The Best Contemporary Instrumental Songs for a Wedding Ceremony

What are the best contemporary instrumental songs for your wedding ceremony?

Music played as a background to various wedding interludes should provide the right background ambience without overshadowing the actual event. You will not need music for the entire ceremony. Some moments are better served by silence, which allows your guests time for quiet reflection. Appropriate background music can help add emphasis to a particular reading. For example, if someone is reading an Irish poem, having an instrumental version of "When Irish Eyes are Smiling" will help add emphasis to the reading. If you are looking for music to use during unity ceremonies, check out the Best Unity Ritual Songs.

When choosing music, you will want to consider what mood you are looking to set. Keep in mind that mood is not always determined by the songs you choose. Sometimes it is a matter of what type of instruments used or how the song is arranged. For example, take the classic love song "Because You Love Me." If you click on the player on the left, samples of different versions of it will play. Notice how the mood changes from one version to the next, depending on the singer or the arrangement used.

When selecting music, here is a general guide as to what instruments you should consider to set the right mood. Here is a good guideline as to which instruments best fit different moods.

• Elegant: strings, harp, violin, flute
• Contemporary: guitar, drums, keyboard
• Traditional: organ, piano
• Serenity: harp, flute, violin, piano
• Uplifting / Joyful: strings, violin, guitar, flute, piano, organ
• Playful: violin, guitar, piano
• Formal: organ, violin, harp
• Contemporary: guitar, piano
• Romantic: violin, piano, harp
• Spiritual: organ, harp, strings

We have selected a few of the more popular contemporary instrumental pieces and listed them below. If you are looking for classical pieces, we have listed them on our page of Best Classical Instrumental Songs. While there are quite a few versions of each song available, we looked for some of the more popular versions or versions that were recorded specifically for weddings. For your convenience, we have included links to the sheet music on Sheetmusicplus.com as well as the CD on Amazon.com whenever available. If you are looking to purchase the mp3 or would like to listen to a sample, then click on either the Amazon, Rhapsody, or iTunes links.

Rhapsody provides both music subscriptions as well as individual mp3s for sale in WMA format and iTunes only provides MPEG-4 audio files for sale. However, Amazon does offer mp3s that are compatible with both Windows Media Player and iTunes. For more information about where to purchase music online, we provide it on our Music Downloads page or our Music Subscriptions page.

A few songs you might consider for the interlude are:

1. A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes
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2. A Love Forever
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3. A Moment Like This
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4. A Whole New World
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5. All I Ask Of You
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6. Arthur's Theme
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7. As Two Become One
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8. Beautiful Day (Originally by U2)
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9. Beauty and the Beast
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10. Because You Loved Me
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11. Butterfly Kisses
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12. Can You Feel the Love Tonight?
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13. Chasing Cars (Originally by Snow Patrol)
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14. Do You Realize?? (Originally by The Flaming Lips)
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15. Edelweiss
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16. Endless Love
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17. Everlong (Originally by Foo Fighters)
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18. Everything I Do, (I Do for You)
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19. For Your Eyes Only
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20. From This Moment On
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21. Greensleeves
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22. Groovy Kind of Love
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23. Have I Told You Lately
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24. Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman
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25. Here Comes Your Man( Originally by The Pixies)
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26. Here, There And Everywhere
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27. Hopelessly Devoted To You
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28. How Beautiful
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29. How Deep Is Your Love
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30. I Can Only Imagine
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31. I Don't Want to Miss a Thing
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32. I Will Always Love You
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33. I Will Be Here
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34. Imagine
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35. In My Place (Originally by Coldplay)
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36. In Your Eyes (Originally by Peter Gabriel)
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37. It Had to Be You (Theme from When Harry Met Sally)
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38. Just Like Heaven (Originally by The Cure)
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39. Just the Way You Are
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40. Kiss from a Rose
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41. Love Of My Life
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42. Love Theme from Romeo & Juliet
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43. Love Theme from St. Elmo's Fire by David Foster (1985)
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44. Memory
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45. More Than Words
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46. Music of The Night
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47. My Heart Will Go On
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48. My Girl
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49. Part of Your World
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50. Precious Moments
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51. Show Me Heaven
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52. Simple Gifts
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53. So This Is Love
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54. Some Day My Prince Will Come
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55. Something There from Beauty & the Beast
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56. Stand By Me
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57. Take My Breath Away
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58. The Greatest Love Of All
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59. The Prayer
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60. The Rose
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61. Three Times A Lady
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62. Through the Eyes of Love
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63. Today (Originally by The Smashing Pumpkins)
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64. Transatlanticism
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65. Unchained Melody
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66. Unforgettable
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67. Wedding Day White
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68. When I Fall In Love (Theme from Sleepless in Seattle)
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69. When You Wish Upon a Star
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70. Wind Beneath My Wings
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71. You Can't Hurry Love
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72. You Light Up My Life
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73. You Send Me
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74. You're Beautiful
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If you are looking for instrumental songs check out either our Best Classical Love Songs or Best Classical Instrumental Songs. Don't forget to check our numerous pages on Love Songs for more songs appropriate for weddings.

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