every version i hear of ANY ashford and simpson song sounds worse than the last.

I say go with this monstrosity:

I gave the bandleader a list of songs they were not allowed to play...under any circumstances. Plus, my guy said he'd learn "Walk Forever By My Side" by the Alarm.

We went and saw 3 or 4 bands, and sent for cd's of maybe 9 or 10 others. All but one were horrid. We walked in to see the ones we wound up going with, and they were playing a Guster song.

Sold.

And they were excellent, perfect for it. But it was work.

the jewelery was easy. shiny, round, expensive, who cares. this shit... christ i just don't want to hear "Strokin'" or "the chicken dance" at my own wedding.

Go see Busty and Cap'n this week in Madison..they're avilable, I hear

Get married at the courthouse like me. Sure, you'll have to deal with a few inevitable tears, but isn't that what marriage is all about?

Speaking of, chase, you get that pm?

got it. working on the execution.

We had a DJ as most bands we interviewed all had a "style" or something we didn't like. The DJ was pretty easy to control as I gave him a list of everything acceptable and all that wasn't. I also made him a couple of mix CD's & asked him to work stuff he wouldn't have had in his collection, but lots of my friends dug into the mix.

DJ's can also work in lots of Sinatra etc, so if you have folks of that generation at your wedding, they get up and dance. Its pretty cool to see that.

we had a dj - i had basically 0 control over the music but I figured that nearly everyone there would rather hear what the dj wanted to play than the music I wanted to hear so I just gave up on it. there was a load of shit played and the people loved it.

Every wedding I've been to with a dj involved some dude with a dunlop and a microphone, and no matter what the bride said, he'd get frustrated at his inability to get the crowd "up" at some point, and fall back on the dj's all-time favorite fallback, the Chicken Dance. That or Margaritaville, or the electric slide, or something. They just figure that no matter what the instructions were, those songs just Can't Fail, and that you'll thank him for it later.

If you can find a band that fits, it's worth it, all the way. It's a whooole different reception. But sometimes that band isn't there.

my wedding happened in north carolina so the dj even threw in rocky top tennessee - and some people clogged. it was unbelievable.

i will rape someone in the face if they attempt to play rocky top.

I got the band of my then-producer to play my reception. They're called Slow Motion Monkey. It was awesome. Of course I was too wigged out by the fact that I was getting married to really relax and enjoy the entertainment. I wish that I could go and relive that day again - hell, from my bachelor's party through my reception again. Oh wait, let's toss in the honeymoon, too . . . getting married was pretty damn fun, come to think of it.

a few weeks, i got an IM from an ex-girlfriend's best friend. i'm still good friends with the ex, but i haven't talked to her friend in years. we caught up for awhile before she asked me to dj her wedding. i was like, "really?" and then she said that it's really important to her that the music be good. she'd listened to my radio shows in college and gone to my dance parties and probably heard the tapes i'd made for her best friend. i was shocked that anyone would want me to dj their wedding, but i've agreed so far. of course, this probably won't be for another year or so.

I think you should get Cotton to beat-box.

I had an truly great time. We put up a website with all the info on it, and didn't entertain any questions, like "how do I get to" wherever, or "what time is" something. Look it up. Made life a lot easier. We also rented a trolley-shaped bus for the whole day to drive people around, and had most folks staying within walking distance of the reception downtown, including us.

Only problem: Got back to the room (150-yr-old mansion / inn) and found our room door locked by the staff, when she'd left it open, and neither of us had a key. Desk is empty after 11, and it's now 1:30am. So, being the resourceful, horny little monkey that I am, I climbed the balcony in my tux and attempted to get in through the upstairs doors, but they locked those too. She wound up getting the night clerk on her cell, got her to drive out, I kept quiet up on the balcony and was let in on the sly.

Never forget your room key, chase. Never.

We had a kickass DJ. And DJ Company at that. They're made for people who actually have taste in music and want control over what's being played.

First thing they handed us was what was already their do not play list. On it were all the aforementioned crappy songs you guys said and then anything Michael Bolton, Celine Dion etc etc. Then we were able to add to it what was absolutely not allowed.

Then we picked what we wanted and if they didn't have it we brought the cd's with us. We made sure there was a good representation of what our guests were. So we mixed it up a bit. It turned out excellent. The bartender at our reception told me that night that our reception was the best he'd ever worked mainly because the music was a blast. !!!

I say skip a band. I've never experienced a band everyone liked. Then again most guests may get so wasted they won't notice if a band is bad or not. Just search really hard for a dj you know you can get along with and who will let you exert some control over.

The food can be ok, the decorations underdone(take this as good advice-no one will care if you have tons of flowers and chair covers), what most guests will remember and care about will be the Ceremony itself, the liqour and the music.

no dj.

Well if you're gonna put it that way then ok.

I'm officiating a friend's wedding in June. That's right, They want me to get ordained at the Universal Life Church, and perform the ceremony.

Not ta one up ya, Z, that is pretty cool as well...your's is in reference to your taste, mine is being the loudest guy anyone knows.

And the biggest.

I've seen some pretty good bands at weddings.

My friend in florida (note, this was a pretty big$$$event) had a fucking awesome band with horns, a percusionist, backup singers---the whole shebang. I'm sure they were instructed what NOT to play but they could pretty much play anything. Very entertaining.

The band that played the Capn's was by the far the best b/c they rocked and they were good. They were pretty cool to let us come up and play some tunes too (despite their lack of a lefty bass and my extreme intoxication I think I made through a few) and letting Busty come up to dedicate a couple to....well the couple. It was really fun and I think that the older folks had fun too----the amount of fun us younguns was having was infectious.

ohh and here's a photo of Busty (L) and Capn'(R) during said event:

[img][650:433]http://img107.exs.cx/img107/433/roundup0216hc.jpg[/img]