Girl put that record on, play me your favorite song

A Dummies Guide to Wedding Banquet Songs

The sound of silence is a big no-no at any wedding banquet. Songs that inspired that lovely feeling and got him kneeling on one knee to ask for your hand in marriage should always be shared and celebrated. The wedding dinner is only 3 hours long but you’ve got a CD collection as big as Tower Records, so how do we even start selecting our all time favorite songs? Fret not, see which personalities you are below to better narrow down your song selections for your wedding dinner.

Fly Me To The Moon

In other words, jazz songs get you in the mood

You’ve probably seen too many jewelry commercials or simply love the breezy, samba feel to it, jazz songs have long been associated with romantic and intimate moods. In the last few years, jazz songs have been a favorite at most wedding banquets as the sultry singers seem to exude sexiness in the backdrop of saxophones and rhythmic beats. From the saxophone icon of Kenny G to the bossa nova magic of Stan Getz, you will not go wrong with the following picks:-

Diana Krall – S’Wonderful, The Look Of Love

Bebel Gilberto – So Nice

Laura Fygi – Dream A Little Dream, Fly Me To The Moon

Rod Stewart – Time After Time, It Had To Be You

Lisa Ono – I Wish You Love, Look For A Star

Silly love songs make you cry

They say no one makes love songs like they used to. Ask your parents if you do not believe me. Gone are the days of flower power and heart melting lyrics, it’s no wonder these songs are a testament that simple piano chords and meaningful words will forever be timeless classics. Go through the following selections and feel the tuggings at your heart as you ponder over the lyrics:-

Bee Gees – How Deep is Your Love, Emotions

Stevie Wonder – You Are The Sunshine Of My Life, Ebony & Ivory

The Carpenters – We’ve Only Just Begun, Close To You

Engelbert Humperdinck – Quando Quando Quando, Forever And Ever

Frank Sinatra – Something Stupid, L.O.V.E

Light your lighter and sing your love ballads

You know you’ve got that rock chick in you, if you grew up listening to the likes of Bon Jovi, Chicago and Bryan Adams. You could identify with their common themes of love and heartaches. The power divas such as Whiney Houston, Mariah Carey and Celine Dion too have sang their hearts out, proclaiming that there is still love in this world. Share the ups and downs of your love life with the following song selections:-

Bon Jovi – Bed of Roses, I’ll Be There For You

Bryan Adams – I Finally Found Someone, All For Love

Air Supply – Lost In Love, Power Of Love

Celine Dion – My Heart Will Go On, Because You Loved Me

Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You, Saving All My Love For You

Boybands Are Your Thing

The picture cut outs from the teen magazines are still pasted on your bedroom wall and you remembered you cried your eyes out when you heard that they were splitting up. Boybands have been a major influence on our adolescent lives and most girls would even go the extent of claiming ownership of their respective band member. As we slowly grew into young adults, the teeny bopper songs seem to highlight the thrills and spills of courtship and puppy love. Reminiscence those high school days of secret admirers and love letters as you play the following selection of songs:-

Westlife – Flying Without Wings, Swear It Again

Boyzone – I Love The Way You Love Me, Everyday I Love You

Take That – A Million Love Songs, Back For Good

98 Degrees – I Do (Cherish You), Because Of You

Backstreet Boys – I’ll Never Break Your Heart, I Want It That Way

Reel Life and Real Life

Who can ever forgot those unforgettable moments on the silver screen when the lead actor finally gets the lead actress? From tear jerking love stories to romantic comedies, we have all crossed our fingers and hoped for an ending that is happily ever after. You even suspected your boyfriend tried to use the movie clichés on you at one time or the other. Turn back the clock and relive those cinematic moments when you play the following songs from popular movies:-

When Harry Met Sally – Frank Sinatra (It Had To Be You)

The Wedding Singer – Adam Sandler (Grow Old With You), Spandau Ballet (True)

50 First Dates – Beach Boys (Wouldn’t It Be Nice), Sting (Every Breath You Take)

Notting Hill – Ronan Keating (When You Say Nothing At All), Elvis Costello (She)

Jerry Maguire – Bruce Springsteen (Secret Garden)

Memorable Songs From Other Sources

Everyone of us have watched a romantic Korean or Japanese drama at some point of time. We all loved to gossip and speculate what was going to happen to our lead actress in the next episode. It’s these TV stories that shaped our perception of love life and what better than to share the songs with our guests as we celebrate the first night as husband and wife. For newly weds of other races, you too have your share of favorite singers of your respective languages. If you have predominantly guests of a same race, you would not go wrong by spinning the latest or most popular love songs in the past decade.

Summary

Banquet songs are meant to bring in the mood to an otherwise somber affair. You may want to have special songs for the wedding program items such as first dance, march in or even food presentation. A word of caution here: We all have our favorite break up songs and these songs, no matter how we love singing them in our shower, is a definite spoiler! Someone actually played “Wen Bie/Goodbye” by Jacky Cheung at a dinner, imagine the horror on the guest’s faces!