Your Ireland wedding DJ playlist, just background music or music to express yourself ?

It don’t matter what the wedding playlist is for, however it matters how and when you begin to create it. Here are some valuable tips from an expert Ireland wedding DJ to help you get it right!

Start early.

For most wedding couples in Ireland it will be very difficult to narrow down your music choices. Also getting them into an order that flows the way you want it to. Stating the obvious, you will need to allow plenty of time to choose and arrange the music so it’s perfect for your irish wedding. This is not something that can be done a few days before the wedding.  Starting to plan the playlist four or five months before your big day is about right. This will allow you to create your initial playlist, then you can come back to it with fresh ears weeks later and then refine it.

Start with what you know.

You and your fiance will likely agree on a few songs that you must include. It’s highly likely that there will be only one first dance song that right for you. It will be a similar situation for the music you choose for your wedding ceremony. Having these and other must-have songs picked out will give you a skeleton to build on. You can then plan out where these songs should fall and think of what should lead into and follow them. Bridging the gaps will feel a lot less of a challenging job than a daunting “Five hours of music!”

Start with your existing music collection.

In your determination to find The Perfect Songs. You could spent a long time googling recommendations, thinking you can have the best of the best. Sounds simple right? Except, one thing, the best will actually be a lot more subjective than you want it to be. You will probably find yourself scrolling through youtube and iTunes. You will more than likely pull up every song that appeals to you and this can confuse the situation. Therefore we suggest that you start with your existing music collection and add more music if you need more music.

Break it up.

You will likely find yourself refering to The Playlist as one item. However in reality your working on several lists. If you have this mindset your be able to approach each one with a different objective in mind. For most weddings the following breakdowns will be the correct way to go.

  • Pre-ceremony: This should be a selection of songs to play while guests enter and take their seats. The music you choose should be personal to you, after all this day is about you and no one else!. So make sure you fill it with your favorites, these might not be familiar to your family and friends but will be right for you. Be sure that you have selected enough songs, just in case there is any delay. You really don’t want to find yourself in a situation where you have to play the same songs more than once! It will be very obvious! You don’t want that!
  • The ceremony: For obvious reasons this should be a dedicated playlist on its own. For many brides it can be quite tricky to perfect. You need to choose the right song for the Processional, the signing of the register, the Recessional and the postlude. These will be special songs that mean a great deal you and your fiance. These songs don’t really have to fit in seamlessly with the rest of the evening’s music since it’s so tied to the moment in question.

After the ceremony

  • Cocktail Reception: Your ceremony and reception might be held in the same space, so the recessional will lead straight into cocktails and socializing. Taking the vibe from your recessional (and from your expectations of how you expect to be feeling at the time), you might choose faster, upbeat, celebratory songs—ones, where you might want to throw our hands in the air but wouldn’t be strong enough for the dance floor. However you might prefer lighter easy on the ear jazz music
  • Wedding Breakfast: You will definitely want the softer music here. You want a more relaxing feel while everyone ate and talked, and you don’t want the transition to your (slow) first dance song to feel erratic.
  • Dance party: This will definitely be the hardest part. You NEED to give your irish wedding DJ with something sensible that he can work with. If you don’t want to make your wedding DJs job a nightmare this playlist will require some stretching of your “personal” preferences because one of the most effective ways to get people dancing is to play what they know. Your might surprise yourself by realizing that you will really, really want people to dance at your irish wedding. You want your party to be known as the wedding of the year!

Ask for suggestions

Ask for suggestions, but don’t be afraid to ignore them. Like many couples, you should do some crowdsourcing: A great idea is to include a line on your RSVP cards that read, “I promise to dance if you play…..  These are good intentions but should be taken with a pinch of salt! You will find that you will always get some very dodgy dance floor killers that will show up in your mailbox. If you have any sense make sure they are excluded and add these to a DONT YOU DARE list that you can give to your irish wedding DJ. You will end up including quite a few songs that you might not have chosen yourselves, or find challenging to fit into the DJ set, it will be so rewarding to see people exclaim “This is my song!” throughout the night as a result. Ultimately you should let your Irish wedding DJ take control of the night for you, he will use your playlist as a guide, he can read the crowd better than anyone and will thus ensure your have an amazing wedding party to remember!

Don’t be afraid to break your own rules

Always be open mined to include your in-laws’ request,  in your dance playlist, yes, it might clear the dance floor. But seeing them swaying blissfully, alone and completely oblivious to the world around them is a memory you will to treasure forever.

Nobody cares about the playlist as much as you do, other than your expert Irish wedding DJ. As important as the music is to you, thinking back to weddings we have attended over the years. We remember very few of the specific songs that were played—even for iconic moments like first dances. The songs that will be remembered are far from cool! they’re the songs that were playing when we looked out from the DJ booth and saw the bride’s dad had happy tears streaming down his face, or when the newlyweds started shouting along, bouncing on the dance floor in each other’s arms, to some very cringeworthy song! Choosing the playlist for your wedding can be an incredibly personal expression of self—of history, meaning, aesthetic—but in the end it’s really just background music. It’s the wedding that infuses the soundtrack with meaning, not the other way around and that’s why you will want a professional Irish wedding DJ to provide the right music for the right moments!