I've Played at Over 1,000 Irish Weddings — These Are the Most Requested Ceremony Songs Right Now

After nearly two decades of performing at weddings across Ireland, I've noticed that couples often come to me with the same question: where do I even start with ceremony music? It can feel overwhelming — there are thousands of songs to choose from, and your ceremony has several distinct moments, each with its own mood and meaning.

So I did something I probably should have done sooner: I went back through my bookings across three recent wedding seasons, from 2024 to 2026, and looked at what my couples are actually choosing. Not what was popular a decade ago, not what new charts hits are starting to trend, but what real couples, planning real weddings in Ireland right now, are choosing time and time again. Many are not new, but they are proving timeless for this generation.

Here's what I found.

Romantic Entrances

• Can't Help Falling in Love
• From This Moment
• I Get to Love You
• Feels Like Home
• Canon in D
• A Million Dreams
• Perfect (instrumental version)
• The Vow

A few things stand out here. Canon in D (Pachelbel's Canon) has been a wedding staple for decades and shows no sign of slowing down - there is a reason it endures. More contemporary songs such as I Get to Love You and Feels Like Home have become just as popular, particularly among couples who want their entrance to feel intimate and emotional rather than traditional.

Interestingly, A Thousand Years did not make the shortlist, despite being my most requested entrance song for more years than I could count. The same is true of This I Promise You, which was once a frontrunner for entrances but now tends to be chosen for the signing of the register instead.

Candles and Gentle Instrumentals

Not every moment of a ceremony calls for a full vocal performance. During the lighting of a candle, a handfasting, or another symbolic ceremony, couples often choose something softer, more atmospheric, and more background. These are the most requested instrumentals for those quieter moments:

• Sky Full of Stars
• Photograph
• The River Flows in You
• Falling Slowly
• How Far I'll Go
• Fields of Gold
• For the Love of a Princess
• Everglow

The River Flows in You by Yiruma is a consistent favourite especially for remembrance candles. It has a timeless, meditative quality that works beautifully on both harp and piano. I Giorni by Ludovico Einaudi also deserves a special mention. It is particularly popular as a reflective instrumental during church ceremonies.

Church Music

Religious ceremonies include particular moments, such as the offertory, sign of peace and communion, that call for sacred, traditional or liturgically appropriate music. These are the church pieces couples are requesting most:

• The Prayer
• The Clouds Veil
• Mo Ghrá Thú
• You Are Mine
• May the Road Rise to Meet You
• Let There Be Peace
• Tabhair Dom do Lámh (not a hymn, but 'sign of peace' instrumental)

Signing of the Register

The signing of the register can be one of the longer musical moments in a ceremony. Couples are often at the top of the church or in the ceremony space for several minutes, and this is a chance to have one or two songs that feel meaningful, particularly if you have a favourite that did not quite suit the mood or pacing of the entrance or elsewhere.

These are the most popular choices:

• The One
• A Million Dreams
• Feels Like Home
• From This Moment
• Can You Feel the Love Tonight
• This I Promise You
• How Long Will I Love You
• Always Remember Us This Way
• The Voyage

Upbeat Exits

The exit is the moment couples have been waiting for — they're married, the formalities are done, and they want to walk back down the aisle feeling like they're floating. This is where the more upbeat choices come in, and one song is in a category of its own: Dreams by The Cranberries is, by some distance, the most requested exit song I perform. There's something about it — the build, the joy, the fact that it's unmistakably Irish — that makes it the perfect send-off. If you're on the fence about your exit song, this one is worth serious consideration.

The most popular exits:

• Dreams (The Cranberries) #1 most popular
• Higher & Higher
• Everywhere (Fleetwood Mac)
• Accidentally in Love
• This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)
• I Wanna Dance with Somebody
• Marry You
• Signed, Sealed, Delivered
• Take My Hand

What these songs have in common: they're all immediately recognisable, they make people smile, and they signal to your guests that the celebration has officially begun.

Final Thoughts

This is not a list of songs every couple has to choose from. It can be a starting point based on what has genuinely been popular across my recent weddings. If you see a song here that you love, that's a great sign that it will work nicely in a ceremony. If you don't see your song, that doesn't mean it won't work — it just means you might be choosing something a little more unexpected, which can be a wonderful thing.

Perhaps you are even the kind of couple who prefer an alternative feel and want to make sure you choose nothing from this list. By all means, use it in reverse!

For more inspiration, visit my ceremony music page or browse my full song list. And if you'd like to chat through your ceremony music, I'd love to hear from you — get in touch here.