Wedding Song Selections

1 Written by natasha on September 20, 2010 – 5:00 am

So you’re probably thinking, as I did, that the only songs you need to come up with for your wedding are: 1) your first dance; 2) the father-daughter dance; and 3) the mother-son dance. It turns out, that’s just the beginning!

photo by ashleypalmero

First, you’ll need a song for your wedding ceremony. That means a song for the wedding party, the groom, and/or the bride. Some people use one song, some use two (one for the wedding party & groom, and “here comes the bride” for the bride); others use three.

After the ceremony is where most of the decisions happen.

1. Cocktail hour: What kind of music do you want? Think about using songs that you like but that maybe aren’t “dancing” songs. Maybe you and your fiance(e) have a song that is meaningful and fun, but isn’t really something that you want to play during the reception portion. Or maybe it’s more mellow. Maybe you just want the DJ to pick out some nice jazz selections. Regardless, you’ll need to think about what you want to happen during cocktail hour.

2. Grand entrance: Yes! You need a song to come into the room! And, if you do an entrance for your wedding party, you’ll need a song for them too.

3. Bride and groom first dance: You’ve already been thinking about this, so I wont focus on that too much. But do check out our list of first dance songs!

4. Wedding party dance: Not every wedding has a dance for the wedding party, but it’s a good way to get people involved and get people dancing! Other suggestions might be to have people come out to dance who have been married the longest, then the second longest, then the third longest…. until you get to the couple who JUST got married. Again, it’s a way to get people involved and dancing. But you need a song to dance to!

5. Father/daughter and Mother/son: Again, this is something you’ve probably thought of, but try to use a meaningful song. One of my friends used to dance with her dad to a song when she was a little girl — what a perfect selection! (Yes, even if it’s not “traditional.”) We also have some ideas for the father-daughter dance!

6. Cake cutting: For the cake-cutting, you should pick something that’s either funny (“Build Me Up Buttercup”) or special between you and your fiance(e). This is a moment you share and something fun, but also a sweet moment between you two (no pun intended).

photo by sweetone

7. Bouquet Toss: Unsurprisingly, the most selected song for this in the past two years has been “Single Ladies” by Beyonce.

8. Garter Toss: This can be two songs or just one. The groom can have a song to retrieve the garter, and another song for the actual garter toss.

9. Last dance: What song do you want to go out on?

10. Dancing in general: Think of writing a “do not play” list or come up with a list of 20 songs that you really like. This will give your DJ a good guide of songs to play for the rest of the evening. Of course, if you know all the songs you want to have played, by all means!

So you see? There’s a lot of songs that need to be selected! Most DJ companies have a list of the “most requested” songs to help guide you through the process. But if you’re just starting out in the planning process, start thinking now!

What songs will you select?

~ Natasha

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