Celebrity Wedding Planner Mindy Weiss Helps Us Create the Perfect Wedding Playlist

After two years of pandemic postponement, couples worldwide are ready to ring in their important day with loved ones. This is slated to be the biggest wedding year in decades, and music is one wedding essential that has the power to set the mood, from ceremony to reception.

There are over 14.8 million wedding-related user-generated playlists worldwide on Spotify. Wedding content has skyrocketed recently, with a 620% increase in streams of Spotify's Country Wedding playlist and a nearly 150% increase in streams of Spotify's Wedding Songs playlist.*

We unveiled the data and found that the ultimate wedding track among Spotify listeners is Whitney Houston's I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me). Other popular songs include Bruno Mars' Marry You, Beyonc and JAY-Z's Crazy In Love (feat. Jay-Z), and John Legend's All of Me.

For Gen Z and young millennial listeners, when it comes to taking the floor for the couple's first dance, Ed Sheeran is the romance king with his songs Perfect and Thinking Out Loud, which are both among the most-added tracks to user-generated first dance playlists for fans in these age groups.

To celebrate the summer wedding season, Spotify is revamping our global Wedding Season Hub as the one-stop destination for couples looking for music to explore. We've also partnered with celebrity wedding planner and industry legend Mindy Weiss to curate an exclusive wedding playlist.

For the Record asked Mindy about her A Very Mindy Weiss Wedding playlist and got advice for couples busy planning the tunes for their big day.

Of all the important considerations for a successful wedding, where does music fall on the list? It's interesting because it's different for every one of my couples. It's definitely in the top three important decisions-between location, the food and alcohol, and the music. And sometimes music is first. And there's always one part of the couple who says, I'm in charge of the music, you know? But I would say for 2022 weddings music has certainly taken the forefront.

In your experience, what are some of the most popular songs for the first dance? Obviously, it's a very personal choice. Sometimes it might be a song that the couple heard on the radio while they were driving on their first date. Sometimes they look at me and go, We don't have a first song. But then we sit together and start playing music. I always suggest songs from the American Songbook, or Frank Sinatra, or something romantic, like You Are the Best Thing by Ray LaMontagne. It's pretty neutral, and it's a song about love and how they feel about each other. Couples also love Better Together by Jack Johnson, Moon River by Audrey Hepburn, and Can't Help Falling in Love by Elvis. There's so many classics that make everybody feel good. And if you're having live music, you can always depend on a band to play some really good classics.

Also, I always suggest that people read the lyrics, you know, because they may like the song, but sometimes the songs they pick are about breaking up. So I always say, Let's look at the lyrics first, and they sit there laughing.

What is the most unusual song you've heard at a wedding? Well, I can tell you it was at my son's wedding. We were in a music meeting and the gentleman who owns the band said, So, Jordan, what music do you want to walk down to for the ceremony? Normally quiet in these settings, my son goes, Oh, I know exactly what I'm walking down to. And I was so excited. He goes, Yeah. I'm walking down to Regulate.' I go, Regulate'? Isn't that a rap song? He said, Yeah, but I envision it with strings. And the owner of the music company was so excited. And of course I know to keep my mouth shut because I know how parents get while planning weddings. But I will tell you, it was so cool. I felt that this was the beginning of people taking modern songs, and they're putting it to strings, you know, like in Bridgerton.

What is your advice for crafting the perfect playlist for a couple's big day? First and foremost, you cannot pick every song that the band or DJ is going to play. Because if you have a good band and good DJ, they need to feel what's happening on the dance floor. They need to feel the energy. If it's low energy, they're going to play higher energy. And if you made this playlist of every single song, I'd say nine and a half times out of 10 it will never work. So what I always say to them is, make your Do Play list and your Don't Play list and then give them free reign. Do playlists with a mixture. It's not all about the music the couple likes, but we have to also think about the age range. That really makes a big difference in choosing your songs. But if it's really an average age group, it's nice to mix in the old with the new, so that it's a nice mixture for everybody. And if you do have a band, don't be afraid to ask them to learn brand-new songs. They're really excited to do that.

What's more important, the couple's music tastes or the general music taste of the guests? How do you advise your clients on balancing the two? I always say to my couples, do not blast them out in the first hour-let's build it up. Do not start with a hard rock song when the doors are open and they're coming in to find their seats. Let's start with the American Songbook. Let's move up to the seventies. Let's move up to the eighties-which is so popular right now. Let's build it. So by the end, after dinner, typically it's pretty much all the couple's music. Everyone has had a little bit to drink so they're into the music. They're well fed, they're ready to party, and the truth is, the older guests typical

LINK:	https://newsroom.spotify.com/2022-05-31/celebrity-wedding-planner-mind...
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