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 Buble – 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 Buble – 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/ [email protected] or check out www.thebestmen.ie
