The Rhythm is Gonna Get You
Sorry for not updating for so long. It's weird because a lot of times I don't update because there's nothing much going on to talk about. But lately there has been stuff I've wanted to talk about but I've been so busy with wedding planning, going out of town, computer issues, and working on a thousand different fest submissions, I haven't had time to update.
Still working on picking wedding music with Mike. We picked a DJ. I didn't want to pick the first DJ we met with, but there was one DJ who was located close by who I liked right away when I visited their website. When Mike and I met with him we really liked him and I wasn't really interested, or knew what to really ask anyone else, so we decided to go with him.
We're still trying to cull the list of songs down to a manageable level. It was more fun at the start. I can't remember if I mentioned it in my last post, but we basically have to widdle the list down to about 65 songs for the four hours, and our listed consisted of about 400 songs, from both Spotify and iTunes. We've done about four or five sessions of trying to cut the songs down. We got to, what I called a quarterfinals, where we had about 300, and then a semi-finals of 200 songs. So, at this point, it's a little more frustrating because there are so many songs we want to include, so getting it down to a manageable number is hard.
I am still enjoying Mike's rationale for what songs he wants to include and what songs he doesn't. Like I mentioned before Mike is a big reggae fan, so I thought he would enjoy some No Doubt songs. And he does like the song "Underneath it All", but when I played him "Hey Baby" he immediately said no because he said the rapper Bounty Killer's voice sounded too scary.
We also discovered he has a nemesis, and her name is Janet Jackson. At first, he was fine with the songs of hers I'd picked out, but by the time we got to the quarterfinals he was vetoing them left and right. So, when we got to another of her songs he joked that here comes my nemesis Janet Jackson, and we've been calling her that ever since. He finally explained that he doesn't like her voice and thinks her songs don't have good rhythm. And it's funny because he has the exact opposite view of Michael Jackson. Any and all Michael Jackson songs he wants included. We debated over "Smooth Criminal" because I didn't think the subject matter was very wedding-y, but he agreed but then said "Eh, it's Michael Jackson. I don't care." There were only a couple of his songs he didn't want, which of course included "Scream" the duet with Janet Jackson.
He's basically left most of the final decisions up to me, so unless he absolutely detests a song, I might include it anyway, including a couple Janet songs. Tonight, I was really frustrated. I got the list down to about 100, but at this point Mike's no help. Every time I ask if a song is a must for the wedding, he says yeah. Though for him I basically know that his essential songs are anything by Cake, Michael Jackson, Sugar Ray, Madonna, and anything reggae.
We've had an easier time with the first dance songs. We got that down to about 20 songs. At that point, we decided it was best to dance to the songs to see which songs we felt comfortable dancing with, and cutting them down accordingly. Both of us are terrible dancers, so it was definitely very awkward at first but, miraculously, we never stepped on each other's toes. I didn't expect to get so tired though, because I didn't think we'd be doing any real dancing for long, but we danced to all of the songs full out.
We got it down to about four songs that we really liked. For a while now, I've pretty much known in the back of my mind what my two favorites were, but there were still so many good options that we went through the process. But Mike did ultimately agree with me on the two I liked the best. The two are Big Mountain's "Baby, I Love Your Way" and Taylor Swift's "Crazier." The songs are polar opposites so it's still a little hard to pick which one we want.
Dancing to the songs turned out to be a good idea because Mike finally decided that dance lessons might be a good idea. I had mentioned a couple of times about the idea of dance lessons, but he didn't really seem gung ho about the idea. But once he saw how, mostly uncoordinated we were, he decided it would be best not to embarrass ourselves. Unfortunately, I went to long on this website, Thumbtack, where I'd found some wedding photographers, but I was unsuccessful in finding any dance teachers. I went through Google, and I found only one person who was taught dance for anyone just looking to learn basic moves for a wedding, and not teaching ballet or something for kids. There price was $45 a lesson. I've never done this before so I don't know, is that a reasonable price for dance lessons?
Stacey
Still working on picking wedding music with Mike. We picked a DJ. I didn't want to pick the first DJ we met with, but there was one DJ who was located close by who I liked right away when I visited their website. When Mike and I met with him we really liked him and I wasn't really interested, or knew what to really ask anyone else, so we decided to go with him.
We're still trying to cull the list of songs down to a manageable level. It was more fun at the start. I can't remember if I mentioned it in my last post, but we basically have to widdle the list down to about 65 songs for the four hours, and our listed consisted of about 400 songs, from both Spotify and iTunes. We've done about four or five sessions of trying to cut the songs down. We got to, what I called a quarterfinals, where we had about 300, and then a semi-finals of 200 songs. So, at this point, it's a little more frustrating because there are so many songs we want to include, so getting it down to a manageable number is hard.
I am still enjoying Mike's rationale for what songs he wants to include and what songs he doesn't. Like I mentioned before Mike is a big reggae fan, so I thought he would enjoy some No Doubt songs. And he does like the song "Underneath it All", but when I played him "Hey Baby" he immediately said no because he said the rapper Bounty Killer's voice sounded too scary.
We also discovered he has a nemesis, and her name is Janet Jackson. At first, he was fine with the songs of hers I'd picked out, but by the time we got to the quarterfinals he was vetoing them left and right. So, when we got to another of her songs he joked that here comes my nemesis Janet Jackson, and we've been calling her that ever since. He finally explained that he doesn't like her voice and thinks her songs don't have good rhythm. And it's funny because he has the exact opposite view of Michael Jackson. Any and all Michael Jackson songs he wants included. We debated over "Smooth Criminal" because I didn't think the subject matter was very wedding-y, but he agreed but then said "Eh, it's Michael Jackson. I don't care." There were only a couple of his songs he didn't want, which of course included "Scream" the duet with Janet Jackson.
He's basically left most of the final decisions up to me, so unless he absolutely detests a song, I might include it anyway, including a couple Janet songs. Tonight, I was really frustrated. I got the list down to about 100, but at this point Mike's no help. Every time I ask if a song is a must for the wedding, he says yeah. Though for him I basically know that his essential songs are anything by Cake, Michael Jackson, Sugar Ray, Madonna, and anything reggae.
We've had an easier time with the first dance songs. We got that down to about 20 songs. At that point, we decided it was best to dance to the songs to see which songs we felt comfortable dancing with, and cutting them down accordingly. Both of us are terrible dancers, so it was definitely very awkward at first but, miraculously, we never stepped on each other's toes. I didn't expect to get so tired though, because I didn't think we'd be doing any real dancing for long, but we danced to all of the songs full out.
We got it down to about four songs that we really liked. For a while now, I've pretty much known in the back of my mind what my two favorites were, but there were still so many good options that we went through the process. But Mike did ultimately agree with me on the two I liked the best. The two are Big Mountain's "Baby, I Love Your Way" and Taylor Swift's "Crazier." The songs are polar opposites so it's still a little hard to pick which one we want.
Dancing to the songs turned out to be a good idea because Mike finally decided that dance lessons might be a good idea. I had mentioned a couple of times about the idea of dance lessons, but he didn't really seem gung ho about the idea. But once he saw how, mostly uncoordinated we were, he decided it would be best not to embarrass ourselves. Unfortunately, I went to long on this website, Thumbtack, where I'd found some wedding photographers, but I was unsuccessful in finding any dance teachers. I went through Google, and I found only one person who was taught dance for anyone just looking to learn basic moves for a wedding, and not teaching ballet or something for kids. There price was $45 a lesson. I've never done this before so I don't know, is that a reasonable price for dance lessons?
Stacey