When all is said an done, a DJ will play roughly 16 songs an hour of uninterrupted music. But of course there are "formalities" and "speeches" so out of a 6 hour reception there is only about 5 hours worth of music
That means about 80 songs in total will be played at a wedding reception!
Now when a client hands us a list of 300+ songs and says we have to play EVERYTHING, we start trying to workout time-travel and blackhole physics as there is too much in too short amount of time. So in the interest of helping both the DJs and clients from choosing hundreds of songs, here is a list of what you may need:
Formality Songs-
Songs that are important for your wedding reception
- Entrance Song (See THIS and THIS blog for ideas),
- Cake Cutting Song (See THIS blog for some)
- Bridal waltz x2 (See THIS blog as to why you need 2)
- Farewell Songs (See HERE for Slow and HERE for Upbeat)
Optional Formality Songs-
These are optional and if you don't want them we don't have to have them
- Speech Stings (Click HERE to get started)
- Father Daughter Dance (HERE for when to have one and HERE for some ideas)
- Throwing of the Bouquet (if you want games click HERE, if you want songs click HERE)
Must Plays Songs-
You should pick no more than 16 'Must Play' songs for your wedding. These are songs that no matter what happens the DJ will 100% play for you guys. These are not including your Formality Songs (so formalities + 16 MP)Why only an hour of MP songs? Because if a DJ is to effectively read the crowd and react accordingly, we can't be too restricted as to how many songs we MUST play. Any songs that don't make it onto the MP list can always go on the....
Play If Possible Songs-
Pick as many or as few as you would like, providing you understand that not every song will be played. We as DJs will make a solid attempt to get through as many PIP songs as we can but don't feel like you have to pick lots. Our job as DJs is also to read the crowd and ensure we understand what style you like and we can get this usually from the songs you have already chosen.
Do NOT Play Songs-
These songs are possibly the most important we need to know. Any songs that you and your fiance HATE, and songs that have bad memories (i.e. played at friend's funerals, reminds you of a previous marriage, etc). Keep in mind we are going to use our common sense (i.e. no death metal, no hardcore rap, no opera, etc) but if you can think of ANY songs, let us know!
All these can be done on our Online Music Library which if you are already a client you can log in the above tab which says "Client Login"
If you are NOT a client yet and want an idea of what some of it looks like, check out our Facebook Page HERE which will take you to the "Top Music Chat" list
If all that STILL sounds like too much effort, click the "Song PDF" tab next to the contact tab and get started that way
(Image courtesy of "nuvoid.blogspot.com")