Wedding Wednesday | Choosing a First Dance Song

Wedding Photos courtesy of Antillana de Fotografia

One of the most important details of anyone's wedding is the first dance song.

It has to be memorable and meaningful.

It has to represent you as a couple.

 Some couples may even require that it brings their guests to tears.

Some couples may not want to make their guests cry.

Other couples want to wow their guests with a choreographed number to said song.

Regardless of your requirements, choosing a song for your first dance as husband and wife is an important decision.

Some couples have no problem making the choice. They know right away which song is "their" song.

Other couples don't have it so easy.  Victor and I had a tough time choosing our first dance song.  Of course, I, being the emotional, sensitive type, had many ideas for what I thought should be our wedding song.  I started making a list before we were even engaged; the songs ranged from slow and sentimental to fast-paced and dramatic.  I even envisioned the flawless choreographed routine we would have to some of those songs on my list.

However, when it came time for Victor and I to agree on a song, we hit a wall.  The only real significant song that we had a connection to as a couple was "Mrs. Officer" by Lil Wayne, which we giggled about on our first date many many moons ago--not the most appropriate for a wedding song.  There was one particular Sunday morning during our wedding planning process that we sat across from one another on our laptops, taking turns playing song suggestions for one another.  Mine were serious suggestions--they all came from that list I had been compiling for years.  Victor's were mostly jokes with a few serious contenders.  I had my requirements for our song: it had to represent us, we had to actually like the song, and it couldn't be too cliche or overused.  I also would have loved to have some choreographed bits to it.  Victor's main requirement was he didn't want it to make him cry while we were dancing to it, meaning it couldn't be too sentimental.

 We ended up choosing "Treasure" by Bruno Mars...just a few weeks before our wedding.  Not your traditional wedding song choice, but we're not your traditional couple.  We aren't a mushy-gushy, lovey-dovey couple.  We aren't big on PDA.  We are silly together.  We like to have fun together.  We love Bruno Mars.  We love to dance.  It was the perfect song for us, and it was so fun to dance to at our wedding.

Apologies for the expletive at the beginning.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), the song that most of our guests associate with our wedding is "Bubblebutt" by Major Lazer.  When we reminisce about our wedding with our guests, many of them start singing the "chorus" and we all have a good laugh.  If you're not familiar with that song, you're going to have to Google it yourself, and then you'll see why I didn't link out to it or embed the video here.

(Did you Google it?  Did you???)

The main thing to remember when choosing your wedding song is that it's about you and your partner.  It's your choice which song you pick, and you should honor your relationship when you make your decision.  It should be a choice you make together.  And hopefully you find the perfect song to represent the love you have for one another.

If you're in the process of choosing a song for your first dance, here are some of the songs that were on my list.  I don't plan on getting married again, so you can use one if you want.

"Only You Can Love Me This Way" by Keith Urban (I love the guitar riffs in this song, in addition to the lyrics)

"End of Time" by Beyonce (we would've had a killer dance routine for this one.  I envisioned it on my long drives to and from work)

"Baby (You've Got What it Takes)" by Michael Buble (also a choreographed number)

"You" by Rascal Flatts

"God Gave Me You" by Dave Barnes

"At Last" by Etta James

"You and I" by Michael Buble

"Make You Feel My Love" by Adele

"Until You" by Dave Barnes

If I were wedding planning now, these newer songs would be on my list:

"Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran (Victor says he likes this song too.  This would probably be the winner if we were getting married now)

"Bright" by Echosmith


If you're already married, what was your wedding song?  How did you decide upon it?  Do you wish you had chosen something else?  Comment below!