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Let’s get personal, fellow married types.
What song did you choose for your wedding dance (and why)?
Of course, this is presuming you had one. Not everyone can or chooses to do so. But if you did, how did you choose to kick off your marriage? My wife and I went with “Come What May” from Moulin Rouge! as performed by Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman. Our reasoning was simple: Moulin Rouge! is one of our favorite films and the aching romance and bombastic theatricality of it made it a staple on our road trip mixes. We still dance to it.
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My wife and I picked Lonestar's "Amazed" because we had seen them in concert just as the album was released and fell in love with the song. By the time we were married, the song was headed up the charts, but still relatively unknown. Within three months, every wedding we went to seemed to feature it, which was a drag.
My wife and I had a very small morning wedding with the reception during brunch at one of our favorite restaurants. There was randomly a band there and we asked them to play a song for us to dance to (their choice) the played High and Dry by Radiohead and it was absolutely perfect.
We started with Ben Rector's cover of I Wanna Dance With Somebody (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BW_ugyj0lw) and then hard cut into the Whitney version. It was perfect and it makes me happy every time I hear either of them in the wild.
I pleaded for Naive Melody (This Must Be The Place) by Talking Heads, a song that meant (and will always mean) the world to me, but my wife just wouldn’t bite. Instead we went for Neil Young’s Harvest Moon, which is gorgeous and also meant a great deal to both of us when we first began dating in the 90s.
But Harvest Moon is also, like, five minutes long, with no variation in tempo.
Three minutes in, alone on the dance floor under the hot lights, my wife said, “This was a mistake. We should have done Talking Heads.”
The Billy Joel version of "To Make You Feel My Love," but since then, I've come to prefer the original Bob Dylan version (original, even though it was released a month AFTER the Joel cover).
Sons of the East, Going Home. We did a COVID wedding, dancing or singing not allowed. But we could have 30 guests and we were able to 'dance' down the aisle. https://youtu.be/UdQ-rsi_P6o?si=yNh_IFhu4CdmlTED
We picked "Someone Like You," by Van Morrison. We've always been fans of his music and not only does the song reflect how we feel, it's not one we hear all the time. We didn't want to choose a song we'd hear so much that we'd get sick of it, or that it wouldn't feel like "our song" anymore. On a similar note, I chose Ray Charles' rare version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," (the one in "Sleepless in Seattle") for the father/daughter dance. I rarely hear that version--if ever--and because there are so many renditions of it, I never get tired of hearing it, especially since my Dad has passed.
"Someone Like You" was a standard for a long time, then drifted away as a wedding song. I don't know why. It's really quite perfect. Though, that said, I also attended a wedding in the Rockies where the couple dances to "Tupelo Honey" as tall grass waved around us. Van Morrison has a lot of great wedding songs, come to think of it...
Fly me to the moon by frank sanatra. We liked the song and thought the slower pace would be easy to dance to 😄
Strong choice!
Gorgeous song! Love Frank. Tony Bennett does a beautiful version too.
Inside My Mind by an independent British artist called Jake Morley. Well worth a listen!
Thanks for the tip. It's a lovely song!
To us it was reflective of our unbridled passion.
I wanted "Give me all your lovin'" by Zizzi Top but my husband said it was too rude.
We settled on "Can't take my eyes off you." and had dance classes. It was lots of fun.
Call me a romantic, but I'm with your husband on this one.
Could I Have This Dance (Anne Murray) because my wife loves it and it’s easier to dance to than my choice, Accidentally in Love (Counting Crows).
It's a lovely song, Gini. Good choice.
Al Green's 'Let's Stay Together'.
I love this song. I play his greatest hits on the record player at least once a week.
My wife and I picked Lonestar's "Amazed" because we had seen them in concert just as the album was released and fell in love with the song. By the time we were married, the song was headed up the charts, but still relatively unknown. Within three months, every wedding we went to seemed to feature it, which was a drag.
Yes, I think I went to three weddings in one summer where that was the first dance song. But it's a strong song, so it makes sense.
My wife and I had a very small morning wedding with the reception during brunch at one of our favorite restaurants. There was randomly a band there and we asked them to play a song for us to dance to (their choice) the played High and Dry by Radiohead and it was absolutely perfect.
What a lovely story. Thank you for sharing.
We started with Ben Rector's cover of I Wanna Dance With Somebody (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BW_ugyj0lw) and then hard cut into the Whitney version. It was perfect and it makes me happy every time I hear either of them in the wild.
I like the decision to mix it up with two versions of the same song!
I pleaded for Naive Melody (This Must Be The Place) by Talking Heads, a song that meant (and will always mean) the world to me, but my wife just wouldn’t bite. Instead we went for Neil Young’s Harvest Moon, which is gorgeous and also meant a great deal to both of us when we first began dating in the 90s.
But Harvest Moon is also, like, five minutes long, with no variation in tempo.
Three minutes in, alone on the dance floor under the hot lights, my wife said, “This was a mistake. We should have done Talking Heads.”
Hahahahaha, I love your wife.
That makes one of us!
The Billy Joel version of "To Make You Feel My Love," but since then, I've come to prefer the original Bob Dylan version (original, even though it was released a month AFTER the Joel cover).
I wasn't aware of this timing detail with the releases. Fascinating. Either way, lovely song.
Joan of Arc by Leonard Cohen & Jennifer Warnes.
https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=33fda89bc4ea5a26&rlz=1CDGOYI_enCA819CA819&hl=en-US&q=joan+of+arc+leonard&tbm=vid&source=lnms&prmd=ivnsmbtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwieyOWGo4GGAxUhg4kEHesUC1YQ0pQJegQIDRAB&biw=428&bih=739&dpr=3#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:160dbf2c,vid:gtwUyDPXROQ,st:0
I'm intrigued by this choice!
Something Just Like This by Coldplay and Chainsmokers. A bit more popular than our usual tastes but the song was actually perfect.
Sons of the East, Going Home. We did a COVID wedding, dancing or singing not allowed. But we could have 30 guests and we were able to 'dance' down the aisle. https://youtu.be/UdQ-rsi_P6o?si=yNh_IFhu4CdmlTED
St. James Infirmary, played by a live brass band.
Wow!
"Tonight, I Celebrate My Love for You" by Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack.
I think it was just so I could see my father-in-law cringe when they sang the line, "When I make love to you, tonight."
I want to believe you looked at him as those lyrics were sung. And then let the look linger.
Good one
We picked "Someone Like You," by Van Morrison. We've always been fans of his music and not only does the song reflect how we feel, it's not one we hear all the time. We didn't want to choose a song we'd hear so much that we'd get sick of it, or that it wouldn't feel like "our song" anymore. On a similar note, I chose Ray Charles' rare version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," (the one in "Sleepless in Seattle") for the father/daughter dance. I rarely hear that version--if ever--and because there are so many renditions of it, I never get tired of hearing it, especially since my Dad has passed.
"Someone Like You" was a standard for a long time, then drifted away as a wedding song. I don't know why. It's really quite perfect. Though, that said, I also attended a wedding in the Rockies where the couple dances to "Tupelo Honey" as tall grass waved around us. Van Morrison has a lot of great wedding songs, come to think of it...
L-O-V-E by Nat "King" Cole.
Though the choice was my wife's, I am terribly under-educated in love songs, being more of an instrumental and industrial person myself.
This is a strong choice, though.