Best Wedding Songs for the Mother of the Groom Dance

What are the best songs for groom's dance with his mother?

The tradition of the groom dancing with his mother is an expansion on the traditional father-bride dance. As with that dance, the mother-groom dance is supposed to acknowledge that special relationship between a mother and son, so picking the right song is important. There are several factors you want to consider including the tempo of the song (fast or slow) and the style (country, rock, jazz). Then there is the message of the song. You want a song that reflect the honor and love shared between you and your mother.

When selecting the right song, don't forget to talk to your mother. She has probably imagined this moment since the day she first held you in her arms, and might have a song in mind. If not, browse through this page and select a few songs and pick one together. Use this as an opportunity to connect with your mother and create a special wedding memory for later when things get so hectic.

Your wedding day is the day that the mother lets go of her son and watches as a new woman becomes the focus of his life. Considering all that she has given you, it seems only fitting that you take this opportunity to let her know how much you love her and how much she means to you.

As you browse through the songs you will find that some of the songs listed seem written specifically for the father-bride dance. Michael W. Smith's song " She Walks With Me" and Willie Nelson's song "In my Mother's Eyes" are two examples of this. Other songs, such as "Brown Eyed Girl" and "Sweet Child O' Mine" are popular songs that simply work well for this dance.

We've tried to find some of the best and most popular father and daughter dance songs to list here. We've avoided any songs that are more about romantic love or are traditional love songs (you can find them on either our Best First Dance Songs page or our Best Wedding Love Songs page.

Although traditionally the mother and groom dance separately from the bride and her father, many couples elect to combine these two dances in order to keep the reception moving. For that reason, we've broken down our list of songs into five major categories.

Best Father of the Bride Dance Songs: Songs that express love between a father and daughter.
Best Mother of the Groom Dance Songs: Songs that express love between a mother and son.
Best Songs for Parent-Child Dance: Songs that work for either the father of the bride dance or the mother of the groom dance or a combined dance.
Best Songs for the Family Dance: Songs that a mixture of songs that work for generic family dances as well as ones that would work for a nontraditional dance.
Best Songs for the Bridal Party Dance: Songs that express feelings of friendship. These are the most generic songs combined with some of the faster dance songs.

We have not duplicated any songs on the father of the bride, mother of the groom, and parent dance pages. 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.

Here are some of the best songs for the mother of the groom dance.

"26 Cents" performed the Wilkinsons
A country song an 18-year-old girl leaving home. Her mother gives her a penny for her thoughts and a quarter for the call.
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"A New Day Has Come" by Celine Dion
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"A Song For Mama" performed Boyz II Men
A slow ballad that talks about how much their mother has done for them.
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"A Song For My Son" performed Winsome
Find it on: Rhapsody
"Always on My Mind" performed by Willie Nelson
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"Baby Mine" by Bette Midler
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"Beautiful Boy" by Celine Dion or John Lennon
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"Child of Mine" by Carole King
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"Godspeed" by Dixie Chicks
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"Good Mother" by Jann Arden
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"I Wish You Love" by Natalie Cole or Rosemary Clooney
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"If I Could" by Barbra Streisand
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"I'll Be" by Reba McEntyre
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"In My Mother's Eyes" by Willie Nelson
Find it on: Sheetmusicplus
"Mother's Day" by Jennifer Hamady
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"The Perfect Fan" by Backstreet Boys
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"Simple Man" by Lynard Skynard
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"Simple Man" by Shinedown
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"The One Who Knows" by Dar Williams
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"The Prayer" performed Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli or Anthony Callea
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"Three Times a Lady" performed the Commodores
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"Time" by Backstreet Boys
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"Turn Around" by Joanie Bartels, Nanci Griffith or Rosemary Clooney
Find it on: Sheetmusicplus
"With Arms Wide Open" performed by Creed
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"You Belong To Me" by Patsy Cline or The Duprees
This song is not nearly as possessive as the title makes it sound. It was sung by Jason Wade on the Shrek soundtrack.
Find Cline's version on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
Find Dupree's version on: Sheetmusicplus
"You Needed Me" by Boyzone
Find it on: Sheetmusicplus

You can also find songs that are appropriate for both mother-son dances and father-dances at Best Songs for Parent Dances. If you are looking for songs specifically for the father-daughter dance, check out our Best Father of the Bride Songs. Don't forget to check our numerous pages on Love Songs for more songs appropriate for weddings or scroll down for more wedding reception song pages.