Hi all. In a moment of weakness I agreed to play for a wedding reception. These people know me and I played dinner music when their son got married. Now they want me to do ALL the music. I plan to do a combination of standards that I can do and MP3s for the stuff I can't do. I need suggestions and MP3s for alot of it. Let's hear those suggestions. You may also email me at tcavan01@baker.edu. Where is the best place to legally download these songs?

thanks

Tom

I'm sure they’ll like whatever you do since they know you and they are asking you back to play again. It seems kind of hard to give you a generic song list that will go over well at a wedding. People’s tastes are so varied these days. Why don’t you ask the parents, bride and groom what they would like to hear?
With that said, those group dance (line dancing?) type songs always seem to be popular. Stuff like “The Cupid Shuffle”

I think it’s a great idea to mix up the live playing with the pre-recorded stuff. I’ve never really done that so I’d be interested in hearing other SZ member’s thoughts on how they go about that.

Good luck!

I do mainly big band standards with some 50's and 60's thrown in. I need some of the what I would call wedding reception standards. Like "Twist and Shout", "Celebrate Good Times", "Old Time Rock and Roll", "YMCA", "Macerana", maybe "Electric Slide". This sort of stuff appeals to most all ages. There must be others like this that I'm not remembering. How about newer stuff like who is "Adelle" and what would be some of her popular stuff. What is the best legal download site to use? Sorry Don but country probably isn't in the mix. Western either.

Around here, if you do a wedding reception, you will need to play some "Dance" music. These are songs you can do line dances to, such as:
Electric Slide
The Hustle
Strokin' (Risque)
Cupid Shuffle
Chicken Dance
Cotton Eyed Joe (by Rednex)
Macarena
Locomotion
Harlem Shuffle
Cowboy - Kid Rock (Very risque)
Cha Cha Slide
YMCA
There are many more but these will get you through.

Download Freemake Free Video converter. Find the song on Youtube and convert to MP3.
DonM

Popular line dance here:
Sex on the Beach.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDv8vmwnwYs

A must for most weddings
Party Rock Anthem
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTMVvT9tRMw&feature=related

Hire a DJ also you play in between a wedding requires a experienced touch master of ceremonies etc it's a special day you don't to screw up experience and mixing it up is crucial throughout the affair

I played enough weddings for this lifetime and the next. But I found this nice wedding reception planning guide that might be helpful

http://www.excesss.com/xs_reception_planning_guide.pdf

Duane

I use http://www.video2mp3.net/ to get MP3s for a lot of songs I need to learn with my band. Just find the song you want on Youtube.com then paste the link into the convert to MP3 field at http://www.video2mp3.net/ and get it to extract the MP3 for you to download.

Really nice to be remembered but I would be careful. The parents may like you but your playing to a crowd who doesn't know you and may have very different expectations. One guy with an arranger keyboard is far from the wedding "norm" these days. If its an older group or very small intimate setting the keyboard will work OK for the cocktail hour, dinner, and maybe early on but its rare to even see a band these days at a wedding, unless its a very high dollar affair with something like an 8 piece show band. And guarenteed they will DJ a lot of current stuff or play along with MP3's as the party builds. Forget Celebration and even the Electric Slide, both way over with. "Party Rock Anthem " Cupid Shuffle" and other more current tunes are whats expected at most weddings. Sorry but the DJ's and especially those with Video setups have taken over that market.
I think the best bet is as suggested above. Do your part at the Cocktail hr. Ceremony if needed, and dinner and have them get a DJ for the rest. You'll be more comfortable and have less worries.

Good Luck

Bill in NJ

+1

Bill,

I plan on doing everything you said except I am going to do the DJing. The bride knows exactly what she is getting because I played for her brothers wedding. I will play for the dinner, bridal dance, father-daughter dance etc. After this stuff I will DJ with an occasional live number thrown in. I figure one out of six numbers might be live. Thank you for the song suggestions, I am out of touch with today's music and I need the help.

Tom

Don gave me some suggestions and so did others and I thank you guys for them. I need more suggestions for today's music. Who else is popular besides Adele? I don't even know what hit songs are Adele's "Someone Like You" maybe "Set Fire to the Rain"?

Tom

LMFAO Party rock
Pitbull
Jennifer Lopez
Katy Perry
Davis Guetta
Lady Gaga
Rhianna
Maroon 5
Ke$ha

Thanks Donny, I knew you would have some ideas. You forgot "Inna Godda Da Vida" the long version lasts I believe 23 minutes. I'm not really going to include that one. I might include a couple of polkas though. Fran bring your accordion.

Tom

Have fun Tommy.....

Don't Forget

Hot Hot Hot

Cupid Shuffle

Cha Cha Slide

Mississippi Slide

The Burger Dance by DJ Otzi

[quote=Tom Cavanaugh]Bill,

I plan on doing everything you said except I am going to do the DJing. The bride knows exactly what she is getting because I played for her brothers wedding. I will play for the dinner, bridal dance, father-daughter dance etc. After this stuff I will DJ with an occasional live number thrown in. I figure one out of six numbers might be live. Thank you for the song suggestions, I am out of touch with today's music and I need the help.

Tom

The fact that the Bride is familiar with you and that you also DJ is great. All the song suggestions given by the others are also right on. Mixing in some live stuff later on with the DJ stuff is something I do also and its works well.
Heres a site which may help you and others. It takes the music from YouTube videos and converts them to MP3's. This is the MAC version. there is also a PC version. http://www.video2mp3.net/index.php
Have a great gig

Bill in NJ