Wedding Blog
Help! Our meeting with the DJ is this Wednesday, and we are behind on finalizing our music selection list!! Our reception music will be divided into 3 distinct portions:
1. Dinner Hour - French music (our guests may not get this and wonder why they don’t understand the songs, but this goes hand in hand with our Parisian theme and we like the idea, so there! haha)
2. All Ages Dancing (8 - 10 PM) - music that is fun and appropriate for young and old
3. The ParTAY (10 - Midnight) - Booty shakin’ time!
I’ve pretty much got 1 & 3 covered, but I’m drawing a blank on music selections for the middle portion. Unfortunately, my parents’ guest list consists of a number of attendees who apparently just Don’t. Dance. Period. Bummer. So maybe I shouldn’t worry too much about designing a play list for the older musical palette. 
*shrug* But I’m gonna try… I also have a list of standard Do-Not-Play-Or-I-Will-Withhold-Your-Check (just kidding) music:
Chicken Dance
Hokey Pokey
Macarena
Who Let the Dogs Out
YMCA, you get the idea…
So my question to y’all is: at your wedding, or any past weddings you’ve attended, what songs have gotten the most amount of people (of ALL ages) out there on the dance floor?
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sorry to say, but the songs that got most people excited are anything from the 70s… so it does include YMCA and anything disco like. would you have guests who like to ballroom dance? anything cha-cha is usually easy. it’s good to provide a good mix of the latin dances (for the salsa-lovers) and regular waltzes for the older folk. but if you don’t have anyone who will dance to these, just make sure your dj can feel out what music works and doesn’t work and is not afraid to change the music in the middle of the song if it’s killing the party. good luck!
Knottie MrsHoya has a great list for your “all ages” list. Check it out. GL!
We had a Motown/R&B band for our wedding who were fabulous. We also made a mix CD to be played during breaks and one of the moments I will never forget from that night is when “Jump” by the Pointer Sisters came on, everyone ran onto the dance floor. Young, old, guy, gal, everyone was dancing around. It was great.
I went to a wedding last weekend and they played great music. There was a lot of sing-along semi- oldies, like Sweet Caroline, Brown Eyed Girl, Jump, etc. Stuff they play in college bars 
I bet your DJ could recommend songs as long as you steer him/her in the right direction. No songs that have a corresponding dance is a good start!
Build me up buttercup, Brown-eyed girl, Dancing Queen,
Baby got back (don’t ask), RESPECT, I Will Survive, Stop in the Name of Love, and Swing and Salsa music (I taught my friends the steps)
I will say, though, that the biggest thing that got people on the floor was having the bride and groom dancing– and if there was anyone we wanted to come up, we just asked them to dance.
Oh, and are you including Les Nubiennes in the French music?
I’d say Motown. Everyone can get down to that!
these have been all-ages crowd pleasers at wedding’s I’ve been to: shout, sweet caroline, brown eyed girl, my girl. In general, 60s and 70s pop hits seem to be the biggest hits.
“We are family” always gets people moving! I agree with the above posts too, mowown!
Oops, supposed to be Motown!
Sarah, that was our song! Totally loved it….
Agree w/ above postings re 1970s, Motown. Check out the soundtracks from movies that are set in that era. Also KC and the Sunshine Band!
ABBA Dancing Queen.
I am trying to get a mental image of my parents’ friends dancing to these songs, and its just not working, at least in my mind… hahahahaha.
I don’t know if its important to note that the reception will be 50% Asian adults. While this may sound sterotypical, at most of the weddings I’ve attended, they just don’t dance! Aghh!!
But keep the songs comin’!!! Thanks =)
What about a little Earth Wind and Fire- September??? If I were getting married in Septemeber I would totally use that song!
I had a similar “do not play under pain of death” list, but then the kids, all big eyed and pleading, came up to me and begged me to relent and let the DJ play the Chicken Dance. I was in such a good mood I said OK. We had a bunch of kids at the wedding, and since it was an afternoon wedding, there wasn’t a lot of dancing anyway. I let them go and have their fun and those turned out ot beos. I would have preferred anything by the Village People, but it was hard to say no to those big eyes. Besides, I wanted to know the kids had fun! Even to the chicken dance.
Miss Butterscotch - I LOVE September by EW&F. Also, I wholeheartedly agree with motown hits.
I’m with Pencils - while I understand a do not play list, I think a lot of those songs, while cheesy, are just the sort of thing to get some people on the dance floor - sometimes, the cheesier, the better for some crowds!
Miss Emerald, I was searching for the same thing….Check out Mrs. Bee’s blog from last year.
http://www.weddingbee.com/2006/05/18/top-200-most-requested-songs-at-weddings/
Swing dances are great for all ages, as are many classic Sinatra songs. We had a band instructed to play this genre exclusively and the dance floor was packed all night.
Can you please blog your ENTIRE “do-not-play-or-I-will-withold-your-check” list? I have an ongoing no-no list too, but I forgot to include ‘who let the dogs out’ - Please, what else am I forgetting? I’d rather find out here than at my reception - I know that djs like to ‘get the crowd moving’ in all the wrong ways… HELP
I think the most popular songs to get everyone (even those “non-dancing” relatives) on the floor were “Shout” and “Twist and Shout.”
I came here because I was looking for ideas for my DNP list, and also have to thank you for reminding me of “Who Let The Dogs Out”. Somehow that reminded me of “Mambo #5″ which I absolutely can’t stand, above any other song, and I gleefully wrote it in bold on the DNP list! Yippee!! But I’m still looking for more ideas… so that the list is full enough that I don’t actually need to veto the Bird Dance or YMCA or Macarena, because I LOVE those, they really do make me want to dance!
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Mrs. Emerald, Chicago
Age and Occupation: 26, Wedding Planner
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Paralegal
Engagement Date: October 8, 2006
Wedding Date: September 2007
Blogging Since: November 29, 2006
Venue: Hyatt Lodge, Oak Brook IL
About Me: I have been dreaming about my wedding forever, and flipping through bridal magazines since high school, so I am in my element! I am calling our theme "Vintage Inspired French/Asian Fusion." Mr. Emerald is very involved in the planning process, but of course he generally defers to me cuz I have a strong opinion of how I want everything to be :-).
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