First Dance Song List for Your Wedding

Marry Me – Train (2011) (nice wedding song)
Rhythm Of Love – Plain White T’s (2010)
1,2,3,4 – Plain White T’s
A Moment Like This – Kelly Clarkson
A Thousand Miles – Vanessa Carlton
After All is Said and Done – Beyonce
After All – Peter Cetera & Cher
All for Love – Bryan Adams
All My Life – KC and JoJo
All My Life – Linda Ronstadt
All Of Me – Harry Connick Jr
All The Way – Frank Sinatra / Celine Dion
Almost Paradise – Mike Reno & Ann Wilson
Always – Atlantic Starr
Always On My Mind – Willie Nelson
Amazed – Lonestar
At Last – Etta James
Because Of You – Tony Bennett/Connie Francis
Because You Loved Me – Celine Dion
Better Together – Jack Johnson
Breathe – Faith Hill
Can You Feel The Love Tonight – Elton John
Can’t Help Falling In Love – Elvis Presley
Collide – Howie Day
Colour My World – Chicago
Come Away With Me – Norah Jones
Could I Have This Dance – Anne Murray
Crazy Love – Van Morrison
Cruisin – Huey Lewis & Gwyneth Paltrow/Smokey Robinson Don’t
Change – Musiq Soulchild
Drift Away – Uncle Cracker
Earth Angel – Penguins
Ebb Tide – Frank Sinatra/Righteous Brothers/Platters
Eternal Flame – The Bangles
Everything – Lifehouse
Everything – Michael Buble
Everything I Do (I Do It For You) – Brian Adams
Everything You Do – Marc Anthony
Faithfully – Journey
Feels Like Home – Chantel Kreviazuk
Fly Me To The Moon – Frank Sinatra
Fooled Around & Fell In Love – Elvin Bishop
Forever & For Always – Shania Twain
From This Moment – Shania Twain
Glory of Love – Peter Cetera
Greatest Love Of All, The – Whitney Houston
Grow Old With Me – John Lennon/Mary Chapin Carpenter
Have I Told You Lately – Van Morrison/Rod Stewart
Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman – Brian Adams
Hello Again – Neil Diamond (From Jazz Singer)
Here and Now – Luther Vandross
Hero – Mariah Carey
Hero – Enrique Iglesias
How Do I Live – Leanne Rimes
How Sweet It Is – James Taylor
I Could Not Ask For More – Sarah Evans
I Do It For You (Everything I Do) – Bryan Adams
I Have and I Always Will – Dave Barnes
I Hope You Dance – Lee Ann Womack
I Loved Her First – Heartland
I Melt – Rascal Flats I’ll Be – Edwin McCain
I’ll Be There – Michael Jackson
I Will Not Take My Love Away – Matt Wertz
In My Life – Bette Midler
It Had To Be You – Artie Shaw/Harry Connick Jr
It’s Your Love – Tim McGraw & Faith Hill
Just You And I – Eddie Rabbitt
Keeper Of The Stars – Tracy Byrd
Lady – Kenny Rogers Lady In Red – Chris DeBurgh
Lean On Me – Bill Withers
Let It Be – Beatles
Let It Be Me – Everly Brothers

List by DJ White Hawk

Bridal Shower Ideas and Games, Bridal Shower DJ

Bridal shower games, and bridal shower ideas for planning the best wedding shower in town. We also have tips for bridal shower invitations. Your wedding gown is ready, it's time for your maid of honor to throw you the perfect bridal shower party with funwedding shower games. Keep your bridal shower games simple, no excessive amounts of writing or long involved scavenger hunts or your guests will lose interest. There may be both men and women in the bridal shower games, so make sure they will interest everyone.

Great bridal shower gift ideas for the bride

Now is the time to get the bride her Official New Bride Name Change Kit with easy to use forms and checklists for changing your name on your Social Security records, drivers license, vehicle title, voter registration, passport, credit cards, banking, insurance, medical, and employment records. Most agencies want your wedding name change information within 30 days of your wedding. The wedding day is getting close, and the last thing the bride needs after her honeymoon is trouble dealing with the marriage name change hassles. Get her Official New Bride Name Change Kit and you'll be her hero.

Bridal Shower Favors Guest Gift/Sign In Book

Buy a scrap book and use a Polaroid camera or digital camera. As guests arrive (as well as during the shower) the guests get their picture taken with the bride to be and place it in the scrap book with a place for the guest to sign their name. The pictures are a documentary that shows who was there as well as the fun you all had. The bride will really love the idea of nice memories of her shower. With the rest of the pages in the scrap book, we filled them with pic's of the shower games, and the fun time that we had.

Free Bridal Shower Games Trivia Game

Have a combined party for all of the wedding attendants. The best way to do it was to pass out sort of a multiple choice (or multiple guess for those who don't know much) test to see how well they knew the bride and groom and their relationship. The person (or couple) with the most questions right wins a prize like movie passes. Some good questions were "Where did they eat at during our first date", "What weird thing happened during their second date at his house" (in one couple's case, no one got that one right...the answer was that his goat started giving birth).

Bridal Rage

Sent in by Teresa Williams. The bride blind folds all of her guests. The bride will make several noises such as snapping her fingers, tap dancing, letting the air out of a balloon, popping a piece of bubble wrap, drumming pots, or any strange noise...as quickly as she can. The guest can give their answers one at a time. The guest who identifies the most sounds wins the prize. The guests only have 5 seconds, one chance for each for guessing, and there is to be no blurting out!

Party Crasher (Sent in by Lisa Leigh)

I had a friend of mine, whom the bride didn't know come with her daughter. They walked in (nobody knew her) and put her gift on the table then sat down. The bride-to-be's Mom (who is my sister) started talking to her trying to find out who she was. Then everybody was kind of asking her who she was related to, etc. I just sat back and acted like I didn't know who she was and not saying much, because I didn't want to laugh. Well, we went around the room and everybody said who they were and who they were related to, such as cousin to the bride, aunt of the groom, etc. When it came to my friend, she said, "You know, I think I'm at the wrong shower" She acted like she was all flustered, went to stand up and dumped her purse all over the floor. Of course everybody tried to help her and we all felt terrible and embarrassed for her. So I helped her to the door and thanked her and walked back into the room where everybody was talking and whispering. I said, "OK, that was my friend Sharlene, and it was all staged. Everybody write down what she had dumped out in her purse". She had duct tape, a beanie baby, lots of weird stuff. We are still laughing about it.

Ice Breaker

This isn't really a game, but it is a good wedding shower ice breaker. Go around the room and have each guest spend no longer than 30 seconds telling everyone who they are and how they know the bride & groom. This will loosen everyone up for the games.

Charades

This is one of the most popular bridal shower games. The guests separate into 2 groups and write down titles of movies, shows, or famous people. Each team then selects a person to act out the charade and they draw from the opposing teams list of titles. From here, we all know how charades work, so your team members must guess what the title was as the appointed team member silently acts out the clues. You can also do it Pictionary style, which is fun too.

"Who Am I?" Bridal Shower Game

This is very popular ice breaker wedding shower game. Prepare index cards with the names of famous people written on them. When guests arrive, attach a card to each guest's back so that the guest cannot see who the name is, but everyone else can. Each guest must then ask the other guests for clues to the identity of the famous person whose name is taped to their back. To prevent cheating from clever guests trying to read it in a mirror, place a 2nd index card over the title to hide it.

The Toilet Paper Bridal Shower Game

Break everyone up into even groups, someone picks a bride out of each group and they make her a bride out of toilet paper. The bride picks the one she likes the best.

Pre-Addressed Envelope Door Prize Game

As guests arrive they are handed an envelope and asked to write their address on it, then it's put in a basket. One envelope is drawn, and the winning guest receives a prize. Then the envelopes (already addressed) along with the thank you cards were given to the mother, making it very easy to send.

What's The Bride Wearing Game

Gather the guests and give them a pen and paper. Tell the bride to leave the room and have the each guest write down everything the bride is wearing. After a preset time, you can bring the bride back in and whoever has the closest description wins the prize

The Clothespin Game

There are many variations of this game. The host buys a bag of colorful clothespins. Each guest receives one when the arrive. During the game the guests are forbidden from saying a particular word. Some variations prevent you from mentioning the groom's name, some prevent you from saying the word "No". If another guest catches you saying the forbidden word during the game, they get your clothespin. The wedding shower guest with the most clothespins at the end of the game wins the prize.

The Alphabet Game (from The Complete Book Of Wedding Showers)

The host starts with a sentence using the letter "A" to describe a food. In the sentence she describes that she went to a friend's house and she served artichokes. The next guest must repeat this sentence and add another item of food at the end of the sentence, and it starts with the letter "B". The next guest does the same thing and adds a food starting with the letter "C". Anyone unable to add a food must drop out of the game. The person who stays alive the longest wins the prize.

"Dress The Bride" Game

Take rolls of toilet paper and you have to make a wedding dress in under 5 minutes. Divided into groups of three with one bride and two bridesmaids. A more environmentally conscious alternative would be to take bed sheets and other fabric scraps and make the wedding gowns this way! We borrowed this idea from Beverly Hills 90210!

Catch The Bridal Bouquet Game

We also played catch the bouquet where we pinned paper flowers to a dart board. The girls had three chances to hit the flower with a dart, and the closest one wins the game.

Bridal Pictionary

Think of wedding words like 'mother in law" "garter toss" "flower girl" "ring bearer" "first Dance", etc.

Bridal Scrabble

Use about 20 words (could be less) that have something to do with "wedding". The words are scrambled and everyone has 10 minutes to unscramble them. The person who unscrambles the most wins the prize. Some examples of words: bride, groom, bridesmaid, maid of honor, limousine, garter, tuxedo, flower girl, rings, shower, honeymoon, church, reception.

A few more ideas for bridal showers

Recipe Box For The Bride

Include a recipe card with each invitation. Have each guest write down a favorite recipe. The hostess provides the bride with a new recipe box to put the recipes in.

Bridal Shower Gift Ideas and Bridal Shower Favors

You don't have to spend a fortune for bridal shower gifts and party favors. For reasonable bridal shower favors, try Movie tickets, bookstore gift certificates, or gift certificates for other stores and restaurants too, bottles of wine or cordials, CDs, or DVDs, box of chocolate.

Bridal Shower Invitations

You don't need to spend a lot of money on bridal shower invitations. Many people have print shop type programs on their PC, and these have built in invitation generators, that are real easy to use. You can use these programs to print up your wedding shower invitations. Also, don't forget to enclose a map with directions to the wedding shower. Your local card store also has pre printed bridal shower invitations and you just fill in the blanks.

In the bridal shower invitations, ask each party guest to bring a kitchen gadget as a bridal gift that starts with the first letter of their first name (Be Creative). At the party, the guests will introduce ourselves with them.

Bridal Shower Guests

If most of your guests don't know each other, you'll want to have name tags.

We hope you have enjoyed this guide to bridal showers.

Article by www.bridaltips.com

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Questions to Ask your Prospective Wedding DJ!

Is the DJ familiar with your wedding venue?

Ask your DJ if they have done weddings at your reception site before. It helps that they know the wedding venue, how to get there, and they have a familiarity with the staff. Your wedding disc jockey may also be better prepared to deal with known issues or caveats with the wedding reception hall. Every little positive wedding DJ bullet item you find makes it less likely that you will have problems with your DJ. It does not mean you should reject the DJ if they have not been there before, but it's a nod in their favor.

Who will be your actual DJ spinning discs at your wedding?

This one is important. You would hate to spend an hour interviewing your wedding DJ and like their personality, only to be blindsided at your wedding by having another DJ show up, when you expected the DJ that you interviewed. Make absolutely certain your contract spells out exactly who will be your DJ. If you want the owner and not their employee it should be on the contract. The contract should also mention what time and place they are supposed to be. Call a month ahead of the wedding to verify. Nay verbal promises made by your wedding DJ should be in writing on the contract. They won't remember several months from now what they verbally promised you today.

What about wedding DJ overtime, and other unexpected or hidden fees?

Your contract should clearly specify all costs including any assistant disc jockeys they will have with them, as well as special equipment lighting packages, or other fees that they pass on to you the client. Be wary of vendors who give you low ball quotes, but only give you 3 hours of time. If your reception runs longer, you find out "it's another $200 per hour or we walk out right now". You must also plan for overtime in case the reception runs longer than the contract specifies. The contract should clearly spell out how much extra it will cost you to have your wedding DJ for an extra hour or 2. It can cost $150 or more. Do not believe verbal promises stating they will work extra hours or have assistants for free. Put it in writing in the contract, or they will not do it. Don't be blindsided like many brides and grooms are when there event runs over. I receive complaints from brides whose wedding ran over, and the DJ threatened to leave if not paid in cash right now. You don't want surprises, your wedding DJ contract should be a game plan that covers all bases so you know exactly how much your DJ will cost you.

What attire will your wedding disc jockey wear at your wedding?

Sounds like a no brainer, but you usually want your DJ to wear a tuxedo. The DJ at my brother's wedding was wearing black jeans and a shirt that was hanging out. He was supposed to be wearing a tuxedo. Even the photographer went up to him and chastised him.

How many years experience does this wedding DJ have?
Will they play CD's you provide?

Some wedding disc jockey folks have a list of songs they play and except for the bride and groom first dance, do not give you much choice. Our wedding DJ to allowed us to choose at least 50% which is not the norm. Let your DJ be your guide as to what songs should be played. A good disc jockey reads the crowd and knows what to play. Be sure they know what NOT to play, as well as special songs you want to hear. Ask if they will accept requests from wedding guests. Your wedding disc jockey should be flexible with a wide selection, so requests from your wedding guests can be fulfilled. This step is VERY crucial, because your wedding DJ plays about 60 songs during your reception, and you want nothing but the best tunes to keep your dance floor crowded. If the DJ needs to intervene and suggest a song, heed them as they generally know what they are doing and keep up with the current trends. You want a wedding DJ who can adapt to any crowd. This DJ will be someone who is very well versed in all areas music. Don't try to give the DJ a tape or a list of 100% of the songs to play for the night. You hired a DJ not a juke box operator. If they stick to your play list, I can guarantee you'll have an empty dance floor. Your musical taste is not the same as 120 people at your wedding. Let your DJ do their job and keep your wedding guests happy.

Where will your wedding DJ setup? Is there a dance floor?

This is a rare need, but some wedding reception sites require your wedding DJ to bring a dance floor if the room does not have one. Some hotel banquet halls are all carpeted, without a hard floor for dancing. Also, you MAY not want a DJ who comes in and elevates themselves on the stage. We liked our wedding DJ's philosophy that the DJ should NEVER overshadow the bride and groom and he did NOT want to be up on the stage. Rather, he setup off the right closer to the crowd. Bucking tradition at the Boca Resort, we put our bridal party head table up on the stage. This allowed more space in the room for the guests, and ALL of them could see us.

Will your wedding disc jockey need to be fed at your wedding?

Be sure to feed your DJ, with travel, setup, performance, tear-down and return travel, they often go 10 or 12 hours without eating Ask if they want to be fed. Some disc jockeys want food, some do not want to eat while they work. They deserve it though, because they might be there 4 hours with nothing to eat or drink. The caterer needs to know so they can bill you accordingly. They usually make sandwiches for the DJ's, musicians, photographers, etc., or you can just let them eat off your buffet. Verify pricing with the caterer, you would not want them to charge you $150 per head for a DJ and an assistant disc jockey. The DJ at our wedding refused to be served food, don't know why. He felt we spent enough money and should not have to spend more to feed the DJ, so he eats before the wedding. He also felt it was unprofessional for the DJ to be eating when they should be working. We really admired his philosophy on this topic, but it's still ok to feed them, they'll be there 4 hours or more plus setup time. The hotel would have charged $18 for his food. We could not even get him to take a Coke. It's always nice to feed your vendors. We even gave him some chocolate and a centerpiece to take home to his wife after the reception.

Does your wedding DJ have a request form for you to fill out?

Ask for a list of wedding requests and suggestions in all categories. Some wedding DJs have a request form for you to fill out, so they can have everything ready for the wedding. Some obscure songs can take a while for them to obtain.

Does your wedding DJ do corporate functions also?

Ask the DJ if they ever do corporate functions, and view sample videos. If you can find a talented wedding DJ who has experience in corporate functions, then you really have someone worth their weight in gold. These are true professionals with mastery of dealing with large scale projects and all the SNAFUs that go along with them. The DJ we chose does numerous corporate functions in addition to being an excellent wedding DJ, and companies have paid to fly him all over the place. If you are a wedding DJ, this is a good selling point. Not a deal maker, but impressive, and it's ok to use a DJ that does not do corporate work.

What problems has the DJ encountered at weddings and how did they solve them?

You want a wedding DJ who is resilient, able to respond quickly to unforeseen mishaps that can mar your wedding. You can bet that many weddings look smooth, but had issues that were quickly seamlessly patched behind the scenes by DJs, caterers, and other vendors.

Are you insured or belong to any professional organizations?

Your contract only states what your DJ will do, but it does not say if they will do it well. Membership in organizations gives them growth, education, and ethics.

Article by www.bridaltips.com

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Interviewing Prospective Wedding DJs

Get Wedding DJ references from friends, coworkers and wedding reception halls

Your best resource in finding your wedding DJ is people you know. Ask around, try locally famous DJs from radio stations. Some people moonlight as wedding disc jockeys and are good at it. Talk to recent newlyweds, ask your wedding reception hotel or resort, they may have a list of preferred vendors for you to call, wedding DJs whom they trust. They also see the horror stories and know who to avoid. This list contains vendors that the resort has worked with and knows to be reliable and professional. The resort's reputation is stake also. But beware of secondary hotels or reception sites that might not be as scrupulous. Some caterers may get a kickback, so know who you are dealing with. Our DJ was recommended to us by the catering manager at the Boca Raton Resort where we had our reception. Our DJ also worked her wedding, and she oversees many weddings every year so she knew who the right DJ was, and boy was she right!

Interview 3-5 Wedding Disc Jockeys

Don't rush to pick your wedding DJ, they all have different personalities. Ask to see videos from previous weddings so you can view a few minutes of their work. Remember that using computer software, a DJ can edit their best material to make themselves look much better than they are. But at least you cans see them in action. Give more weight to personal recommendations. Scrutinize wedding videos from friends to see if you like their DJ. If you happen to see your potential DJ while you are a guest at another wedding before you make your decision, that helps too. Many people of marrying age attend several weddings in a year, and this is a good time to start scoping your vendors. If you have special song requests, ask the DJ if they have it or if they can get it. If your reception is complex, and in a big well known resort or hotel you want a true professional who works in the big places, not someone who travels the condo clubhouse circuit. Many DJ's may get offended by this, but you really want someone with the experience of working with the catering departments of these larger venues. This synergy between DJ and catering manager is what keeps your function running smoothly. A DJ's talent should reach far beyond just motivating the crowd or making the announcements at the right time. They must have their finger on the pulse of your wedding and know everything that is going on. The only way this can happen is when they have a good working relationship with the venue staff.

Article by www.bridaltips.com

Band or DJ? That is the question!

Here on BridalTips.com we focus on DJs. Don't hire a band you can't see or hear first either at a function from someone you know perhaps, that you just happen to attend, or view for a few minutes on a video. People tend to get married within a year of their friends, and may see their future wedding vendors at work on other weddings. Remember, the bands need to take breaks, so they play only a few 15-20 minute sets. But this article is about DJ's. We chose a wedding disc jockey due to cost, and we did not have to worry about a marginal singer crooning our favorite songs out of tune, which we see a lot of here in Florida. Just because one person is a good singer in a good band, does not mean the rest of the world is. Anyone who plays in a band has seen their share of awful bands. And when a consumer advocate like me tries to point out both sides of the coin to consumers, the losers come out of woodwork to complain how useless I am. Those are the people you need to avoid. But I suspect that you'll have the least amount of problems with your DJ than any other vendor, because the vast majority of DJs are great. I've been to maybe 12 weddings in my life and 3 of those 12 weddings (25%) I thought the wedding disc jockey stunk. Many other guests at these weddings back me up about wedding DJs.

A good wedding DJ is cheaper than bands, and they dynamically work your wedding crowd for 4 hours. In rare cases a band might party hardy then decide they don't want to show up. This probably happens more than a DJ not showing up. This is why you should use contracts. If they refuse to use one, then you should refuse to use their services. Bands always arrived late at my friend's recording studio. And before any musicians get all indignant, it happened at my sister's wedding. She hired a highly recommended harpist who was out getting drunk when she should have been at the wedding. Luckily I had brought a wedding CD as backup, the catering manager brought out a CD player, and we had music for me to walk her up the aisle with. So it does happen.

Feedback alert! What causes that loud shrieking feedback?

One problem that plagues MANY weddings with bands and DJ's is feedback. Let's call it Jeff's Law of Wedding Acoustics:

Keep the microphone away from the speakers!

Sounds easy on paper, but man, what a difficult concept for some DJs to grasp! Some bands can't grasp this simple concept and often the result is ear piercing feedback. They look around startled like they never heard feedback before, and the singer is standing with the microphone only one foot away from the speaker wondering what the cause is. We were at a wedding and the band produced feedback half a dozen times. Good wedding DJs and bands never produce feedback. “Starving artist” musicians usually cannot afford decent PA systems which result in the lead singer not being heard properly feedback. Wedding guests hate this.
Article by BridalTips.com

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Vancouver • Richmond • Burnaby • New Westminster

Coquitlam • Surrey • White Rock • Langley • Port Moody • Maple Ridge

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