First Dance Songs

I just found this list of the most popular songs requested for the all-important First Dance, based on a mobile DJ survey found here.  This is a big decision for most couples, and I want to hear all about what you think of this list.  Are you surprised by the songs that made it...or those that didn't?

• Unforgettable (Nat King Cole)
• Can't Help Falling In Love (Elvis Presley)
• Can I Have This Dance? (Ann Murray)
• The Way You Look Tonight (Frank Sinatra)
• It Had To Be You (Harry Connick, Jr.)
• What A Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong)
• Endless Love (Diana Ross and Lionel Richie)
• I Cross My Heart (George Strait)
• I Swear (John M. Montgomery or All 4 One)
• A Whole New World (Peabo Bryson & Regina Belle)
• As Time Goes By (A Kiss Is Just A Kiss) (Michael Feinstein)
• When You Say Nothing At All (Allison Krauss)
• Faithfully (Journey)
• No Ordinary Love (Sade)
• Here And Now (Luther Vandross)
• I Can Love you Like That (John M. Montgomery)
• Power Of Love (Celine Dion)
• Tonight I Celebrate My Love (Roberta Flack & Peabo Bryson)
• Everything I Do {I Do For You} (Bryan Adams)
• When A Man Loves A Woman (Percy Sledge or Michael Bolton)
• All My Life (Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Neville)
• I'll Be There (Mariah Carey)
• On Bended Knee (Boyz II Men)
• At Last (Etta James)
• Don't Know Much (Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Neville)
• From This Moment On (Shania Twain)
• Our Love Is Here To Stay (Harry Connick, Jr.)
• Unchained Melody (The Righteous Brothers)

   

Here are some of our favorite less-well-known First Dance options:
   

    1) "First Day of My Life" (Bright Eyes)
    2) "Look After You" (The Fray)
    3) "Happily Ever After in Your Eyes" (Ben Harper)
    4) "You're My First, My Last, My Everything" (Barry White)
    5) "Steady As We Go" (Dave Matthews Band)
    6) "Real Love" (Regina Spektor)   
    7) "All My Love" (Led Zeppelin)
    8) "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" (Stevie Wonder)
    9) "Too Good to be True" (Lauryn Hill)
    10) "Ice Cream" (Sarah McLachlan)
    11) "Kiss Me" (Sixpence None the Richer)
    12) "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)" (James Taylor) 
    13) "Sweethearts Together" (The Rolling Stones)

Tip: Try dancing to your song choices with your spouse-to-be to make sure that you can dance to a song's particular beat before you choose it!  As we all know, dancing skills vary, but some people simply prefer to dance to a song with a faster or slower beat.  You will feel much more comfortable on your big day if you have done a trial run beforehand.

What song are you using for your First Dance?  Is there a special story attached to it?  Did you have a hard time choosing it?  Share your stories!

Comments

[Meg]

ooh! and we thought we were so clever by using regina's cover of "real love," thereby covering our love of john lennon and our love of ms. spektor.

cheesy side note: the day after we got engaged, we went to a regina concert and heard her cover the song for the first time and picked it for our first dance immediately.

[Susan]

Our first dance was to our song, "Come Away With Me" by Norah Jones. Everyone loved it and the tempo and beat were perfect and easy to dance to!

[Miss X]

We will (hopefully) be dancing to "But for Now" by Jamie Cullum. It is wonderful song with a timeless, jazzy feel, and lesser known, so it is not over used.

[Melissa]

I love all these song choices! Our first dance will be to Better Together by Jack Johnson :)

[Janet]

Those are all great suggestions that I'm going to have to listen to. Thanks for putting a list together. Do you have any father-daughter/mother-son dance suggestions???

[Star]

Great list! I am looking newer songs for my first dance because I want to feel young at my wedding. I am going to suggest some of these to my soon to be husband!!

[alina morris]

We will be dancing to "This will be our year" by The Zombies. It perfectly describes our wait to get married after 12 years of dating.

[Percy Sales]

Those are definitely classic first dance choices. But how about the more recent songs like Come What May (Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor) or Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" I can't believe that Heatwave's Always and Forever did not make the list. I also love Michael Buble's version of The Way You Look Tonight.

[Percy Sales]

Those are definitely classic first dance choices. But how about the more recent songs like Come What May (Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor) or Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" I can't believe that Heatwave's Always and Forever did not make the list. I also love Michael Buble's version of The Way You Look Tonight.

[Heidi]

A few of those are incorporated into our reception. For example... I am singing the first song to my fiance. "when you say nothing at all by Allison Kraus. Our cake cutting song is "ice cream" cause we are having an icecream cake since we mutually decided we hate wedding cake. But our official first dance song is "my Best Friend" by Tim McGraw

[aliesha]

"Amazed" by Lonestar

[PF]

I think we're dancing to Keith Urban, "Making Memories of Us" We danced in the kitchen to this song the first time he played it for me right after we first started dating (I was not much into country music before we met). I thinks it s a very romantic song.

[Weddings on the Strand]

First Dance SOng ideas are endless. It all depends on the individual tastes of the bride and groom, AND, on the DJ company that reports the list.

[Sharp Lily]

We had a bit of a tough time settling on one. I wanted "Save the Last Dance" because it's a classic and it's sweet, or Michael Buble's "Home" since we were living on separate coasts for 7 months before the wedding, but he doesn't love Buble (even though I tried persuading him a band would be playing it!) So we finally agreed on "Stand By Me" which was perfect. I'm surprised not to see it on the list.

[jess + ben]

We are having a jazz band for our wedding (my fiance was in one when he was in high school) and so we are dong L-O-V-E by Nat King Cole. It should be great.

[Kim]

I think our first song will be Billy Joel, "Just the Way You Are." Not the traditional the tradititional first dance song... but perfect for us :)

[Laine]

We'll be dancing to a tune from a song my husband to be wrote for us. He's a guitarist and I'm a soprano, but he's orchestrated it for the small jazz group that will be playing at the reception. The text is Pablo Neruda's Love Sonnet XVII, and I sing it at the end of every recital I give, so it's wonderfully sentimental.

[Carah]

not only for first dance...but for slideshows etc. we liked....

Ingrid Michaelson- "the way i am"
"somewhere over the rainbow"...the hawaiian sounding version

[Katie]

We're still trying to decide... but I LOVE Micheal Buble's Everything. Its so sweet, and fun. I'm just worried how easy it will be to dance to. We're also considering Billy Joel's You Are My Home, Allison Krauss's When you Say nothing at all, and Lifehouse's You and Me.

[kristin @ the fairmount bride]

We are dancing to "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison. It has always meant something to us, and I can't wait to dance with him on that day.

[cooktine]

There is also a ton of great list of wedding songs by event on Weddingwire.com -

http://www.weddingwire.com/shared/WeddingSongsMusic;jsessionid=BED21AB81D8ED328A17B2C8B7C1ABACD.wlb

[joanna dyckhoff]

We had two soulful first dance songs...
"Let's Stay Together" Al Green
"Nothing Can Come Between Us" Sade

[Danielle]

We're dancing to "In the Colors" by Ben Harper. My fiance and I love the song, and he had it playing when he proposed to me.

[Janie]

We're dancing to "The Glory of Love" by Peter Cetera....love it!!!

[marie]

WE'll be dancing to Ordinary miracle by Sarah Maclaclen,
It's a perfect fit for our relationship and our lifestyle! On top of it, I don't know of anyone who used it! we really wanted something original!