DIY Wedding Reception Music Selections
First the disclaimer; I’m assuming you have done some research and seen the thousands of comments online advising against this by newlyweds that have tried this approach. And also that you have spoken with friends who have attended weddings where an unattended ipod was left controlling the music to spectacularly lackluster results. If you still feel that you need to save money on the entertainment, even when after the event, it is usually the part people remember and comment on most, then please read on. For I am about to reveal to you some secrets of successful djing.
Obviously, sound quality is more important if you want people to dance, so you should at least look at renting a half decent professional sound system, but we will cover equipment and suitable apps for playing the music in next month’s diy wedding blog. This month is all about the reception music and how to make sure your friends and family are enjoying themselves and hopefully if all goes well, up dancing.
The main difficulty people have in choosing music is they will be driving along and hear a song they like and will add it to their wedding playlist. The problem is that what sounds good in the car on a Thursday morning after you’ve just had your second cup of coffee, is not necessarily what sounds good to your guests on a Saturday night wedding dancefloor. Think back to the last time you were out with your friends having some fun and beverages – what got them on the floor then? What are the biggest songs of the night for your group when you are out partying or at family occasions? Those are the songs that should be on your dancefloor playlist.
For many it is the older classics like Dancing Queen or Sugar Pie Honey Bunch, while for others its the 80s classics like Love Shack or 500 Miles, or something much newer or less cheesey maybe? Just list as many good dancefloor songs as you can, then filter through them moving some into cannapes or dinner (see my previous blogs on music for these times) until you have selected around 100 songs which you are pretty sure will keep the dancefloor busy, based on what your friends and family usually like. This is generally a mix of old and new songs, fast and slow songs. Now you need to arrange these into a suitable order.
A dj will play a song and if that song goes well, they instantly have at least another five songs stored away in their head that they know have a good chance of doing well with this crowd. Of those five songs, they may choose the one they think will do best and store it away to potentially start a new set off with later, and then play similar sounding songs for as long as the crowd is enjoying that type of music, before changing to another style or tempo to hopefully attract some new people onto the dancefloor.
If your dj is skilled, they will use the speed (bpm) of the songs, beatmixing and adjusting styles to keep the dancefloor entertained and busy. You wont have this luxury so you will need to do some careful planning of your reception set beforehand. Huge jumps in tempo between songs can empty dancefloors (or potentially fill them) so find what you think are the biggest dancefloor fillers on your list and make columns with those listed at the top – those are your set starters.
Under your set starters, list the songs that sound similar to that one. Ideally you want them to be at a similar tempo and there are bpm lists and many apps for checking the tempo of songs. For example, your set starter might be Runaround Sue which is a fast song around the 155-160 bpm mark. Other songs that could work with this are rock n roll or uptempo songs like The Twist, or Great Balls Of Fire.
Arrange the songs in your playlist so you have a set starter then maybe 3-5 similar songs, then another set starter and 3-5 similar songs to that one, until you have all 100 songs listed (about four hours of music).
It’s definitely a gamble as a dj would know when to change tempo or styles up or down, but hopefully this helps to give you the best chance of having a fantastic wedding reception with your friends and family. Good Luck!!
(Leigh is owner of Musical Cheers Entertainment in Wellington, New Zealand and has more than fifteen years experience providing professional dj entertainment for weddings, birthdays, and corporate functions)
