Dance dance dance

We want the music for our reception to be fun. We want people to dance! The music should be:

- live
- stuff people know (oldies, dance hits)
- fun
- nice sounding

Our venue has a great stage for a band, so we certainly want to use it! We combed the internet for regional bands but didn't like most of them - they seemed too cheezy wedding singer style. We did find this band: The Josy Miller Band. They do lots of covers and seem fun without being too tacky. We liked their voices AND the keyboarder is apparently an English teacher, so he can do our moderation in German and English!

Here's a video of Josy Miller performing at a party - keep in mind that this is more of a party atmosphere and of course the wedding would be a bit more elegant.

The plan is to have them until around midnight, and then switch to an Ipod mix. We may or may not have them play dinner music.

What do you think? How did you choose your reception music? How did you get everyone to dance?

Planning a Halloween Party - Wedding-Style!

So this post is a little off topic, but since I am waiting to post about my preparations for writing my bridal party letters (I am starting to get concerned about them - two of the girls have received them, but two haven't responded yet! I hope they made it safe and sound!!) until they arrive, I thought I would digress slightly and tell you about how I am putting some of my newly acquired wedding planning skills to use:

Planning my Halloween Party!

Here are the elements that I have decided on:

DRINKS

Slime Punch

Bloody Black Current Punch

creepy shots:
jäger (label: black death)
erdbeer limes (label: bloodthirsty)
jello shots (black? Orange? Green? Not sure what color of german jello I can come up with)

Beer (Mr. Schnitzel suggested calling it "Virgin Juice" but that is incredibly vulgar sounding and I'm not even sure what he means by that?)

FOOD

black candy corner

ladies fingers and men's toes
except that I will be using store bought pastry instead of making the dough.

"devilish eggs" wait, a great idea from shoestring jetsetter: these: Spooky Spider Eggs

mummy dogs

Jack-o-Lantern Cheeseball (something like this recipe, but perhaps without the poppyseeds?and something to make it orange (paprika?)

DECO

Gauze-wrapped candy bowls
Black shapes on the windows and crepe paper curtains
table cloths (plastic)
floating candles in the bathroom tub (the only place I trust candles at this party)
lotsa jackolanterns
furniture wrapped in white sheets
appropriate lighting

GAMES

Costume contest
Flip cup (the germans really loved this last year)
Other game ideas? Something easy that doesn't require too much "organization"

We will also have a photobooth in our cleaning closet - we aren't sure how to best document the photos. Should we just let people take them with their own digicams? Should we provide ours? Should we rig something up? Or should we spring for a Polaroid? Decisions Decisions!!

Other deco thoughts:

scary movie running the background (suggestions?)
music, of course! But dancy music, instead of scary music. Maybe scary music in the bathroom?

So, those are my thoughts! We have the car on Friday so we're off to buy the heavy stuff ? beer and other drinks and pumpkins!! Hooray for Halloween.

Oh, and my costume: the winning idea at the moment is for he and I to dress up as Bacteria. Like wear green and have purple dangly things coming off of us. change of plans. We are now planning on dressing up as zombie bride and groom. FUNNY and good practice. What do you think?