Humor me/help me out. It’s a normal wedding, mostly close friends of a couple that are into music (groom is a great DJ) but expect all kinds of folk. Say you really do get carte blanche with the only stipulation being that you play happy, celebratory music.
What do you play?
This is in anticipation of a gig I have on Jan 26, I’m pretty much 80% done on preparing my set, just wondering if anything out of left field comes along for some fun. Here are a few of the tracks in my virtual bag:
Have you packed a pessimistic crate as well as an optimistic one? In my experience, however cool your mates tell you their family is, there will still be high demand for well worn dancefloor favourites, rather than the groom’s favourite Italo-house obscurities
This was how I did mine. Because people don’t like to hear new music at weddings, I thought making a visual list like this (there was one at each table) could solve that problem. Our reception was at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa; the last place Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper played. Their tribute is at 10:00.
I’m sorry but I can’t make that. Going to be about 350 miles north in Breezy Point, MN for my son’s hockey tournament. Small(er) world. Have a great night!
“very prepared” is correct. I tried to get some music in there for everyone, from kids to grandparents. Our “first dance” was at 8:34 (Greg Brown - “You Can Always Come to Me”), so my wife and I knew to find each other on the dancefloor. There were multiple food stations around the venue to avoid the the distinctions between cocktail hour, dinner, and dance; to make it more of a party. There was no mic, so anyone who wanted to speak knew to do it at the rehearsal dinner. I spent about $100 to get “Gold Records in the Snow,” for the musicians’ tribute. I even used radio promos those guys recorded, and the following radio announcements of the plane crash. It was a labor of love.
Having done a couple of Rhythm Plate DJ gigs for weddings, all of the above matters. “carte-blanche” isn’t always the case with the majority of guests as we’ve found
We used to introduce ourselves and interval with all sorts of randomness, such as this track… No clue if all the guests appreciated it. As Nouvelle Vague sang, we were typically too drunk to…
