The Best Wedding Reception Songs: Parent Dance

What are the best songs for the bride's dance with her father or the groom's dance with his mother?

The tradition of the bride dancing with her father and the groom dancing with his mother is supposed to acknowledge that special relationship between a parent and child. On your wedding day is the day that the child takes a step away from his or her family while taking a step toward creating his own family. It is only natural that you want to take a moment to acknowledge this change while reflecting on all the events that brought you to this point.

Consider this a moment where you can pause and take a deep breath before moving on to the rest of your reception. It is also an event that signals the start of the dancing--which will help take the focus of you!

While traditionally the father-daughter and mother-son dances are separate, many people are choosing to combine the two dances into one. Usually, this is done to help speed the reception along. Because of this change in wedding tradition, we decided to create five distinct pages for these songs. While we still have pages devoted to the traditional father of the bride and mother of the groom dances, we've taken any songs that are generic enough that they could work for either dance (or a combined dance) and listed them here. In doing so, 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.

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.

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 appropriate for either the father of the bride dance of mother of the groom.

"A Whole New World" (Aladdin's Theme) performed by Peabo Bryson and Regina Bell
Find it on: Sheetmusicplus
"As I Lay Me Down" by Sophie B. Hawkins
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"Beautiful in My Eyes" performed Joshua Kadison
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"Because You Loved Me" performed by Celine Dion
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"Blessed" performed by Elton John
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"Butterfly Kisses" performed by Bob Carlisle
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"Can You Feel the Love Tonight" performed by Elton John
Find it on: Sheetmusicplus
"Don't Cry" by Guns N' Roses
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"Fire and Rain" performed by James Taylor
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"Flying Without Wings" performed by Ruben Studdard
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"Forever Young" by Youth Group and Alphaville
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"Forever Young" performed by Rod Stewart or Bob Dylan
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"Friends" performed by Elton John
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"God Only Knows" by Beach Boys
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"Goodbye's the Saddest Word" by Celine Dion
Find it on: Sheetmusicplus
"Greatest Love of All" performed Whitney Houston
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"Have I Told You Lately" performed by Rod Stewart or Van Morrison
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"Hero" performed by Mariah Carey
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"I Am Your Child" by Barry Manilow
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"I Believe" performed by Diamond Rio
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"I Hope You Dance" performed by Lee Ann Womack
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"I.O.U." performed Jimmy Dean
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"I Turn to You" performed by Christina Aguilara
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"I Will Be There For You" by Jessica Andrews
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"I Will Remember You" by Sarah McLachlan
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"If There Hadn't Been You" by Billy Dean
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"I'll Remember" performed by Madonna
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"I'll Stand By You" performed by Pretenders
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"I'm Moving On" by Rascal Flatts
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"I'm Your Angel" performed by Celine Dion and R. Kelly
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"In My Life" performed by The Beatles or Bette Midler
Find it on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
"In This Life" performed by Colin Raye or Bette Midler
Find Midler's version on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus
Find Raye's version on: Rhapsody Sheetmusicplus

More parent dance songs are listed on page 2.

If you are looking for songs specifically for the father-daughter dance or the mother-son dance, check out our Best Father of the Bride Songs and Best Mother of the Groom Songs. Don't forget to check our numerous pages on Love Songs for more songs appropriate for weddings.