How to create the perfect wedding music playlist.
Congratulations on booking your wedding! As your wedding day approaches, it's time to craft a memorable wedding music playlist that mirrors your style and keeps the dance floor alive. Here’s our expert guide to ensure your evening is unforgettable.
How many songs should I have on the wedding playlist?
Our experience has shown us that many brides need to work on choosing the number of songs for the evening reception. An average wedding starts at around 7 pm, but the first dance doesn't usually take place until 7.30 pm or even 8.00 pm; this allows plenty of time for your evening guests to arrive and gives you plenty of time to greet them before taking to the dance floor for your first dance.
With most weddings usually finishing around midnight and allowing a short break or change in music for your evening buffet, there is, on average, only about 4 hours of dancing time. Through years of experience, we can say that your Wedding DJ will only play about 15 songs per hour on average. So 60-70 pieces in total is enough for most weddings.
What would you recommend?
We are not recommending you pick a list of 60 songs and give it to the DJ, Unless of course, that is what you want to do, but remember that you are paying these highly experienced individuals, in some cases, much money for there time, knowledge and experience, so let them do there job. Guide them with some song choices, but please don't do what some brides have done in the past. "Here is my list of songs; I want these played in this order and at this time."
We have in the past even had a bride give us a memory stick with the only songs we could play and the order in which to play them.
Some wedding clients do have excellent musical knowledge and could put a great wedding DJ set together in advance, but until you are in a room, have seen the guests and worked out what will work to get everyone up dancing, keep them up dancing with everybody having a good time, is not as easy as you would think.
Sometimes, you need to play a song that might not be on a playlist to get one table up, or you need to play a link song that will get you from piece a to song b without losing half of the dancefloor.
Consider your guests.
One of the reasons we highly recommend you hire a trustworthy professional wedding DJ is that your evening reception is an essential part of the day. It is the longest part of the day with all of the guests in the same place, and it is the role of your wedding DJ to ensure everyone has a great time. There is nothing better than seeing a full dancefloor at the end of the evening, with everyone chanting for one more song. If the DJ gets it wrong with or without your suggestions, guests leave early, and the fantastic wedding reception you had visualised could fizzle out early.
Allow your guests to make requests on the night if they wish; some wedding clients have in the past specifically told us not to allow any guest requests on the night and only play song suggestions they have made. As much as we appreciate that it is your wedding day, surely you want your guests to enjoy the evening reception as much as you. Making a DJ only play, for example, obscure indie rock all night, may seem a great idea to you if that's what you like, but if 80% of your guests don't know the songs, they won't dance, enjoy the evening and may leave early.
Through our online event planner, we offer guests access to make requests. This is great for several reasons. Guests can make advance requests online; you can approve or delete the bid. It makes the guests who are only attending the evening reception feel part of the day by letting them be part of planning music for the evening. These songs are listed on the planner separately so we can differentiate them from your must-play songs, although you can move a piece from guest request to must-play if you wish.
Online Event planner and wedding playlist organiser.
Not all weddings will offer this, but we use a dedicated online event planner system so that brides and grooms can log in and build suggested songs into a "Must Play" list, "Play if possible" list, or even a "Do not play" list. Choose 10-20 absolute must-play songs and unlimited play of possible themes. Some brides have created lists with just the first dance in the past, while others have provided lists of 200 must-play songs. We have even had lists of 100 plus do not play songs. I remember that wedding well. All those DO NOT PLAY songs were the most played at a typical wedding; yes, all the most popular songs that would create a fantastic wedding were on the do-not playlist. Imagine standing behind the decks looking at 100 guests sitting there looking at you, thinking, what on earth is the DJ playing? They would need to find out the bride's instructions.
We have recently added Spotify integration to our event planner, so clients can now create suggestions in a Spotify playlist and upload them to our wedding planner system.
We hope you have enjoyed this guide to creating your wedding music playlist, and if you want more information, feel free to get in touch.
Crafting the perfect wedding playlist is a balance between personal taste and understanding the collective mood of your guests. Trust in your DJ’s expertise, keep the communication channels open and enjoy the magical evening ahead.
For further assistance or to hire our services, don't hesitate to get in touch.