Dances and Reception Music in General

nitecheese

Hi ladies!

I know there was a post about this awhile ago, but my TK search didn't want to cooperate!

What is your first dance song? This Year's Love - David Gray
Dance with your dad/uncle/grandpa/etc? When You Need Me - Bruce Springsteen (for my Dad) You've Got a Friend - James Taylor (for my step-dad)
FI's dance with his mom? Undecided! I'm pushing for another Springsteen song, called The Wish. It is about his mom buying him his first guitar. SInce, FI is a guitarist, I think this would be cute.

Now, for a question. We have hired out DJ, and really like him!  However, we're a more low key couple. A lot of the music we like doesn't exactly scream *party*. However, we still want our guests to dance and have fun.

What songs should we add to our playlist to ensure everyone is dancing and hving a good time?

trawas01

I think playlist really depends on you... Talk to your DJ they can probably make suggestions of more "party" music that still fits your style. (Sounds to me that more classic rock might work for you...) Everyone is different...if I had to listen to anything remotely resembling "club" music at my wedding I'd probably cry. For other people that's their type of party music.

lehc723

I agree! I'm not really comfortable with turning our wedding in to a night out at a club! Our DJ gets that and has been very good with offering suggestions. We're going with a lot of Motown or songs from the 60s and 70s and 80s, and building a LONG "do not play" list.

mrshall1027

Yup, definitely talk to your DJ because it will very much depend on what type of music you are comfortable with.  Unlike PP, we do want more of a club type of vibe for our music because all of our guests are big dancers and like that kind of music.  So talk to your DJ and have him give you some suggestions, maybe create a pandora station with some on the artists and start writing down songs that you like.

Ividian

When are you all planning on sitting down with your DJ to go over your music? Have you done it already or are you waiting until closer to the wedding?

pockysquirrel

I have a widget set up on our wedding website for song requests, and I plan on turning that over to our DJ. Our guest list is pretty diverse and we'll have people wanting to dance to anything from '50s rock and roll to recent hip hop. Make sure you have a good variety of genres and music from different decades so guests of all ages can have something they're familiar with. And a good DJ will be able to read the crowd and play more of what they respond to. So if your guests went nuts when he played "Hound Dog", for instance, he'd pick up on that and play another Elvis song or something else from that time period later in the night. I'm against people trying to micromanage their playlists because it takes away the DJ's ability to do this. Let him know your musical tastes and maybe give a few 'must play' or 'don't play' songs, then leave the rest up to your DJ and your guests. They know what they want to dance to most.

brainybrunette

What is your first dance song? The Way I Am - Ingrid Michaelson
Dance with your dad/uncle/grandpa/etc? The Way You Look Tonight - Frank SInatra (me and my uncle)
FI's dance with his mom? Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong....I think, FI's mom mentioned this before, I have to confrim that this is what she wants

As far as other wedding music, cocktail hour and dinner will have Sinatra, Michael Buble, etc type of music.

I want to include some traditional Italian songs for my family and a polka for FI's family (Fi said that he would attempt to polka with his sister LOL!)

I do NOT want group dances like YMCA, Electric Slide, Cha Cha, Slide, etc!  I don't think the DJ we hired plays that stuff anyway, but I will make sure!  There's also going to be a Do NOT Play list of stuff that FI and I just don't like (no country music, no Ke$ha, no Train Marry Me) .

I'm trying not to get too specific with the DJ (other than a few must plays and a few do not plays) because like Pocky said, it's the DJs job to read the crowd and figure out what will work.

snuff9861

First Song- God Gave Me You - Blake Shelton

Father/Daughter: I dont know, I'm letting my dad pick it and he's been on a business trip for the last 3 weeks

Mother/Son: FI hasn't picked one yet.

As for the playlist, we basically told the DJ we are looking for music from a lot of different genres but we dont really like hiphop so that went on the NO PLAY list. Fi and I arent really dancing people so the DJs are going to play a mix of everything and see what happens. We love country music but not everyone does so we asked the DJs to keep it to a minimum.

Simply_Caitlin

Our first dance is Bless The Broken Road by Rascal Flatts.

For him taking the garter off me, it'll be "Dr. Feelgood" by Motley Crue

For tossing the bouquet I'm thinking about "Foxy Lady" - Jimi Hendrix and yes before I throw it I have every intention of doing my best Garth impression

Tossing the garter possibly "Another One Bites The Dust" by Queen

For our entrance into the reception he's really pushing for "Walk" by Pantera.  I'm considering it.

The flower girl and junior groomsman will most likely walk in to "Sexy and I know it" or whatever it's called by LMFAO.

Cake cutting I've thought about "Hit me with your best shot" by Pat Benatar, which would be funny, but we're not doing the cake smashing.  I repeat, he will not be ruining my makeup by smearing cake in my face haha.  My grandma thought it was a horrible tradition and I don't want her rolling over in her grave because he wanted to get cake up my nose!


That's as far as I've gotten.  I will need to work "Pump It Up" by Elvis Costello in somewhere.  And we have a fairly decent "do not play list."
We're both very big music addicts so we're trying to put as much of ourselves into it while still letting the DJ do his job.  That's what we're paying him for haha.