So I'm DJing a wedding in June. I've done it for friends on a couple of occasions before; this one's for the sister of one of my oldest friends, and I want this to be the best set ever.

I'm playing a lot of old school (Klymaxx & Cameo, Donna Summer etc.) with frequent modern mixes and mashups (Missy & Justin etc.) as well as some new wave and eighties... it is a wedding, after all. Needless to say, I would love to sneak some Prince in there. But I don't wanna play "Kiss" or "I Wanna Be Your Lover" just so I can say I played Prince during the set. I want something unexpected...

What do you think are the biggest Prince (or related) crowd pleasers that the crowd won't have heard on the radio? They need to be dancefloor fillers, but also clean enough so the mother of the bride's wig stays on.

Give me 5? I'm thinking along these lines:

Let's Work
Housequake (maybe remix)
777-9311
Prettyman or Get On The Boat
Sleep Around

I'm sure y'all have some better suggestions...

I obviously don't know the people at that wedding, but honestly, I cannot see most of your choices go down too well. Housequake? His baddest jam ever, but for people at a wedding that don't know Prince too well?

Partyman
I wanna be your lover (don't think this would be too obvious)
Sleep Around (nice choice!)
Cream
Raspberry Beret


But of course, you know the people best and obviously have to play what you feel fits, right?!

5 Prince songs? That's insane unless they are HUGE Prince fans and most of the family are huge Prince fans. Remember this is not about you it's about EVERYONE at the wedding.

Seriously one maybe 2 Prince songs and they need to be his HUGE hits otherwise you are going to be staring at a empty dance floor.

Cream
Gett Off(or is that too raunchy?)
Delirious
Soft and Wet(again-too risque?)
Diamonds and Pearls
TMBGITW
U Got the Look

Okay some of these songs were his most commercial,but they aren't heard much on the radio and are the only ones I can imagine would be mainstream enough to get people of all ages up and dancing at a wedding.

Depends on the crowd.

I'd pick an entirely different 5 depending on the makeup of the crowd.

Young? Old? White? Black?

lovemachine said:

Oh, just to be clear, I'm not planning on playing 5 Prince songs. I'm trying to decide what the best couple of picks would be and just looking for ideas.

I'm narrowing down from about 5 hours of music as it is.

I agree about the hits, I would just love it if I could get the floor rocking with something they didn't expect.

FYI, the couple is about 30 years old.

ButterscotchPimp said:

The wedding's going to be mostly young (28-35) and white, but I've been asked for a lot of black artists in the mix. So far it sounds like they want Motown during the dinner hour and just a very fun mix for dancing later. There will be quite a few grey heads bobbing through most of the night though.

skip said:

Ah. Then.....

Little Red Corvette (12" version)
Gett Off
Kiss (Extended Version)
Sexy Dancer
Hot Thing

I have been DJing weddings for 16 years now and I wouldn't play any Prince unless they really wanted it. If I did I would stick with the big ones as annoying as it is to you or me, remember they aren't into Prince like we are. I would play "Kiss" or something like that.

Here is a sample of what I play at EVERY wedding I do. I could play this set with my eyes closed:

Old time rock n roll-Bob Seger
Mony mony-Tommy James
The twist-Chubby Checker
Electric slide-Marcia Griffiths
Macarena-Los Del Rio
Cha cha slide-Mr C the Slide Man
YMCA-Village People
I will survive-Gloria Gaynor

a couple of slow songs

The chicken dance
The hokey pokey
maybe a polka
The loco-motion-Kylie Minogue (have the groom be the engineer)
Love shack-B-52's

basically anything that will get the crowd involved, no matter how sick of the songs you may be. Read the crowd too. If they dance to one style of music more than another then use a little bit more of that style. I hope it all works out for you but I would stick to well known songs.

djdaffy1227 said:

That is like a nightmare wedding set list for me. If I ever get married, most of your list will listed in the DJ's contract under the "if you play ANY of these songs--I don't care how many requests you get--do not play them or you will NOT get paid!" clause.

But as for the Prince songs....I agree with most of the other response, unless they are hard core ya gotta play mainstream Prince.

Kiss (always a favorite)
how about ICNTTPOYM?
Raspberry Beret
Is Erotic City too raunchy?
How about some Sheila? Love Bizarre or Glamorous Life?

The reception is for the guests, not the bride and groom. I can't stand 99% of those songs but people from the age of 5 to 95 will get out and dance to them.

djdaffy1227 said:

Bingo...and there is nothing worse then a bride and groom that don't understand this. Because an empty dance floor and a lot of people sitting around bored is always fun while the groom gets to hear some obscure song he loves for the 900th time.

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[Edited 4/9/06 12:52pm]

Yeah. I'm definitely aware of all these risks, but I do want to pull off something slightly different for once. Jone70, the bride did indeed give me a "do not play" list, and it included a lot of the usual suspects.

It is tough. I will play "Kiss" or something else very well known if I can't find another Prince song that works, but I am enjoying the challenge.

Thanks for all the input. I should have mentioned that I'm playing more than a few mashups... if all else fails I might give Prince a little part in a bigger mix.

Somehow I do want to get in "Shake that thang, come on!"

I say no Prince music allowed at all, it hurts my ears

lovemachine said:

I know the reception is for guests, but there are plenty of songs that will fill a dance floor and sound 1000 times better than the chicken dance or YMCA.

Yup, it's better to play his hits like 1999, Kiss, or Let's Go Crazy.