A list of songs I probably won't play at my wedding.

Sometime last week, I was trying to find music to be played before the ceremony and then at the reception afterwards. My external hard drive where I've kept a multitude of music up and died on me the week or so before, which has left me in a bit of a pickle as I was planning on pulling all of my music from there. I thankfully do have a list of every song that was in there as I was getting slightly obsessed with organizing everything on that harddrive (no idea of the pictures and other things though, which is sad) so I can pull some ideas off of that list but I still have to go out and buy songs off iTunes when I find one that I really want.

Surfing around iTunes the other day and trying to find more wedding music has brought me across many jems and made me realize that there probably are some really great romantic songs that maybe I'm not going to play at the wedding even though they are wonderful songs. Songs that have made the list here just have that something in it that could be taken as being a little odd if you listen to the lyrics/put them into context. So, for my own reference...


For those of you who are worried about that sort of thing, SPOILERS FOR TITANIC, CASABLANCA and ROMEO & JULIET (because I care about 16th century theatrical spoilers)

Romantic Songs I Probably Won't Play At My Wedding

10. Celine Dion - "My Heart Will Go On"
I cannot tell you how many times I have seen this song on various wedding albums in the past few days. It's a nice song but I can never hear it out of the context of Titanic and SPOILERS, because Rose never gave him a turn to get out of the water and hang out on whatever float-y thing she was on, he DIED. That's right, he up and dies on her and sinks away to the bottom of the ocean so I can't really see this song as being the best thing to play at your wedding, personally. Then again, I was never a big fan of the movie because I knew HE DIED from the song that was played on the radio incessantly that included movie clips. THANKS A LOT SPOILER SONG.



9. Michael Buble - "Haven't Met You Yet"
I actually saw this on a wedding album and was a bit confused. The song to me goes like this, "I haven't found anyone yet but it's okay because I'm still hopeful and perky about it. HORRAY!" How that belongs on a wedding album confounds me. "I have not met you (AKA The One) yet but I'm still going to marry this person until the right one comes along?" I...don't...I don't get it but that's how I see it personally.



8. Mercyme - "I Can Only Imagine"
Thought the song was about Jesus & Heaven. The end.



7. Henry Mancini - "Love Theme From Romeo & Juliet"
Probably the best known of Shakespeare's romantic tragedies but I'm not the biggest fan of R&J and while people like to try to romanticize the story and the love, they die at the end. Dying doesn't really come off at romantic to me. (See #10 above.) It's not exactly something I want to emulate in my relationship. I'm not okay with the dying at a young age part. This is also pretty much the reason why I didn't want a Honeymoon Suite named after these two. It sounded like a horrible idea but clearly something that everyone else thinks is awesome. I absolutely love Henry Mancini but I cannot play this at the wedding.



6. Traditional - "The Water Is Wide"
I don't know why but this showed up a few times on different wedding albums that I looked at. The Wikipedia article on the this song pretty much confirmed it to me that it's not that sweet at all.

"O love is handsome and love is kind
Bright as a jewel when first it's new
but love grows old and waxes cold
And fades away like the morning dew."

Ouch. That's not very nice.


5. Whitney Houston or Dolly Parton  "I Will Always Love You"
What is with this song being on almost every wedding album? It's a beautiful song sung by either of those lovely ladies but it's not a wedding song! She's saying I love you, yes but there's also another word in that song that makes it a little bit less wedding related: Goodbye. And SPOILERS for the movie - they don't get together at the end. How horribly sad!



4. Willie Nelson - "Always On My Mind"
I'm not sure about this. This one always sounded like an "I'm Sorry," song to me not a "First wedding dance! YAY!" song.


3. George & Ira Gershwin "Someone To Watch Over Me"
The Gershwins has some great romantic "I am in love," songs. This is not one of them. "S'Wonderful", "For You, For Me, Forever More", "Embraceable You", are a few though. This is another one of those songs in which you're still looking for love but you're more mellow about it than "Haven't Met You Yet".
(By the way, even though I am an old movie fan, I haven't seen this movie. Shame on me. SHAME.)



2. Dooley Wilson - "As Time Goes By"
Again, another song that I can never take out of context of Casablanca.  I've seen the movie, I know the plot and I know the song. I cannot separate it from the romance that Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman have/had in the movie and, again, SPOILERS -- THEY DON'T HAVE A HAPPY ENDING!



1. Meatloaf - "I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)
Okay, so I actually haven't found this song on any wedding albums (yet) but it pretty much tops my list of romantic songs I would not play at my wedding. It's a cool song but everyone seems to be confused as to what 'THAT' actually is. Sometimes, I'm actually confused too but it's a neat song and I sadly mourn the loss of my Meatloaf album from my external hard drive.




If you know of any other Romantic Songs that you don't feel would be appropriate played at your wedding (or that had been played), drop me a comment. I'd love to know what they were.