The Wedding Playlist
January 13th, 2012 by
Allison Silber
If I could have put any more attention on one aspect, it would have been the music. It wasn’t THAT bad, but it wasn’t the best, only because I didn’t do the proper research and planning on that aspect. But what I did have, I LOVED.
I found it incredibly hard to find appropriate songs, and the lack of resources were a little baffling to me. It was definitely an aspect that I literally had to dig deep down into the depths of Google searches to find suggestions and ideas. I didn’t get too into the music, but we did have some fun songs that I thought were a little different than the usual wedding playlist out there.
I would definitely suggest creating a playlist as early as possible. Simply add songs as you discover or remember them. When you then go to create the actual playlist, you will have a group of songs to choose from rather than racking your brains trying to remember as many songs as you can.
Here is a short playlist:
Bridesmaids walking down: “Forever” Ben Harper
Bride walking down the aisle: “Skinny Love” by Bon Iver
After Ceremony: “I Feel it All” by Feist
Couple entrance song: “What I Wouldn’t Do” by A fine frenzy
First Dance: “Islands in the Stream” Feist and Constantine’s
Father Daughter Dance: “Make You Feel My Love” by Adele
Other songs that I contemplated but didn’t quite make the cut
“First Day Of My Life” by Bright Eyes
“Marry Me” by Train
“Wagon Wheel” by Against Me!
“Question” by Old 97′s
“You and I” Ingrid Michaelson
“My Favorite Chords” by The Weakerthans
Though Islands In The Stream was our first dance, I still consider Skinny Love to be our actual song. He loved that song and had no idea that I was going to be using it. I think it was a particularly emotional point when he heard it come on and it made me burst into tears far before I even got up to the alter. When I think of our wedding day, that song is always that one that goes along with it.
I’ll leave you with a few of the dancing shots from the wedding. At least these people had a good time…
January 13, 2012 at 11:30 am, Hi-Fi Weddings said:
I know a place where peeps can find music inspiration ;)
great playlist!! xox
January 13, 2012 at 2:49 pm, Kalista said:
THANK YOU for this!! I’ve been searching all over the internet to try and find a list of how many songs are needed in a wedding, and where they should go. And here it is!!
A couple questions though… what if we want to hear an entire song, but the aisle isn’t all that long? Do we need to trim the song? Do you just fade out? What did you do? Also, do the groomsmen have a song when they seat the mothers?
January 14, 2012 at 12:29 am, Christina said:
I am SO happy you posted this! The music has been (and still is) one of my biggest sources of frustration. I just cant seem to find the right songs! I am slightly stressed too bcs we spent a LOT on our DJs…like really, looking back now, I wish I would have thought of it more before diving right in to hiring them but of course I am hoping they are worth it and more :)
I have a couple of questions too: Did you have a ”grand entrance” for your wedding party? If so, did you have a song for that too? Also, I have the same question as Kalista…our aisle is not super long either- how did that work with song length?
January 14, 2012 at 8:13 am, Keri said:
Love seeing the pics from your wedding. Music is something I am working on right now and it is HARD!
January 14, 2012 at 8:51 am, Taya Asimos said:
Allison, that’s so funny that you mentioned making a play list earlier in advance. A month after vinnie proposed, we would be sitting in the car listening to the radio and some awesome song would come on. He would lean over and say, “now this is a song that HAS to be played at our wedding.” That night we started a shared google doc and just started added songs. We are both big on having GREAT music at our wedding. Having this shared list has been awesome. i recommend everyone do it! bc everyone’s music taste is different. There are so many played out wedding songs (some of them never get old), but I think it’s great when there’s something unexpected played that gets the crowd dancing.
We are thinking about playing songs from different decades throughout the night. Start with 50s early on to get everyone moving, and end the night with some current hits
Great post! :)