my wedding: suggest songs

[bitterfruit]

I wed my love in a few months and it's time to start thinking of the evening's playlist. She wants our first dance to be some cheesy Bollywood song, but I put my foot down in staunch objection because 1) I can't stand most new Hindi film music 2) I only know the profane words in Hindi (it's not my mother tongue). 3) I'm trying to set a precedence for our married future by layin' down the law, ATL stylee.

So here's where you can help. I need music suggestions for the following portions:


*Cocktail hour
[need help here]

*First Dance
- My current thinking is to have something by Peter Cetera and surprise her with some ironic moves, but she'll get fucking pissed. If I chicken out of this one, I'm going back to something by either M.Ward or Stephen Merritt.

*Shake your ass hour
The Indian DJ dude that we hired will fill the evening with remixes of tons of music that I hate, so I need to make sure that he plays as much MIA and Clipse as possible. Any suggestions that would let people enjoy themselves, make them shake their ass and finally ask "who is this?"

[Paul]

*First Dance
- My current thinking is to have something by Peter Cetera and surprise her with some ironic moves, but she'll get fucking pissed. If I chicken out of this one, I'm going back to something by either M.Ward or Stephen Merritt. For a few extra bucks, you can probably get Peter Cetera to make a real live appearance.

[Futureman]

I dunno. I hear he's playing at Six Flags that night.

[Miss Tasty Princess]

At my favorite wedding of all that I've attended, the first dance was "I'll Be Your Mirror" by The Velvet Underground & Nico and I thought it was wonderful.

[johansen smith]

Chain of Fools, obviously, and make sure someone pulls the needle off the record at an appropriately humorous moment

[pizzagratis]

Recently convinced by a friend who has now decided to make many of his binary decisions with the flip of a coin (he's got a theological argument for this), I'm going to do this by the most scientific method possible. First three songs that come up on random, obviously meant to be:

The 7 Melodies of Esther K by Jerome Rothenberg

Not sure how danceable this one is. The monologue might be distracting.

I Didn't Believe by Rufus Thomas & Friends

Actually a pretty good one, though has the whole heartbreak/I'msorrythatIleftyou angle that may not be appropriate for a wedding.

Out of My Mind by The New Bomb Turks

This begs a key question: will there be a mosh pit?

[the Pawnbroker]

*Shake your ass hour


01. Luminescent Orchestrii - Amaritsi

This first song on Salman's last mix is great for ass-shaking.

I'm so easy to peg: the first dance at the Pawnbroker wedding was our jazz/bluegrass four piece (mandolin, stand-up bass, guitar, violin) cover of Dylan's "If Not For You."

[Elijah]

*Cocktail hour
You can't go wrong here if you just tell your DJ that you'd like only jazz, and none of it made after 1970. This eliminates the possibility that you'll hear smooth jazz and/or bad fusion, although you're just about guaranteed to hear some Herb Albert and Sergio Mendez, which ain't so bad.

*First Dance
In My Life - The Beatles
I'm Gonna Make You Love Me - The Supremes & the Temptations
It's Only Time - The Magnetic Fields

These were my three suggestions to my wife. We went with "In My Life."

Whatever you go with, you don't want this song to be much longer than three minutes. And make sure that you can actually dance to it. Two friends of mine used all six minutes of U2's "All I want Is You" for their first dance, and it was painful.

*Shake your ass hour
You can't have too much Motown, Stax, James Brown, and early British Invasion here. Seriously, you just can't. And this is a great place for that Bollywood stuff that your wife likes. It works really well in this setting.

You should also give your DJ a Do-Not-Play list; and don't be shy about making it ten pages long. My wife and I gave one of these to our DJ. You'll enjoy your wedding a lot more if you have complete confidence that you're not going to be subjected to "We Built This City", "Loveshack", "My Heart Will Go On" or "The Electric Slide" at any point.

[Paul]

*First Dance
In My Life - The Beatles I know this has become such a wedding reception cliche, but it's like that for a reason. It works beautifully.

[Elijah]

I know this has become such a wedding reception cliche, but it's like that for a reason. It works beautifully.It's very pragmatic. I love that.