Wedding Music for a Beatles-Loving Couple - Kaelyn + Dylan's Wedding
All Images by Photos with Ashley.
What do you get when you have a couple who are head over heels for each other... and The Beatles? Um... one of my favourite weddings ever.
Kaelyn and Dylan's wedding was cute, crafty, a little bit vintage and a LOT of romance. The best thing about their wedding was the very apparent reality that not only were these two best friends, they were head over heels in love. The second best thing about their wedding? The music.
Not only did the bride and groom love The Beatles, so did their bridal party and their families. Now, I was raised on The Beatles. I remember my dad playing "Yesterday" to us on his guitar, and going through a phase in junior high where the only music I listened to was the fab four - on vinyl, from my dad's collection. You will never catch me complaining when a couple wants to incorporate as much Beatles music as they can on their wedding day.
For their wedding ceremony, Kaelyn and I tracked down a few instrumental versions of the Beatles songs most meaningful to them, and mixed that in with a few other great alternative selections.
Ceremony Music
Groom + Groomsmen Entrance: Red Right Hand - Nick Cave and the Black Seeds (iTunes / Amazon)
Bridesmaids Entrance: Old Pine - Ben Howard (iTunes / Amazon)
Bride's Entrance: Across The Universe (Instrumental) - The Beatles (Google Play)
Signing of The Register: All You Need Is Love (Instrumental) - The Beatles (iTunes)
Recessional: Home - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes (iTunes / Amazon)
Cocktails + Dinner
For this wedding, the atmosphere was to be fun and laid back - no string quartets or slow ballads here. Before the wedding, the groom, Dylan, asked for cocktail and dinner music to be "light and fun, a la the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack." Guys, the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack is awesome. Remember the opening scene, where Peter Quill dances through the forest listening to headphones? The song that's playing is "Come and Get Your Love" by Redbone - an epically smooth 70s rock song, perfect for an upbeat wedding cocktail hour. The whole movie is filled with awesome rock and soul music of the 60s and 70s, and made a perfect backbone to plan the rest of the playlist around.
They are also big fans of alternative rock, so we peppered the playlist with some of the groom's requests that fit better as background music than dance floor jams. Here's what we came up with:
Guardians of the Galaxy Soundtrack (iTunes / Amazon)
Never There - Cake (iTunes / Amazon)
Here Comes Your Man - The Pixies(iTunes / Amazon)
Revolution - The Beatles (iTunes / Amazon)
Think I'm In Love - Beck (iTunes / Amazon)
Lean On Me - Bill Withers (iTunes / Amazon)
Just One Look - Doris Troy (iTunes / Amazon)
Default - Django Django (iTunes / Amazon)
Call It What You Want - Foster The People(iTunes / Amazon)
You Got What I Need - Freddie Scott (iTunes / Amazon)
Midnight City - M83 (iTunes / Amazon)
Special Music + Dance Floor
Here's the music that Kaelyn and Dylan chose for the special moments throughout their wedding reception, and what they (and their friends!) got down to on the dance floor.
Grand Entrance: Hooked on A Feeling - Blue Swede (iTunes / Amazon)
Cake Cutting: Yakety Sax (iTunes / Amazon)
First Dance: In My Life - The Beatles (iTunes / Amazon)
Father Daughter Dance: Landslide - Fleetwood Mac (iTunes / Amazon)
Must-Play music for the dance:
Uptown Funk - Bruno Mars (iTunes / Amazon)
Bizarre Love Triangle - New Order (iTunes / Amazon)
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - Daft Punk (iTunes / Amazon)
Happy - Pharrell Williams (iTunes / Amazon)
No Diggity - Blackstreet (iTunes / Amazon)
This is How We Do It - Montell Jordan(iTunes / Amazon)
Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen (iTunes / Amazon)
Push It - Salt-n-Pepa (iTunes / Amazon)
Blister In The Sun - Violent Femmes (iTunes / Amazon)
Here's what Kaelyn and Dylan had to say about working with PopJukebox:
“You rock our world. For reals. We had the best day ever. Thank you times a million! I have nothing but positive things to say about PopJukebox. You are extremely professional and know exactly what a crowd needs. You were easy to get a hold of and very calm and easy-going throughout the whole process. You accommodated every request we had and even added a few special touches based off our taste (thank you for the extra Beatles songs!) A lot of our guests mentioned how great you were. You will be the first person I recommend to anyone who needs a DJ!!”
The night ended with a really special moment. Even though it had been played earlier in the night, the best man had the (very clever) idea of playing "Twist and Shout" again. I went with my gut, followed his lead, and was so pleased to see everyone who was still there at the end of night, even Grandma, doing the twist. Truth be told, I may have got on the dance floor myself - it was just that fun of an evening.
Thank you so much, Kaelyn and Dylan - it was an absolute privilege to be part of your wedding!
