On Saturday October 10, I personally did a wedding reception at the beautiful Doubletree Hotel in Annapolis, Maryland for Jess and Michael, two very nice people.
The couple. wanted to start the party on a festive note. So we used the song “Let’s Get it Started’ by the Black Eyed Peas to bring the wedding party into the ballroom. When it came to introducing the Bride and Groom, I had the crowd give them a standing ovation while I brought them in to “Rock and Roll Part Two” by Gary Glitter.
During my phone consulation with the bride, I learned that Jessica wanted to do the ceremonial dances prior to dinner to give the crowd the flexibility to dance during dinner if they cared to. So during dinner, I played a combination of big band, standards, and adult contemporary love songs. Some people did get up and dance to Frank Sinatra, Harry Connick Jr. Michael Buble, Dean Martin and Ella Fitzgerald. But the sound level was such that people could still carry on a conversation .
Towards the end of dinner, I intentionally turned the volume up a notch, and played some transitional love songs such as “At Last” by Etta James, “ Color My World “ by Chicago and “When A Man Loves a Woman” by Percy Sledge to encourage more people to get up and dance. And they did!
By the time dinner was over I had a full dance floor. At this point, I kicked it into full party mode with one of Jess’s requests “I Gotta Feelin” by the Black Eyed Peas and then played “Sexy Back” by Justin Timberlake which kept everyone dancing.
The dance floor was packed all night to a combination of current dance music, 70’s rock and funk, 80’s pop and an occasional sixties song. Some of the biggest crowd pleasers of the evening were: “the Cha Cha Slide” by Mr. C, “Billie Jean’ by Michael Jackson,“Hot in Herre” by Nelly, “Dancing Queen” by Abba and “I Know You Want Me” by Pitbull.
Jess and Michael chose the song “Sugar Sugar” for their cake cutting.
Because most of their friends and relatives were married, Jess and Michael decided to have a bouquet toss with lottery tickets attached. Both single and married ladies were eligible. We used the song “Ladies Night’ by Kool and the gang for this.
There was no garter removal but Michael tossed a garter to both married and single men with lottery tickets attached.” We used the song “It’s Raining Men’ by the Weather Girls.
Jess and Michael chose “I Had the Time of My Life” by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes as the last dance. This song was extremely appropriate because everyone had a great time, including yours truly.
