They've heard it all

A seasoned wedding DJ, Bill Manos says the big day is all about the bride and groom, no matter what.

“A lot of times, brides and grooms don’t want normal wedding-reception music — the chicken dance, hokey-pokey, things like that,” says Manos, owner of Sound Waves DJ Service. “Rap and heavy metal are the extremes, but I’ll play that if that’s what they request.

“There are songs that are very questionable — for instance, ‘Strokin’ ’ by Clarence Carter. But if the bride or groom requests it, I will never say no. What I may do, though, is announce, ‘This song was requested by the bride.’ ”

Music at young couples’ weddings reflects popular tastes at radio and dance clubs. DJ Joe Russell of Russell Sound Lab names Lady Gaga, Sean Kingston, Flo-Rida, Rihanna, Black-Eyed Peas and the Pussycat Dolls as some current dance-floor fillers.

“We try to keep it fun but appropriate,” Russell says. “You always get offbeat requests like White Zombie and Pantera, but you can’t play those at a formal event.”

During the dinner hour, Russell likes to serve up music by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Tony Bennett, he says, along with their contemporary counterparts, Harry Connick Jr. and Michael Buble.

Steve Gouge, owner of Stevie G. Deejay Service, says the reception music may change but the format is a lock.

“You need to play a wide mix of music, from all the way back to the ’50s to mainstream top 10. That’s always been the formula, when you’ve got 300 to 400 people in a hall, everyone from kids to grandparents,” he says. “What’s different now is that now the nostalgic stuff is the ’70s disco. When I started 20 years ago it was the ’50s. People like to relive their younger days. That’s why the ’N Sync and Backstreet Boys stuff goes over so well now.”

“The new artists are very popular and the newer stuff has a very good up beat, but at the same time you’ve got the parents’ age group and they still want to get out on the dance floor,” Manos says. “That’s why I like to mix the older and newer stuff together. It makes things very smooth transitionally.”

Disco standards such as “Celebration” and “We Are Family” never fail to get a reaction, he says.

Russell works closely with the bride and groom to select songs for spotlight dances. Popular selections, he says, for the bride’s dance with her father are “My Little Girl” by Tim McGraw, “My Girl” by the Temptations and “I Loved Her First” by Heartland. Often played during the groom’s dance with his mother are “Song For Mama” by Boyz II Men, “Unforgettable” by Natalie and Nat King Cole, and “Because You Love Me” by Celine Dion.

A rising trend is called the anniversary dance, where all the married couples in attendance — including the newlyweds — are called to the dance floor, then eliminated by five-year increments of marriage, leaving the longest-married couple on the floor. Sometimes this couple is awarded the bouquet and garter.

“It’s a nice little touch,” Russell says.

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It is impossible not to ask wedding DJs — who have observed plenty — for memorable on-the-job anecdotes.

Gouge: I saw a guy do a backflip on the dance floor, and, yes, alcohol was involved. The first one went well, and the crowd cheered him on and pumped him up. The second flip didn’t go so well. He came down on his head and passed out.”

Russell: “They had a champagne service where this woman came in wearing ceremonial garb and she decorked the champagne with a sword. She literally sliced the neck off the bottle like it was butter.”

Manos: “I was doing the music for both the wedding and the reception, and the groom showed up late for the ceremony and he was hammered. Everyone was there waiting. The father of the groom, the father of the bride and the priest took him into a back room for a scolding that lasted about 15 minutes. He came out apologetic, and thankfully the wedding went on and the reception went on.”