You are getting married with almost no one watching, and you want a song that fits a day that quiet. Below are eight real songs that work for an intimate, just-the-two-of-you elopement, and one more idea: an original song written about your actual story, for $39.90, delivered in 24 to 48 hours. We start with that one, because it is the example.
Listen: "Just Us and the Coast"
What makes an elopement song different
An elopement song has to hold a room of two, not a room of two hundred. There is no crowd to carry the moment, no dance floor, no big reveal. It is you, your person, and whatever you are standing on. So the songs that land are the quiet ones. Duets, acoustic love songs, tracks that sound like they were meant to be sung close. "Just Us and the Coast" is built for exactly that. It names a couple who skipped the big wedding and drove to the water instead, and it keeps its voice low the whole way through. That is the register an elopement wants. Small, honest, and unhurried.
This matters for a practical reason too. When it is just the two of you, every word is audible. There is no chatter to hide behind. So the lyrics get more weight than they would at a hundred-guest reception, which is a good argument for choosing a song whose words you actually mean.
8 elopement songs for an intimate wedding
Here is a short rule for choosing: a famous song is best when one already belongs to the two of you, and a written song is best when you want your own details in the words. These eight are real, well known, and suited to a small, close ceremony.
- "Falling Slowly" — Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová. From the 2007 film Once, where it won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. A hushed guitar-and-piano duet about two people finding each other. As intimate as a song gets, which makes it right for a ceremony of two.
- "You and Me" — Lifehouse. Jason Wade wrote it and proposed to his now-wife with it on a cassette; it became the biggest wedding song of 2005 and 2006. Plain, warm, and built for exchanging vows.
- "Only Us" — from Dear Evan Hansen. Written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, it is a duet about shutting out everyone else and just being together. For the couple who eloped precisely so it could be only them.
- "Better Together" — Jack Johnson. The opening track of 2005's In Between Dreams, recorded in Hawaii. Easy, sunlit, and unfussy. The kind of song you can play off a small speaker on a beach.
- "Lucky" — Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat. A swaying 2008 duet about being in love with your best friend; it won a Grammy in 2010. Light and grateful, good for walking in or for the first song afterward.
- "Home" — Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. From 2009's Up from Below, written by Alex Ebert and Jade Castrinos when they fell in love. Its heart is a spoken exchange in the middle, which feels like two people talking only to each other.
- "First Day of My Life" — Bright Eyes. A quiet 2005 acoustic song from I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning. Just a voice and a guitar, straight to the point. For the couple who wants nothing between the words and the moment.
- "Grow Old With You" — Adam Sandler. From The Wedding Singer (1998), and the closest thing on this list to "Just Us and the Coast." It is all small promises: get you medicine, feed the cat, hold the remote. For the person who shows love by doing things.
The lyrics
The lyrics
Just Us and the Coast
No chairs, no aisle, no crowd to please
Just salt wind and you
You kept the ring warm in your pocket all morning
I caught you checking on it twice
We told the town we'd gone away for the weekend
We didn't say we'd come back man and wife
Let them have their hundred guests
We had the gulls and the grey
It was just us and the coast, my love
The wind stealing half of every vow
A stranger took one picture and walked on
And I have never wanted more than now
My hem went dark with seawater and I laughed
You read your lines off a grocery receipt
We ate cold sandwiches like they were a banquet
The tide came up and clapped around our feet
Let them have their hundred guests
We had the gulls and the grey
It was just us and the coast, my love
The wind stealing half of every vow
A stranger took one picture and walked on
And I have never wanted more than now
Years from here they'll ask us where the album is
We'll show them one blurred photo and a stone from the beach
And they won't understand it, and that's the point —
Some days aren't for showing, they're for keeping
It was just us and the coast, my love
The wind stealing half of every vow
A stranger took one picture and walked on
And I have never wanted more than now
No chairs, no aisle, no crowd to please
Just the rest of my life, and you
Common questions
What songs are good for an elopement ceremony?
Quiet duets and acoustic love songs work best when there is no crowd to carry the moment. "Falling Slowly" from Once, "You and Me" by Lifehouse, and "Only Us" from Dear Evan Hansen all suit a just-the-two-of-you wedding. If you want the words to name your actual story instead of a general one, a custom song is the most personal route.
Do you need music if you elope?
You do not need much. One song for walking in or exchanging vows is often enough when it is only the two of you, and a phone with a small speaker will do. Pick a track that already means something, or have one written about your own story so the ceremony has words no one else has heard.
How does a custom elopement song work?
You fill out a short questionnaire about your relationship, the elopement, and a few small true details, and Songbond writes an original song from it. It is $39.90 and arrives in 24 to 48 hours, with unlimited revisions. You can play it during the ceremony or save it as the first song after you say the words.
Give the day a song that is only yours
A famous song says how love feels. A song about your own elopement says where you stood and why you chose to do it alone. If you want the second kind, have a custom wedding song written about the two of you for $39.90, delivered in 24 to 48 hours, revised until it is right. Tell us about the drive, the coast, the reason you skipped the big day. We will write the rest.
From the same series: vow renewal songs and romantic first dance songs.
