To want a singalong in my (civil!) wedding ceremony?

[ThisMustBeMyDream]

I can't decide if this is weird, or genius!
I'm having a civil wedding ceremony. At a religious wedding, hymns are sung. So, at mine I'd love to choose a song that the vast majority of guests will know (and I'd provide the lyrics anyway!) to sing along to!
If you'd enjoy this, what song would you go with as a fun, but still fitting for a wedding, tune?

I’d forgotten about Blo Jo and Carrie. Yuck.

We did Cant Take my Eyes off of You (Frankie Valli) at a friend's wedding and that was great.

Did When I'm 64 at another friend's wedding and was a disaster- really hard to sing.

What about:
Mcfly- All about you
Queen - somebody to love (or Fat bottomed girls 🤣)
Dusty Springfield - only wanna be with you
Ronettes- Be my baby

I haven't seen this Boris and Carrie video- if I watch it will I want to bleach my eyes afterwards?!

We had three friends sing and my dad got everyone else singing along spontaneously and it was one of my favourite moments. We had L-o-v-e by frank sinatra

I went to one where the "hymns" were 500 miles by the Proclaimers and all you need is love by the Beatles. Worked brilliantly.

It’s a tik tok thing at the moment I think, so clearly OK. I like the idea, as long as it’s a decent song - not take that or XFactor stuff

I would hate this, sorry.

I’ve been a BM at a wedding where we did this. Lots of musical folk attending so plenty to sing louder for those who didn’t want to join in.

I did something similar - I didn't want to get married in a church but my mum loves a hymn sing along and I'd always said she could choose which ones we sang at my wedding. In the end we had a small private civil ceremony and then we did a big ceremony afterwards that we invited everyone to. It was officiated by a friend and involved readings and sing along hymns, I printed out orders of service with all the words in just like they do in church and we had a backing track so no one felt too self conscious. It seemed to go down well though!

I went to a wedding where they did this - song was bring me sunshine

quite a few of our friends have done this…

songs that worked well

• All you need is love
• I’m a believer
• I can’t help falling in love
• what a wonderful world
• perfect day
• marry you
• i’m yours

You’d definitely need some backing track and a few people who can lead the singing!

All the best for your celebration!

Sorry, but I would absolutely hate this. I'd grit my teeth and join in to be polite, but I would be cringing inwardly the entire time.

I've been to lots of weddings where a spontaneous sing-song ended up happening during the reception (including my own!) and to me that's fun because it's unexpected and it happens naturally. I find organised 'fun' and forced quirkiness at weddings embarrassing.
I appreciate I may well be in the minority though.

Anita Dobson, "Anyone Can Fall In Love".

Lots of people love singing hymns !

Only if they're proper 80s school assembly bangers!

We had a singalong. It was great!

Well you could say that about the whole ceremony. It all has to be planned out with some or all of the guests involved at some point in some way or other. And singing and music are traditionally a part of many ceremonies. Including traditional wedding ceremonies. To look on it as “forced joy” is a bit miserable and can an odd way of framing it.

I’d love it. I think it would be a lovely part of the wedding day

Hmmm songs that are easy to sing on karaoke are surely the way ahead here, I Got You Babe - but the men do Sonny and the women Cher. All together at the end. Call and response matrimonial sing-off!

Everything I Do (I Do It For You) - Bryan Adams, okay it’s a giant cliche but I work on a main road and I’d say every other week I hear someone blasting this in their car, absolute undying devotion mega-banger.
It doesn’t sound like enforced fun to me, it’s a great way to express emotion.

Last month everyone sang “Stand By Me” at a wedding I attended. It wasn’t cringey at all. A guy with a guitar led & the lyrics were included in the order of service. I enjoyed it.

We did this and had the carpenters Top of the World. It was lovely and everyone sang

It’s not genius. It’s pretty common

as a congregational singing/accompanying veteran, a few general considerations:

1. getting a group of people of varying musical experience to sing together in a group is a skill. Guitars and other "pluckies", even if amplified, aren't the instruments of choice, for acoustical reasons. If there are no alternatives, make sure there are a few strong singers who know the songs, well planted in the congregation.
2. contemporary popular songs may seem simple on the surface, because people know them, but tend not to go well with congregational singing. Often, the rhythms are too complex/syncopated: congregations do best with rhythmically fairly square tunes.
3. mixing amplified voices with congregational singing doesn't go well: the amplified voice is perceived as a solo, and people are self-conscious about singing along. Repeat the point about planting some people who know the tune.
4. assuming the venue doesn't have an organ/instrument in it, my advice would be to get an experienced congregational accompanist with an electronic keyboard, and to pick familiar tunes in a folky direction. Sure, people CAN sing along with a popular song recording, but it's not really meant for singing along with, so will tend to sound a bit unhappy.

Oh god, this would be amazing

Me too. It makes me want to crawl out of my fucking skin.