top wedding recessional songs

For a love that’s truly unstoppable, this crossover hit makes for a memorable and fun wedding recessional song choice. Hill was pregnant with her and husband Tim McGraw’s second child when the video was filmed, so all her costumes had to be altered last-minute. Choose this tune to symbolize the way you and your partner roll with whatever.

Best lyric: “It’s the way you love me. It’s a feeling like this. It’s centrifugal motion. It’s perpetual bliss.”

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Inspired by Jackie Gleason’s catchphrase on the TV show “The Honeymooners” and first recorded by Marvin Gaye, this sweetly relaxed 1975 version features Taylor’s then-wife Carly Simon on backup vocals. This is one of the best recessional songs for including all the generations present.

Best lyric: “With sweet love and devotion deeply touching my emotion, I want to stop and thank you, Baby.”

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The youngest of the Beatles, Harrison doesn’t always get credited for his songwriting. He not only wrote this tune about welcoming light and heat after a long winter, but he also composed its complicated chord progressions and key changes, played both electric and acoustic guitar in it, and brought in a Moog synthesizer, which was cutting edge in 1969. After his death in 2001, this tune came to feel like a love song to the world. It’s an excellent wedding recessional song for older couples and those who have weathered long, cold storms before ending up at each other’s side.

Best lyric: “Here comes the sun, do, dun, do, do / Here comes the sun, and I say / It's all right / Little darling, the smile's returning to their faces / Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here.”

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This hit from the classic 1978 film was not part of the original stage musical “Grease.” It was written by John Farrar to suit actor Olivia Newton-John’s vocal range, replacing the Elvis Presley-inspired “All Choked Up.” The film’s director, Randall Kleiser, didn’t like the tune because it seemed so different from the rest of the score. Thankfully, his opinion was overruled, and this feel-good duet became one of the best-selling hits in modern music history. Choosing this upbeat song doesn’t mean you have to wear leather pants under your wedding dress, but Sandy would be proud of you for doing so!

Best lyric: “You're the one that I want. / You, oo, oo, honey. / The one that I want. You, oo, oo, honey. / The one that I want. / You, oo, oo / Are what I need. / Oh, yes indeed.”

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This selection could work well with a bohemian or earthy wedding theme. Can you envision this song playing as a flower crown sits atop your head? Despite going their separate ways after nine years of marriage, Cher delivered a heart-wrenching eulogy at Sonny’s funeral in 1998, noting his “unforgettable character.” Let this well-known song be the wedding recessional your guests will find both uplifting and memorable.

Best lyric: “They say our love won't pay the rent. Before it's earned, our money's always spent. I guess that's so, we don't have a lot, but at least I'm sure of all the things we’ve got.”

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Folk hero Ray LaMontagne’s work is a true treasure trove of amazing first dance songs and ceremony recessional songs. Because the chorus line of “You are the best thing” is repeated numerous times in a row in this song, the message is bound to be received by your wedding guests as you walk past them all as a newly married couple.

Best lyric: “We've come a long way, baby / You know, I hope and I pray that you believe me / When I say this love will never fade away.”

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This sweet, catchy song sounds like it was penned by two people madly in love - because it was! It’s the brainchild of Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros singer Alex Ebert and Jade Castrinos, who were a couple when they wrote it.

Best lyric: “Alabama, Arkansas / I do love my ma and pa / Not that way that I do love you/ Well, holy moley, me oh my / You're the apple of my eye / Girl, I've never loved one like you.”

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Timberlake revealed in his 2018 book, “Hindsight,” that he wrote this song for his wife, Jennifer Biel long before he proposed to her in 2011. It was inspired by the long-term relationship his grandparents had that showed him what lasting love could be. “I know that’s what I have with my wife,” he says. “She changed me. She changed my life.”

Best lyric: “Aren't you somethin' to admire? / 'Cause your shine is somethin' like a mirror / And I can't help but notice / You reflect in this heart of mine.”

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Whether you’re a die-hard fan of “Love, Actually,” an admirer of the animated film “Yellow Submarine,” or a devout follower of John Lennon’s simple life philosophy, this classic tune makes for an instantly recognizable wedding recessional song. Written in 1967 for the first live international television broadcast, “Our World,” it was Lennon’s take on propaganda, meant to convey the radical idea that love was at the root of changing a world ravaged by war.

Best lyric: “Nothing you can make that can't be made / No one you can save that can't be saved / Nothing you can do, but you can learn how to be you in time
It's easy / All you need is love.”

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Lead singer Marcus Mumford and his wife, actress Carey Mulligan, met at a camp when they were 12 years old and became pen pals. Years later they reconnected and got married in 2012 and are raising two children together. Whatever your unique love story is, you may find that this song and its lyrics speak to you.

Best lyric: “But love the one you hold, and I’ll be your goal to have and to hold.”

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This incredibly upbeat song was released in 2012, not long after lead singer Dan Reynolds married singer-songwriter Aja Volkman, with whom he has four children. The two announced a pending divorce in early 2018, then surprised everyone later that year with news that they were staying together after all. And that happy ending puts us on top of the world!

Best lyric: “I’ve been waiting to smile, holding it in for a while. Take you with me if I can, been dreaming of this since a child. I’m on top of the world.”

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This most recognizable of Vivaldi’s compositions was written in the 18th century in what was a groundbreaking style for the time. Even if you know it was part of a larger work called “The Four Seasons” that illustrated a year in the natural world, you probably didn’t know that Vivaldi also composed sonnets to accompany each concerto, making this the perfect wedding recessional song for intellectuals and classical music lovers.

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Taylor’s country days lead to the creation of some of the best recessional songs for those who love the lighthearted county vibe! We don’t know who the song is about, but we do know that Taylor once said it was about the same guy as the one she wrote about in “Tim McGraw,” which is also a great song choice to walk down the aisle as a married couple to.

Best lyric: “Our song is the slamming screen door / Sneakin' out late, tapping on your window / When we're on the phone and you talk real slow / 'Cause it's late and your mama don't know / Our song is the way you laugh / The first date; ‘Man, I didn't kiss her, and I should have.’”

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The title and chorus words came from Wonder’s mother, Lula, who exclaimed them when she heard her son working on this song. It was the first song that 20-year-old Wonder produced on his own and the first to feature future Supremes member Lynda Tucker Laurence. All that sweetness piled on top of this tune’s toe-tapping exuberance makes it an easy choice for your wedding.

Best lyrics: “Seen a lot of things in this old world. When I touch them, they mean nothing, girl. Ooh baby, here I am, signed, sealed, delivered: I'm yours, I'm yours.”