Wedding Ceremony & Reception Music Discussions

First Dance - Tenerife Sea by Ed Sheeran replacement

I need some help coming up with a replacement first song. We had decided on Tenerife Sea by Ed Sheeran. It was so perfect - the lyrics, the music, the style, not overplayed - it was so us. However, my brother just got engaged to his soul mate (yay!!), and she was the one who introduced us to this song. I know there's nothing that says you can't use the same song as your brother, but I feel terrible stealing their song. He even had it playing as he proposed, so I definitely feel like it's more theirs than it is ours. Any suggestions on songs similar to this one? Thanks!

Re: First Dance - Tenerife Sea by Ed Sheeran replacement

  • Like you said, there's nothing that says you can't still use this song, but if you want to do something different, try to think of a song that is already special to you two from the past. 

    I know you said you don't want anything over played, but Ed's "Thinking Out Loud" is an obvious similar replacement... I've had that pegged as our first dance song for awhile, but then it blew up on the radio. At first, I was mad that it was so mainstream and overplayed, but one of my friends pointed out that because it's so popular, we'll most likely be able to dance to it at all the weddings we go to this year.. Which I think is a really nice thought.
  • donethatdonethat member
    First Comment 5 Love Its First Answer Name Dropper
    edited March 2015
    Tenerife Sea is going to be released as a single "So in Love" ... so I guarantee lots of couples will take your brother's song :-)
    I think it's fine to take it, even without comment - but it would be sweet to acknowledge 
    If your wedding is first - maybe have the DJ/MC comment that you are inspired by them, and "borrowing" their song.  If your wedding is second, same "you felt inspired by this beautiful song, and are sharing it"  Give them a heads up.  If it were me, I'd be flattered... but you know your brother.   

    I agree with pp about the gorgeous song "Thinking Out Loud" as an alternative ... a couple others that have a similar feel and are underused are:

    I'm Yours  by The Script
    When Did You Fall in Love by Chris Rice
    Here Come Those Eyes by Chris Rice
    I Like You by Ben Rector

    Another idea would be to plug your song into Pandora, and see what they suggest that is similar! 

    ...good luck :-)



  • CJM15CJM15 member
    First Comment First Anniversary
    Thanks so much for the suggestions donethat! I realy like I Like You, but I'll have to try the Pandora idea! 

    And I agree with you, Kikilamp. I also like the idea of it still being played occasionally in the future.

    Thanks for the advice! 
  • esstee33esstee33 member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its First Answer
    edited July 2015
    Bright Eyes - "First Day of My Life" 
    Neutral Milk Hotel - "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" (maybe?)
    The Decemberists - "Red Right Ankle"
    Old 97s - "Question"
    Tim McMorris - "Overwhelmed"


  • Ed Sheeran has some amazing songs on the X album. Have you listened to "One"? Its my favorite I think, a beautiful love song. 
  • I ran into this exact same problem. I wanted to do "Thinking Out Loud" as our first dance or was thinking even "Hey Pretty Girl" would have been nice. My fiance's two sisters got married in the 9 months before us (yes 3 weddings for one family in 9 months! Crazy!). Sister one used "Hey Pretty Girl" as their first dance in January, and Sister two used "Thinking Out Loud" as their first dance in May. And I was really bummed because I also did not want to repeat those songs (especially since half the guests are the same!) or "steal" their special song...

    So, I started looking for acoustic covers of other popular songs. We came across a duet cover of Making Memories of Us (originally by Keith Urban) that we both fell in love with: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JbHUAtOaOI

    You can find some great acoustic covers by "unknown" artists and to me, its nice because it makes your song almost "original" but its one that many people still know. I would suggest trying to do that!
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