1.) LIMIT YOUR LIST – Choose about 20-25 songs per hour. This means that if you’re having a standard 5 hour wedding reception, you’ll want about 20-25 songs for cocktails, 20-25 songs for dinner, and about 30-40 songs for your dance party.

2.) BE DIVERSE – When it comes to building the perfect playlist, it’s all about mixing a variety of styles and genres to make sure there’s a little something for everyone. Your wedding reception will most likely have an age range from small children to grand parents, and not everyone has the same taste in music.

3.) DON’T SLOW THE PARTY DOWN – Once the dance floor is officially open, make sure to plan for only 3-5 slow songs so that your dance floor doesn’t drag too much. Keep in mind that during the ceremony, cocktails, and dinner, your guests have been sitting for a pretty long time, so they’ll be looking forward to upbeat music and party vibes.

4.) KEEP IT APPROPRIATE – There is a time and place for everything, and when it comes to your wedding day, you get to be the judge of what’s appropriate. However, we always encourage clients to think about opting for the radio edit versions of songs if they know some song titles have choice language and content.

5.) CHOOSE THE GROOVE – There are some songs that are fun to sing along with, but may not be easy to dance to…. Pay attention to these culprits. When in doubt if a song will be a good one to add or not, play it and dance to it. If you can feel the beat and fall into a groove KEEP IT! If you can’t – TOSS IT OUT! Another IMPORTANT factor is to keep your songs POPULAR selections. Your family & friends want to dance to what they know, so leave your “underground” or “up & coming” artists in the car and out of the reception.