Hymns

How to choose the right hymns for your
church wedding

The hymns are the one part of the day when everyone is involved. We therefore recommend that you choose well-known hymns so the whole congregation can feel included.

For most church weddings, you’ll need to choose two or three hymns. As a rule, we suggest that the most dramatic hymns should be first and last, and the middle hymn(s) quieter and more reflective.

By the way, if you’re choosing Jerusalem, we’d strongly recommend that you have it as the final hymn!

The words of many so-called “wedding” hymns actually have nothing to do with marriage at all – they’ve just conventionally become associated with it. If you’d prefer your hymn words to be more wedding-specific, then we have one or two interesting ideas that you may like – call us for a chat.

The hymns on this page are suitable for Anglican, Church of Scotland and Roman Catholic weddings and ought to be well-known even to those who haven't been near a church since school.

Traditional:

• Dear Lord and Father of mankind
• Guide me, O thou great Redeemer
Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy
• Love Divine, all loves excelling
• Praise, my soul, the King of heaven
• And did those feet in ancient time (Jerusalem)

Modern:

Amazing grace
I danced in the morning when the world was begun
Morning has broken
Make me a channel of your peace

The words (as well as midi-files of the tunes) for many of these hymns can be found online at The Cyber Hymnal. However, do bear in mind firstly that this is an American site (eg it refers to "honor", rather than "honour" etc, and the tunes it suggests will not necessarily be the ones you know) and secondly that it is a historical resource as well as a liturgical one. It therefore includes every verse known to a particular hymn, and doesn't make clear which verses are conventionally omitted nowadays.

Unsure? Contact us for advice.