This will be mostly geared to the first dance but will apply to the respective parent dances or any other specialty dances that may come up with few exceptions. Pretty straight forward here, no need to get too crazy with this one. Between 2:30 and 3:30 is the sweet spot for the dances. Parent dances can be shorter but the first dance especially we want to be out there for at least 2:30. Anything less then that its hard for the photography team to do their job and get the photos you need!!!
When I started to do wedding is Chicago in the early 2000’s the hottest track for a first dance was a song called “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion. Great track but its damn near 30 min long… I kid, I kid. Song is 6 mins long and trust me, you don’t want to be the center of attention for that long. Having said that if you have a sweet choreographed dance you have spent some time on then of course its cool to take as much time as you need during the dances, but if your plan is to just sway back and fourth like your dancing in a half circle at a middle school dance then please, don’t for your guests though 6 min of that hahaha.
Most Djs can edit songs in the Studio (even the Ipad DJ’s can do it) so don’t worry if you pick a super long song. Any time a client of mine picks a super long track I give em a couple options. First I say we can edit the song ahead of time and cut it down to what ever time ya want, or the one I recommend and the 2nd option would be to shoot the DJ the universal look of enough is enough. I will see that from a mile away and at the next appropriate moment we can get ya off the dance floor. Hope this helped!!
Health and Happiness people!!!