You have been married one year, and you want a song that fits it: still new, still a little disbelieving, the paper year. Below are nine real songs about early love that work for a first anniversary, and one more idea: an original song written about your actual first year, for $39.90, delivered in 24 to 48 hours. We start with that one, because it is the example.
Listen: "I'd Marry You Again"
Why the first anniversary is the paper year, and what that means for the song
Paper is the traditional first-anniversary gift because it stands for a marriage that is still new: thin at the start, full of promise, a blank page you are only beginning to write together. That is the whole feeling of year one. You are not looking back on decades yet. You are looking at each other and quietly realizing you would do it again. "I'd Marry You Again" is exactly that thought, said out loud. It names the small things that made the first year real, the ordinary mornings and the one big yes, and it lands the way a paper anniversary should: gentle, honest, and clearly still at the beginning.
This matters for choosing a song. A first-anniversary song does not need to prove endurance. It needs to catch the newness before it fades, and the songs below all do that in different keys.
9 first anniversary songs about early love
Here is a short rule for choosing: famous songs are best when one already belongs to the two of you, and a written song is best when you want your own first-year details in the words. These nine are real, well known, and made for the start of a marriage.
- "All of Me" — John Legend. Legend wrote it for his then-fiancee Chrissy Teigen and sang it to her at their 2013 wedding. It is a plain vow to love the whole person, flaws included. For the couple whose first year has already shown them the real version of each other.
- "Perfect" — Ed Sheeran. Written about his now-wife Cherry Seaborn and released in 2017, it looks forward from young love to a whole life ahead. For newlyweds who feel like they are just getting started, because they are.
- "Then" — Brad Paisley. A 2009 country hit built on one line: "I thought I loved you then." It is about a love that keeps outgrowing itself. Perfect for a first anniversary, when you already love each other more than on the wedding day.
- "Better Together" — Jack Johnson. From 2005's In Between Dreams, and written for his wife. Easy, warm, and domestic. The sound of a first year of small ordinary days that turned out to be the good part.
- "Lucky" — Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat. A 2008 duet about being in love with your best friend. For the couple who married the person they could talk to for hours, and still can.
- "Home" — Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. Released in 2009, with the line everyone remembers: "Home is wherever I'm with you." For your first year in a shared place, when home stopped being an address and became a person.
- "First Day of My Life" — Bright Eyes. A quiet 2005 folk song about meeting someone and feeling reborn. Conor Oberst called it waking from a long nightmare. For the partner who changed where your life started counting from.
- "Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)" — Stevie Wonder. A joyful 1970 number that is pure devotion with a groove. The "delivered" wink fits the paper year, and it is the one on this list you can actually dance to in the kitchen.
- "I Get to Love You" — Ruelle. A 2016 ballad that became a wedding favorite. It frames love as a privilege, not a given. A tender fit for the anniversary of the day you said yes.
The lyrics
The lyrics
I'd Marry You Again
The first time I was trembling
This time my hands are still
I read my vows off folded paper
Twenty-five and terrified
I promised things I didn't understand yet
To a boy in a borrowed tie
Now I know what those words cost
And I'd pay it all again
I'd marry you again — today, right now
No music, no crowd, just that same old vow
Knowing every flaw, every hard-won year
I'd say yes before the question, dear
Older, grayer, surer than I've ever been
Ask me, husband — I'd marry you again
I've seen you at your worst and waiting rooms
You've seen me come undone
We kept the promise through the proving
That's how I know it's the one
The first yes was a hope
This yes is a fact
I'd marry you again — today, right now
No music, no crowd, just that same old vow
Knowing every flaw, every hard-won year
I'd say yes before the question, dear
Older, grayer, surer than I've ever been
Ask me, husband — I'd marry you again
So here's my second proposal
No ring, no bended knee
Just every morning that I wake up
And choose you, easily
I'd marry you again — today, right now
No music, no crowd, just that same old vow
Knowing every flaw, every hard-won year
I'd say yes before the question, dear
Older, grayer, surer than I've ever been
Ask me, husband — I'd marry you again
The first time I was trembling
This time — I do, I do
Common questions
What is a good song for a first anniversary?
For year one, songs about new love and beginnings fit best. "All of Me" by John Legend and "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran are two of the most fitting, since both were written by men about the woman they were about to marry. If you want the lyrics to name your own first year rather than a general one, a custom song is the most personal route.
Why is the first anniversary called the paper anniversary?
Paper is the traditional gift for the first year of marriage, from an anniversary list popularized in the early 20th century. It stands for a marriage that is still new and being written, a blank page rather than a finished book. A song about your own first year suits the paper theme, since it turns your story into something you can keep.
Should we pick a famous song or have one written?
Pick a famous song if a particular track already belongs to the two of you from the wedding or the year you dated. Have one written if you want your real details in the words. A custom song from Songbond is $39.90 and arrives in 24 to 48 hours, with unlimited revisions, so you can do both and let the written one be the surprise.
Give them the song that is only about your year one
A famous song says how new love feels. A song about your own first year says what it looked like: the tiny apartment, the phrase you both say now, the day you married. If you want the second kind, have a custom first-anniversary song written about your story for $39.90, delivered in 24 to 48 hours, revised until it is right. Tell us about the paper year. We will write the rest.
From the same series: An anniversary song for your wife and 5th anniversary songs.
