Nothing fancy, we didn't take lessons, or practice, or really give this aspect of our wedding day that much thought. We're just not big on dancing (unless you get some drinks in us!), although I enjoy it a lot more than he does. So with no real plan, except for which song to dance to, we just went up there and did our thing. And it was perfect. I think the pictures speak for themselves much better than I could describe our first dance with words (that's your warning that this is a picture heavy post!), but here is our first dance song to set the mood as you scroll down: Ingrid Michaelson's Can't Help Falling In Love. This is one of my all time favorite songs, and every time I hear this version of it I still get chills remembering our dance.
(This would be me getting Mr. Cola back for earlier, by whispering inside jokes about our cats in his ear to make him laugh.)
At some point during the "take my hand, take my whole life too..." chorus, I took Mr. Cola's hand. Gotta change up the "8th Grade Sway" a little! ;) After a blissful 3 1/2 minutes of concentrating on each other (which felt wonderfully so much longer than it really was, but was over much too quickly), we gave our guests a bow, and everyone clapped. And then, it was time to hit the bar and enjoy the evening!
Sorry, I couldn't think of a good title for my music post that hadn't already been used, so I'll just let you all use your imagination! :)
It's finally time for me to do the obligatory music playlist post, which I hope you all will enjoy. I know I read every one's playlists I could find before creating my own, to find the best reception music ideas out there. But then, I kind of a "Top 40" girl, so making the playlist wasn't that hard for me!
We aren't really doing much to appease the masses (read, the older guests) with our music selections. 'Sweet Caroline' or 'Brown Eyed Girl' will not be making appearances at our wedding, because, frankly, I'm just not that into dancing to a lot of older tunes. Don't get me wrong, I love classic rock, but I just feel that not a lot of the songs are that great to dance to. And we will have full control, because we're doing all the music ourselves!
Yep, we'll be doing an "iPod Wedding," or actually, using my laptop! {Source}
Our ceremony musician (and also my MOH/Sister's boyfriend) will be monitoring my playlists throughout the night, making the transitions at the appropriate times, and of course, we will have a back up MP3 player on hand, just in case. This is a huge budget saver for us, and also, I'm happy I won't have to give up any control over the music, since I'm always in control of our party playlists at home!
I'm still tweaking our wedding playlists, and probably will for another couple months (you never know when a new song will come out that will be a perfect addition!), but here is my list so far, with song lengths. I tried really hard to find songs for the cocktail hour that are "lovey" but a little more upbeat, then "really lovey" slower songs for dinner, and good dance songs for the rest of the reception. We want everyone feeling energized and like partying for the dancing portion of the evening, which is why I've left slow songs off the last list.
I will need to reorganize these into a better mix at some point, since they're alphabetical right now, as well as weed out some of the less important songs and re-arrange them to fit in the allotted times. I've noted the song importance in my song list as:
Must Have = duh, it must be played OK to Have = could be cut if needed to accommodate must have songs Not a Must Have = will probably be cut unless I need it to fill the time
Cocktail Playlist - 70 mins - 5:20pm to 6:30pm 1, 2, 3, 4 - Plain White Ts - 3.18 - OK to Have All You Need Is Love - Beatles - 3.47 - Must Have Fell In Love With A Boy - Joss Stone - 3.39 - OK to Have Free Fallin' - Tom Petty - 4.18 - OK to Have I'm Yours - Jason Mraz - 4.3 - OK to Have Jack & Diane - John Mellencamp - 4.17 - Not A Must Have Kiss Me - Sixpence None The Richer - 3.17 - OK to Have Lucky - Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat - 3.1 - OK to Have Marry Me - Train - 3.25 - OK to Have
Marry Me is such a sweet song, check it out if you haven't heard it before! "You wear white, and I'll wear out the words I love you...and you're beautiful."
(all videos in this post are from Youtube)
Smile - Uncle Kracker - 3.22 - OK to Have Something Coming Over Me - OAR - 3.59 - OK to Have Wonderful Day - OAR - 4.31 - OK to Have Playlist total time: 43.33
Dinner Playlist - 60 mins - 6:30pm to 7:30pm All My Life - K-Ci & Jo-Jo - 5.32 - OK to Have Amazing - Josh Kelley - 3.46 - OK to Have At Last - Etta James - 2.59 - OK to Have Belief - Gavin Degraw - 4.27 - OK to Have Better Together - Jack Johnson - 3.3 - OK to Have Bubbly - Colbie Caillat - 3.16 - OK to Have Collide - Howie Day - 4.09 - OK to Have Come Away With Me - Nora Jones - 3.18 - OK to Have Crazy Love - Van Morrison - 2.35 - OK to Have Falling In Love At A Coffee Shop - Landon Pigg - 4.32 - OK to Have I Do - 98 Degrees - 3.46 - OK to Have I'll Be - Edwin McCain - 4.27 - OK to Have Lets Get Married - Jagged Edge - 4.23 - OK to Have Like A Star - Corinne Bailey Rae - 4.03 - OK to Have Look After You - The Fray - 4.27 - OK to Have Say (All I Need) - OneRepublic - 3.51 - OK to Have The Book of Love - Peter Gabriel - 3.37 - OK to Have The Way I Am - Ingrid Michaelson - 2.15 - Must Have Truly Madly Deeply - Savage Garden - 4.37 - OK to Have Wherever You Will Go - The Calling - 3.29 - OK to Have Wonderful Tonight - Eric Clatpon - 3.45 - OK to Have You and Me - Lifehouse - 3.15 - OK to Have Playlist total time: 79.59
First Dance Song - 7:30pm Can't Help Falling In Love - Ingrid Michaelson - 3.14 - Obviously a Must Have
One of the best songs of all time, made even better by my girl Ingrid! "So take my hand, and take my whole life too..."
Dancing Playlist - 150 mins - 7:30pm to 10:00pm (I will save the less appropriate songs for later in the evening) 1-2-3-4 - Coolio - 3.34 - Not A Must Have Ain't No Other Man - Christina Aguilera - 3.49 - OK to Have Atomic Dog - George Clinton - 4.46 - OK to Have Blister In the Sun - Violent Femmes - 2.25 - OK to Have Boom Boom Pow - Black Eyed Peas - 4.12 - Must Have California Love - 2Pac - 4.45 - Not A Must Have Come On Eileen - Dexys Midnight Runners - 4.15 - OK to Have Crazy In Love - Beyonce - 4 - OK to Have Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen - 2.44 - OK to Have Don't Stop Believing - Journey - 4.1 - Must Have Don't Stop The Music - Rihanna - 4.27 - OK to Have Feel Good Inc - Gorillaz - 3.41 - OK to Have Float On - Modest Mouse - 3.28 - OK to Have Forever - Chris Brown - 4.41 - OK to Have Girls Just Want To Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper - 3.58 - Not A Must Have Gold Digger - Kanye West - 3.28 - OK to Have Good Life - Kanye West - 3.27 - OK to Have Here I Come - Fergie - 3.21 - OK to Have Hey Ya - OutKast - 3.59 - OK to Have Hot In Here - Nelly - 3.48 - OK to Have I Believe In A Thing Called Love - The Darkness - 3.36 - OK to Have I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas - 4.49 - Must Have Ignition (remix) - R. Kelly - 3.06 - Must Have
Ignition is a kind of silly/not-that-appropriate song to include, but it's the first song Mr. Cola and I ever danced to, so it has to be on our playlist! "Sippin' on coke and rum..."
I'm A Believer - Smash Mouth - 3.03 - Not A Must Have Just Dance - Lady GaGa - 4.02 - Must Have Let Me Clear My Throat - DJ Cool - 4.5 - Not A Must Have Livin' On A Prayer - Bon Jovi - 4.13 - OK to Have Low - Flo Rida - 3.51 - OK to Have One More Time - Daft Punk - 5.21 - OK to Have Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry - 4.59 - Not A Must Have Poker Face - Lady GaGa - 3.57 - Must Have Pon de Replay - Rihanna - 4.09 - OK to Have SexyBack - Justin Timberlake - 4.01 - OK to Have Shake It - Metro Station - 3 - OK to Have Shake Your Groove Thing - Peaches & Herb - 5.33 - Not A Must Have Single Ladies - Beyonce - 3.13 - OK to Have Smooth - Santana & Rob Thomas - 4.56 - OK to Have So What - Pink - 3.35 - OK to Have Starry Eyed Surprise - Paul Oakenfold - 3.26 - OK to Have Surrender - Cheap Trick - 4.14 - OK to Have Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd - 4.45 - OK to Have That Was A Crazy Game Of Poker - OAR - 8.43 - Must Have
Admittedly, this OAR song isn't the best dance song, but it's one of our all time favorites by our favorite band! (Skip ahead to 1:05 in the video for when the song really gets going)
The Seed (2.0) - The Roots - 3.51 - OK to Have The Sweet Escape - Gwen Stefani - 4.06 - OK to Have They Don't Want Music - Black Eyed Peas - 6.47 - OK to Have This D.J. (edited) - Warren G - 3.24 - Not A Must Have This is How We Do It - Montell Jordan - 3.59 - Not A Must Have Wake Me Up Before You Go - Wham! - 3.51 - Not A Must Have What Is Love - Haddaway - 4.3 - OK to Have Yeah! - Usher - 4.1 - OK to Have You Got The Right Stuff - NKITB - 4.1 - OK to Have Playlist total time: 200.68
And to help ensure we remain in full control of our music the whole night, we will have this sign I made on my laptop, with the screen closed. No chicken dance requests would be possible anyway, since that's not a song already on my computer!
How much control do you plan on having in your reception song selections? Anyone else going the iPod or laptop route?
After nailing down our venue last spring, we knew we needed to really have a plan for our ceremony music, since amplified music isn't allowed outside at the ceremony (but we do get a small mic and speaker so people can hear our vows).
I did some initial research into acoustic bands, but quickly realized they were just out of our budget, considering we only needed someone to play for about 10-15 mins before the ceremony, for our processional and the recessional. So about a half hour max the day of. I then started researching acoustic guitarists, but the cost was still going to be about $400, which just seemed like a lot to me. However, then my MOH/Sister volunteered her long-time boyfriend, who is an amazing guitar player!
For some free headphones that my company makes (and that I get a 70% discount on), he'll take care of all our acoustic music needs for the ceremony, as well as DJ (aka, run my computer playlists, with backup MP3 player) for us during the reception! Score, another friendor to the budget rescue!
He's been practicing for months, and I finally just got samples of the two most important songs, the processional song that our wedding party will walk down the aisle to, and the song that I'll walk down the aisle to.
I have a very deep love for Ingrid Michaelson, just like Mrs. Powder Puff, so our parents and wedding party will be walking to an acoustic version of "Keep Breathing."
Next, I will be walking down the aisle to one of my all time favorite songs, "Satellite" by Dave Matthews Band (the first 32 seconds of the song, repeated a couple times). Once he adjusts the speed, it will transition very nicely from "Keep Breathing."
(these last two videos were taken by our guitarist)
I'm still not sure what song we'll pick for the recessional, but I want something upbeat and happy, maybe like Weezer's Island In The Sun (although I might be tempted to sing the "Hip Hip" parts as we walk down the aisle, married!). I can't really find a good acoustic version of the Weezer song, this is as best I can find (after the dude talks for 5 seconds), but our friend's version will be much better.
{Source} After that, all that's left is to figure out what to have him play while everyone is getting seated before the ceremony. I'm thinking about just leaving it up to him to play whatever....as long as it goes with the mood, and will transition into our processional songs without a hitch, I'll be happy!
Will you be having any live music at your wedding? And how did you find your musicians?
I have a deep love for shoes, anything with garlic on it, and all things DIY. Just a West Coast chick adjusting to life in the South with my husband and 3 kitties. To pay the bills I'm a marketing communications professional, but my true love is crafting and working on decor projects. And now that we are homeowners, I love taking on bigger renovation projects side-by-side with my husband, as we strive to make our new house a home.
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(This would be me getting Mr. Cola back for earlier, by whispering inside jokes about our cats in his ear to make him laugh.)
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