A Custom Wedding Song: How It Works

You want music at your wedding that nobody else has danced to. A custom song for your wedding is an original song made from your own story, and it can be ready within 24 hours of ordering. Below are 12 wedding music ideas, most of them not a custom song, and a plain walk-through of how ordering one works. Our top pick for the first dance is still a song about the two of you, because nobody in the room will have heard it before.

Hear a finished Songbond song

This one was made for another family. Yours would carry your names and your stories.

12 wedding music ideas for your day

1. A custom song for your first dance ($39.90). You share how you met, the moment you knew and the words you say to each other, and Songbond turns it into an original song. Guests and parents can order one as a gift for the couple too.
2. Your song played live at the ceremony. A guitarist, violinist or singer who learns the song you love for the walk down the aisle. Usually $300 to $1,200, depending on where you live.
3. A parent dance chosen together. Sit down with your mom or dad a month before and pick the song side by side. The conversation is half the gift.
4. A grandparents' dance. Ask your grandparents what played at their own wedding, and have the DJ call them to the floor for it.
5. A last dance picked by the guests. Put a small card on each table asking for one song, and let the DJ close the night with the most requested one. A few dollars in cards.
6. Letters exchanged the morning of. Each of you writes to the other, and a friend delivers the letters while you get ready. It costs nothing and gives you a quiet moment before the noise.
7. Two or three dance lessons. Enough to stop you staring at your feet. Usually $60 to $150 a lesson.
8. A clip-on microphone for the vows. Wind and crowd noise often swallow the vows on the video. A small clip-on mic for the officiant costs $20 to $60 and saves the words you will want to hear again.
9. The night's music, printed on the program. List the processional, the first dance and the last dance, with one line about why you chose each. A few cents a copy.
10. A sparkler or bubble exit timed to one song. Tell the DJ the exact song and when to start it, so the last photos have a soundtrack. Usually $30 to $100 for sparklers or bubbles.
11. The printed keepsake plaque of your song. If you choose a custom first-dance song, the plaque puts its lyrics on a shelf in your first home together.
12. The same song at your first anniversary dinner. Decide now to play it every year. The tradition costs nothing and starts on the day itself.

How to choose your wedding music

Decide which three moments matter most to you: the walk in, the first dance or the last song of the night. Spend your effort and money there, and let the DJ handle the rest.

• If you are shy about dancing: the lessons, a shorter first dance or the grandparents' dance to share the floor.
• If family is at the center of your day: the parent dance, the grandparents' dance or the guest-picked last song.
• If your budget is tight: the letters, the guest cards and the anniversary tradition cost almost nothing.

How a custom wedding song works, step by step

First, write your story in plain notes: your names, where you met, the moment one of you knew, a phrase you say to each other and anything you want the room to hear. Small details work better than big words. "She laughed at my terrible parking" makes a better song than "our love is true." Second, order and share those notes, and Songbond turns them into an original song within 24 hours. Third, listen together and ask for changes until it feels right. Fourth, send the finished song to your DJ or band at least a week before the wedding, and ask them to play it once through the venue speakers at setup so there are no surprises on the night.

Order your wedding song

Create a custom song for your wedding from your own story. It is ready within 24 hours, and if the wedding is this weekend, express delivery gets it to you in about an hour.

Also in the Journal: the best first dance songs and a song instead of a wedding speech.

More personal gift guides

• Sentimental Gifts for a Sister on Her Wedding Day
• Sentimental Gifts for a Son on His Wedding Day
• Meaningful and Unique Gifts for a Newly Married Couple
• Wedding Gifts for a Long-Distance Couple