On my laptop’s hard drive resides a very special spreadsheet, aptly named “Best Wedding Playlist Ever.xls.” Ok, the file name might be a bit presumptuous, but Mr. Wallaby took our playlist-creating task very seriously.
We love music. I wouldn’t say that we listen to the hippest, most underground/indie music out there. But we both listen to a lot of music from a fairly wide variety of genres, and we love to have impromptu dance-offs in the kitchen while dinner’s cooking, in the car on long road trips, or anywhere we just are in the mood to dance. My favorite music is folksy music from the 70s (Van Morrison, Neil Young) and 80s rock (I would be so.happy. if the cast of Rock of Ages could’ve performed at our wedding). I also have never gotten over 90s pop and rap. My iPod is full of Biz Markie, Britney, Shaggy, and Will Smith.
And we’ve been to a lot of weddings already in the last year, so we’ve grown a little tired of some of the standard wedding tunes (see “Do Not Play List” below). I do think it’s important to play some classic songs everyone’s heard of, but I do not want to hear “We Are Family” ever again, for the rest of my life. Some of you will probably think we’re crazy or obnoxious for our extensive playlists. But we put a lot of thought into which songs would appeal to our guests, our DJ was cool with it, and it worked out—our dance floor was packed all night.
Without further ado, the Wallaby Playlist (songs in no particular order):
Dinner Playlist:
| Artist | Song Title |
| Edith Piaf | Toujours Aimer |
| Dean Martin | That’s Amore |
| Michael Buble | Come Fly With Me |
| Harry Connick Jr. | Come By Me |
| Louis Armstrong | As Time Goes By |
| Sam Cooke | Wonderful World |
| Billie Holiday | All of Me |
| Frank Sinatra | You Do Something to Me |
| Nina Simone | Do I Move You (version II) |
| Louis Armstrong | A Kiss to Build a Dream On |
| Madeleine Peyroux | Dance Me to the End of Love |
| Frank Sinatra | I Get a Kick Out of You |
| She & Him | Sweet Darling |
| Cole Porter | You’re the Top |
| Otis Redding | Sittin’ on the Docks of the Bay |
| Otis Redding | Try a Little Tenderness |
| Diana Ross & the Supremes | I’m Gonna Make You Love me |
| Etta James | My Dearest Darling |
| The Beach Boys | Don’t Worry Baby |
| Jackie Wilson | Higher and Higher |
| Hall & Oates | You Make My Dreams |
| Sam Cooke | That’s Where It’s At |
| Fats Domino | My Blue Heaven |
| The Marvelows | I Do |
| Amy Stroup | With Wings |
| Amy Herzig | Sweeter Than This |
| Rosi Golan | Hazy |
| Gene Chandler | Groovy Situation |
| Louis Armstrong | As Time Goes By |
| Sam Cooke | Wonderful World |
| Frank Sinatra | You Do Something to Me |
| Nina Simone | Do I Move You? |
| Frank Sinatra | I Get a Kick Out of You |
| Madeleine Peyroux | Dance Me To The End Of Love |
| Louis Armstrong | A Kiss to Build a Dream On |
Good ole Louis / Photo via Wikipedia
Special songs:
Image via AllMusic
Dancing Playlist:
| Artist | Song Title |
| Calvin Harris | Feel So Close |
| Dead Mau5 | Ghosts N Stuff |
| Neon Trees | Everybody Talks |
| Brett Dennen | She’s Mine |
| A ha | Take on Me |
| The Jackson 5 | Little Bitty Pretty One |
| Al Green | Let’s Stay Together |
| Barry White | Can’t Get Enough of Your Love |
| Queen | Bohemian Rhapsody |
| Frank Sinatra | The Way You Look Tonight |
| The Jackson 5 | Rockin’ Robin |
| The Doobie Brothers | Oh What A Night |
| Bobby Darin | Run Around Sue |
| King Floyd | Groove Me |
| Prince | Let’s Go Crazy |
| Violent Femmes | Blister in the Sun |
| Joan Jett | I Love Rock ’n Roll |
| Elton Jon | Benny and the Jets |
| Bell Biv Divoe | Poison |
| Marvin Gaye | Let’s Get It On |
| Jackson 5 | I Want You Back |
| Salt n Peppa | Shoop |
| Spice Girls | Wannabe |
| Blackstreet | No Diggity |
| Prince | Kiss |
| Frank Sinatra | I Get a Kick Out of You |
| Van Morrison | Moondance |
| The Rascals | Good Lovin’ |
| Biz Markie | Just a Friend |
| Candyman | Knockin’ Boots |
| Chris Young | Getting’ You Home |
| Indigo Swing | My Baby Just Cares for Me |
| Easton Corbin | A Little More Country Than That |
| James Otto | Just Got Started Lovin’ You |
| Darius Rucker | History in the Making |
| The Promise | When In Rome |
| Will Smith | Gettin’ Jiggy With It |
| The Bangles | Walk Like An Egyptian |
| Journey | Take Me Home Tonight |
| Lauryn Hill | Doo Wop (That Thing) |
| The Temptations | My Girl |
| Kanye West | Good Life |
| Kanye West | Run This Town |
| Salt n Peppa | Push It |
| Carly Rae Jepsen | Call Me Maybe |
| Britney Spears | Til the World Ends |
| Britney Spears | Gimme More |
| PSY | Gangnam Style |
| Usher | OMG |
| Tupac | California Love |
| The Beatles | Day Tripper |
| The Beatles | A Hard Day’s Night |
| Rihanna | Diamonds |
| Jay-Z | Izzo (H-O-V-A) |
| Taylor Swift | We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together |
| Flo Rida | Whistle |
| Maroon 5 | One More Night |
| Cupid | Cupid Shuffle |
| V.I.C. | Wobble |
| Blake Shelton | Honey Bee |
| Blake Shelton | Drink On It |
| Billy Currington | Must Be Doing Somethin’ Right |
| Beyonce | Love On Top |
| Bill Withers | Just the Two of Us |
| Brad Paisley | Then |
| Brad Paisley | Little Moments |
| Brett Dennen | Closer To You |
| The Buggles | Video Killed the Radio Star |
| Elton Jon | Can You Feel the Love Tonight |
| Boyz II Men | Can I Make Love To You |
| Boyz II Men | Water Runs Dry |
| Justin Timberlake | Summer Love |
| R. Kelly | Make It Rain (remix) |
| Tupac | California Love |
| John Legend | Stay With You |
| John Legend | Save Room |
| Kanye West | Clique |
| Justin Timberlake | Love Song |
| Michael Jackson | Thriller |
| Michael Jackson | Billy Jean |
| Mariah Carey | Always Be My Baby |
| Neil Diamond | Sweet Caroline |
| Neil Diamond | Tennessee Moon |
| The Outfield | Your Love |
| The Band Perry | All Your Life |
| Fine Young Cannibals | She Drives Me Crazy |
| Ginuwine | Pony |
| James Brown | Twist & Shout |
Prince: the jam for dance parties everywhere / Image via Stereogum
Do not play list:
| Artist | Song Title |
| - | Chicken Dance |
| - | Cha Cha Slide |
| - | Macarena |
| - | Electric Slide |
| - | Hokey Pokey |
| Aqua | Barbie Girl |
| B-52s | Love Shack |
| Baha Men | Who Let The Dogs Out |
| Bee Gees | Stayin Alive |
| Billy Idol | Mony Mony |
| Bonnie Tyler | Total Eclipse of the Heart |
| Commodores | Brick House |
| DJ Darude | Sandstorm |
| Kool & The Gang | Celebration |
| Lynard Skynard | Sweet Home Alabama |
| Outkast | Hey Ya |
| The Police | Every Breath You Take |
| Quad City DJs | C’mon ’N Ride It |
| Rednex | Cotton Eyed Joe |
| Sir Mix A lot | Baby Got Back |
| Sister Sledge | We Are Family |
| Village People | YMCA |
| Young M.C. | Bust a Move |
| Katy Perry | Last Friday Night |
| Anything by The Black Eyed Peas | |
| Anything by Lady Gaga | |
| Anything by U2 | |
| Katy Perry – Last Friday night | |
| Anything by Pink |
Baha Men, I love you, but not for my wedding / Image via Wikipedia
This was the list we emailed our DJ a week before the wedding, and we also gave him a couple CDs with Persian music. (I don’t have a playlist for the Persian music—not sure those song names are even translated to English.) I’m sure Bill deviated from this list and mixed in some other songs, but these set the tone for our mega dance party. And now that the wedding is over, they make for a prettttty good workout playlist.
P.S. If you’re working on your wedding playlist and need more ideas, past bees have had some pretty superb playlists. I’d check out these posts from Mrs. Dragon (I love her choices in classic rock!!), Mrs. Cheese, Mrs. Penguin, Mrs. Cowboy Boot, and Mrs. Ostrich (pretty sure her playlist is the soundtrack to my life).
What are we missing that’s on your must-play list? What type of music did you (or will you) play at your wedding? Am I the only one who still loves Will Smith?
You must really really hate Last Friday night, it’s on your list twice. I will definitely be using your list as a reference when I start making mine because I too want my reception to be a rockin dance party!!
THANK YOU for the do not play list. I started mine and it isn’t nearly long enough! I’m stealing so many off your list!
Anything Journey will definitely be added to the playlist! So tired of the club anthem ‘don’t stop believing’ mixed with a beat!
I giggled at the “Do Not Play” list…even though some of those song are like my fam’s favorites lol
It also gave me some ideas of songs I never thought of before-thank you!!!
I think I’m going to copy and paste your do not play list… but adding “Anything by Chris Brown”
Love love love love love this! Thank you so much for sharing. 
As a pro DJ…eliminating a lot of the above songs isn’t an idea I’d suggest. Your guests love those songs and will dance to them. That’s why they are so popular.
I can understand not wanting certain songs…but to create a playlist of 50 do not plays….is a bit too much.
A wedding is NOT the place to play your favorite Ipod or songs from college
We are almost do not play twins! I included almost all of those no dances along with no cupid shuffle and no locomotion.
@Pro DJ Chuck: I guess it depends on the dj. My dj had no problem with a list of do not play; adhered to it, and I felt better understood the types of music we liked. I also would hope that most wedding couples knows the people they are inviting quite well and the types of music their guests might like. We had a packed dance floor the entire night even with a large(ish) do not play list.
We had some of those on our do not play list like YMCA but the crowd kept asking for it so he played it and The love shack is another he played and I have great memories of my mil out there dancing and singing at the top of her lungs to it, so don’t always stick right to the play list you never know some of the best memories can come from the unexpected!
I love Love Shack. The B52′s was my first concert in grade school!
Love your list! I will say, one of my regrets is not insisting the djs stick closer to our list, we compiled it for a reason, and I kept getting so angry that songs were played that I didn’t even know. Not the reaction a bride should have.
I love seeing people’s playlists! I didn’t have a big do not play list (except of course anything with explicit lyrics or downers), but I did have a very detailed list of suggested songs for dinner and dancing — I feel like most experience DJs will use your lists as a guideline and go with what they know will work best. I’m pretty sure my DJ played some Gaga and Black Eyed Peas, and while U2 is one of my husband’s favorite bands, we didn’t really expect it to be played at our wedding.
Thank you so much for posting this (and linking to others’ posts). Playlists seem really daunting to me!
I love the Dinner playlist! I am thinking that i might steal it as a starting point!
@hma812: Haha oops
@MinnesotanInDC: Haha go ahead!!
@amftodd121314: Lol I know me too. My mom LOVES the song “We Are Family”…but I am just so sick of that song. So sick of it.
@lealorali: Haha I know! They’re both on my workout playlist…We just heard them at too many weddings last year (we went to six, many had overlapping guest lists) so we wanted something different.
@WoodenShoes: YES!!!!
@paw: Yup I agree. As I stated above, our dance floor was packed all night – this strategy may not work for all, but it worked great for us. We know our guests really well, we know what gets them going haha.
Mrs. Wallaby, Houston Age and Occupation: 24, Environmental Engineer Engagement Date: January 1, 2012 Wedding Date: November 2012 Venue: Oak Tree Manor About Me: I'm a free-spirited, adventurous girl who loves anything active, reading, traveling, cooking up new dishes for my fiancé, and working on my budding garden. My fiancé is an athletic, intellectual, animal-loving guy with an obsession with basketball and who treats me with the deepest compassion and respect. We are both engineers, and we met at our workplace. Together we complement one another and make a great team, and we are excitedly counting down the days until our outdoor wedding in Houston in November. We're planning a green wedding with lots of Persian cultural touches, and I can't wait to share all of the before-and-after details of our special day
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