Music Monday 19 - Wedding DJs

One summer I went to seven different weddings. That many weddings in such a short amount of time really afforded me the opportunity to form some strong opinions about what I wanted and didn’t want at my own wedding. Some of the things I learned I wanted were a short ceremony and a location that wouldn’t be too hot. I also learned that I didn’t want to have Communion during the ceremony and I didn’t want to make my guests wait three hours while my wife and I took pictures. During that summer I also learned a lot about wedding DJs.

Wedding DJs have two responsibilities: play music and keep the party moving. That’s it. If a wedding DJ begins to tell a story, draw attention to himself or practice his fledgling stand-up routine, he has failed in his purpose. Luckily, Alycia and I seem to have found a DJ who clearly understands and embraces his role. He was the DJ for both of Alycia’s sisters’ weddings and we met with him this past weekend. I was very excited when he himself said that his role is to play music and let people know when they can get cake and when they can dance.

Obviously that dancing involves music, which is where we need a little help. We were given a piece of paper and told to pick 20-30 songs that we would like to have people dance to at our wedding. If it was up to me I would just play Thriller back-to-back three times, which is why I’m asking for suggestions. If you have some good songs for people to dance to, I want to hear them. If you think of one or two or ten songs, share them below.

Topical Tuesday 19 - The Bachelor

In the interest of full disclosure, I do not watch The Bachelor. I’ve never watched The Bachelor. The most I’ve ever seen of the show is when it was on in the background at my friend’s house while waiting to watch South Park and Chappelle's Show. So I don’t know who Jake, Tenley or Vienna are; the only information I’ve gleaned from this season of The Bachelor has come from Twitter, websites mocking the show and Facebook status updates. And, from what I can tell, people are way too invested in fake romances produced for television.

Looking at Twitter and Facebook, people were not only shocked that Jake had chosen Vienna but offended that he hadn’t chosen Tenley. But should anyone really be shocked by the choices of a grown man who chooses to find true love on a television show? Jake chose to find a wife on The Bachelor; he lost all credibility before the cameras even began to roll.

People also like to defend Tenley and image her as the innocent, good girl compared to Vienna’s trashy, bad girl. But Tenley has the same misconceptions of love and marriage that Vienna does, she just didn’t get the final rose. I’ve got no sympathy for someone who thinks that they’re going to find true love on a television show.

I’m fine with people watching The Bachelor; a lot of my good friends enjoy the show. However, with any show or movie or book, we shouldn’t allow ourselves to get too emotionally invested. We should recognize entertainment as such and enjoy it. Then when the show ends, when the credits roll or we finish the final chapter, we should choose to emotionally engage with the friends, family and loved ones God has placed in our lives.