Doing a wedding for 200 guests in August

The bride has sent out all the invitations rsvp bla bla to all her guests a few weeks ago....

On the back of the invite is a request slip and a note saying....."please fill out the attached request slip and put your favourite song and artist and the slip, return the slip along with your RSVP"

I didnt know anything about this until yesterday, when as it happens, i know someone who is going to the wedding reception party. She was the one who told me about it, not the bride to be!

So i phoned the bride to be this morning to ask her what she wants me to do about the request slips?

Her idea is to give me a list a few weeks before the wedding..... with all the requests on from her guests.....and wants me to play the requests during the night!

Ok, i said, but what happens if the songs are unsuitable or too slow, they will ruin a good party...?

Dont play the slow ones or the unsuitable ones she said!

Ok, i said, if i dont play half the songs, you are going to have people wondering why i didnt play some songs but did for others!
Also i said, and 100 songs on a list, will last all night, and may please some people, but the party will be "dictated" by the guests songs choice?

She replied, ok just play them during the background times during buffet etc. and play some during the night.




So thats how its been left, she's the customer!!

However i think this could go 1 of 2 ways here.......either the requests wont get played coz their rubbish (dont know yet till music list comes in)

or it may be a very good idea and a storming night?

Who knows

At the moment im just thinking background music....during which i would play most of them maybe, but an hour and a half of background music may not be long enough to play everybodys request..

You know what auntie cybil is like when you didnt play her wedding anniversary song or something!!

mmmmmmmm

whats your opinions

Funnily enough Jeff, I had exactly this situation last saturday! 150 guests between them came up with EIGHT requests:

Village People - YMCA
Van Morrison - Brown Eyed Girl
Bon Jovi - Living on a Prayer
Bryan adams - Summer of 69
Guns'n'roses - Sweet Child of Mine
Abba - Dancing queen
Dolly Parton - 9 to 5
Neil Diamond - Sweet Caroline

Didn't really cause a problem!

Good luck with yours!

I do alot of these, including the wedding on Saturday. In fact I did one once where the guests on the day had to write what they thought would be a good 1st dance, they wrote it on a piece of card supplied by the placename setting and put it into a top hat, which was placed in the middle of each table, I then went around and collected the hats, and put the songs 'requested' onto my laptop.
Once it was time for the 1st dance, I had to invite the bride an groom onto the dancefloor, and got them to put thier hand into the top hat containing all the requested song, and pull one out, WHATEVER the song was I had to play it.
I had a trail run, and would have danced to YMCA as our 1st dance.

Yep, I get a few of these too. You`ll find Jeff most of the requested songs are ok...As with odd pants track you throw them in during buffet and back ground as guests arrive.

Jeff, this is quite common, although I try and dissuade couples from doing it.

As other have said, you get a lot of the old favorites requested (such as the ones Nedd got) and a few crap ones. I explain to the couple and then again to the guests on the night, that there isn't time to play everything, I will try to play as many as possible, and apologies in advance if I'm not able to fit your particular request in.

But it has some times resulted in guests coming up at the end (or sometimes earlier!) asking why I haven't played their request. So again I apologise and explain that there are more requests than it is possible to play.

Interesting mostly Cheese and not one of them around 150 BPM...

Nik

This is how I do most of my weddings - ie I play what the guests ask for rather than what I think they may like or the usual disco wedding music route.

Having a list from the guests in advance (with their names) is something I have even suggested to brides in the past. There are several points:

• Not all guests will make a request
• Some guests may ask for the same song
• You have the opportunity to plan sets in advance
• You have the opportunity to listen to unfamiliar songs before the date
• You also have the chance to obtain any you don't have
• You will have a mix of music from lots of people - not just a list from the B&G
• You will have a feel for genres that may go down well with that particular crowd
• It makes everyone feel involved in the evening
• You may hear remarks like 'Great that you didn't play all the usual we hear at weddings' (unless that's what they have asked for )

On one occasion I did have an abundance of slow songs but was able to fit them all in either pre 1st dance, during the buffet with the rest used in 2 slow sets during the evening.

There was a thread on just this subject on the [Edit] earlier this week, most thought of it as unworkable, although a few said they have done it & it works well.

I must admit I think you are leaving yourself open to "what a DJ" & "why haven't you played my song" etc, although it could quite easily go the other way.

Every gig / crowd is different, you never can tell until the night.

An interesting point and one that may not mean the same thing to everyone.

What do you regard as "the usual disco wedding music"?

Good question Steve. I only been to 1 wedding (as a guest) over the last 2 years and he played nothing like what I play.

There are songs that I regard as typical & predictable at a lot of wedding receptions. (if you don't get the chance to go to many other receptions just ask the bar staff).

By this I mean Dancing Queen, YMCA, Time Warp, Macerena and similar which I have as 'play by request only'. Some clients do want this 'typical music' at their event and it gets played whereas others tell me at the pre-event planning meeting that they don't want 'the normal' - these clients are on the increase hence my topic a couple of months ago about 'non-cheese' music where members came up with over 300 songs in just a few days as alternatives to the predictable.

Don't get me wrong - I still play popular music (ie songs that are well known & familiar) it's just that they are different popular songs to the norm.

Thanks for that.

I wouldn't think of playing any of those normally.