hey all

I got a wedding on Saturday, and after many emails and failed phone calls I still have no idea of what sort of music they like! I have even gone as far as *ahem* facebook stalking!

what would/do you do in this situation?

I like to have a skeleton play list set out, so im not panicking trying to get the music playing!

any suggestions for the first hour or so?

i tried, but its bugging me now! This is my first wedding as such, done only kids partys and a family thing all of which (especially the kids) have given me a brief play list


if you can help pleeease :)

I take it that the wedding is on? Seems odd that you can't contact.

Don't panic!!

Firsr hour is usually background type stuff eg I play Lighthouse Family, Lemar, a selection off of earlier Now albumsd that are MOR. Basically nothing fast & furious!

Have a look at your audience as they arrive for the age differences. You usually get aunts uncles grandparents etc as well as the younger ones. In this case i play a bit of everything in my background slot (usually up to the buffet). 50's 60's 70's 80's through to softer modern pop tunes and all suitable genres. Obviously stay away from your best songs and rotate the decades. watch for peoples reactions to songs, even thought its quiet they may have a foot tapping or be singing along.

Look at the playlist section for some excellent full night playlists

Best of luck

You'd be better off with a Stressbuster book.

We have all felt like this before our first big gig.Nausea....worry....the cheeks of your buttocks gripped so tightly together that you coudnt get a fag paper between them(all week!!).


You will be fine!!IF you don't worry!!

If you search the forum for words like 'playlist' there are many threads with other Dj's giving a running order of the actual music that they would normally play at a Wedding. Whilst it is not indicitive of EVERY Wedding in the UK by taking some of each of the examples given on the threads will give you at least some idea (and confidence) in what to play on the night.

Probably the only aspect where you may get caught out would be the Bride and Grooms first dance. However if you have a reasonable music collection, then most likely the B & G will be requesting something very popular and you may already have it. The problems occur when they want an obscure track or something from an Album which was never a hit. Either way, there is nothing much you can do about this now, and so worrying about it will achieve nothing. If the B&G request a song on the night for their first dance which you haven't got, then you will need to resort to their 2nd and maybe even 3rd choice. This isn't ideal, but at least in your defence you can say that you have tried to make contact on several occasions to discuss this, but the information they gave was incorrect and the number was unanswered.

All, that I would be a bit apprehensive about, is whether the wedding is still going ahead!. I must admit that a few couples around here have had ther plans ruined by redundancy or the credit crunch, and so have cancelled their wedding or moved it to a date in the future. Most of them did bother to tell me.....eventually but there was one occasion when I only found out 3 weeks before the event when I phoned them to check the running order!.

How long ago was this Wedding booked with you?. Have you spoken to them previously using the contact details given?

it was booked with us a few months back, after their dj cancelled on them! im beginning to wonder why he cancelled now!!

i should be ok, i like like to be organised... as for the bride and groom...

Have you got a written contract with the B&G?
Have you Received a deposit?

Well it's possible he may have smelled a rat about something or found that something was amiss but then again he may have a perfectly legitimate reason and you are making something out of nothing. I doubt we'll ever know .

Have you searched for the surname and initial of the groom in the phone book, just to check that you have the correct number?.

You could also ring the venue, whilst they will be unable to pass you any personal or contact information of the client, they will at least confirm whether there is a Wedding in the name of your client on that date. If there is no Wedding booked, then you'll save yourself a wasted journey.

This a perfect real life example for anybody still debating the validity of raising paperwork and taking a deposit . Obviously, everybody has the right to be caught out once, but at least learn from this, and start considering getting something in writing for future bookings. It all goes towards a stress free existance.

This is surely the most obvious and best course of action!!

If the OP is still struggling with a playlist for a Wedding, then you may like to read some of the suggestions on this thread.

http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=19507

The Cheesey music playlist will probably work at most weddings, although of course there will always be the odd exception or the client who wants a specialised playlist or just one genre. However if this was the case, I would have thought that it would have been mentioned by now or that they would have been in touch to check.

Good Luck for Saturday , and don't forget to come back and let us know how it went.

we have a deposit, and have the contract written up

contacted them today(fri) and it is still all ok, but still no playlist, i said id wing it!


contacted the hall, as we always do, so check out if any limitations and if we can smoke the place out!
turns out they have a electrical problem if u overload the plugs! the owner said, if your only using 1 or 2 plugs you should be ok... uh oh...!

should be a fun night!!

thanks for your help everyone