Music To My Ears
August 21st, 2008 @ 6:18 pm by Mrs. Canary
Music was a task that Mr. Canary took full ownership of, since he loves music and it’s his passion and hobby. He spends about three nights a week out checking out new or local bands. Initially we had considered a band, but after much thought, we decided to go with DJ Gaza after we had heard some of the mixes he sent us. It was like he raided our iPods and CDs because there wasn’t anything we didn’t like. And ultimately, we wanted to hear our favorite songs in their original arrangements and not as a cover by a band.
DJ Gaza was great to work with. We only met once and corresponded throughout the entire process by email. He made sure that the music would work with the flow of the entire event and had an uncanny knack for reading the crowd– which was important for a Sunday wedding.
When it came time to create our play list, as usual, we deferred to Google Docs and created a master spreadsheet with the following categories:
- When?
- Artist
- Song
- Notes
Whenever we thought of a song we wanted to include, we went to the document and added it to our list. In the end we probably had over ten hours of music! DJ Gaza told us to average 17 songs/hour. So after we had all the songs we could imagine, we preened it down to a couple of hours and went back and added “*” to our “Must Play” songs and noted “Do Not Play” songs. This wasn’t as easy as it sounds because there were a lot of negotiation as to what would be a “Must Play” song. In the end, we had a fairly eclectic mix to both our liking.
One of the easiest ways to start a list is to go through your iPod playlists and preen from there. We also went through DJ Gaza’s site and looked at some of the mix CD lists he had put together and selected from those. I’ve also included a PDF of our final picks in case anyone wants some inspiration, though I warn you, our music taste is all over the board!
The hardest part was selecting music for our ceremony, our first dance, and parent dances. Below is a “mix tape” of our final selections. We decided to go for more modern for the ceremony, and classic with the first and parent dances. Personally, I think the best decision I made was to go with a fairly obscure Sigur Ros song, Track 4 off “( )”, for the bride’s procession. No one really knew what to expect and it helped to set the tone for the moment.
How did you decide on songs for your playlist?
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3 Responses to “Music To My Ears”
You are my music match in heaven! I think we’re playing that exact same sigur ros track - but for the wedding party processional instead!
“Jackie Wilson Said” is one of my go-to pick-me-up songs . I love Van’s moodier, artisitic work too, but sometimes his boppy tunes are just the right ticket for instant :).
Mrs. Canary, New York
Age and Occupation: 24, Marketing
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Journalist/Editor
Engagement Date: February 16, 2007
Wedding Date: July, 2008
Blogging Since: October 19, 2007
Venue: Pier Sixty, Chelsea Piers
About Me: I'm a born and raised New Yorker who loves all things crafty and artsy, food (cheese and dessert!), magazines, and shoes. I'm a power shopper always on the lookout for good deals or great quality-- sometimes I'm lucky and I find both! I love to dance and "shake what my momma gave me" but can also really enjoy a quiet night in with Mr. Canary and a good episode of Seinfeld or curl up with a good book.
I’m glad it worked out for you! We did the exact same thing (spreadsheet, even gave our DJ cds with the tracks on them) but for some reason our DJ decided to just play his usual generic wedding stuff for the first 3 hours. My friends finally intervened and begged him to play some of the stuff on my list, which he managed to for a good 30 min. This was the one disappointment of my wedding