Family Slideshow Music Ideas

Slideshows are wonderful ways to display family photos for a special event or get-together, and adding music to the visuals turns a photo album into a multimedia experience. Selecting the right music can be a challenge, but having the perfect tunes for the pictures makes for a memorable presentation.
Match the occasion
Select music to match the occasion. For a wedding, romantic songs and duets are appropriate, whereas for a birthday, songs that were popular the year the birthday boy or girl was born would be good accompaniment. Anniversary celebrations also call for favorite music from the year of the couple's wedding and perhaps from years that were milestones in their life together: first home, the births or adoptions of children, new jobs, retirement and similar events. Memorial slideshows can be accompanied by favorite songs of the deceased.

Weddings and Anniversaries
For weddings, anniversaries and other celebrations of romance, popular songs include The Beatles' "All You Need is Love," Jack Johnson's "Better Together," Lionel Richie and Diana Ross' "Endless Love," Mary Chapin Carpenter's "Grow Old with Me," James Taylor's "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)," Frank Sinatra's "It Had to Be You," Savage Garden's "Truly, Madly, Deeply," and Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World." To include songs written in specific years, you can look up the top hits of each year at Alaska Jim's Music Charts (link below).

Birthdays
Songs for slideshows at birthdays might include Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful," Elton John's "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," Kool and the Gang's "Celebration," Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," Frank Sinatra's "Thanks for the Memories" and "The Best is Yet to Come," Natalie Merchant's "These are the Days," and, of course, any number of recordings of "Happy Birthday."

Reunions
Family reunions can be accompanied by music that the whole family knows or has grown up with, childhood favorites and songs that celebrate togetherness. These might include Billy Joel's "This is the Time," The Pretenders' "I'll Stand by You," Sister Sledge's "We Are Family," Point of Grace's "Circle of Friends," Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath My Wings," and Whitney Houston's "You'll Never Stand Alone."