Not a list of songs that suck. A list of songs that break, and the reason each one breaks, so you can decide for yourself.
Let's get one thing out of the way first. Your must-play is somebody else's do-not-play. I have watched a room come apart in the best way to a song that another couple banned in writing, at the same venue, three weeks earlier. So I am not going to hand you a list of songs that suck and tell you your taste is wrong.
Here is what I can actually give you. After 2,500 weddings I know which songs cause a specific, predictable problem, and I know exactly what the problem is. Read the reason. Then make your own call. Some of these you will cut. Some of these you will play louder than everything else. Both of those are the right answer.
Only the last part of this page prints. The reading stays here.
The lyrics catch
Now build yours
Your actual do-not-play list
This is the part that matters, because it is the only version of this list that is about your wedding. Nothing here is required and a short list beats a long one.
Never play these
Hard stops. No exceptions, no matter who asks, no matter how good the floor looks. Keep this list short so it carries weight.
Only if the floor is dying
Songs you would rather skip, but you would forgive at 10:40pm with twelve people left standing. This lane is the one couples forget, and it is the one that saves the party.
Anything else your DJ should know
Whole artists, whole genres, a person whose requests should be politely lost, a name nobody should say on the mic. Plain sentences are fine.
Hand this to your DJ
This builds itself from what you typed above. Print it, or read it straight off your phone at the planning meeting.
