October 17, 2026
Orthodox Jewish wedding songs follow the order of the day: singing at the tish (the groom's table), Od Yishama on the walk to the badeken (the veiling), niggunim (melodies) like Mi Bon Siach under the chuppah (wedding canopy), Siman Tov U'Mazal Tov after the glass, dancing songs and, in many Chassidic families, the mitzvah tanz, a dance before the bride.
Key Takeaways
- Before the ceremony: the chassan's (groom's) tish belongs to the guests' singing, while the kallah's (bride's) reception gets soft background music.
- Under the chuppah: Mi Bon Siach and Mi Adir are the long-standing melodies, and Chabad families walk the chassan in to Daled Bavos.
- At the glass: many communities sing Im Eshkachech before it breaks, and Siman Tov U'Mazal Tov the moment it does.
- At the end of the night: the mitzvah tanz is a Chassidic custom, not a Chabad one, and the mezinke honors parents marrying off their last child.
What is the order of an Orthodox Jewish wedding?
The order varies by community, but many Ashkenazi Orthodox weddings run like this, and the music changes at every step:
- Kabbalas panim: the reception before the ceremony, usually in two rooms. The kallah greets the women, and the men gather at the chassan's tish. In many communities the tena'im (the engagement terms) and the ketubah (the marriage contract) are read and signed here, and the mothers break a plate.
- Badeken: the men bring the chassan to the kallah, he lowers her veil, and both sets of parents bless her.
- Chuppah: the walk down, the circling, the blessings and the ring, the reading of the ketubah, the seven blessings under the canopy and the breaking of the glass.
- Yichud: a few minutes the couple spends alone right after the chuppah.
- The first dance set: the couple comes into the hall, and each is danced around in their own circle.
- The meal and the second dance set: dinner, then more dancing, often before dessert.
- Birkat hamazon and the sheva brachot: the Grace after Meals, then the seven wedding blessings, said again over a cup of wine.
- Mitzvah tanz or mezinke: at the end of the night, in families who keep them.
That's the Orthodox Jewish wedding timeline we plan the music around, step by step. It follows Ashkenazi custom; Sephardic weddings differ in places, and the sections below say where.
Songs for the Kabbalas Panim and the Tish
The kabbalas panim (kabbalat panim in Israeli Hebrew) is where the day's music begins, quietly. On the kallah's side, soft music plays while she sits on her decorated chair and greets the women who come to wish her well. It's the gentlest music of the day, kept low enough for conversation.
The chassan's tish sounds completely different, because it is a singing event. In many communities the chassan starts a short dvar Torah (a few words of Torah) and his friends break in with song after a sentence or two, so that nobody is put on the spot. In Chassidic and Chabad practice, a slow niggun is sung before the chassan's maamar, a Chassidic discourse he delivers, and a fast one after it. Unless your family asks for something else, the tish is left to the guests' voices, with a microphone ready for the speeches.
What song is played at the badeken?
The walk from the tish to the kallah is loud and joyful, with the men singing as they bring the chassan to her, and the song most people know from it is Od Yishama:
- Od Yishama — Traditional (composer unknown): its words come from the prophet Jeremiah and from the last of the seven wedding blessings, and it is heard on the walk to the badeken, after the chuppah and again at the couple's entrance.
A correction worth making: this familiar tune is often credited to Shlomo Carlebach, but its composer is unknown. Carlebach wrote a separate Od Yishama melody of his own. Sephardic customs differ here; many Sephardic weddings have no badeken, or the bride arrives already veiled, so this part of the music may not be needed. Our Sephardic wedding music page covers those traditions.
Chuppah Songs for the Chassan and the Kallah
The chuppah is the heart of the ceremony, and its music is the slowest of the night. The escorts, usually the parents, walk the chassan down first and then the kallah, often holding candles, while a slow melody plays and the chazzan (the cantor) or a singer sings the welcome. Many couples pick one song for the chassan's walk and another for the kallah's. These are the traditional Jewish wedding chuppah songs most families start from:
- Mi Bon Siach — Traditional: the most common Ashkenazi chuppah niggun, slow and steady enough to carry a long walk.
- Mi Adir — Traditional: the other long-standing chuppah piece, often chosen for one of the two walks.
- Daled Bavos — Traditional (Chabad): also spelled Daled Bovos, a niggun of the Alter Rebbe, Chabad's founder, sung as the chassan is led to the chuppah.
The chuppah song list has grown beyond the classics. Wedding musicians interviewed in the Orthodox press say couples now also request Kah Echsof, Machnisei Rachamim, Shaarei Shamayim, Ani Maamin, Basi Legani, Veyiheyu Zari and Tein Li Tefillah, and Shlomo Carlebach's melodies are there for families who ask for them. Any of these can work as chuppah songs to walk down to, chosen in the version you want, well before the day.
Under the canopy, in Ashkenazi families, the kallah circles the chassan, seven times in many homes and three in some, and the music holds through every circuit. Sephardic brides generally don't circle, so a Sephardic chuppah skips that cue. Then the music stops: the blessings, the ring, the reading of the ketubah and the seven blessings over the second cup are all said without it.
Before the glass is broken, many communities sing Im Eshkachech, the verse from Psalm 137 that begins "If I forget you, O Jerusalem". The chazzan, a singer or the chassan himself may sing it, and some communities don't sing it at all. The versions requested at chuppahs today are Shlomo Carlebach's, Yaakov Shwekey's, composed by Yochanan Shapiro, and a newer one by Shlomo Yehuda Rechnitz.
When the glass breaks, the room calls out mazal tov and the music comes straight in:
- Siman Tov U'Mazal Tov — Traditional: the chant that greets the couple as they walk out to yichud, and comes back later in the hora, the circle dance.
What songs are played for the first dance set?
When the couple comes out of yichud and into the hall, the first dance set begins. It isn't a couple's dance. The chassan is swept into the men's circle, often lifted on a chair, and the kallah into the women's circle, and both sides dance to the same songs on either side of the mechitza (the partition between the men's and women's sides). How the sound reaches both circles is explained in our guide to separate dancing at an Orthodox wedding.
These two hora songs are well-known wedding staples:
- Asher Bara — Yosi Piamenta: the words of the last wedding blessing, set to the tune of the old Girl Guides song Kookaburra, and a fixture of the hora set.
- Shomati — Yaakov Shwekey: a popular Jewish wedding song, composed by Yossi Green, for the fast part of the set.
Around them, the set is built from the music your crowd actually dances to. For a Chassidic wedding (Hasidic, in the other common spelling) or a yeshivish (yeshiva-world) one, that means fast simcha songs, the songs of celebration, from singers such as Mordechai Ben David and Benny Friedman, whose music is heard at Jewish weddings. Chabad families often bring their own niggunim into the dancing, and Modern Orthodox couples often add today's Jewish pop. Whether you hire a band or a DJ for a Jewish wedding like this, hand them two lists: the songs your friends won't stop singing, and the ones you never want to hear.
For Israeli religious (dati) families, the second set often turns to the Israeli wedding songs played at religious weddings there, including songs by Hanan Ben Ari, and our page on Israeli religious wedding music goes into that. A live Israeli singer can carry part of a set, too: Ofek Ben Harush, a male vocalist on our roster, sings Hebrew songs live.
Dinner, Benching and the Sheva Brachot
Dinner music is the quiet stretch between the sets: softer Jewish songs and a few slow Hebrew pieces, low enough for the tables to talk. The second dance set often comes before dessert, with more shtick, the friends' skits and props in front of the couple, and the requests the younger guests saved for later.
After dessert comes birkat hamazon, the Grace after Meals, led over a cup of wine, and then the sheva brachot, the seven wedding blessings, with guests honored to recite them. The music stops for both. The same blessings are said again at the festive meals of the week after the wedding, which are also called sheva brachot; if you're planning those, see our page on music for sheva brachot and other simchas (joyful occasions).
What is the mitzvah tanz, and what music is played for it?
The mitzvah tanz (Yiddish for "mitzvah dance", also spelled mitzvah tantz) is a custom of many Chassidic families, kept after birkat hamazon at the end of the wedding. It is not a Chabad custom, and despite the name it is a custom rather than a mitzvah, a commandment. Honored relatives and rabbis are called up one at a time to dance before the kallah, each holding one end of a gartel (a sash) while she holds the other; usually only her father, and in some communities the chassan, holds her hand.
A badchan, the traditional wedding jester and master of ceremonies, often calls each name, and by that hour it is mostly close family who stay. The partition between the sides is often moved aside so everyone can watch. The music under it is unhurried: often a version of Eishet Chayil ("A Woman of Valor", from the Book of Proverbs) or the court's own niggun, the melody of that Chassidic community. Not every group holds it at the wedding itself; Bobov, for example, holds it on the Shabbat after.
Families who keep a mitzvah tanz should settle early who calls the names, send us the list with Hebrew and English pronunciations a few weeks ahead, and leave time at the end of the evening.
The Mezinke: When Parents Marry Off Their Last Child
The mezinke (also spelled mizinke) honors parents who are marrying off their last child. The parents sit in the middle of the floor while the family dances around them, sometimes with a "crowning", and it usually comes near the end of the evening. It is a custom of uncertain origin, not a law, and not every community keeps it; the crowning, for one, is described as unknown among Lithuanian Jews and in Chabad.
The classic tune is Di Mizinke Oysgegebn ("the youngest daughter married off"), written by Mark Warshavsky in 1901. If this is the last child you're walking to the chuppah, tell us on the planning call, and the mezinke gets its own place in the timeline.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Jewish song played at weddings?
There isn't just one, but two come up at many Orthodox weddings: Siman Tov U'Mazal Tov, sung as the couple leaves the chuppah, and Od Yishama, heard on the walk to the badeken, after the ceremony and at the couple's entrance. In the hora, Asher Bara in Yosi Piamenta's version is a staple.
What is the most common chuppah song at an Orthodox wedding?
Among Ashkenazi families it is a melody on Mi Bon Siach, and Mi Adir is the other long-standing choice. Chabad families walk the chassan in to Daled Bavos.
Is Od Yishama a Carlebach song?
The famous wedding tune isn't. Its composer is unknown, and Shlomo Carlebach wrote a different Od Yishama melody of his own.
Do Chabad weddings have a mitzvah tanz?
No. The mitzvah tanz belongs to other Chassidic circles; it is not a Chabad custom. Chabad wedding music has a character of its own, from Daled Bavos at the chuppah to the Chabad niggunim sung during the dancing.
Building your song list
Every family's song list is its own, and your rav (rabbi) has the last word on anything that touches halacha, Jewish law. When you're ready to build yours, read about our Orthodox Jewish wedding music in Los Angeles, see the Orthodox Jewish DJ page for other simchas, including an Orthodox Bar Mitzvah DJ, and send us your date. We'll plan the songs with you, part by part, and send a personalized quote.
