The wedding setlist is a dynamic thing. It changes with the mood of the night. We’d usually consult clients prior to a wedding or event to seek what they themselves are looking for in terms of music, and compile a setlist as a guide for us on the night. One of the great benefits of having 10 years experience playing weddings and party’s, is that you get to know what works and what doesn’t, but must always be ready to change things when gauging the mood on the night. Its one of the skills only experience can buy.
The logic behind a typical setlist for a wedding, would be to have the first dance (and if there are father/daughter requests etc) start off the night, followed by something multi-generational (The Beatles for example) and upbeat to encourage people young and old to stay on their feet. Upbeat, Rock and roll and Jive style music would typically come at this point. A lot of old stuff etc would be at this point also. As the night progresses, we move into more contemporary music with a scattering always of multigenerational stuff so as not to neglect sections of the audience. We would generally concentrate the more ‘ties on your head’ air guitar stuff towards the end so as not to offend the ears of any grandparents who may enjoy early retirement to bed 🙂
Overall, we find this approach works well, but of course, every wedding is different, so we are always prepared to change it to suit as necessary.
We encourage you to tell us your musical tastes, what you would like to hear, and request songs you would like us to learn that are not currently in our repertoire. It not only betters your experience in terms of the music, but helps us in tuning into your audience!
Below is a good example of a wedding setlist. It seeks to stay upbeat, with slower numbers at the beginning of each set to ease your guests into the music. Its got many multigenerational classics mixed with a nice helping contemporary and just a dash of cheese…..
