Slideshow song ideas?

charcoalandblush

This is actually a rehearsal dinner idea, not a reception idea, but I didn't know where else to post.

We're doing a slideshow at our rehearsal dinner and I need song ideas! It'll be photos from birth-now of each of us, and then photos of us together. Some people have suggested 3 separate songs, but I think 12-15+ minutes is WAY too long. We'll probably just do one.

Songs I'm considering:

- "Question" by Old 97s

- "Marry You" by Bruno Mars (but I'm worried this is overdone)

Also, "Best Day of My Life" by American Authors is our recessional, so we don't want to use that.

Ideas?

southernbelle0915

charcoalandblush said:

This is actually a rehearsal dinner idea, not a reception idea, but I didn't know where else to post.

We're doing a slideshow at our rehearsal dinner and I need song ideas! It'll be photos from birth-now of each of us, and then photos of us together. Some people have suggested 3 separate songs, but I think 12-15+ minutes is WAY too long. We'll probably just do one.

Songs I'm considering:

- "Question" by Old 97s

- "Marry You" by Bruno Mars (but I'm worried this is overdone)

Also, "Best Day of My Life" by American Authors is our recessional, so we don't want to use that.

Ideas?

Can you just do the slideshow on a laptop over to the side? Like not making people watch this? Or put the framed pictures you would have included in the slide show on the tables. 

This is literally the most boring part about RDs. I don't know why it's a thing.

Butterflyz419

Unlike most of the debbie downers here, I love slideshows especially in the atmosphere of a RD, with just your nearest and dearest, and it sounds like yours will be really short if it's only the length of one song.

A note on the Bruno Mars song, while I really like it, and just think it's fun and would see its use as tongue in cheek, I know some people think it's too disrespectful of marriage.

Some other ideas (seeing as your choices seem to be more upbeat):

Penguin-Cristina Perri

Lucky One-Vertical Horizon

The Way I Am-Ingrid Michaelson

Only Wanna Be With You-Hootie & the Blowfish

Smile-Uncle Kracker

Forever-Chris Brown

Everything-Michael Buble

I Choose You-Sara Bareillis

Good Luck!

charcoalandblush

southernbelle0915 I generally agree with you. I usually think watching slideshows of other people is kind of boring. But DF is insistent on having one, and this is just not my hill to die on. He cares about so few wedding details, I'm just going to let him have this one. I at least talked him down from having it at the ACTUAL wedding reception. I think it's SUCH a buzzkill at the reception when I just want to get my party on. I thought the rehearsal dinner was a decent compromise. It's just our parents, the officiant and his wife, and our wedding party and their SOs - AKA the group most likely to care about the slideshow anyway.

Butterflyz419 Thanks for the suggestions! I definitely want to do upbeat (not slow or sappy). Also I love that Hootie & the Blowfish song! I haven't heard it in ages. Such a good one.

thisismynickname2

Honestly, I think you can choose whatever song you want. It doesn't need to be lovey-dovey or somehow wedding-appropriate in the way that your first dance song would be. Have fun with it. 

I know someone who did a folk rock song that was just all about being happy. It wasn't wedding related, but set a nice mood, and it was one of the groom's favorite artists. What's you and/or your fiance's favorite song? Favorite band?

charcoalandblush

Our favorite song is going to be our first dance so we don't want to re-use that.

My favorite band is City and Colour (wayyyy to emo/depressing) and his is the Foo Fighters (who I really don't like), so those also don't get us very far.

Also, I don't want people to think they have to limit suggestions to something wedding-y. Although I think it would be cute, it's definitely not a requirement, especially if I can think of something that's more fitting.

Butterflyz419

A couple more Ideas: 

Safe and Sound-Capital Cities

Bonfire Heart-James Blunt

Finally Found You-Enrique Iglesias

Maybe I'm Amazed-Paul McCartney

All You Need Is Love-The Beatles

But yes, I agree, the sky is the limit for this type of thing. It's always hard to give suggestions, because my taste is not necessarily yours.

charcoalandblush

Butterflyz419 said:

But yes, I agree, the sky is the limit for this type of thing. It's always hard to give suggestions, because my taste is not necessarily yours.

Definitely true, but the suggestions have helped get the creative juices going. So thank you

hpubride

We used "Gone Gone Gone" by Phillip Phillips, "Lose Myself Tonight" by One Republic and half of "Marry Me" by Jason Derulo. 

LondonLisa

Do you HAVE to have a song? If Fi insists on a slideshow (I am certainly not a fan), why not just have it playing in the background while people mingle. Then those that want to watch it can, and the rest of the party can enjoy their conversations. 

I generally thing anything at a wedding celebration (RD and reception) that requires a captive audience to stop what they are doing and watch should be kept at a maximum of 15 minutes in total for both events. Such as: RD speech 2 minutes, reception entrance 1 minute, wedding toasts 4-6 minutes,  spotlight dances 3-6 minutes, cake cutting 3 minutes, = 15 minutes in total. Anything more than that really just turns into a vanity project. If you want to add 3 minutes to the captive audience at the RD, cut back at the wedding on toasts etc. It is a good rule to prevent a celebration of your marriage turning into a celebration of YOU, which is a fine line that can turn from sweet to distasteful very quickly. 

peachy13

charcoalandblush said:

This is actually a rehearsal dinner idea, not a reception idea, but I didn't know where else to post.

We're doing a slideshow at our rehearsal dinner and I need song ideas! It'll be photos from birth-now of each of us, and then photos of us together. Some people have suggested 3 separate songs, but I think 12-15+ minutes is WAY too long. We'll probably just do one.

Songs I'm considering:

- "Question" by Old 97s

- "Marry You" by Bruno Mars (but I'm worried this is overdone)

Also, "Best Day of My Life" by American Authors is our recessional, so we don't want to use that.

Ideas?

honestly? 3 minutes of a photo slideshow is too long.

atlastmrsg

Silence.  Because there isn't a slideshow, instead, these photos are scrolling in an e-picture frame off to the side somewhere.

charcoalandblush

Unfortunately, as much as I want to cut the slideshow, DF is insisting. It's basically the only thing he's specifically asked for. I definitely understand (and share) your opinions about slideshows being AW-ish and boring for guests (and for us, honestly... I've seen my baby pictures 1000 times, why do I need to see them again at my wedding?). But this will not be my hill to die on. Especially since he's compromised already moving it from the reception to the rehearsal dinner. There are much bigger fish to fry (like DF wanting to have a cash bar... I will fight him to the death on that one).

Not trying to justify it - just explaining why we're doing it. Thanks for those who posted song suggestions!

peachy13

charcoalandblush said:

Unfortunately, as much as I want to cut the slideshow, DF is insisting. It's basically the only thing he's specifically asked for. I definitely understand (and share) your opinions about slideshows being AW-ish and boring for guests (and for us, honestly... I've seen my baby pictures 1000 times, why do I need to see them again at my wedding?). But this will not be my hill to die on. Especially since he's compromised already moving it from the reception to the rehearsal dinner. There are much bigger fish to fry (like DF wanting to have a cash bar... I will fight him to the death on that one).

Not trying to justify it - just explaining why we're doing it. Thanks for those who posted song suggestions!

Okay, I hear ya. There are few requests my FI has made and of course I want to include his requests.. I guess he's getting married too. It's good that you compromised to move it to the RD. Good luck with the cash bar compromise! 

erinlin25

as long as they are not too long, I do not mind them.  Just pick a song you enjoy (upbeat is better; I liked the Hootie & The Blowfish suggestion).  The whole wedding is a giant AW, lol. Rehearsal dinner is a good compromise.  If people do not want to watch they will most likely talk quietly at the table or go get a drink at the bar.  Or they can be an adult and suck it up for a few minutes.  I like pictures so enjoy watching them (as long as they don't drag on).  We opted to just do the digital frame on the guest book table (pics of us throughout the relationship) because I just did not want to deal with putting one together and had enough to do already without adding one more thing to the list.   As as long as you host your guests well (make that a priority over a slideshow), if you or fiance like the idea do it --just keep it short and sweet. 

Since your FI has had interest in this, did you ask if he liked any songs?

charcoalandblush

erinlin25 said: 

Since your FI has had interest in this, did you ask if he liked any songs?

He says he doesn't know what song he wants to use, but I'm thinking he might be more decisive/start thinking about it more concretely when we start making it.

fwtx5815

charcoalandblush said:

Unfortunately, as much as I want to cut the slideshow, DF is insisting. It's basically the only thing he's specifically asked for. I definitely understand (and share) your opinions about slideshows being AW-ish and boring for guests (and for us, honestly... I've seen my baby pictures 1000 times, why do I need to see them again at my wedding?). But this will not be my hill to die on. Especially since he's compromised already moving it from the reception to the rehearsal dinner. There are much bigger fish to fry (like DF wanting to have a cash bar... I will fight him to the death on that one).

Not trying to justify it - just explaining why we're doing it. Thanks for those who posted song suggestions!

I guess I just don't understand why you have to compromise on something that you KNOW will bore your guests and cause several eye rolls. I agree that the RD is a ... less bad place to do it. But like you know that the cash bar is rude, and that's why you're going to be persistent, right? Holding your RD guests captive to an AW slideshow is just a different kind of rude in my opinion.

There were a lot of things my fiancé thought would be a good idea until I explained to him that it's more important to be good hosts than do the things that would be the most convenient/fun/fitting to our 'vision.' And he gets it now.

charcoalandblush

dallasbetch said:

show previous quotes

Unfortunately, as much as I want to cut the slideshow, DF is insisting. It's basically the only thing he's specifically asked for. I definitely understand (and share) your opinions about slideshows being AW-ish and boring for guests (and for us, honestly... I've seen my baby pictures 1000 times, why do I need to see them again at my wedding?). But this will not be my hill to die on. Especially since he's compromised already moving it from the reception to the rehearsal dinner. There are much bigger fish to fry (like DF wanting to have a cash bar... I will fight him to the death on that one).

Not trying to justify it - just explaining why we're doing it. Thanks for those who posted song suggestions!

I guess I just don't understand why you have to compromise on something that you KNOW will bore your guests and cause several eye rolls. I agree that the RD is a ... less bad place to do it. But like you know that the cash bar is rude, and that's why you're going to be persistent, right? Holding your RD guests captive to an AW slideshow is just a different kind of rude in my opinion. There were a lot of things my fiancé thought would be a good idea until I explained to him that it's more important to be good hosts than do the things that would be the most convenient/fun/fitting to our 'vision.' And he gets it now.

I guess I just don't consider a slideshow rude. Boring? Yes. But I don't consider it rude or being a poor host. But maybe I'm wrong. If you can point me to an etiquette rule to the contrary, please let me know.

fwtx5815

charcoalandblush said:

show previous quotes

dallasbetch said:

Unfortunately, as much as I want to cut the slideshow, DF is insisting. It's basically the only thing he's specifically asked for. I definitely understand (and share) your opinions about slideshows being AW-ish and boring for guests (and for us, honestly... I've seen my baby pictures 1000 times, why do I need to see them again at my wedding?). But this will not be my hill to die on. Especially since he's compromised already moving it from the reception to the rehearsal dinner. There are much bigger fish to fry (like DF wanting to have a cash bar... I will fight him to the death on that one).

Not trying to justify it - just explaining why we're doing it. Thanks for those who posted song suggestions!

I guess I just don't understand why you have to compromise on something that you KNOW will bore your guests and cause several eye rolls. I agree that the RD is a ... less bad place to do it. But like you know that the cash bar is rude, and that's why you're going to be persistent, right? Holding your RD guests captive to an AW slideshow is just a different kind of rude in my opinion. There were a lot of things my fiancé thought would be a good idea until I explained to him that it's more important to be good hosts than do the things that would be the most convenient/fun/fitting to our 'vision.' And he gets it now.

I guess I just don't consider a slideshow rude. Boring? Yes. But I don't consider it rude or being a poor host. But maybe I'm wrong. If you can point me to an etiquette rule to the contrary, please let me know.

There are a lot of things that are considered rude that you won't find mentioned in etiquette books. They aren't exhaustive lists of things not to do. But if they were, forcing your friends and family to watch slideshows would be in there.

Think of it how you want. Making people watch slideshows = deliberate AWing. The self indulgent nature of a look-at-us-aren't-we-so-cute slideshow would be considered poor hosting IMO (and lots of others' opinions) because it's intentionally boring the shit out of guests and 100% not necessary.

charcoalandblush

Then, sorry, I think we're just going to have to agree to disagree on this one. But thank you for your input!

[Deleted User]

Some cutesy, almost indie options:

Sweet Pea - Amos Lee (maybe a little too "cute")

Over the Rainbow - Jason Castro (upbeat version of the song)