Weddingbee Blog

More than anything at our wedding, I wanted everyone to have fun. To me, a fun wedding always includes great music and dancing. We were a bit concerned about dancing, as our venue has a HUGE dance floor. We thought people may not fill it up.

We wanted to start the reception off on a fun note, so we decided to have our parents and the wedding party enter to the Friends’ theme song, the Rembrandts’ “I’ll be there for you.”

We debated what to do for our entrance. We considered doing something upbeat, but decided we wanted something more classic and went with U2’s “Beautiful Day,” which ended up being super fitting considering the beautiful day we had.

We went with meaningful songs for the parent dances. Starfish Dad and I danced to Steve Kirwan’s “My Little Girl” and Mr. Starfish and MIL Starfish danced to Rascal Flatts’ “My Wish.”

We went super classic for the cake cutting with James Taylor’s “How Sweet it Is.” I love this song, and we actually considered it for our entrance, but it’s just too perfect for the cake cutting.

Since we got engaged, I had been writing down must-have songs for our late night playlist. But in the end, I only gave our DJ, Larry from Engagements DJ, 15 songs for the late night music. Instead of a minute by minute playlist, I gave him genres and explained the vibe we were going for. I told him I liked pop and top 40, and that Mr. Starfish is from Jersey and would love to hear some Bruce. I also told him of a few artists we like in common.

The songs Larry chose ended up being incredible. He surprised us with songs like Sandstorm. Let me tell you, when you have a bunch of New Jerseyians, the floor gets packed when you play Sandstorm!

We didn’t even think of the song, but it was a huge hit. Even the Bostonians were “beating the beat” and fist pumping, thanks to learning their new moves from MTV’s Jersey Shore episodes.

It was fun surprise song choices that made the night incredible. I love that Larry picked up on our style and went for it. I had a bridesmaid tell me, “this is the best wedding playlist ever!” Others raved about our song choices, too. I kept telling them it was all our DJ!

I was really worried that having a DJ wouldn’t be as fun as a band, but I was wrong. I heard advice at one point that said if you can’t afford an amazing band, get an amazing DJ. An amazing band wasn’t in our budget, so I’m really happy we took that advice. Bands definitely add a wow factor, but so do great DJs.

I also learned that it’s really important to communicate who you are to all types of vendors. Letting Larry know little details about us such as where we are from really helped him make our playlist seem more personal. People thought we had created the whole list, but we hadn’t—he was just a great listener and was able to pick up on little details that made the song choices fit our style.

And just in case you’re wondering, here were the Starfish “must plays” for dance music:

• Waste, by Phish (very important song)
• Sweet Melissa, Allman Brothers
• Somewhere over the rainbow, Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
• Living on a Prayer, Bon Jovi
• Don’t Stop Believin’, Journey
• Sweet Caroline, Neil Diamond
• Just Dance, Lady Gaga
• Shout, Isley Brothers
• Party in the USA, Miley Cyrus
• Build me Up Buttercup, the Foundations
• Right Round, Flo Rida
• Jessie’s Girl, Rick Springfield
• Single Ladies, Beyonce
• I Gotta Feeling, Black Eyed Peas
• Summer Wind, Frank Sinatra

I do realize we got really lucky with our DJ, so while our DJ was great at picking up on our style and vibe, some may not be. It’s important to make a playlist to ensure you do get your true “must have” songs played.

Are you creating your own playlist, or are you giving your band/DJ a little freedom with song choices?