"The Good Kind" of Wedding Reception Songs

Since June, wedding planning has been a forced hobby. I guess that sounds bad. I have enjoyed the planning process and I am very much looking forward to my wedding. But we are currently in the homestretch and there are a lot of details to account for. A lot.  

The music is a prime example. We selected our DJ, carefully, months ago. We had “checked” that off the To Do list and forgot about it. Until he asked us, “what kind of music do you want played at the reception?” To which I replied, “The good kind.” That, evidently, is not an appropriate response.

We have picked the important songs: 

• First Dance - "You Are the Best Thing" by Ray LaMontange 
• Father/Bride - "The Gambler" by Kenny Rodgers
• Mother/Groom - "Close to You" by the Carpenters 

We know we want 90’s rock played during the cocktail hour and Frank Sinatra-style played during dinner.  I really thought that there was some sort of standard “dance music” playlist that all DJs use for when the party starts. Nope. I was mistaken.

Here’s the problem. We are from the “grunge” era - we like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Sublime. My fiancé loves Metallica! Alannis Morrisette is still one of my favorites. And as I have gotten older, I have gotten into some more “indie” music: Johnnyswim, She & Him, Tristen Prettyman. Not necessarily what you would want to dance to. 

We both like Pop music and we love fun dance music. But on a day to day basis, we opt for other things.  I had hoped that our DJ would think of the most fun wedding he had ever been to – and then use that play list. But we have to provide our own. So the research began.

I turned to WeddingWire.com, a site I trust to keep me on track with all of the things that we need to do. I searched “reception music” and it gave me a list of First Dance songs and what song to play during the garter toss. Not exactly what I was looking for. So we ventured to Google.

Our first website stop told us that if we don’t pick the perfect first song, our reception is doomed! No pressure, already stressed bride…just, don’t screw this up or you will set the tone for a sucky reception.

"The first song of the night sets the tone and can make or break the reception." 

Our next site took us to a list of 200 reception dance songs. I began to wonder how many songs we need to actually pick out…200 seems like a lot...? Two-hundred time 3 minutes each(approximately) is 600 minutes…the reception is four hours. Is 200 enough? 

Although daunting, it was a very thorough list and had a ton of great ideas! Songs like “Footloose!” I am not sure we would have thought of that one.

Then we browsed to Lauren Conrad’s website. I have always liked LC’s style, ever since she was on “The Hills” and I own a good bit from her clothing line at Kohl’s. So, I felt I could trust her to guide us with her blog entry, “Tuesday Ten: The Best Wedding Reception Songs.” It wasn’t quite what we expected and the songs were not very dance-y, so we moved on to The Man Registry!

I wish we had found this website months ago, but I am grateful to have found it nonetheless. It’s like a manly WeddingWire! It was detailed and organized list of all the different kinds of music you need at a wedding! It includes “Thriller” and “Billy Jean” as great songs for a wedding and thus has been vetted as a fabulous resource for all musical needs!

After many hours on YouTube, here is our Top 15 Reception Songs:

1. Michael Jackson – Thriller
2. Usher, featuring Ludacris and Lil John – Yeah
3. Pitbull, featuring Ke$Ha – Timber
4. Pharrell – Happy
5. Nelly – Hot in Here
6. Iggy Azalea & Rita Ora – Black Widow
7. Kenny Loggins – Footloose
8. Daft Punk, featuring Pharrell – Get Lucky
9. Katy Perry – Roar!
10. JLo, featuring Pitbull – On the Floor
11. Lil John, featuring Drake – Turn Down for What
12. Beyoncé – Single Ladies
13. Mark Ronson & Bruno Mars – Uptown Funk
14. The Weather Girls – It’s Raining Men
15. Whitney Houston – Wanna Dance with Somebody

Fifteen down…185 more to go…

Any thoughts and/or suggestions are welcome and encouraged.