Weddingbee Blog

While we’ve hired a bluegrass band to play for three hours of our reception (more on that soon) and we also have a friend who’s going to strum his guitar during our cocktail hour, there are a few interim hours during which we’ll need to keep our guests musically entertained. For instance, if our friend gets tired, we’ll need a cocktail hour playlist. We need a dinner playlist, a playlist for when the brand takes their 10-minute breaks, and some dance music for post-band antics.

I’ve also padded either end of our playlists with more music than we need just in case our ceremony is shorter than we think or some other party-foul occurs.

Here’s what we’ve come up with so far:

Cocktail Hour (1.5 hours of music)

• Little Red Corvette - Mike Zito (3:53)
• Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol (4:07)
• Resurrection Fern - Iron & Wine (4:50)
• Over the Rainbow - Brotha Iz (3:38)
• Jackson - Johnny Cash and June Carter (2:46)
• Such Great Heights - Postal Service (4:29)
• Chocolate - Snow Patrol (3:43)
• Banana Pancakes - Jack Johnson (3:06)
• Call Me Papa - Donavon Frankenreiter (3:45)
• Ocean Breathes Salty - Modest Mouse (3:55)
• You Are the Sunshine of My Life - Stevie Wonder (2:57)
• Good to Be In Love - Frou Frou (3:33)
• Stickshifts and Safety Belts - Cake (2:08)
• Simple Man - Lynard Skynard (5:58)
• Strawberry Swing - Coldplay (4:15)

Total Time: 57:03

Dinner (2 hours of music)

• At Last - Etta James (2:53)
• Come Away With Me - Norah Jones (3:20)
• Tamacun - Rodrigo y Gabriela (3:23)
• Danke Schoen - Wayne Newton (2:34)
• First Day of My Life - Bright Eyes (3:02)
• Volare - Gypsy Kings (3:39)
• Brown-Eyed Girl - Van Morrison (3:03)
• Turn Me On - Norah Jones (2:36)
• Georgia on my Mind - Ray Charles (4:41)
• Pink Moon - Nick Drake (1:59)
• Green Eyes - Coldplay (3:48)
• Heartbeats - Jose Gonzalez (2:48)
• Homeward Bound - Greensky Bluegrass (5:09)
• Something Good This Way Comes - Jakob Dylan (3:37)
• Love of My Life - Carlos Santana and Dave Matthews (6:29)

Total: 53:01

Band Breaks (45 minutes of music)

• Lucky One - Alison Krauss (3:06)
• More Love - Dixie Chicks (5:04)
• You Can Call Me Al - Paul Simon (4:34)
• Send Me On My Way - Rusted Root (4:04)
• Wildflower - Kasey Chambers (4:08)
• House That Never Was - Kasey Chambers (4:00)
• Reverend - Greensky Bluegrass (5:01)
• Old Barns - Greensky Bluegrass (4:29)
• Fork In The Road - Infamous Stringdusters (3:52)
• When You Feel It - Brett Dennen

Total: 38:42

Dance Party (1.5 minutes of music)

• You Are The Best Thing - Ray Lamontagne (3:30)
• City of Angels - Ozomatli (3:16)
• Son of a Preacher Man - Dusty Springfield (2:25)
• 99 Luftballoons - Nena (4:06)
• Crazy - Gnarls Barkley (3:03)
• Just Like Music - Eric Sermon (4:20)
• The Seed (2.0) - The Roots (4:21)
• Gold Digger - Kanye West (3:46)
• I Want You Back - Jackson 5 (2:55)
• Ghetto Superstar - Mya and Ol’ Dirty Bastard (4:11)
• Can’t Help Falling in Love With You - Elvis Presley (1:56)
• Maggie May - Rod Stewart (5:47)
• Kids - MGMT (4:35)
• Poker Face - Lady Gaga (3:52)
• Say My Name - Destiny’s Child (4:03)
• Breath - Blu Cantrell (3:47)
• Crazy in Love - Beyonce Knowles (3:55)
• I’m Yours - Jason Mraz

Total: 1:03:42

As you can see, I’m short on music in quite a few places. Our cocktail hour is quite the smattering of music right now and could use a little pick-me-up, if you ask me. What type of music do you think should be played at a cocktail hour? Song requests?

Dinner feels pretty smooth, but we could use a few more oldies but goodies.

While the band takes breaks, I’d like to keep the music in the bluegrass/country genre just so we don’t go from a bluegrass band to Jay-Z. Any suggestions for easy-listening, maybe some dancing country or bluegrass?

Our dance party could also use some stellar tunes. What makes you move?