Picking a first-dance song in harmony
In April 2006, Candice Lieberman and Michael Ratner got engaged -- and then they fell in love. But the romance, this time around, was with Keith Urban's "Making Memories of Us," the song that was to accompany their first dance together at their wedding reception at Temple Beth-El in Cedarhurst this past July.
It wasn't their only first-dance candidate, however. At dance lessons, they were practicing to Michael Buble's "Everything" -- a big current choice of couples -- but, Candice Ratner said, "we thought it was a little too fast" and too popular for the originality they wanted.
Area bands and DJs would agree: Buble's "Everything" has meant everything to a great number of newlyweds stepping out on the dance floor.
Other steady choices for couples' first dances are fed by popular movies and -- reaching back into history -- classics from a generation or so ago that have become musical evergreens.
Not that couples are tossing recent hits aside: Along with "Everything," many choose "All I Ask of You" (from Broadway's "Phantom"), and Celine Dion's "Because You Loved Me," said Marissa Prentice of Skyline Orchestras in Great River. Another top choice is the country hit, "It's Your Love," featuring the husband-wife team of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.
"But the classics are still the classics, and people like them," said Gerry Anton, owner of Big Hits DJ Entertainment, based in Huntington. Etta James' "At Last" endures and "it is still one of our biggest old songs," along with Van Morrison's "Someone Like You," which, Anton said, is experiencing a wedding resurgence.
"People think there are new trends, but I find there are some classics that people still love," he said. That even includes "More," the very golden hit by Steve Lawrence, and Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love."
And the 1990 romantic movie "Ghost" still lends its "Unchained Melody" to a respectable number of first dances, he said.
The Mystic, an eight-piece band, also plays older songs as a big part of the first-dance tradition. "Every once in a while you get a brand new song, but a lot of times the new ones don't cut it," said Mystic spokeswoman Amy Bello.
Couples have chosen Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are," Shania Twain's "You're Still the One," and Nat King Cole's "Unforgettable." They've even reached back to Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed," or further back to the Beatles' "Till There was You" and "In My Life."
The movies inspired Madeline and Richard Johanson of Smithtown, and on June 21 the newlyweds danced to the love theme from the Barbra Streisand remake of "A Star is Born.'
"It was one of those sentimental songs he would play for me on the guitar," Madeline Johanson said.
And so the song -- "Evergreen" -- has become evergreen for them, too.
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