Welcome back to another post where we answer all of your wedding planning questions! 

These questions were asked by our audience on a recent IG Live episode, which we do every Wednesday at 7 pm CST. Join us as we answer your wedding questions and help you navigate planning one of the biggest days of your life!

Song Suggestions!

Here are a few of my favorite song suggestions. For a more extensive list, you can check out this post, or download our Digital Music Planner, which includes song suggestions for every moment of your wedding day!

What’s a good father-daughter dance song?

• I Loved Her First – Heartland
• Butterfly Kisses – Bob Carlisle
• My Little Girl – Tim McGraw
• Cinderella – Stephen Curtis Chapman

Recessional song by the Biebs

Lifetime is probably his best one!

What’s a good song for the parents of the bride to walk into? We want an 80’s era-upbeat song.

• Crazy Little Thing Called Love – Queen
• You’re My Best Friend – Queen
• The Longest Time – Billy Joel
• Just The Way You Are – Billy Joel
• White Wedding – Billy Idol

 What’s a great groom and mother song?

• Mom – Garth Brooks
• Don’t Blink – Kenny Chesney
• A Simple Man – Skinner or Shinedown
• He Gets That From Me – Reba McIntyre

How do you handle other vendors who aren’t following the day of the timeline?

Thankfully, it’s very rare that vendors stray off the set timeline, but it does happen!

Sometimes the timelines get mixed somehow and the photographer has one version, while the DJ has another and the planner has one, and nobody’s on the same sheet of music. 

Normally if there is a wedding planner or a coordinator, they’re kind of at the helm, so if I notice a discrepancy, I just ask them about it. I also find that it’s helpful to have everyone on one email so that they can change or rearrange things and you can settle on one master timeline before the big day!

What are the biggest red flags to look for when booking a DJ?

Communication

This goes for everyone, not just DJs, but one of the biggest red flags is if someone is hard to communicate with. If they aren’t answering emails or calling you back, proceed with caution.

There have been times when I’ve talked to couples who want to hire me and I ask, “How many DJs have you reached out to?” and they say “We’ve reached out to 5 and you are the only one that got back to us!” So I got the job simply because I hit reply (and hopefully my reputation!).

Of course, if they have a 9-5 job and work weddings on the weekends, they might not reply immediately, but consistent communication is still key. 

MC policy

Ask if they include MC services in their pricing, and if they are used to DJing for clubs or for weddings because they are two very different atmospheres. 

Do you get to choose any music?

When you are interviewing them, ask if you are able to choose any of your music, because some DJs just want to beat mix and they don’t want to let you pick the music. But it’s your day. Nobody knows more about what your family and friends and the two of you want to hear than you do. 

Of course, you don’t want to have to choose ALL of the music, but a good DJ will work with you and play the songs that are really important to you and your partner. 

For more tips on hiring a wedding DJ, check out our 3 Things to Ask When Hiring a Wedding DJ.

Would you ever come to the Upper Peninsula of Minnesota and Callie, Michigan?

We get a lot of requests to travel, and if it works with our schedule and your budget, we are happy to do so! If it’s something you are interested in, shoot me an email at hello@theweddingduo.co and we can talk about it!

What’s a good song for a private last dance?

The private last dance is one of our favorite parts of the wedding! 

If you aren’t familiar with it, the private last dance happens at the end of the night when all the guests have left the reception and are standing outside with sparklers or something else to send you off.

Back in the day, the couple would just be sitting inside waiting for everyone to leave so they could make their grand exit. But one day, someone had the great idea to shut the doors and have the couple come back out onto the dance floor for one last dance. 

It’s amazing. The groom oftentimes is emotional. Maybe he’s a little drunk, a little tired, but it’s that perfect moment where the day is done but not quite done. You’re still in your dress, he’s still in his suit, but all the planning and the stress that you’ve been carrying for 18 months is gone because your day is done and you can enjoy the fact that you did it. You’re married!

As for songs, some couples will repeat their first dance song because it’s so special to them. Other people have a song that they consider to be “our song”, but lyrically you wonder if people are going to question why you would pick it because maybe the lyrics don’t match, but it’s a song that makes you think of each other. So maybe you do something more traditional for your first dance and then you save that song for the private last dance. It’s such a personal song that it’s hard for me to make suggestions, but you can find a good list in our Wedding Music Planner. Anything that is a beautiful love song will fit nicely there.

What are your suggestions for introducing the bride and groom?

First, it’s important to get everybody’s attention and get them focused on the main doors.

I always have to say things twice. I say, all right, everybody, we are ready to bring in the wedding party and get this thing started. And only 10% of the people clap. But what happens is the people around those 10% go wait, did I miss something? Why are people clapping and making noise?

And then I say it again. “We can do better than that. Are we ready to bring in the wedding party and get this party going?” And then I’ve got 80% of the crowd and then I blast the music and start the introductions. As for ideas on how to introduce the wedding party, there are so many creative ways to do it! We did a whole post on it that you can find here.

Is it okay to have a set of wedding parties walk out to their own song?

When you’re looking for songs to go down the aisle, consider how long your walk is and how many people are going down the aisle.

If it’s a really long walk, meaning you come out of the bridal suite, go down the hill around the bushes, and down this little crooked path before getting to the back of the aisle where the chairs start, you may want to choose more songs, especially if the wedding party and the parents are all making that same walk. 

On the other side of it, if you have a short walk, they will do that short walk and they’ll be sitting down before you even get to the lyrics, let alone the chorus. People may not even recognize the song that you spend so much time choosing. So in that case, I suggest doing one song for the parents and the wedding party, and then a second song for the bride.

Usually, though, three professional songs, including the bride’s is usually more than enough.

Besides “Closing Time”, what’s a good last dance for the guests to end the night with?

Personally, I like to do something timeless that will get all of the generations out on the dance floor. Some great options are:

• Twist and Shout – The Beetles
• Boogie Shoes – KC and The Sunshine Band
• Staying Alive – Bee Gees
• Sweet Caroline – Niel Diamond
• Don’t Stop Believing – Journey
• Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen

Any of those draws almost everyone to the dance floor for a good time! It’s great because all your family and friends are around you and you’re in the middle dancing while everyone’s singing around you. It’s fantastic. 

There have been nights where I ask everyone to come out and people come on the dance floor. I go, where did all these people come from? I didn’t even know there were that many people still here. And that’s what I want you to have at the end of your night. I want you to feel like, oh look, everybody’s still here. They’re all with me on the dance floor. 

That is a great end to the night.

How can we get a professional instrumental version of our first dance song?

Go into YouTube, type in your song, type in the artist, and then type in instrumental. Ignore the karaoke ones, because of course, those will show up too. But you’ll also find some good string quartet, piano, cello, or acoustic guitar versions too!

We hope we answered some of your questions here, but if not, come join our next live video on Instagram! We do them every Thursday at 7 pm CST and on TikTok at 12 pm CST on Wednesdays. 

Looking for extra help with your planning? We can help with that too! Find our Virtual Planning services here, and our Digital Music Planner here. 

If you recently got engaged, congratulations, and happy wedding planning!