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Weddingbee Blog
Creative title, right? Let me explain further.
You know those songs that aren’t technically a one hit wonder, nor are they necessarily a guilty pleasure? I’m talking about those songs that come on in a bar, a party, or a wedding where everyone gets up and dances?
I am talking everyone….no matter if they are young or old, male or female, their preference on toilet paper being hung over (right way) or under (wrong way). 
You get my drift; they are simply…super awesome songs. If these songs come on, there is no way people can stay seated. They must dance.
They are usually featured in movies as well.
Here are a few examples:
Read more…
Even though you can have a rockin’ reception with a band (I am taken back to Mrs. Pretzel’s amazing recaps) Mr. Coyote and I decided to go with a DJ. We can be a little picky with our music so we want to make sure that every song played will be available to us in the version we want.
Choosing our DJ was literally the easiest wedding decision we made. BM J recently wed in June 2010 and everyone had a blast at her reception. Her DJ kept the party going all night long and gave them the exact type of atmosphere we want for our wedding day. When Mr. C popped the question a few months after J’s wedding we quickly snatched up Nate Miller of Conway Entertainment to be our Deej for both our ceremony and our reception.
Personal Photo / The dance floor was packed the entire night at J’s wedding, thanks to Nate. You can see my little bro and full-time dance partner (Mr. C isn’t much of a dancer) in this photo.
Last night we met with a DJ who was not actually a DJ.
I’ve had the hardest time finding a DJ who isn’t making us travel over an hour to meet them, and who is not already booked for our date. Last night we met a highly recommended one, and it was OK but just kind of weird. Mr. Woodpecker and I debriefed after the meeting and both agreed that the guy was a little strange and there were a lot of awkward moments. Several times during the meeting I’d ask a question, and there would be pauses…long, awkward pauses where I wasn’t sure if the man was ignoring me, or not hearing what I was saying, or thinking. Mr. WP and I were surprised that when we went to meet with this DJ company we did not actually meet any DJs. We were kind of planning to pick a DJ a lot on personality, and the owner was very insistent that they just have a rotating system for DJs and all of his are good, which kind of turned us off. However, this was only the first one, so we are looking forward to a better experience the next time.
Music is not the most important to us, but we do both like to dance:
Moves circa 2006
After a couple of weeks of break, the search for “The Song” was back on.
For this third batch of song links I sent Mr. Boa, I tried to find some (around 60) “regular” songs that I liked.
Some of our top picks from that list were:
“Songbird” Glee Cast Version
Video via YouTube
Featured on Weddingbee
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
“Make an elegant invitation statement without the fuss. Stylish invitation sets with matching envelopes, reception and response cards included.”
Before we get into the juice of this post, I have to tell you that we’ve had a DJ booked for quite some time. We looked into having a live band, but just could not justify the (at least) $3000 extra that would be spent. I was quite honestly a little bummed, because every wedding I’ve been to with live music has definitely had that extra oomph. Anyway, DJ booked.
So when I started talking to Mr. Elk about what music he wanted to walk down the aisle to, he agreed that Beatles songs and other classics would do the trick. I’ve never pictured myself walking to Here Comes the Bride or Canon in D, and Mr Elk is big into music, especially from the ’60s, so it was easy for us to be on the same page on this front. Mr Elk didn’t seem thrilled, though, that we would be walking to radio versions of songs. Please note that this conversation happened at least 6 months ago. He seemed to think that this wouldn’t be special enough for such a big day. Even the Vitamin String Quartet version of songs wouldn’t do it for him. At that point I was a little peeved that he hadn’t said something sooner, but fine, no biggie. If he wanted real strings to make the ceremony more special that was fine. But since I couldn’t care less about this, it was totally and completely up to him! I gave him the contact for two reputable string ensembles in the area and told him it was his responsibility to make it happen. Fast forward ’til about three weeks ago, and he STILL hadn’t contacted anyone. I was pretty convinced he had decided he didn’t care either, as I had reminded him every month. But no, he finally got his act together and we now officially have a string duo for our ceremony.
So what are we planning on walking down the aisle to?
Read more…
Choosing a first-dance song has been a humongous wedding-planning headache. We don’t have a song or artist we identified with before getting engaged, so we had to start the sappy-song search from scratch. I must have sent my Mr. Boa about a gazillion YouTube links over the last seven months, and he had something to say about each and every one.
The first batch of links I sent were all from Il Divo, one of our favorite musicians. They are very romantic, suit the mood, and are in Spanish, which means our guest would understand the lyrics.
Some of the Il Divo songs I liked:
“Si Tu Me Amas”
Video via YouTube
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
Daddy Kettle isn’t a dancer. He doesn’t seem to enjoy dancing very much.
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| Image via |
Okay, Daddy Kettle isn’t quite that bad. He can dance. I know this for a fact because we danced at my cotillion when I was a debutante. He just doesn’t do it often.
For our wedding, I expect things will be even better. It’s not a church event, so Daddy Kettle will probably have had at least a beer or two and will be more relaxed. Also, my dress is tea length and we won’t have to do special maneuvers to avoid tripping and falling over a dress that’s too long.
There’s only one problem: we haven’t picked a song yet. I’ve asked him at least three times. The first two times, he didn’t even respond. Literally nothing. No looks, no words, no nothing.
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You guys, I have a confession. I am not one of those cool people that knows all the words to every song. Oh no, I am quite the opposite. In fact, I relate fairly well to Phoebe.
{Video via You Tube}
I don’t know about you, but ever since that episode I am not able to properly sing Tiny Dancer. It’s Phoebe’s version all the way. Anyway, I tend to guess lyrics then eventually just assume I am correct and continue singing my version.
For YEARS I was screwing up AC/DC’s Dirty Deeds.
Putting our ceremony together was oddly simple. We have been on the same page since day one that our ceremony would be short and simple; having an outdoor winter ceremony has helped us keep it to that.
We needed an officiant and we knew right away that our officiant would be someone special to us, someone who knew us. We aren’t church-goers and so having a church officiant didn’t make any sense. While it took a couple months into our engagement to actually decide whom that person would be, once we thought of it, it was like, “Duh!” Our officiant is Best Man Cruise’s dad, Mark. Mr. Honey has known him for years and years and while I’ve only known him a couple years, he is the perfect person for the task. We asked him over for wings and beer one night and he happily accepted. In the months to come, I did some research on how Mark would become officially officiated. I found the best website to be openministry.org where the ordination was free, so I even splurged and spent $14.95 on a certificate. We celebrated with margaritas and Mexican food that night.
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| We have an Officiant! |
Once Mark had “the power invested in him” as he likes to say, I outlined the flow of our ceremony, leaving the word content in Mark’s hands. So, here’s how our short and sweet ceremony will go.
Read more…
When people think of the music at wedding ceremonies, there’s a certain sound that comes to mind. There are lovely groups of musicians who specializing in playing harps, violins, flutes, and cellos at wedding ceremonies. While those groups always sound very nice when I’m a wedding guest, I wasn’t all that excited about having that sound at our wedding ceremony.
From the King Family Vineyards website
As I explained in the past, we are hugely into music. Mr. Mink is a radio show host and we are loyal fans of improvisation. At first, Mr. Mink thought I would want ultra-traditional music. I did a little homework and looked at area musicians who play wedding ceremonies. They all looked wonderfully talented, but none made me excited. I told Mr. Mink that I couldn’t imagine any of the people I found at our wedding. I wanted upbeat music that would make me smile, nothing that sounded solemn or sacred. I wanted “our” music and I wanted guitars.
That’s when Mr. Mink contacted this guy:
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While planning our wedding, I came up with some pretty good ideas and some, um, not-so-good ideas. Harebrained ideas. Or, as Mama Warbler likes to call them, Lucy-you’ve-got-some-’splaining-to-do ideas. Yes, I STILL love Lucy!
First of all, you should know that the Warblers don’t sing or dance.
OK, these Warblers do. Heeeey Blaine.
Image via Glee Wikia
I’m talking about Mr. Warbs and myself, of course. With the exception of bad karaoke and singing in the shower, we are not musically gifted.
Read more…
One of my favorite things about Los Angeles is the radio station KROQ. I love this station for two reasons: first, it broadcasts Loveline. I used to listen to this program every single night in college. Second, like me, KROQ seems to be musically stuck in the 90s. On my drive home the other day, I heard a collection of Stone Temple Pilots, REM, Harvey Danger (?!), Offspring, and Smashing Pumpkins songs.*** I was pretty pumped.
I am only a tiny bit embarrassed to admit that the evolution of my music tastes stalled somewhere between my junior and senior year of high school. What this means for our wedding, though, is that I am relying heavily on Mr. Mole to create our ceremony and reception playlists. He is much more musical, both in terms of his ear for good songs and his ability to play instruments and sing.
Since our ceremony is going to be relatively short, we were only faced with the task of picking a song for our processional and our recessional. The “our” in front of “processional” is purposeful: Mr. Mole is also going to be processing down the aisle with his mother! It only seemed fair that he also have a grand entrance.
Read more…
…and other songs not to play at your wedding reception.
I started a spreadsheet of song ideas a while back (thanks, yet again, Google Docs!), and every time I hear a song I want to use for the wedding, I add it to the spreadsheet, noting whether it’ll be for the ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner, dancing, or other (cake cutting, wedding-party intros, etc.). The spreadsheet has been steadily growing for the past five months or so, and the other day I looked back at some of the songs I’d added at the beginning.
I did a double take when I saw “S&M: Dancing.” Suddenly I was overcome with visions of Mr. Unicycle’s grandma belting out “Sex in the air/I don’t care I love the smell of it” while my great aunt grinds lasciviously with a groomsman. Hmm. Maybe a song about sadomasochism isn’t the best choice for a classy wedding reception celebrating the sacred vows the Unicycles have just made. Here’s what else you might want to reconsider adding to your playlist:
Songs about exes:
Every time I go on the treadmill (my absolute favorite place in the world…) I play Katy Perry’s “The One That Got Away.” That song is just so dang catchy! It’s the perfect tempo for running (OK fine, jogging [all right fine, walking quickly]) and also dancing. I also love belting out the lyrics in the car. But, um, why would “the one that got away” have any place at our wedding? And for the record, neither I nor the mister even has a “one that got away,” which somehow makes it even more inappropriate.
I have a secret to spill. I am a Wizard of Oz nerd…big time. It is one of those movies that seems to have been with me throughout my life. Like most people, I grew up watching this movie. I never really had a favorite character because I loved all of them…even the flying monkeys! (Unlike most people, they did not scare me.) I had the entire movie memorized by the time I was eight years old.
When I was younger my mom use to do after school daycare at my house, which was great because there were always kids to play with. I decided that I would put on a Wizard of Oz production with the daycare kids, and then we would perform it for all of our parents. Being that I was the oldest, I of course had to be every main character, as well as the voice of Dorothy.
What is the voice of Dorothy, you ask?
Read more…
I’ve already yapped about my undying love for Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional fame. For 10 years now, I’ve been a sucker for his soulful crooning (at least that’s what I’ve dubbed it) and incredibly emo lyrics. He was the soundtrack of my life way back when. Plus, for all those horribly depressing songs, he has a handful of lovey dovey goodness that I just can’t get enough of. He may or may not also be #1 on my freebie list. (Hence Foxy’s Facebook status of “Dashboard Confessional show with Miss Fox to make sure she doesn’t go home with the lead singer guy.”
personal photo
So of course I was ants-in-my-pants excited this past Saturday night when I got to see him in concert for the second (possibly third?) time in my life. Yes, I sang my heart out and no, I couldn’t really talk properly the next day. The best moment was an acoustic version of Stolen a song that, if there was a decent acoustic recording of, very well could be our first dance song. Alas, there is not.
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