Best Irish Wedding Songs: A Memorable Way to Express your Irish Side!

Are you planning an Irish wedding and looking for perfect Irish wedding songs?  If so, you have plenty of company! More and more people are finding ways to infuse Irish traditions, including music, into different aspects of their weddings. 

We All Have Our Own Unique "Irish Side."

Discover Yours Here!

Irish Expressions - Irish Wedding Songs. Image of violin with sheet music.

If you know what you are looking for, follow these links to jump to our favorite Irish wedding songs for:

Or feel free to read them in order and take it all in!

Irish Wedding Songs:  The Prelude

The prelude establishes the tone for your entire wedding. It is played in the background as your guests are being seated and while they’re waiting for the ceremony to begin.

Many couples having Irish weddings choose 

  1. Spancil Hill
  2. Galway Bay
  3. Only Our Rivers Run Free
  4. Down by the Sally Gardens

Our favorite out of these is Only Our Rivers Run Free. It’s beautiful and perfectly appropriate as an Irish wedding song. 

Have a listen to one of our favorite performances by the Wolftones:

Irish Wedding Songs: The Processional

A wedding processional plays as the bridesmaids and bride are entering the church and walking down the aisle. These are some of any wedding’s most dramatic minutes, and choosing the right processional is an important decision.

Why go with music by Bach, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Handel, or one of the other traditional wedding processionals? Instead, choose an Irish song as your wedding processional.

Many Irish songs would be good processionals, but some of the more frequent choices include: 

  1. The Bride's Return
  2. Scenes of Antrim
  3. Carrickfergus
  4. The Meeting of the Waters

Scenes of Antrim is our favorite out of this bunch – it’s uplifting without being overly jaunty for the solemnity and magnitude of this important moment.

Click here for an instrumental version by The O'Neil Brothers:

Irish Wedding Songs:  The Interlude

Many Irish weddings (although not all) are Roman Catholic, and they usually include a complete church service, including Mass.

You may want to choose a song or two as background music for the interludes in your ceremony if you’re having a Roman Catholic Irish wedding.

Two of our favorite songs for this portion of a wedding are:

  1. Women of Ireland
  2. You Raise Me Up

A wonderful Irish song for interludes is the hauntingly beautiful Women of Ireland (“Mná na h-Éireann”), performed by Sinéad O'Connor.

But our all time favorite song for this portion of the wedding is You Raise me Up, with its music loosely based on Derry Air and its inspirational lyrics written by Irishman Brendan Graham.

Listen to this performance by the astounding Celtic Woman, to hear what we mean:


Some couples prefer to pass the interludes in their ceremony in silence. It’s your choice, of course, but we'd go with You Raise Me Up if it was our wedding.

Irish Wedding Songs: The Recessional

Ah, now we’ve come to the fun part! The solemnity of the ceremony is over, and all that’s left is to walk down the aisle as husband and wife.

Wedding recessionals are generally upbeat (and sometimes rollicking) melodies that reflect the joy of the occasion, and Irish wedding songs used for this purpose follow that same general theme.

Some of the more popular songs for Irish wedding rescensionals include:

  1. Calliope House
  2. Give Me Your Hand
  3. MacAllistrum's March
  4. Haste to the Wedding

Haste to the Wedding is one of our favorites. Have a listen to this performance by The Corrs.

More Fun With Irish Expressions:
Your Irish Expressions Playbook

Congratulations on learning more about what we like to call your "Irish Side."  You may be thinking "I'd love to actually VISIT Ireland but that's really not in the cards right now.  What am I supposed to actually DO with the stuff I just learned?"

Well never fear!  Since 2007 we have collected all of the best printable, shareable resources we could find, to help you put your new knowledge of Ireland to good use. We've put them all together on one page we call "Your Irish Expressions Playbook"

Overlapping Downloads

GAMES | PUZZLES | RECIPES | MORE
Irish Slang Match Game
Limerick Poetry Writing Game
What's My Irish (Funny) Name?
Irish Music Crossword Puzzle
Corned Beef and Cabbage
Guinness Beef Stew
Irish Coffee (Pro Tips)

... more downloads added daily!

Think games ... puzzles ... recipes ... song lyrics ... Access them ALL for one small price.  Print as often as you like and share them with your friends - with no limitations!  Once you're in, you are in - forever.

But order soon - we are always adding to the IE Playbook and this price will not last long.

PRO TIP:  Once you have checked out, you should be routed to your Playbook within 7 seconds.  Or click the 'return to merchant' button to get there faster.  Then bookmark the page, so you can return whenever you like.

Any issues?  Just reach out to us at support@irish-expressions.com and we will make it right.

New Irish Expressions Logo

Please Share Your Feedback
Did we miss anything?  Is there a topic you would like us to cover in the future?  Tap HERE to let us know!

ENJOYING IRISH EXPRESSIONS?  PLEASE SHARE US WITH OTHERS!