Hey Mr. DJ….

Yay! Finally a post about weddings – get excited 🙂 I’m at that age where I’ve been lucky enough to attend a lot of weddings over the past few years. Like a lot, a lot. Weddings are my FAVE. I love nothing more than a good wedding. And a GOOD reception has a lot to do with that….and by that I mean the music + dancing. Nothing worse than going to a wedding with poor song choices and nobody feeling it.

I was the first one to marry out of our friends and close family which allowed me to help many of my friends out with various things for their weddings. {Which I loved because I love helping!} The one thing I always volunteered doing was to give my song request list. And I must say it’s a pretty darn good list. I know everyone has different musical taste but for the most part weddings are all similar in a sense – a few slow songs and some good party jams!

Before I give you my secret list (haha), I must stress not every super popular song is a good choice to play at your wedding. For example, Pumped Up Kicks is probably one of the most popular songs right now on the radio. At a wedding, probably not. Falls in the awkward category of not fast enough/not slow enough. Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” is always popular but again, not a good dancing song. Are you just going to sway and snap your fingers or what? See, you’re singing the song in your head and you know I’m right. 😉

Another suggestion I have when finalizing your list is to not put too many songs on there because it gives the DJ too many options that could go wrong. I sometimes feel bad for DJ’s when nobody’s dancing b/c it’s probably not always their fault since most of the time they are going off a list. A typical dance portion of a wedding is 2-3 hours so choose your songs wisely. First Dances, Garter/Bouquet Tosses, etc. take up a good chunk of that time too so you’re left with about 1.5-2 hours of fun, if you’re lucky. OK, enough rambling from me – here’s my list…

Slow Jam Faves

At Last – Etta James
What a Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong
Somewhere Over the Rainbow – Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
Marry Me – Train

Old School Must Haves

You Shook Me All Night Long – AC/DC

Livin on a Prayer – Bon Jovi
Sweet Caroline – Neil Diamond
Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison
Billie Jean or Thriller – Michael Jackson
Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey
Jump On It – Sir Mix-a-Lot
Come On Eileen – Dexy’s Midnight Runners

Country

I Need You – Tim McGraw + Faith Hill
Chicken Fried – Zac Brown Band

Then – Brad Paisley
Friends in Low Places – Garth Brooks

Party Rockin’ Jams

Party Rock Anthem or I’m Sexy and I Know It – LMFAO
Blurred Lines – Robin Thicke
Just Dance – Lady Gaga
Yeah! – Usher feat. Lil John & Luda {in case you care, this is my jam!}
DJ Got Us Falling in Love – Usher

Give Me Everything (Tonight) – Pitbull featuring Ne-Yo

Boom Boom Pow or I Gotta Feeling or Let’s Get it Started or The Time – Black Eyed Peas
Dynamite – Taio Cruz
Sexy Chick – David Guetta feat. Akon
Low or Right Round or Good Feeling – Flo Rida
In Da Club – 50 Cent
Sexy Back – Justin Timberlake
The Way I Are – Timbaland
Like a G6 – Far East Movement
Get Low – Lil Jon & The East Side Boys
Work It – Missy Elliott

I purposely left out the obvious must play vs. do not play list of songs – some like The Cupid Shuffle and The Cha Cha Slide, others say no way. My only suggestion would be to spice it up with “Teach my how to Dougie” or “Soulja Boy”…haha. Always fun + comical to watch or take part in 🙂

Enjoy! Hope this list helps when trying to narrow down your favorites! 🙂 XO, m