The First Dance.
When it came time to choose a song for the first dance at our wedding, I had more than enough ideas in mind. Considering my daily tunes are songs sung by James Taylor, Michael Buble, Kenny G, Kenny Loggins (I like the Kenny’s), Barry Manilow, Better Midler, Rod Stewart and Luther Vandross, it’s not like the pickings were slim. (I’m a dork.) But we wanted something that wasn’t your typical wedding song, something slightly upbeat; a song that had words that we could actually relate to.
I don’t even remember how I came across it, but the minute I heard Taylor Dayne’s “I’ll Always Love You,” I was sold. Sure, my first though was how I rocked out to it on my pink and purple Pocket Rocker with my permed hair. But I put it on my iPod and plugged it in to Mr. How Sweet’s car that night when he picked me up, and upon hearing it, he teared up a little! Quite humorous, especially if you visualize the video in all of it’s 80’s glory.
There really couldn’t be a better song for us, especially since I was surely born a few decades too late and, well… Mr. How Sweet was born a decade before me. (He’s old.) We had somehow lost the song from our iPod’s, but Mr. How Sweet downloaded it two weeks ago while I was cooking dinner and we danced like we are 70 years old. (Because secretly we are.)
I absolutely love this song and get so excited every time I hear it. What song was playing (or will be, would you like to be) during your first dance?
153 Comments on “The First Dance.”
I love off-kilter first dance songs! I think ours will probably be “Waste” by Phish, but there’s a couple other songs we’d consider I’m sure, possibly Grateful Dead, another Phish, or DMB.
Come waste your time with me… always makes me tear up. I’ve always envisioned Sugar Magnolia as the song for me. =)
We actually did Steady as We Go by DMB.
Oh my gosh I LOVE THAT SONG!! Mr. How Sweet used to make me “mixed tapes” (on CDs obviously) when we first got together (can you tell he grew up in the 80s?) and that was the first song on the first one he made me. LOVE IT!
Love it! I really think Michael Buble’s “That’s All” would be a great wedding song. I personally adore oldies and classics, like Nat King Cole’s “L-O-V-E” or “The Way You Look Tonight.” My man is a gooooood decade older (actually a bit more) which I think is part of the reason I enjoy yours and Mr. How Sweet’s humor.
Beautiful song:)
I’m only 21, so I’m not sure what song I will use (haha), but I really like my boyfriend and I’s song (if things work out): Fresh Feeling by the eels, but I might want something more people know and is a little more upbeat.
This made me laugh — I love bad 80s music…! ;) We couldn’t play the song we planned on for some technical reason (lost on the laptop used to dj songs), and so the guy just quickly chose a terrrrrible cliche 90s song that we laughed the whole way through. We still hate when it comes on the radio. Hahaha! Thanks for helping me reminisce!
Love that attitude! Some brides would have had a meltdown.
Our first dance was to “What a Wonderful World” sung by Louis Armstong!That song has always made me cry.
“Afterall” by Cher & Peter Cetera
Wow you were an absolutely stunning bride. I LOVE that photo of you two!
Thank you!
Mine was “The Luckiest” by Ben Folds. I can’t get through that song without crying.
This song makes me cry every time I hear it, too. My husband wanted this as our first dance song, but we opted to buy a house instead of the reception.
Great first song choice! My husband vetoed just about every song I wanted but in the end we agreed on Maybe I’m Amazed by Paul McCartney.
I asked my husband to pick out the song that we would have our first dance to, and he chose “Fall” by Clay Walker. It is such a sweet song, and I feel like he wrote it just for me!
It’s funny how a song can make you melt over and over again.
Carey Brothers – “Blue Eyes”
it used to make me weak in the knees when I heard it… now it makes me bawl =) happy tears though! I love it and my hubs =)
Thanks for sharing a little bit of your wedding with us ;) you guys chose a GREAT song! ahhh that one gives me chills! =)
Love the song.. I would like my one to be: Ilse De Lange – You Are the dream. Check it out on youtube, she has a remarkable voice! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nJRS1wbs_U
My husband and I are both lucky enough to have each have a sister gifted with an extremely beautiful voice. Having heard them perform separately, it was my dream to get them to sing together one day. I decided to make that dream reality and have them sing our first dance song. They sang “When I Fall In Love” by Nat King Cole. I still get goosebumps thinking of it.
That is amazing! I have chills just thinking about it!
We danced to Stand By Me…our wedding was destination and we had a caribbean band, so our choices were limited– but I actually think it was the perfect song choice!
you’re my best friend, by Queen. I can’t get through that song without a tear or two <3
great photo of you two! …and a fun story.
At first I thought you were telling me I was your best friend. I was like, “oh thanks!” ;)
if we lived in the same town… no doubt!
Our first dance song was “I Want To Hold Your Hand” the version by TV Carpio from Across the Universe. I love it.
Your kiss – hall and oats ;) we hear it everywhere lately and it always makes us crack up so I’m thinking its a must for the nuptuals. Either that or I’ll learn all the words and sing it for him at the reception. But shhh, don’t tell :)
Man that song reminds of junior high! It is a good first dance song, though. I’m sure I’m seriously dating myself now, oh well. We danced to Everything by Michael Buble. Very early in our relationship the Hubs said the song made him think of me and it just became our song.
aaawww how sweet!!!
WHEEEE!!! Love wedding posts now that I am in full fledged wedding planning madness.
We are torn between two options:
Forever by Ben Harper (first song he ever played for me on his guitar)
OR
Thank you by led zeppelin (my parents first song; my dads college roommate played for them and is playing for us!!)
Forever is one of my favorite songs!
Oh for us, it was entertaining. As we went through the DJ’s list of songs to gather our dance list, we also listened to songs for our first dance. We finally decided on Tim McGraw & Faith Hill’s “It’s Your Love.” But that was after he put the kabash on Baby Got Back & I on songs that would’ve put my poor Grandma on the floor! lol We are total goofballs though so it wouldn’t have surprised anyone if we busted out our first dance to some rap! :D
Lol, I totally remember this song!
We wanted an atypical wedding song too – and it had to be simple to dance too, since our first dance was the first time I’d danced in public since I was twelve (and the first time my husband had EVER danced in public period).
Our story involves a lot of growing on both of our parts (we ran in the same circles for years before ever really connecting) – and when it came down to it, any love song about us had to also reflect God’s love for both of us. So we went with “By Your Side” by Tenth Avenue North. And yes, when it comes on, we both still stop what we’re doing and dance like “70 year olds.” :-)
I’m getting married in September, and that’s one of the big questions! i’d love for our first dance to be “to make you feel my love” by adele, but FH thinks that we should use the old school garth brooks version… eeee. also very pretty, but adele is better!
I love that you married older, I kinda want to do the same so I always look young ;)
We danced to Ingrid Michaelson’s The Way I Am. LOVE IT. We even did a cha-cha-cha to the song to spice up the traditional slow-dance first dance thing. We loved it…and had a blast. Our guests seemed to really enjoy it too!
my husband and i danced to a dean martin song. it was sweet, but looking back, i wish we had danced to adele’s version of “to make you feel my love.” it was my first choice, but at the time i couldn’t figure out who sang it!
Ah, pocket rockers! Heck yes! We danced to Use Somebody by Kings of Leon.
It was the second marriage for both of us, and we got married in our back yard. We didn’t have a first dance (or any dancing for that matter), but after we were pronounced husband and wife, we played “Kiss me” by Sixpence non the richer. Love that song!
Love that song!
our wedding song was supposed to be by Billy Joel, “Just the way you are”
Once at the reception, the DJ pulled me aside & informed me that his son has borrowed his music last night & that song was missing.
I was so excited that it didn’t even matter. I quickly chose ” the Final Acclaim” by Rod Stewart (You’re in my heart, you’re in my soul…..)
Another song that I love ( and I am an old soul, so I don;t think that many would appreciate it ) is a song by Harry Chapin…..
“Dreams Go By”
google it.. ( unless someone out there actually listens to it, then I want to meet you)
I wish that when I got married (at 18) I had the guts to go ahead & use this song.. we have been married 23 years now ( next month ) and although I do love our wedding song, I remember sitting with my Almost Mother-in-law as she told me that ” Dreams go by” was an appropriate wedding song..
wow.. I always give long answers….
I’m off to listen to it right now ;)
That’s some serious hair on Taylor!
I have too many potential first dance songs. Anything that makes me cry is a good choice. I’m into 90’s R&B so that’s where most of my selections come from. The potential songs as of today are “All About our Love” by Sade and just about anything my Maxwell (sexy thang).
I haven’t thought about this much though, not really. :)
Oh I also love anything by Maxwell!
I Only Have Eyes for You by Frank Sinatra… gotta love Frank
My husband was also born a couple of decades late; he love 50’s jazz and anything oldies. We settled on Stevie Wonder’s For Once in my Life. It was so perfect for us, and we had so much fun dancing to it. :)
one of my ex’s from years ago used to say it was our song. whenever i hear it, i still get sweet memories. nice choice.
Our first dance was to Michael Buble’s Everything.
“And in this crazy life, and through these crazy times
It’s you, it’s you, you make me sing.
You’re every line, you’re every word, you’re everything.”
Everytime my husband I listen to it we dance too :)
Ours was “This Year’s Love” by David Gray. It was sooooo hard to narrow it down, though, as I had many contenders on the list. Finally I just picked the one I liked the most and never looked back! DH and I have VERY different taste in music, so I certainly couldn’t have asked his opinion. He’d have picked something by Slayer or Metallica. *shudder*
First I need to get engaged :P But I do know it’s coming soon-ish, so I like to daydream about what I would pick. Lately I really love Michael Buble – You and I.
That’s my song
(again after I get engaged!)
That is so sweet! Our song is going to be a Calico Skies by Paul McCartney. My future FIL will be singing it for us. :) It’s going to be really special.
Green Eyes by Coldplay. It was between that and “Make You Feel My Love” by Adele. But Green Eyes had just a little more meaning… Can’t believe that was 5 months ago!!
Love this!! Before we got together (right after we just met), Mr. How Sweet sent me an email with the link to Green Eyes. He said it reminded him of me!
lol very similar story! When we were first dating my hubs played this for me in the car and said it reminded him of me :) Except he always sang “Green Eye” because I have one hazel/brown eye and one one green eye. Yes, wierd, I know….
Green Eyes was my friend Heidi’s first dance song. Her now-hubby LOVES her beautiful sea green eyes, so it was fitting. :)
Ours was “When We Dance” by Sting. My husband actually picked it. :)
While we were friends and growing up we would listen to all rock music then one day he brought over a Stevie B and we listened and loved “In My Eyes” 5 years later when we grew up a little more we got married and he refused that this song would be our dance song. We really didn’t have a song so flipped through a song list and chose Eric Clapton “Wonderful Tonight”. So that’s our song but I still like Stevie B’s better.
Such a sweet post! Love the song. :)
Oh-oh-oh! I have a few choices!
First- the Cyndi Lauper version of “La Vie En Rose” (I’m obsessed with Cyndi and all things French!)
Second- Ray LaMontagne’s “You Are the Best Thing”
Third- Ron Sexsmith’s “Tomorrow in Your Eyes”
LOVE Ray Lamontagne..and that song! :)
I wonder how many ounces of hairspray were used in the making of that music video.
I was totally just singing that song as I was reading the post. :-)
My first song with my husband was “You’re the Inspiration” by Chicago. The song came out the year I was born and I’ve loved it ever since.
BTW, how are you able to get a video into your post? I’m just lost.
I went to YouTube, clicked the “embed” button beneath the video, copied it and pasted it into the HTML section of my post right before I hit publish!
Thank you Jessica for always sharing/helping with how to do something with the computer!!! Love this post….XoXo
You’re so beautiful :)
I love that you shared this! I’m getting married October 1st and this is giving me ideas.
We wanted our first dance to be fun and meaningful so we ended up choosing “I wanna grow old with you.” from the Wedding Singer soundtrack! :) We tend not to take ourselves too seriously.
My husband and I also wanted something different. For me, I didn’t want a typical wedding song.
The minute I heard “Lucky” by Jason Mraz and Colbie Calliat, I was sold. We love that song so much. :)
Oh, my dad and I danced to James Taylor’s version of “How Sweet It Is”. Kinda fitting for your blog! ;)
That is why my blog is named what it is! Because of my obsession with James… it oddly has nothing to do with food!
That’s awesome!
I love his version of that song! It’s wonderful, and it was fitting for my dance with my dad. I knew I was already going to cry like a baby while dancing with him, so I didn’t need an uber-sappy song and we both liked that one. :)
Our first dance was to “At Last” by Etta James but then we surprised my parents by playing the song they WISHED they’d danced to at their wedding, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice?” by the Beach Boys.
My dad’s family is the country-club type, so dancing to the Beach Boys at a southern wedding in 1970 was a “no-no.” Growing up I remember them saying their biggest regret was that they didn’t have the guts to dance to THEIR song at their own wedding. So after our song, I toasted my parents for giving me the perfect model of a fun, loving marriage and said it was time they got their real “first dance.” It’s one of my favorite memories of the entire day — they looked (as always) like lovestruck teenagers!
I LOVE this story!!
Planning our September wedding now, and we picked “Making Memories of Us”. I don’t even like country music (I think it’s by Keith Urban?!), but my fiance’ sang it to me the weekend I fell in love with him. I get all choked up everytime I hear it now that I know we’ll dance to it at the wedding!
That was also a song that Mr. How Sweet and I considered!
Ahhh! I totally had this tape & rocked out on my walkman to it! And I SO wanted Taylor Dane’s hair! Looking at it now, it’s about as big as I was then!
Love the choice of song . . . so sweet for the two of you. Gives me that warm & fuzzy feeling :)