15 Most Overplayed Wedding Songs of All Time

Trying to come up with a great song for your wedding? Whether it is your processional music, first dance, or a bit of party music as the evening moves along, choosing can be tough. There are a few wedding staples that many people turn to. 

Head to multiple weddings, and we reckon that you’ll see the same songs played repeatedly. You probably don’t want that, right? Well, that’s why we are here to point you toward the most overplayed wedding songs.

We have a list of 15 overplayed wedding songs here. Ones that we have heard at almost every wedding that we’ve ever attended. They’re all great songs. Don’t get us wrong. Some of them don’t make sense in the context of a wedding, but they’re still good.

Read through our list and give these songs a skip. Make your wedding music as unique as the love you and your partner share.

Overplayed Wedding Songs

Check out these other wedding songs for the ultimate play list on your big day:

• R&B Wedding Songs For Bride Entrance
• Lumineers Wedding Songs
• Coldplay Wedding Songs

1. ‘I’ll Always Love You’ – Whitney Houston

Lyrics you’ll love: And I / Will always love you / I will always love you’

The only memorable thing from ‘The Bodyguard’ was this amazing song from Whitney Houston. It only has a few lines (with most people just remembering the extended ‘I’ at the start of the chorus), but it has gone down as a wedding classic.

Like all the songs on this list, this is an overplayed wedding song. This is the song many, many people have chosen for their first dance. Makes sense, right? Well. No. Not quite. It is a great song. It is romantic.

But it is mostly about breaking up with somebody. Not the type of song that you really want at your wedding.

2. ‘Marry Me’ – Bruno Mars

Lyrics you’ll love: Hey baby, I think I wanna marry you / Is it the look in your eyes or is it this dancing juice? / Who cares, baby, I think I wanna marry you

Since ‘Marry Me’ by Bruno Mars came out, we don’t think we’ve been to many weddings where this hasn’t been played. We’ve even seen a bride walk down the aisle to it. It is incredibly overplayed as a wedding song.

You really don’t want this to play at your wedding either. Sure, there is the lyric ‘I think I wanna marry you’, which sounds very romantic. It isn’t. This song is about making a spur of a decision moment to marry somebody, while completely intoxicated.

Is that really the type of message you want from your wedding? No. We thought not.

3. ‘Single Ladies’ – Beyonce

Lyrics you’ll love: Cause if you liked it then you should have put a ring on it / If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it

Beyonce was no lyrical genius with this song, but there is no denying that it has become a staple song for all the single women out there. Head on a night out, and we reckon you’ll hear this song played in countless bars. Women will be singing and dancing along to the lyrics too.

Many people choose ‘Single Ladies’ for their wedding, just to get the non-married women involved, which sounds nice. But it is a terrible, overplayed wedding song. Nobody really wants to take part in the singing.

All you end up with is a decent bop for a drunken night out, not for an event where you’re declaring your undying love for somebody.

4. ‘YMCA’ – The Village People

Lyrics you’ll love: It’s fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A. / It’s fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A. / They have everything For young men to enjoy. / You can hang out with all the boys.

We don’t deny that we love ourselves a good YMCA boogie. It is the ultimate dance song, and everybody knows the moves.

You know when we hate it? At weddings. We have seen some weddings where this is played 2-3 times, often in a crude attempt to get people out on the dancefloor, bouncing along.

The problem is that everybody has heard ‘YMCA’ at a wedding before. In fact, they’ve probably heard it at every party they have ever been to. Give it a rest!

5. ‘A Thousand Years’ – Christina Perry

Lyrics you’ll love: Darling, don’t be afraid / I have loved you for a thousand years / I’ll love you for a thousand more.

Since ‘Thousand Years’ was released in 2011, it has been a staple of weddings around the world. We wouldn’t be surprised if this was bridal processional music for a good 10-20% of weddings.

Don’t get us wrong. This song is good. Every single lyric is about being in love with your ‘dream’ partner. It wasn’t written for the movie of the greatest love story after all; Twilight (yes, we are well aware that Twilight probably isn’t the greatest love story).

The problem is that so many brides walk down the aisle to Christina Perry’s beautiful vocals, and when you’re about to start your journey with the love of your life, we reckon that you’ll be after something a bit more unique.

You can still go for Christina Perry. If you love the song, you love the song. Just don’t be surprised if you hear an audible growling as you walk down the aisle. People have heard it all before.

6. ‘Macarena’ – Los Del Rio

Lyrics you’ll love: Dale a tu cuerpo alegría Macarena / Que tu cuerpo es pa’ darle alegría y cosa Buena / Dale a tu cuerpo alegría, Macarena / Hey Macarena, ay

Yes. Unless you speak Spanish, you probably won’t have a clue what’s happening in Macarena. Everybody knows the tune, but people fumble over the lyrics, and we don’t blame them. The only part that is going to get a good reaction is ‘Hey Macarena’.

Like all the ‘wedding dance party’ songs on this list, Macarena is there to elicit a reaction from the partygoers. Get people bopping on the dancefloor. But, just like YMCA before, everybody has heard it all before.

Nobody really wants to feel like they need to dance to Macarena. Get a better tune playing!

7. ‘Someone Like You’ – Adele

Lyrics you’ll love: “Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead”

It seems that there is a lot of overlap between ‘worst wedding songs’, and ‘overplayed wedding songs’. When we were researching wedding processional music, you would be surprised at the number of people that recommend ‘Someone Like You’.

This song is one of Adele’s more famous songs. She belts out a fantastic tune, and there is a lot of romance in the track. Somebody declaring their love for somebody, you know the drill. The problem is that nobody ever really listens to the lyrics of the songs they want playing at their wedding. 

Listen carefully to ‘Someone Like You’. It is a breakup song. A very sad breakup song. Don’t be like a good number of couples and have this playing as your processional music, or even your first-dance music.

We bet many people won’t listen to this, though. We wouldn’t be surprised if ‘Someone Like You’ continued to be overplayed at weddings.

8. ‘At Last’ – Etta James

Lyrics you’ll love: At last / My love has come along / My lonely days are over / And life is like a song / Oh, yeah, yeah

Finally, we have a wedding song that would go down a treat at a wedding. The lyrics make sense for romance, and Etta James’ low, raspy voice is sure to guarantee that nobody will be leaving that wedding with a dry eye.

We have been to several weddings where this is used either as the processional music, or as the first dance track. We reckon most couples probably have this on their list of tracks they want playing, and there lies the problem; it is overplayed.

Everybody does it. Great track, but not one that you want playing when you want a unique wedding.

9. ‘Thinking Out Loud’ – Ed Sheeran

Lyrics you’ll love: And darling I will be loving you ’til we’re 70 / And baby my heart could still fall as hard at 23 / And I’m thinking ’bout how people fall in love in mysterious ways

Ever since this redhead popped onto the scene, we don’t think there has ever been a single wedding where one of his songs wasn’t playing. You could probably include every single one of Ed Sheeran’s tracks on this list of overplayed wedding music, but we had to choose one.

The lyrics make sense for a wedding (falling in love forever), and nobody can deny that Ed Sheeran pumps out some great music. But, come on. Do you really want to put another wedding loaded with Ed Sheeran songs out into the world? No. We thought not.

10. ‘Wonderful Tonight’ – Eric Clapton

Lyrics you’ll love: I feel wonderful / Because I see the love light in your eyes / And the wonder of it all / Is that you just don’t realize how much I love you

Eric Clapton’s intro solo to ‘Wonderful Tonight’ was the song that got us interested in guitar. He just makes that guitar sing.

‘Wonderful Tonight’ is a staple song for the first dance. Another song that makes sense. The lyrics are all about a person loving somebody no matter what they look like.

But, if we have to see another wedding where ‘Wonderful Tonight’ is played as a first dance song, or a slower song later on in the evening, we think we’ll cry. There are far more songs out there for the slower dances and not an overplayed song like this.

Still, it is nice to listen to in private. Listen to how talented Eric is!

11. ‘I Loved Her First’ – Heartland

Lyrics you’ll love: I was enough for her not long ago / I was her number one, she told me so / And she still means the world to me, just so you know

This country music track is often chosen as a great ‘father-daughter’ dance. The lyrics talk about how the father is happy to pass on his daughter to her new husband, but he wants to remind the husband that he loved her first (hence the name of the songs).

It is one of the most stereotypical father-daughter songs there is, which is a shame. There are so many better songs out there. Ones that really don’t get as much airtime at weddings as they deserve.

Try ‘Cinderella’ by Steven Curtis Chapman for a song with the same message, but less overplays.

12. ‘My Heart Will Go On’ – Celine Dion

Lyrics you’ll love: Love can touch us one time / And last for a lifetime / And never let go ’til we’re gone.

Celine Dion has released a lot of straight-up amazing love songs. However, ‘My Heart Will Go On’ from the Titanic soundtrack is one of her most famous. After all, who hasn’t seen Titanic?

Since 1997, this has been a staple of many weddings, often as the first dance song. The problem? Well, there are a few.

‘My Heart Will Go On’ is overplayed. Wedding after wedding plays it. If it isn’t one of the first dance songs, it’ll probably be a slow dance song to wind the night down.

Not only this, but the song isn’t really suitable as a wedding song. Yes. It is a romance song. But, it is about moving on after you have found the person that you loved and, presumably, they have perished on an unsinkable ship.

For us, ‘My Heart Goes On’ just conjures up memories of Jack plunging into the icy abyss. Probably not the feelings you want people to have on your wedding day.

13. ‘You’re Beautiful’ – James Blunt

Lyrics you’ll love: You’re beautiful / You’re beautiful / You’re beautiful, it’s true

Another ‘first dance’ song. For many, the only James Blunt song they know (and he makes light of this fact a lot on his Twitter!).

It’s a great song. It has a bit of swearing in it, but let’s throw that to one side. It’s just way too overplayed at weddings. We’ve been to 2-3 weddings in the last few years where this was played as the first dance.

And, you guessed it. Another song that makes absolutely no sense as a wedding song. It is about falling in love with somebody that you can never have.

14. ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love With You’ – Elvis Presley

Lyrics you’ll love: Take my hand / Take my whole life, too / For I can’t help falling in love with you
/ For I can’t help falling in love with you

‘Can’t Help Falling in Love With You’ is one of our favorite romance songs from Elvis Presley, or at least it used to be. We hate hearing it at weddings, though.

Obviously, this song is romantic. It has beautiful lyrics, and Elvis Presley is a great crooner. The problem is that it has been around since 1961, and we wouldn’t be surprised if it has been appearing at most weddings since then. Don’t play it at yours!

15. ‘Summer Nights’ – Grease Musical

Lyrics you’ll love: Summer loving had me a blast / Summer loving happened so fast / I met a girl crazy for me / Met a boy cute as can be.

This isn’t a song that you’ll be walking down the aisle to. Well, we hope you won’t. For many weddings, ‘Summer Nights’ is a great party song. It gets the crowd bopping.

‘Summer Nights’ works incredibly well when you split the group into males and females. The males sing the male parts (obviously), and the females the other. Other than that? Not really.

The problem is that people have heard ‘Summer Nights’ so often at weddings that they simply can’t be bothered to split into groups.

If you just have this song playing with nobody singing along, as is bound to happen, it is a rather terrible song. The lyrics don’t make much sense. In fact, they sound a little ‘gropey’ (‘did she put up a fight?’)

Outro

That wraps up our list of the most overplayed wedding songs! Your guests will probably thank you for reading this. You now know what songs they really, really don’t want to be listening to.

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