Choosing music for your wedding film can be surprisingly difficult.
You might already have a song that feels completely tied to your relationship. Perhaps it’s the song you walked into your wedding ceremony to, your first dance, or something you’ve listened to together for years.
Or you might have absolutely no idea what should soundtrack your film.
My view is that there’s no single right answer, but if your priority is creating the strongest possible wedding film, I’d recommend giving your videographer some creative freedom rather than choosing every song yourself.
At Momentous Films, we give couples the choice. You can choose the music yourself if that’s important to you, or we can choose it for you. I’m also very happy to discuss the kind of music you like and work towards a shortlist together.
The couple always gets the final say of course, but if your priority is creating the strongest possible wedding film, I’d usually recommend either letting your filmmaker choose the soundtrack or taking a collaborative approach. Think about how music works in a feature film. It isn’t simply there to fill the silence. It helps shape the pace, mood and emotion of a scene, and the same principle applies to a wedding film.
Outdoor wedding ceremony in Spain
Should you choose the music for your wedding film?
There are two obvious approaches: You can choose your own songs, giving the film a very personal soundtrack; Or you can let your videographer choose music specifically for the film, based on the story, pace and emotion of what they’ve captured.
Both can work brilliantly. They simply produce a slightly different result. The important thing is to understand what you’re asking the music to do.
A wedding film isn’t simply a collection of your favourite moments with a song playing underneath. The music needs to work with the edit, the speeches, the natural sound and the emotional arc of the day.
That’s why I think it’s worth involving your filmmaker in the decision.
Option 1: Choose your own songs
There’s something lovely about hearing a song that has a genuine connection to your relationship playing over your wedding film.
Perhaps it’s the song you always listen to together. Perhaps it was playing during an important moment in your relationship. Or maybe you simply love it.
Your first dance song is an obvious choice, as are songs you used for your ceremony entrance or exit. If those songs mean something to you, there’s no reason not to use them.
There’s one potential downside, though.
A song that works brilliantly in the context of your wedding reception doesn’t necessarily work brilliantly as the soundtrack to a five or ten-minute film.
The tempo might not fit the edit. The lyrics might pull attention away from what’s happening on screen. The emotional tone might not quite match the story. Or the song may work beautifully for one section but leave you with nowhere to go when the film moves into something quieter or more emotional.
There’s also a difference between hearing a song for three minutes at your wedding and hearing it repeatedly underneath carefully edited visuals.
The song becomes part of the storytelling.
Live music at a wedding in Menorca, Spain
Option 2: Let your videographer choose the music
This is the approach I’d recommend if your main priority is getting the best possible film.
As your videographer, I’ve seen the entire day. I know which moments made people laugh, which ones were emotional, where the energy changed and which parts of the day naturally belong together.
I can therefore choose music to support the story rather than trying to fit the story around a song that’s already been selected.
Think about how music works in a feature film.
A director doesn’t normally choose a song simply because it’s popular. The music is selected because it helps create the right feeling for a particular scene.
A relaxed, informal wedding might suit something completely different from an elegant black-tie reception. A vintage wedding could benefit from music with a vintage character. A quiet exchange of vows might need something restrained and atmospheric, while the dance floor could take the film somewhere completely different.
The music becomes part of the edit rather than simply accompanying it.
It’s the difference between a wedding video with music underneath and a wedding film where the soundtrack is part of the storytelling.
There’s a downside to this approach too. You may hear the finished film and think, “I’d never have chosen that song.”
That’s why I always give couples the final say. If you really dislike a piece of music, it doesn’t matter how well I think it works. It’s your wedding film.
The Problem With Choosing a Hit Song
There’s nothing inherently wrong with using a well-known song. Some of the most effective wedding films use familiar music.
The issue is more about how often certain songs appear in wedding films, playlists and social media content.
When a particular track has become strongly associated with weddings, using it can sometimes make the soundtrack feel less distinctive. The music may begin to remind you of other wedding videos or wedding playlists rather than making this particular film feel uniquely yours.
That doesn’t make the film generic. The images, story, speeches and way the film is edited can still make it completely personal.
But if you’re looking for something that feels distinctive, it’s worth being aware of the effect your music choice can have.
Alex Warren (Creative Commons Licence – Mike M. Cohen)
Music Doesn't Have to Match the Music You Played on the Day
Your wedding film doesn’t have to use the same music you played on the day. The soundtrack to your film has a different job.
At the wedding itself, music helps create an atmosphere for the people in the room. You might have a DJ or band playing songs that get everyone dancing, songs chosen because your friends love them, or tracks that have become part of your family’s musical history.
The film is telling the story of the day afterwards. That gives you much more freedom.
You can have one style of music during your drinks reception and something completely different in the film. The soundtrack doesn’t need to recreate the playlist. It needs to help recreate the experience.
Is There a Middle Ground?
Absolutely, and this is probably my favourite option.
Talk to your videographer about the sort of music you like, the artists you listen to and the overall feeling you want from the film.
You might have a particular genre you love but not a specific song. You might say that you want something romantic but not overly sentimental, cinematic but not dramatic, or upbeat without feeling like a party montage.
That gives your filmmaker useful creative direction without restricting the edit to a particular track.
There’s another option that can work particularly well if you’re having both a highlights film and a longer feature film.
Choose Differently for Your Highlights and Feature Films
Your highlights film is usually the version that gets shared with friends and family. It’s concise, carefully edited and designed to tell the story of the day in a relatively short amount of time.
Your feature film is different.
This is often the film you keep as a record of the day and watch with your partner or immediate family. It might include longer sections of speeches, ceremony audio, readings and conversations that would never make sense in a ten-minute highlights film.
For that reason, you could choose your own songs for the feature film because the music has a particularly personal connection to you, while giving your videographer more creative freedom over the highlights film. See some example edited wedding films in our portfolio.
That can give you the best of both worlds. The shorter the film, the more carefully the music has to work with the edit. A highlights film may move through the entire emotional arc of the day in just a few minutes, so the soundtrack has a particularly important role.
What Is Sound Design in a Wedding Film?
Music is only one part of the soundtrack. This is something I think is often overlooked when couples are choosing a wedding videographer.
A wedding film can look beautiful, but if all you hear is music from beginning to end, you’re missing a huge amount of what actually made the day special.
That’s where sound design comes in.
Sound design is the process of deliberately combining music, dialogue, natural sound and other recorded audio to create the soundtrack of the film.
For a wedding, that might mean hearing the groom laughing nervously before the ceremony, barn doors sliding open, guests laughing during the speeches, applause after a reading or the sound of champagne glasses being put down on a table.
It might be the roaring engine of a vintage car as you leave the church, birdsong and a breeze during an outdoor ceremony, or the reaction of your friends when you enter the reception.
Those sounds can be incredibly powerful because they’re real. They were actually there.
Music and Sound Design Should Work Together
This is one of the things I pay particular attention to when I edit a wedding film.
Imagine a sequence showing the bride getting ready.
You could simply put a piece of music underneath a series of beautiful shots.
Or you could let the music play for a moment, then bring in a snippet of conversation from the room. Perhaps you hear someone laughing. The bride says something to her bridesmaids. The sound of the room comes through before the music builds again.
Suddenly, you’re not just watching pictures of the morning.
You’re back in the room.
The same principle works throughout the film.
A few seconds of natural sound can make a transition feel much more connected to the actual day. A speech can provide context for a sequence of images. A laugh can change the mood of a shot completely.
The result is a film that feels like an experience rather than a sequence of photographs with a soundtrack.
And this is another reason why I’d recommend involving your videographer in the music choice. They’re not simply choosing a song. They’re building an entire soundtrack around your day.
Why Music Licensing Matters
There’s also a practical consideration when choosing music for a wedding film: music needs to be properly licensed for the way the film will be used. Your videographer should handle the music licensing rather than it being something you need to worry about during wedding planning.
A song being available on Spotify or Apple Music doesn’t automatically mean it can simply be added to a professionally produced film and published online.
If your wedding film is going to be uploaded to a website, YouTube or social media, your videographer needs to make sure the music they use is appropriately licensed for that use. Visit the Momentous Films YouTube Channel.
It’s one of those behind-the-scenes details that you may never notice when everything has been done properly.
YouTube Music Licencing for Wedding Films
So, Who Should Choose the Music for Your Wedding Film?
If you already have songs that are hugely meaningful to you, tell your videographer. But don’t feel that you have to choose every piece of music yourself. My recommendation would be to give your filmmaker some creative freedom.
At the very least, talk to them about what you like and what you don’t like. Give them a sense of your musical taste and the kind of film you want to create. Better still, let them suggest music and work through the options together.
And if you want to go one step further, consider letting them choose the soundtrack for your highlights film while choosing some of the music yourself for your longer feature film.
That gives your filmmaker the freedom to create the strongest possible short film, while your longer film can retain those more personal musical choices that mean something to you.
Ultimately, the best music for a wedding film isn’t necessarily your favourite song. It’s the music that makes your favourite moments work.
Final Thoughts
There’s no rule saying that you have to hand the music over to your videographer.
If you’ve always imagined your wedding film set to a particular song, that matters. If your first dance song has been part of your relationship for years, there’s a very good reason to want it in the film.
But if you’re starting with a blank sheet of paper, I’d encourage you to give your filmmaker some creative input.
They’re thinking about the music differently to you. They’re considering the pace of the edit, the emotional journey of the film, the natural sound captured during the day and how all of those elements work together.
That’s where the soundtrack can become much more than background music.
