If you’re looking to make all of the couples at your wedding feel special, you can set aside time to play popular wedding anniversary songs that celebrate love and marriage. Anniversary songs always evoke a sentimental moment at a wedding reception as married couples are reminded of their own love. You can set the mood by choosing a variety of wedding anniversary songs that are easy to remember and well-known.
What is the Wedding Anniversary Song Tradition?
After the bride and groom dance, along with the father-daughter dance and mother-son dance, you can have your DJ or band dedicate the next few songs at your reception to the married couples in the room. This is a fun and special time during the wedding reception where married couples dance along to carefully selected anniversary songs. Although this is a tradition for married couples at weddings, you can include non-married couples for a more modern take.
If you’d like to make things even more interesting, you can give a gift to the couple in the room that’s been married the longest. The first wedding anniversary song should include all married couples in the room; however, as each song selection goes by, you ask couples that have been married the longest to stay on the dance floor in increments of five years. As the amount of married couples on the dance floor decreases, you can then lower your increment to one year (or as long as it takes to figure out the couple that has been married the longest). The last couple standing is the winner. This is a sweet moment in the wedding reception that honors the purpose and union of marriage.
Wedding Anniversary Songs
Choosing the perfect wedding anniversary song depends on the atmosphere you want to create. If you’re looking to create a sentimental and romantic setting, you should choose a selection of ballads for a slow-dance segment. If you’re looking for dance-friendly songs that couples can have fun with, you should choose an upbeat or mid-tempo track to speed up the pace on the dance floor. Whether you’re building the perfect playlist for your wedding reception or looking to pair a song with anniversary wishes for your significant other, these love songs are some of the most popular and memorable of their genres.
Pop Wedding Anniversary Songs
- Nat King Cole — “Unforgettable” (1952)
- Dean Martin — “Memories Are Made of This” (1955)
- Frank Sinatra — “Love is Here to Stay” (1956)
- The Crew Cuts — “Earth Angel” (1956)
- Frank Sinatra — “The Way You Look Tonight” (1961)
- Sonny and Cher — “I Got You Babe” (1965)
- Elton John — “Your Song” (1970)
- Captain & Tenille — “Love Will Keep Us Together” (1975)
- Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes — “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” (1987)
- Celine Dion — “Because You Loved Me” (1996)
- 98 Degrees — “I Do (Cherish You)” (1998)
- Eva Cassidy — “Anniversary Song” (2000)
- Kelly Clarkson — “A Moment Like This” (2002)
- Michael Buble — “The Best is Yet to Come” (2007)
R&B/Soul Wedding Anniversary Songs
- Tony Bennett — “Because Of You” (1951)
- Ben E King — “Stand By Me” (1961)
- Nat King Cole — “L-O-V-E” (1965)
- Al Green — “Let’s Stay Together” (1972)
- Stevie Wonder — “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” (1973)
- Barry White — “You’re The First, The Last, My Everything” (1974)
- Natalie Cole — “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)” (1975)
- The Commodores — “Three Times a Lady” (1978)
- Frank Sinatra — “It Had to Be You” (1979)
- Grover Washington Jr. with Bill Withers — “Just The Two of Us” (1981)
- Lionel Richie and Diana Ross — “Endless Love” (1981)
- Stevie Wonder — “Ribbon In The Sky” (1982)
- Michael Jackson — “The Lady in My Life” (1982)
- Luther Vandross — “So Amazing” (1986)
- Mariah Carey — “Vision of Love” (1990)
- Jodeci — “Forever My Lady” (1991)
- Tony Toni Tone — “Anniversary” (1993)
- Sade — “By Your Side” (2000)
- Michael Jackson — “Butterflies” (2001)
Rock Wedding Anniversary Songs
- The Beatles — “In My Life” (1965)
- The Beatles — “Here, There and Everywhere” (1966)
- The Beatles — “When I’m Sixty-Four” (1967)
- The Carpenters — “We’ve Only Just Begun” (1970)
- Paul Simon — “Still Crazy After All These Years” (1975)
- Orleans — “Still The One” (1976)
- Eric Clapton — “Wonderful Tonight” (1977)
- Billy Joel — “Just The Way You Are” (1977)
- Journey — “Faithfully” (1983)
- The Honeydrippers — “Sea of Love” (1985)
- Rod Stewart — “Have I Told You Lately” (1993)
- Bon Jovi — “Always” (1995)
- Dido — “Thank You” (1999)
- Lifehouse — “You and Me” (2005)
- The Lumineers — “Ho Hey” (2012)
Country Wedding Anniversary Songs
- Johnny Cash — “A Thing Called Love” (1972)
- Anne Murray — “Could I Have This Dance” (1980)
- Kenny Rogers — “Through The Years” (1980)
- Vince Gill — “Look At Us” (1991)
- Mary Chapin Carpenter — “Grow Old With Me” (1995)
- Faith Hill & Tim McGraw — “It’s Your Love” (1997)
- Shania Twain — “You’re Still The One” (1998)
- Clint Black & Lisa Hartman Black — “When I Said I Do” (1999)
- Alan Jackson — “Remember When” (2003)
- Shania Twain — “Forever and For Always” (2003)
- Reba McEntire — “I Keep On Lovin You” (2009)
- Rascal Flatts — “I Won’t Let Go” (2010)
Make sure you have good communication with your DJ or band and provide them with specific requests and song selections a week in advance of your wedding day. If you plan on sending out wedding thank you cards or wedding announcements, ask your photographer to capture a few of these sweet moments on the dance floor to include in a collage styled card. Although preparing for your wedding reception can seem stressful, remember to have fun with these moments during your wedding journey and cherish them as much as you can.
If you’ve already tied the knot and you’re planning a wedding anniversary party, reference our easy guide on how to plan an anniversary party before your purchase custom wedding anniversary invitations.
