The Best Men - Wedding Band

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31 May 2010

The Best Men are one of Ireland's busiest wedding bands. Who better to ask for advice on what makes a great 'First Dance' at your wedding reception! As the band make preparations for their public showcase on 27th June at Dublin's hottest 5-star, the Dylan Hotel, they provided us with some expert tips on this particular wedding tradition.

The speeches are over ('...and relax.'), the desserts have proved impossible to resist (even by the most disciplined weight watcher), the wedding cake has been photographed more often than Branjelina; successes all. But wait - this can only mean that it's time for the Bride and Groom to do the 'First Dance'! If you have choreographed a tour-de-force performance for this part of the night, know that you are very much in the minority. The Best Men have played many hundreds of weddings and almost every couple we deal with urges that the band call up the bridesmaids, best man & groomsmen to the floor, as soon as possible during the first song. When this happens, the happy couple can conclude that no-one is focussed too closely on their dancing skills, as there is safety in numbers on the dancefloor. But don't worry; when it comes to the First Dance, nobody is judging your footwork. Later on, when you're doing the 'Thriller' dance... maybe.

Some couples want all of their guests to join them during the First Dance, but you can trust us - even when requested, most guests will wait until the First Dance is over. However, from our wealth of experience playing music at weddings, we at The Best Men have sequenced our set so that once the First Dance is complete, all of your guests will join you and stay on the floor from that point on through the night!

Wedding couples will frequently ask for our opinion on the First Dance and wonder if we might be able to suggest a good track for this purpose. While some Bride & Grooms have a long-standing special song that is appropriate, others do not have such an easy choice. Perhaps you both love 'Maniac 2000' by Mark McCabe, but don't necessarily want everyone filming your dance to it, at the start of the night!

There are songs that are traditionally appropriate, for good reason: they are suitably romantic or have uplifting lyrics & music, with tempos that work well for dancing. Recently, a couple of welcome additions to The Best Men's list of First Songs were 'Better' by Tom Baxter, 'Greatest Day' by Take That and 'One Day Like This' by Elbow. These songs have proved to be very popular choices indeed.

Here are some more popular tracks that The Best Men have been requested to perform for the First Dance:

Michael Bublé - Everything

Al Greene - Let's Stay Together

Billy Joel - Just The Way You Are

Christie Moore - The Voyage

Jason Mraz - I'm Yours

Frank Sinatra - Moon River

Nick Cave - Into My Arms

Shania Twain - From This Moment On

Harry Connick Jnr - It Had To Be You

Golden Horde - Friends In Time

Elvis Presley - Can't Help Falling In Love

Aerosmith - I Don't Want To Miss A Thing

Van Morrison - Someone like You (Bridget Jones' Diary)

Elvis Presley - The Wonder Of You

Eric Clapton - Wonderful Tonight

Jack Johnson - Better Together

Lou Reed - Perfect Day

Louis Armstrong - What a Wonderful World

Paul Weller - You Do Something To Me

Frank Sinatra - The Way You Look Tonight

Nat King Cole - Let There Be Love

Peter Gabriel - Book Of Love

Nat King Cole - L.O.V.E

U2 - All I Want is You

Van Morrison - Crazy Love

Ronan Keating - When You Say Nothing

Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars

Snow Patrol - Run

The Ramones - Baby I Love You

Van Morrison - Have I Told You Lately That I Love You

Joe Cocker - You Are So Beautiful

Bryan Adams - When You Love Someone

Bryan Adams - Heaven

If you rather something a little different, don't feel you have to adhere to tradition. It is 'your' day, after all. You could opt for a song that is slightly tongue-in-cheek, ironic or just true to your taste. Here are some of the less typical songs that The Best Men have performed over the years:

Burt Bacharach - I'll Never Fall In Love Again

Metallica - Nothing Else Matters

Dean Martin - Ain't That A Kick In The Head

Pulp - Something Changed

Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers - Islands In The Stream

Frank Sinatra - Love And Marriage

Johnny Cash - I Walk The Line

The Cure - Love Song

Morecambe & Wise - Bring Me Sunshine

Lionel Richie - All Night Long

The Turtles - Happy Together

Pacemakers - You'll Never Walk Alone

Oasis - Wonderwall

Corrs & Bono - Summer Wine

Michael Bublé - Save The Last Dance For Me

Neil Hannon - Songs Of Love (Father Ted theme)

The Cure - One More Time

Madness - It Must Be Love

David Bowie - Absolute Beginners

You might have also considered playing the first song on CD. More and more couples go for this option and that is absolutely fine with us. We understand that you may be very familiar with a certain recording and would prefer to hear the original version on the night. In fact, The Best Men will source and bring along the track to the reception, giving you one less thing to worry about! However, if you prefer that we perform your song live, then of course we are very happy to oblige - the choice is yours!

If you're feeling particularly energetic and want something completely different, you could always do 'You Can't Touch This' or 'Baby's Got Back' as your First Dance. Just be sure that 12,000,000 hits on YouTube is something you're comfortable with, as wedding party guests can always be relied on to use their video phones!

Whichever song you decide to have, The Best Men will do their utmost to ensure that it is performed perfectly for your First Dance as newlyweds!

The Best Men will be performing a public showcase event in the Dylan hotel in Dublin on Sunday June 27th at 6:00pm. Everyone is welcome to come along! Contact the band's booking co-ordinator, Niamh Brennan, for more details Ph. 086-1061282/ niamh@thebestmen.ie or check out www.thebestmen.ie