5 Wedding Playlists for Every Kind of Wedding Vibe

You've booked the venue, planned the food and figured out where everyone is sitting.

Now comes the surprisingly difficult question:

What are we actually playing?

A good wedding playlist shouldn't just be a giant collection of love songs. It should match the atmosphere you want your wedding to have.

So instead of giving you one giant list, here are 5 wedding playlists for 5 completely different vibes.

Pick one, mix a few together, or just steal the songs you like.

The vibe: Candlelight, champagne and a wedding that feels like it could have happened in any decade.

Put this on during cocktail hour or dinner and leave it running in the background.

Put these on repeat:

• The Way You Look Tonight — Frank Sinatra
• L-O-V-E — Nat King Cole
• Beyond the Sea — Bobby Darin
• At Last — Etta James
• Can't Take My Eyes Off You — Frankie Valli
• I Say a Little Prayer — Dionne Warwick
• My Girl — The Temptations
• Can't Help Falling in Love — Elvis Presley
• Till There Was You — The Beatles
• I Want to Hold Your Hand — The Beatles
• In My Life — The Beatles
• They Can't Take That Away from Me — Ella Fitzgerald
• Dream a Little Dream of Me — Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
• What a Wonderful World — Louis Armstrong
• You're All I Need to Get By — Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
• Ain't No Mountain High Enough — Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
• Signed, Sealed, Delivered — Stevie Wonder
• For Once in My Life — Stevie Wonder
• Baby It's You — The Shirelles
• Never Too Much — Luther Vandross
• How Sweet It Is — James Taylor
• Lovely Day — Bill Withers
• This Will Be (An Everlasting Love) — Natalie Cole
• Your Song — Elton John

Best for: Cocktail hour, dinner and intimate weddings.

The vibe: Dreamy, warm and romantic without feeling too traditional.

Think garden wedding, sunset solemnisation or drinks before dinner.

Put these on repeat:

• Best Part — Daniel Caesar ft. H.E.R.
• Lover — Taylor Swift
• Until I Found You — Stephen Sanchez
• Nothing — Bruno Major
• Glue Song — beabadoobee
• Beyond — Leon Bridges
• Put Your Records On — Corinne Bailey Rae
• Adore You — Harry Styles
• Everywhere — Fleetwood Mac
• Like I'm Gonna Lose You — Meghan Trainor ft. John Legend
• Tenerife Sea — Ed Sheeran
• I Like Me Better — Lauv
• Love Someone — Lukas Graham
• Sweet Creature — Harry Styles
• Golden Hour — JVKE
• Bloom — The Paper Kites
• Better Together — Jack Johnson
• Lucky — Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat
• You Are the Best Thing — Ray LaMontagne
• Kiss Me — Sixpence None the Richer
• Still Into You — Paramore
• Love on the Weekend — John Mayer
• Home — Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

Best for: Solemnisations, garden weddings, cocktail hour and dinner.

The vibe: The aunties know it. Your parents know it. Your friends know it.

This isn't the playlist for proving how good your music taste is.

This is the playlist for getting everyone involved.

Put these on repeat:

• September — Earth, Wind & Fire
• Dancing Queen — ABBA
• I Wanna Dance with Somebody — Whitney Houston
• Don't Stop Me Now — Queen
• Signed, Sealed, Delivered — Stevie Wonder
• You Make My Dreams — Daryl Hall & John Oates
• Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go — Wham!
• Footloose — Kenny Loggins
• Girls Just Want to Have Fun — Cyndi Lauper
• Don't Stop Believin' — Journey
• I'm So Excited — The Pointer Sisters
• Walking on Sunshine — Katrina & The Waves
• Mamma Mia — ABBA
• Man! I Feel Like a Woman! — Shania Twain
• Crazy in Love — Beyoncé ft. Jay-Z
• Treasure — Bruno Mars
• 24K Magic — Bruno Mars
• Love Story — Taylor Swift
• Shut Up and Dance — WALK THE MOON
• Mr. Brightside — The Killers
• Uptown Funk — Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars
• I Gotta Feeling — The Black Eyed Peas
• Everybody (Backstreet's Back) — Backstreet Boys
• Wannabe — Spice Girls
• Love Never Felt So Good — Michael Jackson & Justin Timberlake

Best for: Couple entrances and getting a mixed-age dance floor started.

The vibe: Suddenly everyone is 18 again.

If most of your friends grew up in the 2000s and early 2010s, nostalgia might work better than simply playing whatever is trending now.

The first few songs come on. People recognise them.

Then it's over.

Put these on repeat:

• Yeah! — Usher ft. Lil Jon & Ludacris
• DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love — Usher ft. Pitbull
• OMG — Usher ft. will.i.am
• Low — Flo Rida ft. T-Pain
• Temperature — Sean Paul
• Promiscuous — Nelly Furtado ft. Timbaland
• Give It to Me — Timbaland ft. Nelly Furtado & Justin Timberlake
• SexyBack — Justin Timberlake
• Just Dance — Lady Gaga ft. Colby O'Donis
• Poker Face — Lady Gaga
• Tik Tok — Kesha
• Dynamite — Taio Cruz
• Party in the U.S.A. — Miley Cyrus
• Only Girl (In the World) — Rihanna
• We Found Love — Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris
• Don't You Worry Child — Swedish House Mafia
• Everytime We Touch — Cascada
• Levels — Avicii
• One More Time — Daft Punk
• Party Rock Anthem — LMFAO
• International Love — Pitbull ft. Chris Brown
• Give Me Everything — Pitbull ft. Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer
• Call Me Maybe — Carly Rae Jepsen
• Starships — Nicki Minaj
• California Gurls — Katy Perry ft. Snoop Dogg
• Teenage Dream — Katy Perry
• Firework — Katy Perry
• I Gotta Feeling — The Black Eyed Peas
• Timber — Pitbull ft. Kesha
• One Kiss — Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa

Best for: Once dinner is over and you want the wedding to become a party.

The vibe: A playlist that doesn't make the Chinese-speaking half of the room feel like an afterthought.

Mix older classics with Mandopop your friends grew up listening to.

But there is one rule:

Check the lyrics before adding a Chinese song just because it sounds romantic.

Mandopop is dangerously good at making heartbreak sound like a wedding song.

Put these on repeat:

• 月亮代表我的心 — Teresa Teng
• 甜蜜蜜 — Teresa Teng
• 我只在乎你 — Teresa Teng
• 告白气球 — Jay Chou
• 简单爱 — Jay Chou
• 甜甜的 — Jay Chou
• 今天你要嫁给我 — David Tao & Jolin Tsai
• 就是爱你 — David Tao
• 爱很简单 — David Tao
• 小酒窝 — JJ Lin & Charlene Choi
• 豆浆油条 — JJ Lin
• 大城小爱 — Wang Leehom
• 爱你等于爱自己 — Wang Leehom
• 小幸运 — Hebe Tien
• 暖暖 — Fish Leong
• 最重要的决定 — Christine Fan
• 爱你 — Cyndi Wang
• 有点甜 — Silence Wang & BY2
• 非你莫属 — Tank
• 爱你一万年 — Andy Lau
• 至少还有你 — Sandy Lam
• 卡農 in Love — Ariel Tsai

Best for: Singapore weddings, especially when you have a mix of English and Mandarin-speaking guests.

Your wedding doesn't have one mood.

The music playing while your guests arrive shouldn't feel the same as the music playing when someone has had their sixth drink.

Break the wedding into chapters:

Guest Arrival → Solemnisation → Cocktail Hour → Dinner → Entrance → Party → Last Song

Start with Romantic & Timeless while guests arrive.

Move into Modern Romantic during dinner.

Use Everybody Knows This One to open the dance floor.

Then, when the older relatives start heading home...

Release the 2000s–2010s Throwback playlist.

For Singapore weddings, you can also sprinkle Mandarin songs throughout the evening rather than putting all the Chinese songs into one block.

Most importantly, don't worry about whether every song is technically a "wedding song."

You're not building a playlist about marriage.

You're building the soundtrack to a really good night.