Choosing music for your wedding day may seem like a difficult task. Despite what you may see on social media or on the internet, being a DJ isn’t easy, and is much more than just pushing buttons on a computer. Sure, it may seem like anyone can do this job, but trust us when we say that it takes a lot of training to get the job done correctly and seamlessly. In any event, you want it to run smoothly without any issues, especially during special events like your wedding day.
Weddings have their own logistics. It’s much more than just choosing what music to play, and often includes more complicated aspects such as coordinating setups and timing. Once you choose the right DJ for your wedding, it’s time to choose the right music for your wedding. Here are some tips on how to create the perfect music playlist for your wedding day!
Choosing Music for Your Wedding Party & Grand Entrance
- Grand Entrance Music – After the wedding ceremony and cocktail hour, the wedding party and newlyweds may choose to have a grand entrance. Most brides and grooms want a fun grand entrance. We’ve seen a variety of songs chosen for the grand entrance. Some couples choose a more traditional song, while others choose a fun, upbeat song to make it a fun, memorable moment.
Check out some more great, grand entrance songs from our friends at My Wedding Songs.
Non-Traditional Wedding Music
When it comes to choosing music for your wedding, you may think you have to play traditional wedding music. You don’t! Traditional wedding music is always nice, but we’ve noticed fewer couples are choosing to play traditional wedding music.
Many couples have opted to shift out of the traditional wedding customs and music and create their own personal touch for their wedding. Some couples will use modern songs for the ceremony, and they may even add some kind of dance-type music or a nice twist to some of your favorite songs. Your DJ can even create a unique song mix of your favorite songs.
With the younger generations getting married, their personal touches to their weddings have caught on, and are getting even more popular. Check out our non-traditional songs article for great wedding song ideas for the ceremony.
Finding the Perfect First Dance & Parent Songs
- First Dance – Of all your wedding music, the first dance is often the hardest to choose, because of how special it is. Many couples may choose a slow song for their first dance. Some couples choose older, Jazz type songs (think “At Last” by Etta James), while others may choose a slow Country or R & B song. Other couples have such a tough time narrowing down songs, so they choose to make their own custom mix of songs for their first dance!
- Father-Daughter Dance – For the father and daughter dance, this is often an emotional tradition because this moment traditionally symbolizes the father letting go of his daughter to be cared for by her new partner. Brides and their fathers often have a tough time choosing the right song. Be sure to check out our father daughter songs article for great examples of the most popular father daughter dance songs!
- Mother-Son Dance – For the mother and son dance, this is a very nostalgic and sweet dance that is filled with love as she passes her son on to his new partner. As with the father daughter songs, mother son songs are often slow songs. We often see slow Country songs as the top choice. You can visit our online music library for a great list of examples.
Wedding Reception Songs
Finally, we have the dance portion. Choosing between all of the genres for your wedding reception songs can be tough. Your guest list is likely to have a wide array of ages and different people, so be sure to choose songs that everyone can enjoy. If you’re not sure what music your guests like, just ask!
You can always create a wedding website on sites like The Knot or Wedding Wire, or others, and have a song request list there, too. You can write something like: “please write two songs that are sure to make you get up and dance.” You can then send this to your DJ.
Some DJ companies also have an online guest request system, as well. Just ask us and we can create one for your wedding. This makes it easy and leaves the work to us! We do recommend playing a variety of music to be sure everyone gets to dance. You may choose songs from the ‘60s all the way up until Top 40 songs from today.
Kids and young adults often love to dance to upbeat, current Pop or Hip Hop songs, so feel free to add some of these songs to your list. We recommend saving these songs for the last hour of the reception. This way, older relatives may have already left. Be sure to ask your DJ to play only clean/edited versions to avoid offending any guests (we do this automatically).
Overall
Weddings are a joyous occasion and the perfect music for your wedding can make the wedding special and memorable. A great DJ should be able to keep the flow of the event on track. Your DJ also keeps the crowd entertained throughout the entire wedding day.
When hiring a DJ, he/she should know what music to play based on previous clients. However, the DJ should custom tailor your music playlist to whatever works best for you and your guests. Not all weddings are the same, at least yours shouldn’t be!
It’s your special day, make sure it’s one of the most fun, memorable days of your life! At Austin Best DJs, we have the best wedding DJs in Texas who are experienced in making your wedding day vision come to life with the best songs for each moment. Ask us how we can help you choose the perfect music for your wedding!
