wedding music

A highlight of any wedding reception is the Mother-Son First Dance, and we’ve seen some truly wonderful moments between mothers and sons at the start of the couple’s big day. It’s such a special moment when the groom and his mother take to the dance floor, smiling as ‘their song’ plays, and tears of joy often flow for both of them. This is a moment when both mother and son thank each other for being so special, so loving and supportive, and for the mother-son dance, a very special song is played.

Here are some of the most popular mother-son dance songs, reported by some of the top New Jersey wedding entertainment experts that we’ve had the great fortune to host here:

“What a Wonderful World”                             Louis Armstrong

“How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)”        James Taylor

“Because You Loved Me”                               Celine Dion

“She’s Got a Way”                                           Billy Joel

“Through the Years”                                         Kenny Rogers

“Unforgettable”                                     Nat King Cole

“You Raise Me Up”                                         Josh Groban

“Thank You For Loving Me”                            Bon Jovi

“Kind and Generous”                                        Natalie Merchant

One trend that we’re seeing for Mother-Son dances is the groom choosing a song as a surprise for his mother, sometimes playing a song that his mother has always loved, one they’ve held close as a special tune between them for years. Dancing to that wedding song now, in front of all of their family and friends at such a special celebration is a wonderful tribute to the mother’s special place in the groom’s heart, and he in hers.

Best,

Michael Mahle, Director of Communications, Pleasantdale Château

After your traditional first dance as husband and wife, it’s customary for the bride and her father, or step-father, to take to the dance floor to perform their Father-Daughter Dance. During so many years as home to beautiful New Jersey weddings, we’ve seen thousands upon thousands of sentimental moments between fathers and daughters at the wedding reception, and some of their first dances took our breath away. The songs they chose were so lovely, such a heartfelt tribute to the special bond between father and daughter on the wedding day.

Since so many of our wedding couples have inspired us with their Father-Daughter dance songs, we thought we’d share some of the most memorable ones, as well as songs you may like to consider for your own father-daughter dance:

“My Girl”                                  The Temptations

“Unforgettable”                         Nat King Cole

“Wind Beneath My Wings”       Bette Midler

“My Dad”                                 Paul Petersen

“Because You Loved Me”        Celine Dion

“Isn’t She Lovely?”                    Stevie Wonder

“Have I Told You Lately”          Van Morrison

“What A Wonderful World”      Louis Armstrong

“Butterfly Kisses”                      Raybon Brothers

“And Then They Do”                Trace Adkins

“There You’ll Be”                      Faith Hill

“In My Daughter’s Eyes”           Martina McBride

“A Song For My Daughter”       Ray Allaire

“You Raise Me Up”                 Josh Groban

We’re seeing a wonderful trend in Father-Daughter dances – father and daughter are picking out Their Song together, using a song from the bride’s childhood. So in addition to the most popular songs listed above, we’re also seeing fathers and daughters dancing to unexpected songs with great memories attached, like You Are My Sunshine and My First, My Last, My Everything by Barry White – the song the father always danced with his little girl to at other weddings they’ve attended over the years.

Whatever your Father-Daughter song, consider the other new trend: brides and fathers are practicing their first dance ahead of time, perhaps even having a dance instructor choreograph it. It’s their moment in the spotlight, and they make it special.

Best,

Michael Mahle, Director of Communications, Pleasantdale Château

In today’s world of personalized weddings, brides and grooms have arranged for their wedding entertainment to include specific songs from their much-loved playlists. Now, our New Jersey brides and grooms are following the top wedding entertainment trends and planning multiple song dedications for their receptions.

Here are some of the most sentimental and crowd-pleasing song dedication trends that you might wish to incorporate into your big day:

At the Start of the Reception

• After the first spotlight dances of your reception — including your first dance as husband and wife, your bride-and-father dance, the groom-and-mother dance, if you choose to include these – many wedding entertainment experts invite all of the couples onto the dance floor to enjoy this first spotlight dance, then remain on the dance floor for additional slow dance songs to follow it.
• If you’d prefer, you can instruct your wedding entertainment professional to read your song dedication made to your and your groom’s parents, inviting them to their own spotlight dance, as your thank-you for their help in planning your wedding. You choose a meaningful song for this dedication, and both or all sets of parents are invited to share it the moment, regardless of which parents paid more for the wedding. It’s fine etiquette and good family diplomacy to acknowledge all parents as equals.
• End your song dedications here, so that guests can take their seats to enjoy the first course of their dinner, and so that your song dedications don’t become an endless string of songs where all guests stand and watch someone else having all the fun. Spread out your song dedications over the course of the evening.

At the Start of the Fast-Dance Wedding Entertainment

• When the wedding entertainers, deejay or band, are ready to transition from slow-dance dinner music to dance music for the reception’s higher-energy portion, a great way to start the  action is to have the first fast-song announced as a dedication from the groom to the bride, or vice versa. It may be one of your favorite songs of all time, or the song you always play when getting ready for a big night out.
• Dedicate fast-dance songs to others, including:
  • Your bridal party members
  • Your friends, in an all-inclusive song dedication announcement, not a naming-of-names in a small circle, making others feel left out or diminished
  • Your cousins, also a strong trend that we’re seeing here at family-centric New Jersey weddings
  • To your kids, if you’re blending families or have children as a couple

At the Big, Symbolic Moments

When the cake is wheeled out in the dramatic presentation for the bride and groom to cut their first slice as husband and wife, you may choose this moment as the perfect moment for a song you’ll dedicate to your guests, as a very special thank-you for the ‘sweet’ gift of their traveling to share this day with you.

When you present your bouquet to your mother, grandmother or other special female, or toss your bouquet to your awaiting single female guests, choose a special song dedication that pay tribute to all of your women friends and relatives.

When you have your wedding entertainers play special cultural songs, the inclusion of those important rituals becomes a tribute that adds so much to your wedding celebration. At our West Orange wedding venue, we’ve hosted a large variety of cultural wedding celebrations from Indian to Italian, Japanese to Jewish, Polish, Colombian, Irish, and all manner of heritage-based weddings. Wedding entertainment for these festive weddings often includes special song dedications.

At the End of the Reception

Your wedding entertainment comes to a close with the last dance of the evening, and as bride and groom you may choose to propose a song dedication for this last number. This may be another of ‘your songs’ or a song that’s special to your family. At this point, you might take the microphone to propose your song dedication directly to each other, to your families and friends, and we’ve even enjoyed the surprise of our brides and grooms thanking us for bringing their wedding dreams to life. That’s music to our ears.

Best,

Michael Mahle, Director of Communications, Pleasantdale Château

Your wedding entertainment isn’t just a focus for your wedding reception alone. At the many pre-wedding parties hosted for you, music is an important mood-setter, giving your guests lovely sounds to enjoy during your rehearsal dinner, engagement party, bridal shower, even during your wedding morning breakfast or bridal brunch.

At the Pleasantdale Chateau in West Orange, we’ve hosted some of the top NJ wedding entertainers, including wedding bands and DJs, and our wedding ballroom has been filled with romantic slow songs, club dance music, and cultural wedding music from the tarantella to the hora. Our network of preferred vendors includes entertainment companies that also offer talented solo and small-group musical acts that you can book for your pre-wedding parties.

Some of the most popular solo artists, duos and other musicians you’ll find through professional wedding entertainment agencies include pianists, guitarists, harpists, cellists, flutists and singers. And our New Jersey wedding couples have also found fabulous, multi-talented musical performers through our many nearby universities such as Rutgers in New Brunswick, Drew University in Madison, and other colleges that have music departments. Our couples called the university and were soon auditioning talented  performers and groups that they booked for their pre-wedding parties. Some couples tell us they fell in love with the pianists they saw at local jazz clubs and guitarists in performance at local bookstores. These gifted musicians are happy to book engagement parties and rehearsal dinners as well as rehearsal dinners and garden weddings, so they may be ideal for your own star-search as you arrange your wedding entertainment for all of your celebrations.

For your at-home, informal parties such as casual engagement parties with friends or friend and family gatherings when you return from your honeymoon, of course you might arrange your own music using your iPod playlist, as a free option that allows you to personalize your song selections. As a fun wedding gift idea from a teen or budget-crunched friend, it’s a new trend for that loved one to custom-mix a playlist just for you, both as the party entertainment and as a treasured gift that’s actually quite priceless.

Best,

Michael Mahle, Director of Communications, Pleasantdale Château

A highlight of any wedding reception is the Mother-Son First Dance, and we’ve seen some truly wonderful moments between mothers and sons at the start of the couple’s big day. It’s such a special moment when the groom and his mother take to the dance floor, smiling as ‘their song’ plays, and tears of joy often flow for both of them. This is a moment when both mother and son thank each other for being so special, so loving and supportive, and for the mother-son dance, a very special song is played.

Here are some of the most popular mother-son dance songs, reported by some of the top New Jersey wedding entertainment experts that we’ve had the great fortune to host here:

“

What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong
“How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)” by James Taylor
“Because You Loved Me” by Celine Dion
“She’s Got a Way” by Billy Joel
“Through the Years” by Kenny Rogers
“Unforgettable” by Nat King Cole
“You Raise Me Up” by Josh Groban
“Thank You For Loving Me” by Bon Jovi
“Kind and Generous” by Natalie Merchant

One trend that we’re seeing for Mother-Son dances is the groom choosing a song as a surprise for his mother, sometimes playing a song that his mother has always loved, one they’ve held close as a special tune between them for years. Dancing to that wedding song now, in front of all of their family and friends at such a special celebration is a wonderful tribute to the mother’s special place in the groom’s heart, and he in hers.

Best,
Michael Mahle, Director of Communications, Pleasantdale Château

>After your traditional first dance as husband and wife, it’s customary for the bride and her father, or step-father, to take to the dance floor to perform their Father-Daughter Dance. During so many years as home to beautiful New Jersey weddings, we’ve seen thousands upon thousands of sentimental moments between fathers and daughters at the wedding reception, and some of their first dances took our breath away. The songs they chose were so lovely, such a heartfelt tribute to the special bond between father and daughter on the wedding day.

Since so many of our wedding couples have inspired us with their Father-Daughter dance songs, we thought we’d share some of the most memorable ones, as well as songs you may like to consider for your own father-daughter dance:

“My Girl” by The Temptations
“Unforgettable” by Nat King Cole
“Wind Beneath My Wings” by Bette Midler
“My Dad” by Paul Petersen
“Because You Loved Me” by Celine Dion
“Isn’t She Lovely?” by Stevie Wonder
“Have I Told You Lately” by Van Morrison
“What A Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong
“Butterfly Kisses” by Raybon Brothers
“And Then They Do” by Trace Adkins
“There You’ll Be” by Faith Hill
“In My Daughter’s Eyes” by Martina McBride
“A Song For My Daughter” by Ray Allaire
“You Raise Me Up” by Josh Groban

We’re seeing a wonderful trend in Father-Daughter dances – father and daughter are picking out Their Song together, using a song from the bride’s childhood. So in addition to the most popular songs listed above, we’re also seeing fathers and daughters dancing to unexpected songs with great memories attached, like You Are My Sunshine and My First, My Last, My Everything by Barry White – the song the father always danced with his little girl to at other weddings they’ve attended over the years.

Whatever your Father-Daughter song, consider the other new trend: brides and fathers are practicing their first dance ahead of time, perhaps even having a dance instructor choreograph it. It’s their moment in the spotlight, and they make it special.

Best,
Michael Mahle, Director of Communications, Pleasantdale Château

Wedding guests love slow-dancing with one another, so the new trend in reception music is to have your band or deejay play a greater number of slower songs at the start and at the end of the wedding reception.

Everyone shares in the romance of a beautiful wedding day, and when guests are dressed to impress, perhaps remembering the joys of their own wedding days, they want to dance close together for more than just a song or two. Wedding entertainers say that they notice the dance floor gets packed for those slow ballads by guests of all ages, whether married, engaged, dating or as friends, and can sometimes clear a bit when the faster club music begins. So they now suggest to brides and grooms that they add more slow-dance songs to their reception music play lists.

Slower songs are played during the dinner hour, and guests happily stand from their tables to lead their partners to the dance floor when their favorite slow-dance songs begin. Wedding entertainers say they play three or four slower songs even after the meals have been enjoyed. Brides and grooms hold it as a high priority for their guests to enjoy the music, and they thrill at the sight of their grandparents and parents showing off their well-practiced, often enviable slow dance skills when this slower reception music invites them to spend more time on the dance floor.

From there, of course, reception music gets faster, with club music, Motown hits, and top 40 songs leading the trends here in our New Jersey region, for several hours of the party. Then as the reception winds down in its final hour, the pace returns to four or five more slow-dance songs that couples adore. Wedding guests say that it’s a particular thrill to hear ‘their song’ played within these closing slow dance performances. The bride and groom often plan a slow, spotlight dance as the last dance of the evening, joining their guests on the dance floor as all share in the couple’s second ‘our song’ of the wedding celebration.

Upon that song’s last notes, and with couples closing the dance with a spin or a dip, the reception ends with a romantic tone that leads guests to consider your wedding to be one of the most romantic and truly enjoyable they’ve ever been to.

Best,
Michael Mahle, Director of Communications, Pleasantdale Château

By Laura Madden, Senior Sales Manager, Pleasantdale Château
The ceremonial “First Dance” at a wedding reception often looks uncomfortably like its name implies: The newlyweds are usually nervous and hesitant, even if they took dance lessons a few weeks before their wedding day to be prepared for their pas de deux. We say don’t worry about it – just grin and bear it. First dance songs are usually a classic or traditional standard, and danced in relatively slow motion anyway, so there’s not much risk of embarrassing yourselves. But one trend that’s getting more popular at wedding receptions is the Second Dance.

The Second Dance can be a surprise the bride gives to the groom, a dance for the newly married couple to really enjoy themselves. It can be fun and fast or slower and romantic, but it’s a way that a bride can really show her new husband a good time on the dance floor. It’s also one more time where you two can steal the spotlight together, dancing. If the couple had trouble agreeing on what to play for the first dance, you can use the song that got passed over for the second dance. (In other words, the groom’s choice that he was gallant enough to defer in favor of the bride’s selection!) Whatever song you choose, the Second Dance is another good way for newlyweds to start off their new life together in step.

Have a great day!

Laura

By Rolf Shick, Banquet Manager, The Manor
By now we’ve all seen the crazy freestyle dance on YouTube, and again during The Office’s season finale when Pam and Jim got married. But that style of wild celebration clearly isn’t for everyone. That begs the question: How should the bride and groom, and the wedding party make their entrance to the wedding reception? One interesting way to introduce the bridal party is to use a song that builds up over the course of a minute or so, with the bride and groom coming into the reception at the highpoint of the musical build up. The Dave Matthew’s Band’s “Two Step” is an example of a song that works well as an entrance soundtrack. If you’re sports fans, you can use Gary Glitter’s “Rock and Roll (part 2)” or Queen’s “We Are the Champions,” both famous for being played during the intros of many professional sporting events. A simple announcement made by a member of the wedding party or event staff will also work for an entrance, but for couples who want something a little more, there’s nothing wrong with putting a little pizzazz into it.

Thank you!

Rolf

By Lars Johnson, General Manager, Pleasantdale Château
The music selection for your wedding literally sets the tone for the ceremony. You’ve got a lot of options to consider – not only in terms of the music selection itself, but also the kind of musician or ensemble to play it. Do you want a harpist? A flautist? A string quartet, or Mariachi band? The truth is, you can use recorded music, but having live musicians can be a really nice touch. Keep a few simple rules in mind. First, make sure the choice of musicians is appropriate for the venue. For example, if you plan to have a harpist and your ceremony is outside, make sure that you aren’t underneath the path of low-flying airplanes – Your guests might never hear a note of music, otherwise. In a church wedding, organists traditionally provide the music, but duets singing Ave Maria or other classic songs are gaining favor with brides. We’ve seen family members who are opera singers lending a hand, or rather, voice, to wedding ceremonies, too. But we’re talking about trained singers. Your wedding is not a time or place for Uncle Al to show off the vocal talents he’s too old to showcase on American Idol. So put a little time into your music selection, and you’ll start your wedding ceremony off on the right note.

Best,

Lars