    There are 2 new pop bride’s entrance songs written especially for the bride walking down the aisle available only at http://www.weddingmusiccentral.com.  “Here She Comes” with a vocal by Oren Waters, and
    “When She Walk”, written for a Platinum Weddings episode is new, fresh and totally appropriate for that moment.

  • bree [capitolromance]

    After seeing 500 Days of Summer, I just knew our wedding party needed to shimmy on down the aisle to “You Make My Dreams Come True” by Hall & Oates. It was such a fun way to start our wedding day, insanely appropriate for us,  and my heart still skips a beat whenever I hear the opening notes.

  • Triple5_soul00

    where is this dress from! and who was the designer?

  • Jessfcohen

    I walked in to Hopipopolla by sigur ros and it was incredible. 

  • Lilbree34

    I am walking down to “Life in Technicolor” by Coldplay. I cannot wait!!!

    • Anonymous

      Wow! That’s such an exciting, powerful song to walk down the aisle to! :)

  • http://giftlist.havens.co.uk/ Wedding Gift List

    Great recommendations here. Many people choose Coldplay as an alternative. I’d prefer something personal rather than traditional.

  • Ash

    Our wedding party is walking to one song, while I walk to “My Little Girl” by Jack Johnson.  It’s very short and sweet.

    • Anonymous

      I hadn’t heard that Jack Johnson song before, had to go have a listen ~ it’s lovely.

    • Stephrk

      I love this song. Did your fiance pick it?

  • http://twitter.com/Soundtrack2IDo Colleen

    Love these choices!! Great post. :)

  • Caaiard

    another one you could post is john lennon’s “real love” cover by regina spektor. its lovely.

    • Anonymous

      I love that song ~ actually did a post about it too :) http://bridalmusings.com/2011/03/real-love-performed-by-regina-spektor-is-this-the-wedding-song-youve-been-looking-for/

  • Momaiyaj

    My sister walked down the aisle to “Falling in Love At a Coffee Shop.” It was super sweet since she and my now brother-in-law met each other while working at Caribou Coffee. 

    • Elizabeth

      That is so sweet ~ what a lovely idea!

  • Kellyp0121

    I walked down the aisle to Craig Armstrong’s “Glasgow Love Theme”…. beautiful…

    • Anonymous

      Oh my, that is such a beautiful piece of music ~ I adored Love Actually too :)

  • Knkopp

    Where is this dress from??? 

  • GUEST

    The photo above of the bride is actually a bridal portrait done by Juliet Elizabeth Photography. The link  to the tumblr is incorrect.

    Here is the correct link:
    http://julietelizabeth.com/index2.php?v=v1#/gallery1/9/ 

    It’s important to give credit where credit is due.  Most of the time, tumblr pages do not acknowledge the source of a photo. 

    • Elizabeth

      Thank you for providing the original source and introducing me to Juliet Elizabeth’s beautiful photography.

  • Vanessa Balta

    This is great, thanks for posting

  • Blondede

    We chose “She Walks this Earth” by Sting….much better choice than the usual wedding march!

    • Anonymous

      Beautiful. Yes much better!! 

  • Courtney Skates-McGuffee

    This is SO amazing. Thank you for posting this, because I’ve been going CRAZY trying to find songs other than ye olde Wedding March. They’re so beautiful, and I may actually have something to walk down the aisle to!