There’s something to be said about awesome dance photos at a wedding! You have people in the moment, not a care in the world, generally an awesome feeling has taken them over, and boom! Photo gold for your memories! After photographing 50+ weddings this year, we definitely noticed if you want to take your dance photos to the next level and get the wedding reception moving, these are definitely the 5 songs to have on your play list. Now I will say, most of our clientele this year were millennials and these 5 songs were a solid mix of 80s, 90s, and current hits, but make no mistake, at just about every wedding reception these songs were played at, it definitely ‘ramped’ things up on the dance floor! (Also, these are not listed in any particular order)
Bon Jovi – Livin on a Prayer
Something about this 80s rock icon’s hit ‘Livin on a prayer’ seems to always have just the right amount of energy around the end of the evening to keep everyone going and in most cases they tend to go harder! You will be hard pressed to find someone not on the dance floor singing every word at the top of their lungs! If you plan to have a lot of people dancing at your wedding, this is always a good song to throw in towards the end of the evening!
Back Street Boys – Rock your body & Spice Girls – Wannabe
We listed both of these 90s hits together because they always seem to be played within 5-10 minutes of each other and for good reason! They get the party going! Now let’s face it, as with most parties, dances, and weddings are no exception, the majority of the people on the dance floor will likely be comprised of women, and for those who grew up in the 80s and 90s, these were two of the biggest hits that will bring the ladies back to yesteryear! Expect to see a lot of lip-synching, all the choreographed dance moves those participating can remember, and plenty of smiles!
Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars – Uptown Funk
The cool thing about this song is the fact that it’s new school with an old school sound or ‘the funk’ if you will! Being that it’s hitting on both of those, this song generally draws out multiple generations onto the dance floor during your wedding! From Aunt Betty to your little sister, Uptown Funk is guaranteed to get everybody on their feet!
V.I.C. – Wobble
It used to be Casper with the ‘Cha Cha Slide’ that got everyone out onto the dance floor in the first place, but it is slowly being phased out by the wobble! The great thing about the wobble is just about anyone can do it, and similar to the previous song on our list, it will usually draw out all generations to the dance floor! If your goal is to get a large number of bodies on the dance floor, especially in the beginning when the wedding reception is just starting to take off, this should definitely be one of your go to songs! It’s catchy, and people love easy line dances!
So there you have it! Now, these songs may not be your absolute favorites, but trust us when we say from our experience as wedding photographers, these songs all have mass appeal and will generally get a lot of people dancing. If there are already a lot of people dancing, these songs are pretty much a guarantee to take things to the next level in terms of excitement and dance moves! If you are planning on having fun dance photos captured by your wedding photographer, consider these 5 previously listed songs and let the fun begin!
-Jenny & Joe