I hope a lot of people answer, because we're making up our iPod list at this moment, too! In fact, I'll send you our list when it's done if you're interested. My friend, who's helping me pick music, said that the selection can pretty much be summed up by whether you want to hear "Brick House" or not. We chose not, which led us down a Talking Heads route. I will say that the song that got every single girl out on the dance floor at the last wedding I attended was "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." What's hard is that your sober mind picks different dance songs than your 2-glasses-of-wine mind.

It's so hard to judge what will be fun-obnoxious versus painful-obnoxious. Also, I don't want to scare my grandma.

I don't know about scaring your grandma. She cut quite a rug with Courtney's boyfriend Johnny to DEVO's "Girl U Want" at our wedding, and we have the pictures to prove it! I think the Jamesons helped.

NAY!--Any group participation dance that is not connected to a deeply held faith. No "hokey pokey," no "chicken dance," no "electric slide." And that awful, awful Gwen Stefani thing about chicks being bananas or whatever it is. That song makes me want to shoot school children and kick puppies.

Liz, I manned the iPod for my friend's wedding, and while it may seem convenient, I would rather have been manning a laptop with iTunes. Trying to cue up songs and eliminate the gaps between songs was a real pain to me. Although maybe you've got a better way of going about it than me.

Maybe the wedding party was all losers, but "Hey Ya" by Outkast was well liked.

The electric slide is a definite possibility with some of my friends. And I warmly say Yes.

But it must be spontaneous. There shall be no commandments from the DJ. The DJ shall stay silent.

Yay- I don't know how you feel about Madonna, but Holiday and Get Into the Groove could be a fun addition to the list.

My sister hired a 20's New Orleans-style jazz band called Blue Orchid(I think) for her wedding. They play at that cajun place on 8th avenue, right next to the A train station entrance up from 14th. They're pretty awesome. I have the CD that my sister had made for the wedding as a party favor. I can burn you a copy!

we used 'what a wonderful world' for our first dance and loved it.
i would never nay a song, i would just sit out the dance (which i do most of the time anyway).

Louis Armstrong all the way. Just no "Celebration".

hi! couple of suggestions for your music:
* lay, lady lay by bob dylan
* this year's love by david gray
* blowers daughter by damien rice
* songbird by fleetwood mac
hope you like my selections!

Maybe it's just me, but I find angry music to be a real crowd-pleaser.

I just returned from a BY THE BOOK wedding.
Step out of line, do one thing outside a picture perfect wedding and face the wrath of the bride.
The bride - a red-blooded American married a lovely fellow from Peru. Perhaps as a gesture of solidarity to her new in-laws she requested that the DJ play, "Rico Suave." I have never seen a dance floor clear faster--- empty.
I actually had to go up to the DJ and ask him if he could see the dance floor from where he was standing.
Anyway - if you really have to decide your music now? (really?) I reccomend the following for general floor filling:
*Prince, "Get Off " "Sexy MF"
*MJ "Wanna be Startin Something"
*Stevie Wonder "Superstition"
*Sean Paul "Shake that thing"
*R Kelly "Step, In the Name of Love"
*Pussycat Dolls "Don't Cha"
*Bell Biv Devoe "Poison"
*Bobby Brown "My Perogative"
*Blackstreet "No Diggity"

Also - check Sean's wiki under "dance music"

Thanks for the heads up, Matt. We will absolutely take this into consideration. My music-collecting friend sent me this list:

Chewing Gum Annie
Lady Don't Tek No Latyrx
Once In A Lifetime Talking Heads
Pump Up The Jam Technotronic
Sunshowers MIA
Kiss Prince
Needy Girl Chromeo
Roadrunner Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers
Our House Madness
Genius of Love Tom Tom Club
oh! september Mirah/ Ginger
Bizarre Love Triangle New Order
Temptation New Order
Look At The Girl Otis Redding
So Fresh and Clean Outkast
9th Wonder (Blackitolism) Digable Planets
Buffalo Stance Neneh Cherry
Golden Years David Bowie
Be My Baby The Ronettes
Walkin' The Dog Rufus Thomas
This Charming Man Smiths, The
Anything You Want Spoon
Lo Boob Oscillator Stereolab

You might sneak in "Hokey Pokey" by Richard and Linda Thompson, just for fun. I am no help, because I have semi-vowed that our first dance will be to The Beautiful South's "Something that You Said" -- "The perfect love song/it has no words/it only has death threats..."

Corie- are you guys doing band or DJ?

I will never read your blog again if you include that Pussycat Dolls song on your wedding song list.

I don't know how to answer this... At my cousin's wedding, the DJ played all the cheesy stuff that everyone knows, and it was great fun... it kind of depends on whether you have the kind of friends/family who will laugh, grab a 7-year-old cousin by the hand and teach them the electric slide... if you and/or your friends are music snobs, then maybe you don't want the cheesy stuff...

personally, I would find a fun band that plays an interesting & off-beat style of music that is danceable - maybe swing or eastern european folk dances... but that's just me.

actually, there's a really great blues/swing band that plays around the city - they probably wouldn't cost a lot... I have no idea if they do weddings but you can always ask... email me if you want more info so you can hear them play sometime

good luck!

or you could find a bar that has a great jukebox, bring a bag of quarters, and see what strikes your fancy after a couple of drinks, because I really think Liz is right: "What's hard is that your sober mind picks different dance songs than your 2-glasses-of-wine mind."

Honey,
I think Ms. Frizzle might be on to something with that jukebox technique. Maybe we should try it this weekend when I come back home.

I also think that we should rent a photobooth. Youngna's latest photobooth crawl reminded me of my lifelong dream of owning one.

The photobooth is a very cool idea -
I am trying to remember the website I saw where it was party that set up an area with a huge white dropclothed background with a nice 4x6 B/W camera facing it. The camera had an extra long "trigger" that the guests would hold to release the exposure - kind of creating a huge photobooth where alot more could fit in the frame.
The picture were great - all the spotaniety of a photo booth but with better compositional opportunites.

I too, dream of owning one, but do not know where to get one! Here is a link for some info on rentals.

I've seen them listed on ebay :)

I like the "go to a bar with a jukebox and a bag of quarters" idea. The last wedding I went to had a real Wedding Band that mangled pop tunes. You're better off with an IPOD full of the real thing. Just make sure no one puts you guys up on chairs.

I was at a wedding last week and I leapt to the dance floor were generally more R&B:
Crazy in Love - Beyonce
Superstition (or anything else by Stevie Wonder)
The Way You Move - Outkast
Most anything by Earth, Wind and Fire.

It also depends on the make-up of your guest list: Are there more youngings or did your parents rule the list?

probably about 50% fam/50% friends, though many family members are in their 30's and 40's. no little kids allowed :)

We've been to a few weddings this summer where it's been lots of great indie music (but nothing you can dance to) to ones where it's lots of your parents' greatest hits. My boyfriend was critical of these selection, so I'm having him make a definitive list (if it were up to me, I'd play a lot of Top 40 from the ages - like Hot in Herre from Nelly yet not the Thong Song)... though it might not come for a few days.