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Wedding Playlist

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Dukeofprunes

New Member
I'm getting married in a few weeks and am trying to come up with a playlist for the reception. We're doing it on the cheap so we aren't paying a dj. I have a competent friend who will be manning the playlist but I need some songs for him to play.
I'm looking for song suggestions. I want to stick with soul, R&B and rock classics. James Brown, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett The Isley Brothers, etc.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
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The Sphere, by Rush:

We can walk our road together
If our goals are all the same.
We can run alone and free
If we pursue a different aim.
Let the Truth of Love be lighted,
Let the Love of Truth shine clear. Sensibility,
Armed with sense and liberty,
With the Heart and Mind united in a single
Perfect
Sphere.

woops, not R&B but still nice gentle tune that sounds great at a wedding...
 
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I know it's your day, but be mindful of your guests too. You may only want old music, but your guests may not all like that. Many of them will want the familiar "make you get up and dance" music they know and love too...

Sadly, people do still love the Macarana, and We Are Family... and the Electric slide... I did all I could to avoid some of those songs for my reception, but people kept requesting those kinds of songs, so I told the DJ (a friend) to play what ever anyone requested... .

I've seen receptions clear out early because of a bad DJ, or because the music they wanted to hear wasn't playing... Most people look at your wedding as a great excuse to party. If they aren't having a good time and not hearing what they want too, they will leave...
 
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I put together a playlist for my wedding. It took a lot of effort to get just the right songs, and in just the right order for dancing.

We canned the playlist at the last minute, when we discovered the bride's uncle had a decent rig and offered to DJ. It's one thing to have a playlist, but you may just want a DJ to read the crowd. The wife and I are heavily into swing music (we're both avid dancers), and in 20-20 hindsight, our taste in music would have probably kept a lot of people off the dance floor.

Even if you can't afford a good DJ (we couldn't, we just got lucky), pick out at least five times the music you'll need, and allow for some flexibility.

I think it's largely because of our "guests-first" mentality that people still, years later, remember our reception so fondly. Either that or the open bar...
 
Thanks for the congratulations and the advice. I should probably clarify a thing or two.
I will have a DJ of sorts, though he will not be a professional and thus does no have the prodigious music collection that most DJ's possess. He does however have a uncanny ability to put the right song on at the right time. I just need to amass the songs.
Further, I know this is not my personal playlist and that my guests will be looking to cut-loose and get down. Am I crazy for thinking that's possible without having to hear hackneyed songs like the Macarana and the YMCA? I hope that people can get their freak on and still enjoy good music.
Any more song suggestions would welcomed.
Thanks again.
 
131east23 said:
The Sphere, by Rush:

We can walk our road together
If our goals are all the same.
We can run alone and free
If we pursue a different aim.
Let the Truth of Love be lighted,
Let the Love of Truth shine clear. Sensibility,
Armed with sense and liberty,
With the Heart and Mind united in a single
Perfect
Sphere.

woops, not R&B but still nice gentle tune that sounds great at a wedding...
Click to expand...

That's interesting, I always took that in a social/political sense (based on the rest of the song partly). Creating lyrics which are open to multiple interpretations, each with evidence to back them up, is a sign of a great lyricist.


I was going to say "Ghost of a Chance", the most reality based love song ever, by Rush until I saw the R&B qualification.

However, it is actually close to soft/pop rock (for Rush) and may be an option. It was played at a friend's wedding anyway and would be at mine...if I believed in marriage (I don't think it is required for ltr's which I do believe very much in, as I do in love).

Great chorus lyrics:

I don't believe in destiny
Or the guiding hand of fate
I don't believe in forever
Or love as a mystical state
I don't believe in the stars or the planets
Or angels watching from above
But I believe there's a ghost of a chance
We can find someone to love
And make it last




Congrats Duke! :thmbsp:
 
When my wife and I got married, we walked in to the reception to Lyle Lovett's "She's No Lady, She's My Wife." We have a weird sense of humor, though, and our family is very similar.

We had our DJ play a lot of Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye to start out with, plus that song "Shout!" (I'm too young to remember who the original artist was, but it's the tune from Animal House). We also played a lot of Earth, Wind & Fire.
 
I'm in my 50's but my 21 year old daughter had me put together a playlist for her reception. I used this theory -
1. The first hour of the dance has all age groups wanting to participate. After that the old timers are tired and quit. With this in mind, the first hour was clasic rock and oldies. Even the kids know many of these songs.
2. After the first hour I turned it over to the youth to select the songs as they are the only one's left standing.

The result? The first hour saw the dance floor continously packed with kids 10 to 80. After an hour, the oldies retired, and so did the oldies songs. Moved to hip hop, techno, etc.

Contrast the dumb professional dj at my nephew's wedding. Started with today's music. The old people sat out the whole night and it took an hour for even the youngsters to warm up. The first hour oe more was really dead....

I felt good when at the end of the first hour my daughter's coed friends complimented me on my music selection. What did I play? Early Beetles, Archies, Dusty Springfield, Chuck Berry, Van Morrison, Foghat, Kansas, etc.

Have fun, and consider your whole audience.
 
I'm not familair with Kansas other than "Carry on Wayward Son" and "Dust in the Wind". Any other songs by them that would fit into the dance set?
 
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