Please Don't Stop...

THE MUSIC!!!

A big shout out to Rihanna, a fellow (beautiful) Caribbean woman, who is currently battling her own personal issues. I hope things work out...

Anyway, speaking of music, I've been putting this aspect of the wedding (particularly the reception) off because it's so dang daunting. I'm going to keep doing it some more too because there's so much to think about. We've got so many different tastes, ages and personalities of people coming to our wedding that it's going to be a whopper of a task to make sure to include all the types of music that will appeal to as many people as possible. Right now off the top of my head I can think of the following musical styles being played during the reception alone:

soca - a very fast Caribbean music that's fun to dance (and jump up) to primarily for me, my Caribbean friends and family

(the picture above is of Machel Montano a huge soca star. This man sold out Madison Square Garden two nights in a row..a rare feat, but island folks love their soca)

 Motown- for the older crowd

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Who doesn't love the Four Tops and other Motown artists? With songs like "Reach Out/I'll Be There" and "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honeybunch)"  you're bound to want to at least hum some of these songs.

 

 What I like to call old school Italian wedding hits  for the New England Italian portion of Mr. Swan's family

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Maybe some Dean Martin singing "Volare" or "Luna Mezzo Mare?" 

  80's hits - for our friends to reminisce

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You have not lived until you've screamed "Living on a Prayer" at the top of your lungs...seriously....

Hip Hop and R&B - For me to get down on the dance floor!!

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Ms. "I'm Sasha Fierce" aka Beyonce Knowles. Mr. Swan likes the "Single Ladies" song, but don't tell him I told you or he'll be a bit embarassed.

All I can say is that our DJ will have a lot on his hands trying to do all of this, but he has assured us that they can mix a good set of music to keep everyone on the dancefloor even with our daytime wedding. I've warned some people already that I will be shaking my groove thing, but I hope they will too. I hope that they'll hear something new from a different genre of music or realize that they liked something they least expected. Our wedding is about mixing experiences, personalities and cultures (and that's just Mr. Swan and me!). I foresee this happening with the music too. 

Will you be playing various styles of music at your wedding, or are you more lucky than me and have guests with similar tastes? How are you planning on handling various musical preferences? Has anyone been to a wedding where the DJ did not play a variety of music? Was it more or less fun for you?