Music Junkies

As many of our friends know, Jay and I are music enthusiasts. We both have unofficial soundtracks for our lives, which include songs that remind us of specific moments and people. We have a massive joint music collection (bigger than our film collection), and are passionate about what we like and don’t like in music – thankfully our tastes overlap about 90%.

When it came to picking music for the various wedding moments (processional, recessional, dinner entrance, first dance, DJ’s playlist), we had a basic idea of what we wanted. Or so we thought. As it turned out, we were on completely different pages! Jay had a bit more of a sense of humor (ex: he wanted to walk into the ceremony to Bowie’s “Under Pressure”) and I was looking at it from a sentimental angle (ex: wanting to dance to my dad and my favorite, yet slightly inappropriate song, from my childhood, Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got To Do With It?”). And no, neither of these are our final selections so there is no need to be worried.

What we did know is that we wanted a mix of live and recorded music. That we agreed on. We immediately reached out to find musicians that were special to us and hope that we can incorporate them into our ceremony.

Another we knew is that we wanted the dancing to be lively, family-friendly(ish), and non-stop. When we first enlisted Patrick Belton to DJ our wedding, we were completely upfront about our attention to detail when it came to playlists. We wanted to ensure that there were sub-playlists to make different groups of people happy, and that they flowed. While we understand the importance of a romantic slow dance at a wedding, we also don’t want any slow songs to jam up the dance floor if a fast set is getting people moving around. Listen to us – we are so picky!

We somehow managed to agree on our ceremony music after I introduced Jay to Vitamin String Quartet (and no, I did not allow him to choose any Tupac or Dre covers), and also have agreed on a “Do Not Play” list for Patrick that isn’t too limiting. The music is now in Patrick’s hands and I am excited to see what he has in store for us. Have I mentioned that Patrick has DJ’d all of the Mad Men Wrap Parties and has their soundtracks handy? What a good fit!