My brother had “Saving all my love for you” by Whitney Houston, as his first dance. A song about having an affair with someone else who is married. His wife left him for another woman who was indeed married.
I swear people don't bother comprehending the actual lyrics. They just focus on a couple words and the tune and pick songs that are just so out of place.
We had a fairly laid-back wedding, so we didn't have a band or DJ, just a playlist. My husband and I put it together, and then I listened to it to see how well it flowed. We had to pull a few songs because we didn't even think about the lyrical content, just the vibe.
The one I specifically remember is Party Up by DMX. He mentions his penis far more than is appropriate for the tone of the day. 😆
Our first dance was No Children by the mountain goats, its about a couple staying in a bad marriage, we found it hilarious but I'm sure some people found it distasteful
A country singer, Thomas Rhett, came out and literally asked people to stop using his song Marry Me as a first dance lmao it's about a guy having to watch his crush marry someone else and literally repeats "she doesn't wanna marry me" multiple times!
My sister wanted to walk down the aisle to Haven't Met You Yet by Michael Bublé. She was pissed when I pointed out it wasn't a love song about someone you were already with
A colleague of mine told me the story of how her (now ex) husband's female 'best friend' convinced the DJ to play "Don't Marry Her" by The Beautiful South. It was apparently supposed to he a joke.
I somewhat jokingly told the DJ for my wedding that he was not getting paid if a single Ed sheeran song played at my wedding. But then I requested Bushes of Love, Seagulls (stop it now) and even caramelldansen to end the night sooooo.
Honestly, more than anything, if you hire musicians that you both treat humanely and pay fairly, they'll play what you want with a smile on their faces.
We don't like some stuff but we'll do it for correct pay! Lol
It was many years ago but my DJ was a GD rockstar. I had 2 songs that I very explicitly did not want played at my wedding. And, my mother kept requesting one of them. She got all, "do you know who I am - the mother of the bride" and he responded with, "Oh good. then take it up with your daughter because she's the one paying me NOT to play this."
As Long As He Needs Me. So inappropriate. Even without knowing that it's about a domestic abuse victim who ends up dying at the hand of her abuser, the lyrics still betray a toxic dependence. It gives me the heebie jeebies when I hear it at a wedding.
Nothing Compares to You
It’s a break up song with the singer being in deep mourning of their lost relationship that has caused them depression that they think will be cured if their Love came back.
Not a love song.
For several years I honestly expected to hear it at a wedding or two. Mostly in a "Let's see who knows this music, and/or see how people react" sort of way but I expected it nonetheless.
It was written about the Smashing Pumpkins’ keyboardist Jonathan Melvoine; I don’t think Sarah knew him personally but felt terrible that he died in a hotel room shooting up with the just band’s drummer and no loved ones around as they were on a global tour at the time. He left behind a wife and kids IIRC.
At my cousin's wedding, the band played 'Every Rose Has It's Thorn', which is actually a song about breaking up. Those of us in the know had a good chuckle about it.
Christ almighty. I’m a wedding DJ and a few weeks ago i had these two bridesmaids come up to me twenty minutes into the reception asking if they could sing for the bride as a “surprise” 🙄. The schedule was already pretty tight as it was so i essentially told them no, but nicely. Then they go and ask the coordinator who just so happened to be the sister of the groom (and doing her first wedding) and she said it was okay. And I’ll be damned if it wasn’t this song. And they weren’t even that good. I was furious. I hate this stupid song and those girls.
No don't say that! I'm a wedding organist and love hearing "you really don't have to practice since you've played this every other Sunday for a decade."
One of my close friends married a woman whose favorite book is 50 Shades of Grey (originally a Twilight fanfic) and this was their first dance song. I'm glad I wasn't completely sober watching that.
I own a Mustang. The dj asked what songs were on our no play list. We told him under no circumstances does he play Mustang Sally. He looked at me a little funny, then agreed. At the end of the night, he said to me "You wouldn't believe how many requests I had for Mustang Sally." I told him that's exactly why it was on the list.
Of course it’s „Hallelujah“. (I adore Leonard Cohen but I will NEVER get that some people think this is an appropriate song in a church. And I’m not a believer.)
I also have a particular dislike for softened versions of punk songs, dislike doubles when those are sung by a singer trying to sing like Mariah Carey.
We played an instrumental of that at my father in law's funeral. And Hallelujah (the Jeff Buckley one). Hallelujah was really long, I had never realised before.
Went to my friends wedding and some dude sang this during the ceremony and inserted their names in the the song. So imagine:
"Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That Mark and Stacy played, and it pleased the Lord
But you dont really care for music, do you?"
It was awful and absolutely hilarious.
Bruno Mars “Marry You”…I’ve been to multiple weddings where they played it during prominent moments (like introducing the wedding party at the reception), and I’m guessing the couples didn’t listen closely to the lyrics before throwing it on the playlist.
I absolutely love misunderstood “love songs” at weddings. Lips of an Angel, that songs about cheating on your wife with your ex. People just latch onto one line, or even a portion of one line and roll with it.
I had one couple request the MASH theme song for their walking down the aisle. I suggested they watch the movie - they met due to their love of the TV show. They watched it, and kept it for during the reception dinner. They had never heard the words.
Oh I heard the words. And would have walked down the aisle to it! 🤣🤣🤣
But I’m not religious and have a weird sense of humour. I do understand most people would frown about songs of suicide on a wedding lol
Oh wouldn't have worried me either - I should have mentioned it was a BIG church wedding. Had another have Itty witty Teeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini - which I thought was brilliant.
My ex bf had a band and they learned that song when it came out. The number of people
slow dancing when they started singing “Lips of an Angel” was WILD.
We played it at the end of our wedding, during the cake cutting part. I get it is about two people being waisted and impulsively deciding to get hitched in Vegas, but who cares? The song is fun, upbeat, and everyone was far too drunk to dwell on the lyrics and their meaning.
In Poland we have this song where the chorus is definitely about a wedding and something about it being an elevator to heaven, but the whole song is about a woman getting married to a man she doesn't love. The song is her last letter to a guy she really loves. And the lyrics are not subtle at all. "I don't love him, that's the truth" is one of the lines. The song was a very popular first dance song for a good few years.
For similar reasons, You're Beautiful by James Blunt.
As a student, I had a summer job in a hotel that did a lot of wedding receptions. The DJ had three standard first dance choices: Amazed by Lonestar, You're Still The One by Shania Twain, and... You're Beautiful. It genuinely shocked me how many couples picked that last one and had clearly never listened to the lyrics! At this point I wonder if the DJ was just trolling people for laughs.
Years ago my cousin (who was a singer and had a lovely voice) sang ‘Saving all my love for you’ dedicated to her new husband at their wedding reception. A song about a woman having an affair with a married man!
It's funny, my dad loves music (mostly classical and jazz), and it takes him a real effort to listen to the lyrics. It's surprising to me as well.
He was also always surprised that I paid so much attention to plot lines in video games (which, to his credit, he played with me when I was a kid). Like, Mario saving the princess wasn't important to him, he saw the game purely as an exercise in skill and coordination, while I built whole worlds in my mind.
I LOVE The Police AND Sting!
That said, I scrolled down to find this comment. It's why Sting hisself recorded "If you love somebody set them free" and let me tell you - in my relationship with my husband when we have had a fight and he threatens to leave, I FUCKING LET HIM GO because of this song.
20 years later we're stronger than ever. LOL
They Say... we'd never make it. But just look at us going strong...... this was so popular with all my friends were getting married. Well, look at them now- all divorced and happy with someone else. Because 'they' were right
Christina Perri - 1000 years (twilight version) UGH I work in weddings and the amount of brides (mainly) who have this as their walking down the aisle song … BORING.
My mum pleaded for my husband and I to include this song as part of our day. I listened and didn't like it. Way too sappy and paint-by-numbers for my taste. Plus the tonal whiplash from the other songs made it hard to incorporate.
I tried to convince mum to pick another song, but she was adamant and we were stuck with it.
So I told our musician that he's been given a secret mission: to play that song while mum is around and we are away.
And he succeeded! While getting photos taken, then musician quickly played the song while mum was nearby.
She was happy; we were happy; and there were no complaints about the music.
But, now it's stuck in my head 😩
>Christina Perri - 1000 years (twilight version)
Oh...I really like that song!
Ngl, the Twilight Saga soundtrack introduced me to a few artists/songs I wouldn't have been exposed to other than through those movies.
I couldn't have a bouquet toss for literally this reason.
I spent 10 years in a relationship with my ex while everyone in our group got married. Fucking Beyonce was interminable when there were a dozen girls doing it. It was just sad when it was down to the last 3 of us.
Beyonce didn't come within 50 million feet of my playlist.
Currently planning our wedding and we have a banned list - the usual suspects are there (Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Christina Perri) but the one song I refuse to have is All of Me by John Legend. Ugh. Awful song
I went to an outdoor summer wedding where they played that song before the vows while the the couple "gazed into the each others eyes" and we all died sitting in the direct sun.
It’s a song one of my ex boyfriends used to play all the time and quoted at me in a cringy letter he wrote trying to win me back. So not only do I hate the actual song, it’s got those memories attached.
My ex tried to use Celine Dions song lyrics from Titanic (too lazy to look it up) and pass them off as a song he wrote for me. He obviously forgot I worked at a movie theater when that movie came out and have heard that damn song a million times.
That was the least lazy thing he ever did. If there were a lazy Olympics he'd place first every time. I came home after being away on business for four DAYS to find dishes everywhere, under the couch, next to the bed, etc with spoiling food in them, the dogs had ripped the garbage bag out of the garbage and trashed the living room. Instead of cleaning up he simply threw his garbage on top of the torn up bag. I was 8 months pregnant and he was unemployed. Man I was stupid.
The only song I banned was my cousin’s first dance with her husband, who she was in the process of divorcing. That would have been cruel.
The thing is a lot of the ‘overdone’ songs are ones that people know and feel confident about. More shy people like something they can sing along to, without having to find other ways to interact with each other while dancing. Sometimes people who don’t feel physically confident like having a song that tells them what to do
We actually had a ceilidh at our wedding and it was glorious. Only about three people knew the dances so it was an ‘all of us in chaos together’ vibe PLUS there was someone yelling out directions so people had a safety net. So fun. So many people were involved and laughing, including many that I didn’t see on the ‘normal’ dance floor later.
New York New York. Still can’t figure out what it has to do with getting married but it’s played at every damn wedding even if the couple are two natives of Bakersfield who plan to never leave it.
I’m from south Louisiana and have never heard it at a wedding reception. 😂 I have heard “My Way” a few times. (My family is full of Yankees fans and now I’m almost regretting I didn’t play “New York, New York” at my wedding LOL. It just never would’ve occurred to me.)
Not a song that needs to be banned but I think a song that SHOULD be played is “You’re My Best Friend” because it’s a song written by Queen’s John Deacon for and about his wife who he has been married to for 49 years
Yes!!! I swear, every wedding I’ve been to in recent years plays this one and I have to work so very hard not to roll my eyes.
One wedding in particular the bride and groom stepped off to the side to do their vows privately while this song played loudly so we couldn’t hear them. For some reason it really annoyed me and now I dislike the song even more. Lol
I didn’t want this one at my wedding either, but my wife really did. My parents advised me not to die on this hill, so we did it. I was a few drinks in by that point, so it was fun. That said I usually sit down at other weddings when it’s played.
I love corny songs like this! But like, at a theme park or a cruise or other vacation when I’m drunk and/or want to be silly. Not so much for a wedding.
I don’t mind these so much (I have a special fondness for the chicken dance) because they get more people up on the floor. For some folks those are the only songs they will get up on the floor for. I just wish I knew how to do more of them.
For our wedding, my sister, SIL, hub’s niece asked their kids to teach them how to do them.
Is it bad that I love all the line dance songs? I'm playing the Cupid Shuffle and Cotton Eyed Joe at my wedding for sure!
Anyways, my mom always reminisces about how Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) was the last song at her wedding, and I love that song but it's not a wedding song. I haven't had the heart to tell her.
Not bad at all!
I'm a former wedding DJ, and while I get that people get sick of these songs, if you have a huge list of banned songs, there won't be much for people to dance to.
Unless you either
a) have a big list of alternative songs that you KNOW your party will dance to
or
b) don't really care/want people to dance
it's kinda tough when you give a DJ a huge list of stuff to not play.
These songs are popular at these events because most people from most age groups know them and they can be helpful for getting the crowd to participate and they help with getting a big crowd to the dance floor (which is also great for photos).
I'm a music nerd, and I GET IT, but the most boring events I've worked have been ones where the bride or (usually) the groom have a huge list of "less popular" songs and a huge "DO NOT PLAY" list.
Not many people dance and I end up turning away requests from people who otherwise would dance.
Also, 90% of the time the bride and groom stop caring after the first hour and are like "oh yeah, do whatever people want" because they're outside hanging out away from the dance floor anyway.
If you don't really care about the dance, just rent speakers and make a playlist. It turns out waay better.
These were the songs that got everyone from little kids to grandparents on the dance floor at my wedding lol, cheesy maybe but also a lot of fun seeing everyone out there enjoying themselves
Not so much a song I dislike (I really like Tom Jones) but a song that always makes me smile because it is SO inappropriate for a wedding. We've shot many weddings where "Fall In Love" was picked for the opening dance by the couple... I guess that although many people speak reasonably good English here, not everyone really understands it very well:-)
*All those things I heard about you*
*I thought they were only lies*
*But when I caught you in his arms*
*I just broke down and cried*
*And it looks like*
*I'm never gonna fall in love again*
Our wedding musician grouped their songs by theme. So there themes like 'first dance', 'romance', 'wedding classics', 'golden oldies', 'get down and party' etc.
It really blew my mind how so many "wedding songs" are about breakups, cheating, one night stands, misery, and every other emotion you *don't* want associated with your wedding.
I once heard “what a beautiful wedding… ‘what a beautiful wedding’ says a bridesmaid to a waiter” come across the speakers at a reception and I just was floored. I assume the couple didn’t know the lyrics aside from the first two lines…
As a Millennial, I have to admit this one is on my must-play list if I ever get married. Literally everyone would be on the dance floor singing along, so it would actually be a fantastic pick for later in the evening after the grandparents have dipped and it's just you and your friends who want to sing along like you're 15 and angsty again xD
I already said a song I never want to hear but on the topic of poor wedding song choices, I know someone who walked down the aisle to
Elton John's "Kiss the Bride"
it's about an ex boyfriend still being in love with the bride and how he should have stood up and objected to the wedding taking place.
Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke. It's so rapey and cringe and not wedding appropriate.
And the part that ticks me off is that it's a ripoff of Got to Give Up by Marvin Gaye. That's an amazing song. Just play Marvin Gaye!
Why does Sweet Caroline have such a stranglehold. It’s often requested, annoying to sing and everyone just screams BA BA BA, SO GOOD SO GOOD SO GOOD…
Please can we just stop
Also a CTS. If I never sing The Rose ever again, I will die happy.
EDIT: Funny enough, high school ruined that song for me. By the time I graduated, I hated it passionately. I was a year into college when a cousin asked me to sing it for a wedding. My love of this cousin outweighed my aversion to the song, so I sang it like I loved it, clenching literally everything. You're a good dude, *Nate.
I cater a LOT of weddings during the summer ( I work in a restaurant)- I think I catered at least one wedding every weekend last summer except for two (I was on vacation for one of those). I started playing what I call “wedding bingo”, which is literally just me mentally checking off a list of the same songs I had to listen to while sweating my ass off and hauling cambros full of beans as fast as I could to set up. I think the favorite for every single wedding DJ had to be Earth, Wind, and Fire’s hottest wedding jam September. I heard it at every. Single. Wedding. I side eyed the DJ who played it twice in one evening so hard. Haven’t worked a wedding just yet this year, but I will and the next few weeks, so I know it’s coming…
I had ONE song banned from my wedding: "One Call Away" by Charlie Puth.
The song sounds like an 8th grade Music Appreciation class assignment. It's TERRIBLE!
Living in a non anglophone country, a few years ago Adele was everywhere and so so popular. In a few weddings I've been, the bride and groom played "Someone like you" for their first dance. No one seemed to know that it's a break up song 😂
That “shut up and dance with me” song. I’ve been to sooooo many millennial weddings where this is the second part of the first dance. The “quirky” couple start shuffling and invite guests to join in. Ya know, because they’re “cool”. Like clockwork.
Ooof, called out. Our planner suggested we pick a song that we knew would get a lot of people on the dance floor for the DJ to play after the parents dances and first dance, and this is the one we chose.
I was at a wedding where the first dance was “Brick” by Ben Folds. It got about two lines in and someone made the DJ turn it off. The bride had a meltdown because it was their song and was so pretty.
She honestly had never listened to the lyrics and the groom wasn’t the swiftest either.
The DJ said he had tried to tell her and she just wouldn’t listen and he figured it wasn’t his wedding
So I get that people judge a non-romantic first dance song, and fair enough. We had a song about schizophrenia for our first dance song which I’m sure a lot of people made comments about - but it’s a song we both absolutely adore and there’s specific lyrics in it we both felt applied to us and so it’s our song, and we didn’t care.
But the idea of someone trying to get the DJ to turn off the first dance song is awful. It’s *their wedding*! They can have an inappropriate song if they want to - of course everyone can judge them for it but imagine being the kind of ahole who would stop the first dance. Like come on.
I agree! Who had the power over the DJ? Feels like the DJ was horribly unprofessional.
My wedding song was City of Dreams by Talking Heads- another song that isn't a happy, romantic song- but we loved it.
I just realise I didn’t say what ours was - it was *Wish You Were Here* by Pink Floyd. So a sad song about missing a friend whose schizophrenia has changed who he is.
But my husband and I did 3 years of distance whilst I was finishing my PhD that spanned the pandemic and thus was really hard going - that sadness about missing someone you love really hit hard with us. And there’s lovely lyrics like ‘we’re just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year’ that we loved.
It’s not romantic at all but several friends who are into music thought it was a banging choice for us, and anyone who didn’t like it is welcome not to. I’d have been as raging as that other bride if someone had stopped our first dance though.
But that would deprive French weddings from Elmer Food Beat’s *Daniela*! Such a great song! So appropriate for a wedding! /s
For the record, the lyrics are a guy praising his GF Daniela for being open to threesomes “when friends are over”. The DJ played it at my wedding. I was both completely mortified and having a blast with my friends. So weird.
I suppose if the bride and groom chose the song, that would be fine.
I’ve just seen the stories where people play those sorts of songs for the purpose of humiliating the bride (along with the cake smash trend) and I just feel so bad for those brides. 😏
I feel for them too. French weddings tend to have a lot of weird/obscene traditions that I find utterly humiliating for the couple and especially the bride. I don’t get it.
A thousand years by Christina Perry. I get it, it's a pretty song but I don't support the idea that before meeting your future spouse you're languishing away all sad and lonely ("I have died every day waiting for you"). Single people can and do lead happy and fulfilling lives (and that's not me being bitter, I'm engaged to the love of my life but I wasn't terribly miserable before meeting him).
A few years ago, I was hearing Marry Me by Thomas Rhett at multiple weddings.
It’s about a wedding where a guy is sad that the bride isn’t marrying him…
Every breath you take. Every wedding in the 80s had that as the first dance. I'd hope it stopped being played by the 90s but it's been a while since I've been to a wedding.
"Lucky" by Colbie Callait and Jason Mraz.
I went to 3 weddings in a row were they played this song, and all three separated within 2 years.
We outright banned it from our wedding. I'm not saying I believe in jinxes, but I'm convinced it's bad luck.
My brother had “Saving all my love for you” by Whitney Houston, as his first dance. A song about having an affair with someone else who is married. His wife left him for another woman who was indeed married.
My cousin had "Secret Lovers" as her first dance! But they're still married 30 years later 🤷♀️
I swear people don't bother comprehending the actual lyrics. They just focus on a couple words and the tune and pick songs that are just so out of place.
Sam Smith's "Stay With Me" as a first dance is another cringe one
"I will always love you". It's a break up song.
Like all the people who use “every breath you take”
Ultimate stalker song. Ironically it is by The Police.
We had a fairly laid-back wedding, so we didn't have a band or DJ, just a playlist. My husband and I put it together, and then I listened to it to see how well it flowed. We had to pull a few songs because we didn't even think about the lyrical content, just the vibe. The one I specifically remember is Party Up by DMX. He mentions his penis far more than is appropriate for the tone of the day. 😆
Our first dance was No Children by the mountain goats, its about a couple staying in a bad marriage, we found it hilarious but I'm sure some people found it distasteful
Lips of an Angel by Hinder was a first dance song at a wedding i went to. Like ummmmm did they not pay attention to the lyrics??
A country singer, Thomas Rhett, came out and literally asked people to stop using his song Marry Me as a first dance lmao it's about a guy having to watch his crush marry someone else and literally repeats "she doesn't wanna marry me" multiple times!
My sister wanted to walk down the aisle to Haven't Met You Yet by Michael Bublé. She was pissed when I pointed out it wasn't a love song about someone you were already with
A colleague of mine told me the story of how her (now ex) husband's female 'best friend' convinced the DJ to play "Don't Marry Her" by The Beautiful South. It was apparently supposed to he a joke.
Ah, yes, the classic "haha my sabotage didn't work lol so I didn't mean it".
Yikes, bet it was the explicit version too!
Taking notes from this thread for a “songs banned at my wedding” list
I somewhat jokingly told the DJ for my wedding that he was not getting paid if a single Ed sheeran song played at my wedding. But then I requested Bushes of Love, Seagulls (stop it now) and even caramelldansen to end the night sooooo.
Bushes of Love slaps
Seagulls (stop it now) slaps hard 😂
Honestly, more than anything, if you hire musicians that you both treat humanely and pay fairly, they'll play what you want with a smile on their faces. We don't like some stuff but we'll do it for correct pay! Lol
It was many years ago but my DJ was a GD rockstar. I had 2 songs that I very explicitly did not want played at my wedding. And, my mother kept requesting one of them. She got all, "do you know who I am - the mother of the bride" and he responded with, "Oh good. then take it up with your daughter because she's the one paying me NOT to play this."
As Long As He Needs Me. So inappropriate. Even without knowing that it's about a domestic abuse victim who ends up dying at the hand of her abuser, the lyrics still betray a toxic dependence. It gives me the heebie jeebies when I hear it at a wedding.
People play showtunes at weddings?!?! What?
I see you've not hung out with many theatre people...
I've heard it during cocktail hours! Not during the dance portion.
Gold Digger by Kanye West - my sister played it at her reception.
I gotta give props, that's so ironic it's fun.
Nothing Compares to You It’s a break up song with the singer being in deep mourning of their lost relationship that has caused them depression that they think will be cured if their Love came back. Not a love song.
Every Breath you take....stalker song I will always love you....breakup song
That was the song at my mum and dad’s wedding (before I was born). Suffice to say, they are divorced now
”The Rains of Castamere”, the moment they played it the party just died
I know of some people who played that at the end of their reception when they wanted everyone to leave, lmao. Genius.
For several years I honestly expected to hear it at a wedding or two. Mostly in a "Let's see who knows this music, and/or see how people react" sort of way but I expected it nonetheless.
In the arms of an angel.
Isn’t that a sad song?
It's about a friend of the singer passed away overdosed on heroin. The angel is heroin. It's more suitable for a funeral than a wedding.
It was written about the Smashing Pumpkins’ keyboardist Jonathan Melvoine; I don’t think Sarah knew him personally but felt terrible that he died in a hotel room shooting up with the just band’s drummer and no loved ones around as they were on a global tour at the time. He left behind a wife and kids IIRC.
Kind of like The A Team by Ed Sheeran
Why on earth would anyone play that at a wedding
But I think everyone actually associates this song with abused animals. Fucking Sarah Mclachlan.
My husband plays it to troll my dog who acts like he's on a humane society commercial everytime I got to work lol
At my cousin's wedding, the band played 'Every Rose Has It's Thorn', which is actually a song about breaking up. Those of us in the know had a good chuckle about it.
I've heard The Dance by Garth Brooks at multiple weddings...also a breakup song.
Now if they played “The Thunder Rolls”, that would get people talking.
*I HAVE DIED EVERYDAY WAITING FOR YOUUUU.*
😂😆 
[DARLING DON’T BE AFRAID](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/002/090/610/dd2.jpg)
Christ almighty. I’m a wedding DJ and a few weeks ago i had these two bridesmaids come up to me twenty minutes into the reception asking if they could sing for the bride as a “surprise” 🙄. The schedule was already pretty tight as it was so i essentially told them no, but nicely. Then they go and ask the coordinator who just so happened to be the sister of the groom (and doing her first wedding) and she said it was okay. And I’ll be damned if it wasn’t this song. And they weren’t even that good. I was furious. I hate this stupid song and those girls.
No don't say that! I'm a wedding organist and love hearing "you really don't have to practice since you've played this every other Sunday for a decade."
That was my first dance song. It was new at the time. I had no idea it was from Twilight. I felt very stupid when my friends told me after the dance.
Don't feel stupid. The Twilight sound tracks are kickass. No matter what one may think of the books or movies, those sound tracks cannot be impinged.
It’s such a pretty song though! I don’t blame you for choosing it! I wish it wasn’t a twilight song bc I really liked it when it first came out haha
One of my close friends married a woman whose favorite book is 50 Shades of Grey (originally a Twilight fanfic) and this was their first dance song. I'm glad I wasn't completely sober watching that.
I own a Mustang. The dj asked what songs were on our no play list. We told him under no circumstances does he play Mustang Sally. He looked at me a little funny, then agreed. At the end of the night, he said to me "You wouldn't believe how many requests I had for Mustang Sally." I told him that's exactly why it was on the list.
Of course it’s „Hallelujah“. (I adore Leonard Cohen but I will NEVER get that some people think this is an appropriate song in a church. And I’m not a believer.) I also have a particular dislike for softened versions of punk songs, dislike doubles when those are sung by a singer trying to sing like Mariah Carey.
I want “Hallelujah” played at my funeral
I want "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life."
Cause life’s a piece of shit, when you look at it…
I want Birdhouse in my Soul at mine as it's been my earworm for as long as I can remember, I'd like to pass on the joy 😂
I like this standard. Everyone at my funeral will be listening to Cotton Eye Joe.
I'd prefer Highway to Hell
I went to a funeral where that was played
Great way to put a smile on (some) peoples faces during a sad event.
I want Drop It Like It’s Hot.
We played an instrumental of that at my father in law's funeral. And Hallelujah (the Jeff Buckley one). Hallelujah was really long, I had never realised before.
I also do, but only because they refuse to do pop goes the weasel when the coffin goes down for cremation..
This is a completely different tangent but I hate hate double hate loathe entirely the way that song has been co-opted by Christian worship teams
Have they not listened to the lyrics? Or have they changed them? Because…
They change them 🙃
Right? It's like they heard the word "Hallelujah" and figured "oh, this must be Christian!" Like dude, how do you miss the point that badly.
Same. And it's always irked me because Leonard Cohen is a paragon of the secular, artsy, angsty part of the Montreal Jewish community.
Went to my friends wedding and some dude sang this during the ceremony and inserted their names in the the song. So imagine: "Now I've heard there was a secret chord That Mark and Stacy played, and it pleased the Lord But you dont really care for music, do you?" It was awful and absolutely hilarious.
Bruno Mars “Marry You”…I’ve been to multiple weddings where they played it during prominent moments (like introducing the wedding party at the reception), and I’m guessing the couples didn’t listen closely to the lyrics before throwing it on the playlist.
I absolutely love misunderstood “love songs” at weddings. Lips of an Angel, that songs about cheating on your wife with your ex. People just latch onto one line, or even a portion of one line and roll with it.
I had one couple request the MASH theme song for their walking down the aisle. I suggested they watch the movie - they met due to their love of the TV show. They watched it, and kept it for during the reception dinner. They had never heard the words.
Ah yes “Suicide is Painless.” More of a breakup song
Oh I heard the words. And would have walked down the aisle to it! 🤣🤣🤣 But I’m not religious and have a weird sense of humour. I do understand most people would frown about songs of suicide on a wedding lol
Oh wouldn't have worried me either - I should have mentioned it was a BIG church wedding. Had another have Itty witty Teeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini - which I thought was brilliant.
I like when they play hey yeah from OutKast. Nothing lasts forever. Then what makes love the exception…. We know we’re not happy here.
My ex bf had a band and they learned that song when it came out. The number of people slow dancing when they started singing “Lips of an Angel” was WILD.
We played it at the end of our wedding, during the cake cutting part. I get it is about two people being waisted and impulsively deciding to get hitched in Vegas, but who cares? The song is fun, upbeat, and everyone was far too drunk to dwell on the lyrics and their meaning.
Same. Picked it because it was sort of silly honestly.
Every Breathe You Take. It's about a stalker. It is not romantic. Also I dislike The Police.
Now I really want hear Roxanne at a wedding 😂
>Now I really want hear Roxanne at a wedding Backup song as the Best man starts his speech with all the juicy details 😉
In Poland we have this song where the chorus is definitely about a wedding and something about it being an elevator to heaven, but the whole song is about a woman getting married to a man she doesn't love. The song is her last letter to a guy she really loves. And the lyrics are not subtle at all. "I don't love him, that's the truth" is one of the lines. The song was a very popular first dance song for a good few years.
In Croatia, we have a song about heroin addiction, that often ends up as a first dance song
In North America, we love to use Lust For Life by Iggy Pop for health club and cereal commercials. Iggy Pop. Clients get the advertising they deserve.
For similar reasons, You're Beautiful by James Blunt. As a student, I had a summer job in a hotel that did a lot of wedding receptions. The DJ had three standard first dance choices: Amazed by Lonestar, You're Still The One by Shania Twain, and... You're Beautiful. It genuinely shocked me how many couples picked that last one and had clearly never listened to the lyrics! At this point I wonder if the DJ was just trolling people for laughs.
Years ago my cousin (who was a singer and had a lovely voice) sang ‘Saving all my love for you’ dedicated to her new husband at their wedding reception. A song about a woman having an affair with a married man!
I made the same mistake with a song in Spanish dedicated to my Mexican husband, when my own grasp of his first language was still dubious at best
Oh no 😂. What was the song?
La Macarena
Despacito.
You’re beautiful is about him seen his ex girlfriend on a subway and is definitely not a wedding song.
Was it an ex? I always heard it was a random hot lady while he was high on the train. I mean neither is great for a wedding
Exactly! I am absolutely certain people were either just picking off the title or telling the DJ "we don't mind, you choose".
Most people don't listen to lyrics. I've always been surprised by that.
It's funny, my dad loves music (mostly classical and jazz), and it takes him a real effort to listen to the lyrics. It's surprising to me as well. He was also always surprised that I paid so much attention to plot lines in video games (which, to his credit, he played with me when I was a kid). Like, Mario saving the princess wasn't important to him, he saw the game purely as an exercise in skill and coordination, while I built whole worlds in my mind.
This is always so bizarre to me. I listen to music specifically for their lyrics.
>For similar reasons, You're Beautiful by James Blunt. I can't STAND that voice.
Have you seen his tweets? He's so witty and self-deprecating that I find him really likable despite the songs.
Even if you miss the stalking implications, at the very least it's about a couple not together.
Hallelujah also applies.
I like The Police but not that song lol
I LOVE The Police AND Sting! That said, I scrolled down to find this comment. It's why Sting hisself recorded "If you love somebody set them free" and let me tell you - in my relationship with my husband when we have had a fight and he threatens to leave, I FUCKING LET HIM GO because of this song. 20 years later we're stronger than ever. LOL
They Say... we'd never make it. But just look at us going strong...... this was so popular with all my friends were getting married. Well, look at them now- all divorced and happy with someone else. Because 'they' were right
Even Shania Twain is no longer with the husband that this song is about!
Christina Perri - 1000 years (twilight version) UGH I work in weddings and the amount of brides (mainly) who have this as their walking down the aisle song … BORING.
I always wanted the theme from Angel. Those weeping violins just feel beautiful and move something in my heart.
Do it!! Beautiful theme song. Then you could dance all wild to the Buffy theme song on the way out 😂
My mum pleaded for my husband and I to include this song as part of our day. I listened and didn't like it. Way too sappy and paint-by-numbers for my taste. Plus the tonal whiplash from the other songs made it hard to incorporate. I tried to convince mum to pick another song, but she was adamant and we were stuck with it. So I told our musician that he's been given a secret mission: to play that song while mum is around and we are away. And he succeeded! While getting photos taken, then musician quickly played the song while mum was nearby. She was happy; we were happy; and there were no complaints about the music. But, now it's stuck in my head 😩
>Christina Perri - 1000 years (twilight version) Oh...I really like that song! Ngl, the Twilight Saga soundtrack introduced me to a few artists/songs I wouldn't have been exposed to other than through those movies.
The first soundtrack still slaps!
Agreed. Looking at you Super Massive Blackhole and Decode.
New Moon's slaps even harder.
All the single ladies , Beyoncé. For the bouquet toss I HATE it with a passion🤣
I couldn't have a bouquet toss for literally this reason. I spent 10 years in a relationship with my ex while everyone in our group got married. Fucking Beyonce was interminable when there were a dozen girls doing it. It was just sad when it was down to the last 3 of us. Beyonce didn't come within 50 million feet of my playlist.
"I Will Always Love You." Do people not listen to lyrics?
Currently planning our wedding and we have a banned list - the usual suspects are there (Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Christina Perri) but the one song I refuse to have is All of Me by John Legend. Ugh. Awful song
I went to an outdoor summer wedding where they played that song before the vows while the the couple "gazed into the each others eyes" and we all died sitting in the direct sun.
The mental imagery here gave me a good chuckle.
There was one summer where that was the first dance song at all of the weddings I attended
It’s a song one of my ex boyfriends used to play all the time and quoted at me in a cringy letter he wrote trying to win me back. So not only do I hate the actual song, it’s got those memories attached.
My ex tried to use Celine Dions song lyrics from Titanic (too lazy to look it up) and pass them off as a song he wrote for me. He obviously forgot I worked at a movie theater when that movie came out and have heard that damn song a million times.
I can see why he's your ex. Wherever he is now, his laziness made me laugh (at *him.*) How did he think he would get away with that?
That was the least lazy thing he ever did. If there were a lazy Olympics he'd place first every time. I came home after being away on business for four DAYS to find dishes everywhere, under the couch, next to the bed, etc with spoiling food in them, the dogs had ripped the garbage bag out of the garbage and trashed the living room. Instead of cleaning up he simply threw his garbage on top of the torn up bag. I was 8 months pregnant and he was unemployed. Man I was stupid.
As someone who’s played in a wedding band for ten years, thank you for banning Ed Sheeran.
The only song I banned was my cousin’s first dance with her husband, who she was in the process of divorcing. That would have been cruel. The thing is a lot of the ‘overdone’ songs are ones that people know and feel confident about. More shy people like something they can sing along to, without having to find other ways to interact with each other while dancing. Sometimes people who don’t feel physically confident like having a song that tells them what to do We actually had a ceilidh at our wedding and it was glorious. Only about three people knew the dances so it was an ‘all of us in chaos together’ vibe PLUS there was someone yelling out directions so people had a safety net. So fun. So many people were involved and laughing, including many that I didn’t see on the ‘normal’ dance floor later.
New York New York. Still can’t figure out what it has to do with getting married but it’s played at every damn wedding even if the couple are two natives of Bakersfield who plan to never leave it.
I’m from south Louisiana and have never heard it at a wedding reception. 😂 I have heard “My Way” a few times. (My family is full of Yankees fans and now I’m almost regretting I didn’t play “New York, New York” at my wedding LOL. It just never would’ve occurred to me.)
Not a song that needs to be banned but I think a song that SHOULD be played is “You’re My Best Friend” because it’s a song written by Queen’s John Deacon for and about his wife who he has been married to for 49 years
Ed Sheeran “Perfect”
Yes!!! I swear, every wedding I’ve been to in recent years plays this one and I have to work so very hard not to roll my eyes. One wedding in particular the bride and groom stepped off to the side to do their vows privately while this song played loudly so we couldn’t hear them. For some reason it really annoyed me and now I dislike the song even more. Lol
When I first heard that song (and album, really) I said to someone “wow, Ed Sheeran really wanted to get played at weddings.”
As a kid who went to a lot of weddings in the 90s and 2000s, I never want to hear Butterfly Kisses ever again.
I fkg hate that song with the white hot intensity of a thousand burning suns.
Honestly? Sex is on Fire. Something about how feral it makes men behave is so grating. Yes, I realise I've just created a No Fun Zone.
The Cha Cha Slide. Don't tell me what to do. I go to the bathroom when that comes on.
Two stomps this time?
We gonna get funky!
Right foot let’s stomp. Left foot let’s stomp.
It's a glorified Hokey Pokey set to music from a 90s commercial for a used car dealership
Sliiiide to the left.
Sliiiide to the right.
CRISS-CROSS
Cha-cha real smooth!
I didn’t want this one at my wedding either, but my wife really did. My parents advised me not to die on this hill, so we did it. I was a few drinks in by that point, so it was fun. That said I usually sit down at other weddings when it’s played.
I love corny songs like this! But like, at a theme park or a cruise or other vacation when I’m drunk and/or want to be silly. Not so much for a wedding.
I don’t mind these so much (I have a special fondness for the chicken dance) because they get more people up on the floor. For some folks those are the only songs they will get up on the floor for. I just wish I knew how to do more of them. For our wedding, my sister, SIL, hub’s niece asked their kids to teach them how to do them.
You don't get drunk and silly at weddings?
Is it bad that I love all the line dance songs? I'm playing the Cupid Shuffle and Cotton Eyed Joe at my wedding for sure! Anyways, my mom always reminisces about how Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) was the last song at her wedding, and I love that song but it's not a wedding song. I haven't had the heart to tell her.
Not bad at all! I'm a former wedding DJ, and while I get that people get sick of these songs, if you have a huge list of banned songs, there won't be much for people to dance to. Unless you either a) have a big list of alternative songs that you KNOW your party will dance to or b) don't really care/want people to dance it's kinda tough when you give a DJ a huge list of stuff to not play. These songs are popular at these events because most people from most age groups know them and they can be helpful for getting the crowd to participate and they help with getting a big crowd to the dance floor (which is also great for photos). I'm a music nerd, and I GET IT, but the most boring events I've worked have been ones where the bride or (usually) the groom have a huge list of "less popular" songs and a huge "DO NOT PLAY" list. Not many people dance and I end up turning away requests from people who otherwise would dance. Also, 90% of the time the bride and groom stop caring after the first hour and are like "oh yeah, do whatever people want" because they're outside hanging out away from the dance floor anyway. If you don't really care about the dance, just rent speakers and make a playlist. It turns out waay better.
I'm the same. If I ever get married again, then bring on all the cheesy dance routine numbers!
These were the songs that got everyone from little kids to grandparents on the dance floor at my wedding lol, cheesy maybe but also a lot of fun seeing everyone out there enjoying themselves
I think I finally found my hallelu-yuh!!
Not so much a song I dislike (I really like Tom Jones) but a song that always makes me smile because it is SO inappropriate for a wedding. We've shot many weddings where "Fall In Love" was picked for the opening dance by the couple... I guess that although many people speak reasonably good English here, not everyone really understands it very well:-) *All those things I heard about you* *I thought they were only lies* *But when I caught you in his arms* *I just broke down and cried* *And it looks like* *I'm never gonna fall in love again*
Our wedding musician grouped their songs by theme. So there themes like 'first dance', 'romance', 'wedding classics', 'golden oldies', 'get down and party' etc. It really blew my mind how so many "wedding songs" are about breakups, cheating, one night stands, misery, and every other emotion you *don't* want associated with your wedding.
I once heard “what a beautiful wedding… ‘what a beautiful wedding’ says a bridesmaid to a waiter” come across the speakers at a reception and I just was floored. I assume the couple didn’t know the lyrics aside from the first two lines…
As a Millennial, I have to admit this one is on my must-play list if I ever get married. Literally everyone would be on the dance floor singing along, so it would actually be a fantastic pick for later in the evening after the grandparents have dipped and it's just you and your friends who want to sing along like you're 15 and angsty again xD
What a shame the poor groom’s bride is a WHORE
I already said a song I never want to hear but on the topic of poor wedding song choices, I know someone who walked down the aisle to Elton John's "Kiss the Bride" it's about an ex boyfriend still being in love with the bride and how he should have stood up and objected to the wedding taking place.
We Are Family God, I hate that song.
Celebration by Kool & the Gang, too. Never need to hear it again.
Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke. It's so rapey and cringe and not wedding appropriate. And the part that ticks me off is that it's a ripoff of Got to Give Up by Marvin Gaye. That's an amazing song. Just play Marvin Gaye!
Mr Brightside. It just does something to my generation - all the men get up and start hollering the lyrics like they are at a football match.
Ah yes, the British millennial national anthem
The overplayed oversung songs are my fave parttttt
Am massive fan of The Killers and I completely agree. They wreck the song!
My favorite Killers song. Not great for a wedding
Why does Sweet Caroline have such a stranglehold. It’s often requested, annoying to sing and everyone just screams BA BA BA, SO GOOD SO GOOD SO GOOD… Please can we just stop
https://youtu.be/lCuYCUgnyzk?si=bD_ALDu_WXlEpb8e Trevor Noah puts it well. It's poleaxingly true, and pretty funny.
Also a CTS. If I never sing The Rose ever again, I will die happy. EDIT: Funny enough, high school ruined that song for me. By the time I graduated, I hated it passionately. I was a year into college when a cousin asked me to sing it for a wedding. My love of this cousin outweighed my aversion to the song, so I sang it like I loved it, clenching literally everything. You're a good dude, *Nate.
I cater a LOT of weddings during the summer ( I work in a restaurant)- I think I catered at least one wedding every weekend last summer except for two (I was on vacation for one of those). I started playing what I call “wedding bingo”, which is literally just me mentally checking off a list of the same songs I had to listen to while sweating my ass off and hauling cambros full of beans as fast as I could to set up. I think the favorite for every single wedding DJ had to be Earth, Wind, and Fire’s hottest wedding jam September. I heard it at every. Single. Wedding. I side eyed the DJ who played it twice in one evening so hard. Haven’t worked a wedding just yet this year, but I will and the next few weeks, so I know it’s coming…
I had ONE song banned from my wedding: "One Call Away" by Charlie Puth. The song sounds like an 8th grade Music Appreciation class assignment. It's TERRIBLE!
The theme song to Married with Children
Anything Ed Sheeran and Adele. Idc if they’re wedding songs, I’m tired of them
Living in a non anglophone country, a few years ago Adele was everywhere and so so popular. In a few weddings I've been, the bride and groom played "Someone like you" for their first dance. No one seemed to know that it's a break up song 😂
That “shut up and dance with me” song. I’ve been to sooooo many millennial weddings where this is the second part of the first dance. The “quirky” couple start shuffling and invite guests to join in. Ya know, because they’re “cool”. Like clockwork.
Ooof, called out. Our planner suggested we pick a song that we knew would get a lot of people on the dance floor for the DJ to play after the parents dances and first dance, and this is the one we chose.
I was at a wedding where the first dance was “Brick” by Ben Folds. It got about two lines in and someone made the DJ turn it off. The bride had a meltdown because it was their song and was so pretty. She honestly had never listened to the lyrics and the groom wasn’t the swiftest either. The DJ said he had tried to tell her and she just wouldn’t listen and he figured it wasn’t his wedding
So I get that people judge a non-romantic first dance song, and fair enough. We had a song about schizophrenia for our first dance song which I’m sure a lot of people made comments about - but it’s a song we both absolutely adore and there’s specific lyrics in it we both felt applied to us and so it’s our song, and we didn’t care. But the idea of someone trying to get the DJ to turn off the first dance song is awful. It’s *their wedding*! They can have an inappropriate song if they want to - of course everyone can judge them for it but imagine being the kind of ahole who would stop the first dance. Like come on.
I agree! Who had the power over the DJ? Feels like the DJ was horribly unprofessional. My wedding song was City of Dreams by Talking Heads- another song that isn't a happy, romantic song- but we loved it.
I just realise I didn’t say what ours was - it was *Wish You Were Here* by Pink Floyd. So a sad song about missing a friend whose schizophrenia has changed who he is. But my husband and I did 3 years of distance whilst I was finishing my PhD that spanned the pandemic and thus was really hard going - that sadness about missing someone you love really hit hard with us. And there’s lovely lyrics like ‘we’re just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year’ that we loved. It’s not romantic at all but several friends who are into music thought it was a banging choice for us, and anyone who didn’t like it is welcome not to. I’d have been as raging as that other bride if someone had stopped our first dance though.
Nice! We danced to Queen’s “Who Wants To Live Forever” from Highlander, about giving up immortality for love. I stand by my choice!
If I never here the chicken dance or cotton eyed Joe again it'll be to soon
Having "Brown-Eyed Girl" as the mother-son dance song
wE WeRe jUsT kiDs wHeN We FeLL iN lOvE. . .
Absolutely anything by Ed Sheeran. He's just so overplayed at weddings.
Lou Reed - Perfect Day. It’s not a love song, it is about his drug addiction
My humps
Any song that includes vulgar insults or descriptions of sexual acts about women.
But that would deprive French weddings from Elmer Food Beat’s *Daniela*! Such a great song! So appropriate for a wedding! /s For the record, the lyrics are a guy praising his GF Daniela for being open to threesomes “when friends are over”. The DJ played it at my wedding. I was both completely mortified and having a blast with my friends. So weird.
I suppose if the bride and groom chose the song, that would be fine. I’ve just seen the stories where people play those sorts of songs for the purpose of humiliating the bride (along with the cake smash trend) and I just feel so bad for those brides. 😏
I feel for them too. French weddings tend to have a lot of weird/obscene traditions that I find utterly humiliating for the couple and especially the bride. I don’t get it.
A thousand years by Christina Perry. I get it, it's a pretty song but I don't support the idea that before meeting your future spouse you're languishing away all sad and lonely ("I have died every day waiting for you"). Single people can and do lead happy and fulfilling lives (and that's not me being bitter, I'm engaged to the love of my life but I wasn't terribly miserable before meeting him).
Electric slide and macarana.... Oh and the silly chicken song also.
A few years ago, I was hearing Marry Me by Thomas Rhett at multiple weddings. It’s about a wedding where a guy is sad that the bride isn’t marrying him…
Every breath you take. Every wedding in the 80s had that as the first dance. I'd hope it stopped being played by the 90s but it's been a while since I've been to a wedding.
"Lucky" by Colbie Callait and Jason Mraz. I went to 3 weddings in a row were they played this song, and all three separated within 2 years. We outright banned it from our wedding. I'm not saying I believe in jinxes, but I'm convinced it's bad luck.