Even if you’re hiring a DJ or a band for your wedding, some songs, particularly songs for the ceremony in many cases, need to be played off iPod/iPhone/iPad/MP3 player.
Here’s my tip on how to playlist your music so the person pressing play has an easy day and doesn’t disappoint.
Create a playlist for each event on the wedding day, and order the playlists by starting them with a number.
Here’s an example
01 – Pre-ceremony music
02 – Aisle song
03 – Signing song
04 – Exit song
05 – Post-ceremony music
06 – Pre-reception music
07 – Reception entry song
08 – Reception dinner music
09 – First dance song
10 – Father/Daughter/Mother/Son dance song
11 – Dance floor fillers
12 – Throw bouquet song
13 – Throw garter song
14 – Reception exit song
You might have other elements to your day, add or remove as necessary.
Using the above playlist system allows for a few things:
- Minimal error in choosing the right song for the right moment, no “forgetting which song to play when”
- For the elements where there is only one song, put that one song in the one playlist and make sure the playlist isn’t on repeat. That way it will play the one song, for example the aisle song, then stop playing. There’s nothing more awkward than another song just starting our of the blue after you’ve walked down the aisle.
- It allows you to choose all the right music, and not let your one-time-DJ get too creative.
- Your music from different parts of the day doesn’t “contaminate” other parts of the day. For example, your first dance song doesn’t play before your first dance.
If you wanted to go a step further, this is what Britt and I did for our wedding day, we edited songs so they worked better.
Our exit song was Steve Winwood’s Higher Love.
If you’re familiar with the song it has a 10 second intro that doesn’t lend itself to a “celebrate!” moment. So I edited the first ten seconds off the start and made for a big drop, and it sounded great.
Take control of your music for your wedding!