Weddingbee Blog

*All images courtesy of Lisa Rice Photography unless otherwise noted.

Mr P and I love to dance, especially at wedding receptions. We burned up the dance floor at our wedding reception in Seattle and absolutely loved our band. I was looking forward to having a DJ at our Midwest party because that meant a wider range of music.

We provided our DJ, Jason of Quatro Systems, with a list of music with must have songs bolded. I even provided MP3s of some of the more obscure songs that I was certain he wouldn’t have. At the end of the night he was really surprised by the crowd reaction to some of our more obscure songs. Our must-include songs during cocktail hour and dinner:

• The Promise-Tracy Chapman
• Sweet Adeline-Elliott Smith
• Fade Into You-Mazzy Star
• You can’t always get what you want - rolling stones
• Interstate Love Song-Stone Temple Pilots
• More Bad Times- The Presidents Of The United States Of America
• Wonderwall (Album Version) -Oasis
• Waltz #2 (XO)- Elliott Smith
• Bottle up and Explode!- Elliott Smith
• Beautiful Day-U2
• For Now People- Eating People
• Middle School Love Song-Popple
• Without You It’s Just Kulele- Popple
• How It Should Be (Sha Sha)-Ben Kweller
• Commerce, TX -Ben Kweller
• Darling-People Eating People
• Use Somebody- Kings Of Leon
• Revelry-Kings Of Leon
• Natural Born Lover- Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
• Jackson-Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash

Our must have dancing songs:

• Don’t Stop Believing - Journey
• All You Need is Love - Beatles
• Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd
• Do You Love Me - The Contours
• Aime- Pure Praire League
• Sweet Caroline, Neil Diamond
• Lets go Crazy - Prince
• It’s Like That - Run DMC
• It takes Two - Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock
• Imma Be - Black Eyed Peas
• I’m On a Boat (feat. T-Pain) - The Lonely Island (Dedicated to Mike!)
• This Is How We Do It- Montell Jordan
• I Gotta Feeling- Black Eyed Peas
• Come on Eileen- Dexy’s midnight runners
• Time Warp - Rocky Horror Picture Show
• Proud Mary - CCR
• Bust a Move -Young MC
• Blister In the Sun - Violent Femmes
• Sherry - Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons (dedicated to MIL Pretzel)
• Somewhere over the rainbow, Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
• Lump- Presidents of the United States of America
• Video killed the radio star- The Presidents of the United States (Important that it be this version)

Mr P and I sang along to almost every song played. My heart melts when he sings to me while slow dancing. *swoon*

Kids:

We didn’t have many kids at our Seattle wedding. I was so happy to have a whole slew of kiddos at the party.

Mr P’s cousins cut in and I was taken for a spin by this little guy…

…while Mr P danced with his cousin. Adorable!

This little girl in particular was a hoot! She danced her little butt off all night and collapsed on the dance floor.

I took my second cousin for a spin and ended up with a line of little girls wanting to be spun around in a circle. Impossible to say no to such cute faces!

I am sure the kids all slept well that night because they owned the dance floor!

Anniversary Dance

All of the married couples crowded the dance floor to and swayed to “After all These Years” by Journey.

One by one they sat down as the years were called out.

In the end Mr P’s grandparents were the only ones dancing. We can only wish to have such a long and happy marriage!

Dessert Treats

If we were going to dance the night away we needed some nourishment. Our guests munched on mini desserts and chocolate covered strawberries. Yum

Parent Dances Revisited

One of my dad’s sisters and her husband were able to attend our Seattle wedding and reception. His other sister wasn’t able to be there. My Aunt and Uncle were surprised that my dad took dance lessons and wowed them with his dance skills for our Daddy Daughter dance. My aunt and uncle requested the DJ play our Daddy Daughter dance song, You’ve got a friend by James Taylor. We were a little rusty but worked out all the kinks pretty well.

We had requested “Sherry” for MIL Pretzel. Later in the evening Mr P sang to her while he spun her around the room.

Rock out!

OK, OK, the kids weren’t the only ones owning the dance floor.

It was hard to mingle with so many great tunes playing. I wish I could remember what song had come on when I decided to summon Mr P back to the dance floor, but it was likely something by the Presidents of the United States of America.

I gave a big whistle…

… and flagged him down like I was hailing a cab.

He was just as excited about the song as I was!

He sealed it with a kiss.

We paid homage to our Purdue days by gathering around for The Piano Man…

…arm in arm we sang along.

BIL M did his best Andy Sandberg to I’m on a Boat.

My family knows how to party! I believe this group is 90% my side of the family. I love how they like to mix it up on the dance floor!

My Aunt and Uncle gathered around for  Aimee, while Mr. Pretzel sang the words of my song to me.

We ended the night singing Sweet Caroline, a family tradition.

We said our goodbyes to family and friends…

… and clean up commenced.

Whew! I am exhausted just recapping the night. It was so great to see our families and dancing our butts off. Our DJ really liked some of our “offbeat” song requests. If I had to suggest just one lesser known song to add to a wedding playlist it would be “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Presidents.

by PresidentsRock

What is your offbeat must-play song?