I asked my brother, a former DJ (pictured above at his wedding), about his and Nicole’s wedding emcee recently. He also told me about his general music strategy for his wedding. It’s helpful!

Here’s what he said:

1. I made a one-hour playlist in iTunes for when people arrived — light jazz type stuff, really just background music.
2. I made a second playlist for the ceremony. It had two songs — one was for Nicole’s walking down the aisle in the beginning, and the other was for after the I do’s, when we both walked back down the aisle.
3. My friend played his box instrument while people ate — a brief 20-minute set. When he finished, he put the first playlist back on while we continued to take pictures, eat and whatever.
4. The third playlist I made was six hours long for dancing. It started with our first dance song, Wings’ “Silly Love Songs.” This is where my DJ instincts kicked in. The key is to keep people on the dance floor, so mix it up and increase your tempo over the entire night. Also, older people will dance more at the beginning and younger people dance more at the end. So I played Motown, the Beatles and the nostalgic stuff for the first 20-30 minutes, and then I gradually increased the tempo.
5. Song 10 was “I Want You Back” by the Jackson 5. Every time I’ve DJ’d , this song never fails to get every person onto the dance floor. It just makes people so happy. [Christine here. Just want to attest to this. If this song comes on, I will walk away from someone in mid-conversation to hit the dance floor. I can't NOT dance to it.]
6. So now the fun begins. People are loosened up — they’re all on the dance floor. The next song, Prince’s “Raspberry Beret,” plays, and you’re into the ’80s … lots of fun. But you can’t stay here too long, so start peppering in some newer songs too. Now you can play from any decade. (“A Super-Official Formula to Get Guests Dancing” has additional specific song recommendations.)
7. After this, I just loaded up the playlist with tons of fun songs. And if people were not feeling something, I could change it up because I had six hours worth of music.
8. I also made a fourth playlist called “backup” with 60 extra songs, just in case people got restless and were tired of hearing too much of one genre.
9. The last hour or two of dancing should be all newer songs. People get tired of the ’80s and ’90s faster than you think.

Thanks so much to my brother Mike for the helpful advice!

Now, all this said, if you have a DJ, then you don’t have to worry about any of this stuff. Your DJ will take care of it. If you need a DJ, start your search on our wedding site.

For more, our “Wedding Music Roundup” contains all sorts of helpful music information!

Photo by Devin Whetstone