I’m getting married in less than a month and we still haven’t picked out our wedding song. :eek: Time is running short. I have to let the DJ know what songs I want played for certain dances but I draw a blank when I try to think of songs I want. I’ve been searching the Internet and listening to songs but haven’t found anything I really like.
My soon to be husband and I both like rock and country music. He’s a huge AC/DC fan but I refuse to have our first dance be to the tune of Thunderstruck! So what songs would be good for the following dances?
Our first dance
Father/daughter dance
Mother/son dance
Money dance
For our crowd pleasers I’ve selected the Hokey Pokey, the Chicken Dance, and I’m a Believer by Smash Mouth (My kids love Shrek and dance like a couple of nuts when they hear that song.
I’m also thinking of having my groom and I have a dance with our kids… him with my daughter and me with our son. I thought this might be a special touch. What do you think? What would be a good song for us to dance to for this?
The Monkees!! it was the Monkees!! or their session musicians
Our first dance
Just remember what the song is actually about before you choose it
I have played at a wedding where the Bride wanted “Love on the Rocks” as their first dance together. Might as well just play D.I.V.O.R.C.E.
Other bad selections include “Every Breath You Take” by the Police and “Wonderful Tonight” by Eric Clapton
Father/daughter dance
Anything except Serge Gainsbourg or Woody Allen playing Jazz.
Mother/son dance
anything greek
Money dance
Money Dance? you have a Money dance? Can I suggest Money Money Money by Abba or the Theme from Benny Hill?
Seriously, for the Father Daughter Dance, what is the daughters name?
Once again the one song that is useful in any situation - Sexy Motherfucker.
Seriously, why are you asking us what song you and betrothed should dance to? We can never know what music you two like and what songs may hold special meaning to you. Was there a song in the background when you met? What was the first song that you did dance to?
Don’t feel that you have to choose some sappy song because others are expecting it. The song has to have meaning for the 2 of you or it is a hollow effort.
I know it was the Monkees who did it originally silly! Smash Mouth sings it in Shrek though… that’s the group my kids will recognize and, believe me, they’ll go apeshit when they hear that song. It’s gonna be hilarious!
The Father/daughter dance is for me and my father. It should be interesting too because my parents don’t dance. Can’t wait to get my old man out there shake it!
And I’m just looking for song suggestions. The final decision of what we dance to will be up to us, we just need ideas and possibly some song titles.
I wanted When You Say Nothing At All by Ronan Keating, but it turned out that we didn’t have a traditional reception or a dance, so we just added it to the selection of songs playing throughout the night.
My cousin and his new wife had their first dance to From This Moment by Shania Twain. It seemed to be a nice choice (shame Shania Twain makes me want to stuff things in my ears).
I think I Swear by All 4 One is supposed to be a popular first dance track these days. Also, Come What May from Moulin Rouge might do.
All I Want Is You by U2 might be slightly classier if a tad dated.
Others: Angel of Mine by Monica (scores high on the Cheeseometer) I Knew I Loved You Before I Met You by Savage Garden Even When I’m Sleeping by Leonardo’s Bride Love Is All Around by Wet Wet Wet You Were There by Southern Sons Never Tear Us Apart by INXS (ahhh… the 80’s. There they are!) Stuck With You by Huey Lewis Memories Are Made Of This by Dean Martin. I’d call this choice “quirky”. At Last by Ella Fitzgerald
Actually, At last is by Etta James, but it does indeed make a lovely wedding song.
I think the reason a lot of those old standards are popular is because they are appropriate, low cheese factor, and won’t seem dated later on.
Other similar choices are
L-O-V-E Nat King Cole
Fly me to the Moon Sinatra
just about anything else by NKC or Sinatra
The Way You Look Tonight (?)
This Will Be Natalie Cole (faster and jazzier)
There are a lot of others like these.
Also, almost anything by James Taylor or Van Morrison works.
When we get married (not for a while!), I’ll probably use At Last ,even though it’s the standard, and thus fairly common.
For the father/daughter, I’m going to use My Maria by Brooks and Dunn. My father and I both love it, it’s kicky rather than sappy, and should a good dancing song!
I think sidle is on the right track, here. I’d rather have something cool and timeless like “At Last” be my song than something my kids snicker at. Remember how we laugh at our Prom theme songs now?
But for my money, I say if you don’t care, you don’t care. Tell you DJ to suggest something for each of these. Veto 'em if you hate 'em, but otherwise let him do the thinking for you. No need stressing about something that isn’t huge for you. I mean, if you already had “your song” that means a lot to you, it’d be a different matter entirely. There is no need to manufacture one just because other people do.
We didn’t have a wedding dance or reception, and yes I have had people gasp and ask how we managed without a “First Dance” to “Our Song.” Well folks, we’re still married. We managed. We both love music, but we don’t share a song that we consider “ours.” So be it.
We did have music at our wedding, but I didn’t care about that either. I said the harpist could play something “weddingish” and she did. She goes to more weddings than I do, and knows a helluva lot more about music than I do, so I left it up to her.
“Hokey Pokey” and “Chicken Dance” are OK, but I wonder about the rest. If you want a REAL wedding reception you need “Celebration,” “Proud Mary,” “Color My World,” “I Will Always Love You,” “There is Love” (Paul Stookey–you’ll know it when you hear it), “Anniversary Waltz” (for Granny and Gramps), “Endless Love,” “Bunny Hop,” the love theme from “The Godfather” (if you are Italian), “Hava Nagila” (if you are Jewish ;j ), “Butterfly Kisses” (I have successfully avoided it, but it makes a friend’s eyes well up so it MUST be good for this), “Sunrise, Sunset” (gets Mom and Dad crying), “Wind Beneath My Wings” (for that Dance with Dad), “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” (for the Mom/Son dance) and “The Stripper” for that special moment of mortification when your new husband strips off your garter to the leers and appreciation of all. For maximum effect the songs should be sung by a cheesy Bill Murray clone.
They’ll laugh, they’ll cry, and tradition will be upheld. Especially the one in which everybody has a nice time except you and your husband.
Jim and I are getting married in August, so we’ve been working on our song list for awhile. We’ve come up with “Suddenly” by Billy Ocean as our first dance, and “Can I Have This Dance?” by Anne Murray as the second dance for our parents (our parents all love country, and it’s a good waltz, too). We chose “Suddenly” because we were both in high school in the eighties, and we both love that period of music.
Some of our other short-list for first dance:
Follow You, Follow Me - Genesis
You Are My Shining Star - Manhattans
Our Love Is Here to Stay - Natalie Cole
Let’s Stay Together - Al Green
I Don’t Know Much - Aaron Neville & Linda Ronstadt
I could email you our whole list of 90 songs for you to peruse, if you like (we only included songs that would be appropriate for a wedding - no Sexy MF, although we both love that song :D)
We almost did “At Last” for our first dance song, but then we figured we’re only 24 – we haven’t been waiting long enough to say “at last!.” So we used Sara Evans’ version of “I Could not Ask for More.” One thing to consider though – try not to choose a song that’s very long. I think ours was even a bit long: there’s only so much your high-flying mind will be able to think of to say to your sweety just then! A beautiful first-dance song is “Something that we do” by Clint Black.
Two good father/daughter dance songs: “Isn’t she Lovely” by Stevie Wonder (he wrote it for his baby daughter!) and “Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong.
FYI, there’s a bunch of lists at www.theknot.com of just this type of thing. I found them pretty helpful when I did this last October.
We had a friend of the family sing at our wedding ceremony. She’s quite good and regularly gets paid to do this. She’s sung at countless ceremonies.
So she sits down with my wife to pick a song, and says “I’ll take whatever makes you happy, but please, please don’t pick Sunrise, Sunset or I Will Be Here.”
