I like to play music that stylistically frames the vibe for that portion of the evening. Since ceremonies are often pretty serious, it can be nice to make cocktail hour more fun and light-hearted. Some ideas might be 'Motown era funk' or 'boozy music ala Tom Waits/Coco Rosie", or "underground break dance jams from the early 80's". If you aren't sure, just list 5 songs below and I'll make a playlist based on those songs.
Similar to cocktail hour, dinner music is also nice to package up stylistically. But I think people generally pay less attention to the music during dinner time. We can think of a genre that sits nicely in the background like jazz standards or downtempo ala 'mushroom jazz'... a whole set of Bowie covers? Songs written by Prince? Again, if you are unsure, just list 5 songs below and I'll make a playlist based on those songs.
I'll be playing 80's and 90's throwbacks? Tell me some genres and 5-10 songs that you'd like to hear.
This is probably the most important list of all. This list makes it very easy for me to play the music that you want to hear. No country music? No pop EDM? Do you want me to prevent your guests from turning the party into an all request music battle? Let me know and I'll put up a friendly little note by the decks explaining things.
