Wedding Music!

Picking music for our big day was something I actually felt comfortable being a part of, but I didn’t realize  how important wedding music was until it was part of my wedding. There are so many choices- DJ’s, wedding bands, DJ’s who play with wedding bands, and singers who play with dj’s.  And that wasn’t even the hardest part.

The people aren’t like this

But the music kinda is

My fiance’s from Central PA, and I’m from Central Jersey.  To give you an idea what we were up against in terms of finding common ground in music, these are the top  Google results for “PA People” and “NJ People”… you try to make a set list for that party.

All these choices and pressure eventually led us to downtown Manayunk on a Monday night, to watch a Wedding Band Showcase.  This little music hall had everything from an 80’s band to a soul band, a dj, and a band that played with a DJ.

The problem was there were 6 acts playing 15 minutes each.  They wanted to show us they could play all types of songs so they crammed in as much as possible.  45 minutes in, it felt like we were on a roller coaster of chorus’.  On top of that, if each band played 30 songs, 20 of them were the same as the band before them. Over and over again we heard 30 seconds of Meatloaf, Frank Sinatra, Adele,  the Black Eyed Peas, Katie Perry and the Jackson 5 until the room was spinning.

But then we found them: CTO 5th Avenue.  They were the 2nd to last band of the night, and despite the exhaustion the crowd felt, these guys revitalized the room.  After a few songs, the band leader stopped the music and asked “Who here is from New Jersey?” I clapped immediately. “Hope you like what’s next”.  From there they played Hungry Heart and followed it up with Livin’ on a Prayer.  I was sold.  It seemed like they knew what I wanted to hear, and were playing just for me.  I found out later that was exactly the case- my fiance had emailed them that afternoon to let the manager know that Bon Jovi was important, and the Boss was essential.  5th Ave was the only band to take her advice, but man am I glad they did.   We came back a week later and booked them, over a year in advance.  That’s one thing I’ve learned when it comes to wedding planning: you can search and search, but sometimes, you just know.