When I was a little kid I was doggedly unsentimental. I remember seeing Titanic for the first time in middle school and thinking it was sappy and stupid (and also, why was everyone obsessed with Leonardo DiCaprio?). So when I met and then fell in love with Michael, I found myself with all kinds of feelings that weren’t there before, and before I knew what hit me, I was enjoying things like The Notebook and crying during Jason Mraz’s sleepy love ballads. The process was both surprising and unsettling, but alas, here I am a decade later, with a bad case of the feels, and not ashamed of it.
When it comes to weddings, I love a sentimental slow-dance that makes me reach for a hankie. (Particularly as a guest. There’s nothing like swaying next to a friend’s grandparents who have been married for fifty-plus years to make you appreciate what the wedding is about.) For our own first dance, Michael and I did the clutch-and-sway to a song my uncle wrote for his brother about the simple happiness that comes from building a family together (hello again, tears). But in case you don’t have a family member whose music you can repurpose for your wedding, we’ve put together a first dance playlist (crowdsourced from your suggestions, with a few of my personal favorites thrown in) that is chock full of slow melodies and sappy lyrics that make me cry. This is also the first and last time Meg is going to allow me to put Michael Bublé on an APW-approved playlist (something about not making the readers’ ears bleed?), so for the twelve of you in the audience who also enjoy his music, let’s live this one up.
- “Crazy Love” by Van Morrison
- “I’ll Follow You Into The Dark” by Death Cab for Cutie
- “Feels Like Home” by Chantal Kreviazuk
- “Forever” by Ben Harper
- “Heavenly Day” by Patty Griffin
- “Blackbird” by The Beatles
- “In My Life” by The Beatles
- “Open Arms” by Journey
- “Hold On” by Michael Bublé
- “La Vie En Rose” by Louis Armstrong
- “That’s All” by Nat King Cole
- “I’m Glad There Is You” by Ella Fitzgerald
- “Can’t Help Falling In Love” by Elvis
- “Come Away With Me” by Nora Jones
- “Into The Mystic” by Van Morrison
- Bonus Track: “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”* by The Beach Boys
*Admittedly not a slow song, but this makes me cry whenever I hear it anyway.