Your indie jams are critical to the mood of your wedding.
These songs are what will set your wedding apart from the other hundreds of other weddings your guests will experience over the course of their lifetime.
Don’t like Indie music? That’s totally fine, just let it be a placeholder throughout this discussion for your not-super-well-known genre of choice (country, 1930’s Country Western, 1920’s Jazz, etc).
So, let’s recap one of our previous discussions… A wedding isn’t a club. People go to a club to dance, but that isn’t necessarily the reason they go to your wedding, so the dancing needs to be a lot of songs that they know and like.
I’m also going to assume something else in this article. I’m going to assume that you don’t listen to Livin’ On A Prayer or Wannabe when you’re driving in your car. The music that you listen to in your car is likely more sophisticated and modern.
With this in mind, the task at hand is to make the music you actually listen to a part of your wedding reception. Crazy, I know…
So I’m just gonna come right out and say it… the best place for your semi-obscure favorite tunes is your Cocktail Hour/Dinner Music Playlist. Not during dancing. As we said previously, play songs people know and love during the dancing… this means, not too much Indie.
Let’s talk about your Cocktail/Dinner Playlist (We like to make one massive playlist that encompasses both Cocktail Hour and Dinner, as it adds more cohesion to the night). This is where we allow your tastes to shine. It’s the part of the night where you really, more than at any other time, can showcase your personality through the music. And, because these songs are in no way dependent upon the reaction of the guests, it doesn’t matter too much if they are familiar with a single song during that time!
So let’s begin. What songs do you actually like? Add them to Spotify and give your new sample Cocktail Hour list a listen. Running low on songs, but know the type of music you’d like to hear? Here’s a quick tip: Spotify now auto-suggests songs based on those that are already in the playlist you’ve made (this feature is only available on the computer version, not mobile). This can be a quick and easy way to compile additional songs that fit in perfectly with your favorite songs.
This is a different approach than you’ll find at the average wedding you attend. Most cocktail/dinner playlists are comprised primarily of the same two artists… Michael Bublé and Frank Sinatra. This gets so old, so quickly.
So go for it! Create an awesome playlist of the best music you’ve ever heard. Make sure it’s at least 3 hours long. If you’re using Spotify, all you have to do is send us the link to the playlist and we’ll have it going through the speakers for hours, helping you achieve a day that reflects YOU. Because let’s face it, you can do better than 3 hours of Bublé and Sinatra.