HitchDied

Foot Stompin’

| 16 Comments

This weekend Collin and I went to a party which I put in the party hall of fame.  Some of the fun was sampling expensive beer and whiskeys, but I would say the main thing that made me say over and over, “I’m having such a good time!” was the dancing.  We danced so hard at this party that the force of our foot stompin’ literally knocked stuff off the shelves.  Repeatedly.

I want people to dance like that at my wedding.  Well, I mean, I hope they don’t literally knock things over.  I assume that could get expensive.  But I still hope for some figurative floor shaking/roof raising/structure verbing.

So now I care about finding an awesome DJ, which is something I was pretty unconcerned with earlier.  I have no idea how to accomplish this.  I find myself wishing not for the first time that I had more friends who’ve been married in this area to guide me.

So far the one person I talked to said she liked her DJ because “he pretty much played exactly what we told him to.”  That’s really not going to fly with us.  I do not trust myself to come up with a list of songs that other people will want to dance to.  I can make a list of songs I like, but that has little if anything to do with songs other people like.  Including Collin.  I just asked Collin what kind of music he likes to dance to, and he said and I quote: “Uh… most stuff?  I don’t know.  I don’t know music.  I’ll dance to pretty much anything.”

Which I suppose is true for me too, except for certain songs that make me run from the floor in protest, not because of any actual judgment on their danceability, but more because I find the artist objectionable because they hate women (see, e.g., Katy Perry, UGH), beat women, or if the song just reminds me of regrettable times or people in my life.  I wouldn’t expect any DJ to be able to anticipate my needs (hence the glory of the Do Not Play list, which I look forward to), and it makes me realize that everyone we’ll invite to our wedding will come with their own preferences and Would Not Play baggage, and I can’t possibly cater to them all.

But I want to find a DJ who can be all things to all people!  I want some serious foot stompin’ after I get married!

16 Comments

  1. I hope for this, too.

    Having said that, the most recent wedding I was at had THE WORST DJ ever, but everyone still got on the dancefloor and danced and laughed at how ridiculous it was, and had a great time.

    We hired a DJ. A cheap one. I can just tell he is going to play a whole lot of 70s and 80s stuff which is actually perfect for us!

  2. just to let you know, I was very concerned with people having an awesome time dancing at my wedding too. i had gone to a wedding the month before with tons of dancing and wanted just that! needless to say there was much less dancing at mine but I danced by myself (well i danced with my friend’s 2 year old for most of the day) and still had a blast

    would you consider doing an ipod reception? thats what we did and it worked great and that way a DJ didn’t play something awful

    • We’ve got two problems with an iPod reception: 1) we don’t own enough/know enough music 2) We’d have to rent sound equipment and set it up and I feel like that will just end with the tragic electrocution of the bride.

    • Have you thought about asking Alex? He can do a completely fun and not-gothic wedding set. He’s DJed at two weddings now and he’s fabulous.

      No worries if you’d rather go with someone local, but I bet he’d be VERY cheap. ; )

  3. I don’t have many wishes for my wedding, but up at the top is that everyone dance their booties off for hours on end. Because that’s what I’m going to do.

  4. I have no intention whatsoever of dancing at our wedding, and will generally sit it out wherever I go, but I do enjoy watching the dancing and listening to the music. I also have no trouble keeping myself entertained by chatting with the other non-dancers (we always tend to find each other and congregate around a table where we can watch). So don’t worry too much about making sure there are a lot of different activities for the non-dancers while you’re planning your dance party.

    • At our venue the dancing is in a separate room from the dining, which makes me worry a little more about the non-dancers being entertained. Hopefully good conversation will carry us most of the way and we’ll come up with a few diversions to pull the rest of the load.

      • Just make sure there are places to sit in the dancing room — a couple of small tables, or at least some chairs. We non-dancers like to feel like we’re part of things (and also to be there when the drunk lady wearing the improbably high heels inevitably tries a move that lands her on her ass, ’cause that’s funny stuff).

  5. Ask Shannon, the person you are working with at the Grand Concourse ( they will usually be able to make GREAT recommendations),and anyone else you know that goes to parties or bars where there is dancing to get names of DJ’s and go and listen to them!!!!! WE had a lot of fun doing that for Carries wedding and then felt GREAT about hiring!!!!!

  6. Yeah, I worry about this too, because I want it. So very badly. The foot-stomping, I mean.

    I flee the dancefloor whenever a tune I don’t vibe with comes on. I’ve unfortunately spent whole wedding receptions sitting it out, and I don’t want that to happen at my wedding. We went with a cheap DJ because of our budget, and during our subsequent meetings my faith in his abilities has been shaken, restored, shaken,* and restored again. So at this point it’s a toss-up. I’m fairly confident that he’ll play our most of our must-haves list and more or less be able to fill in the gaps elsewhere, but there will probably be areas where he falls flat. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that a combination of “OK D.J.” plus “infectious spirit” will make the dancefloor rattle and roll after all.

    * And stirred, just for good measure!

  7. Yes to the crazy dancing party. I really feel like I will be upset on my wedding day if a. for some horrible reason we don’t get married and b. no one dances. I’ve been know to bust a move or two or three. So dancing is high on the priorities.

    Two thoughts: first, would you ever trust a friend with good musical sense to make a iPod play list for you? You’d still have to rent equipment though. Second, even though it’s generally frowned upon in anti-WICy blog world, on occasion the Knot local area message boards can be really helpful with vendor suggestions. A lot of ladies are honest about how their vendors performed and willing to tell you exactly what they paid. If you can get in, ask the question, and get out without reading unrelated posts, you should be safe.

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