5 Common Wedding Mistakes Brides Make (And How to Avoid Them)

I've been to hundreds and hundreds of weddings in the Reno Tahoe area. I've seen good weddings, bad weddings, lavish weddings, intimate weddings, and everything in between.

Over the years, I noticed the same common mistakes kept showing up. So I thought I'd put together a dedicated guide to help future brides avoid them and have the best night of their lives.

1. Getting Too Stressed Out

Maid of honor giving a heartfelt speech at Devin & Emily's wedding reception - DJs In Reno

I get it. It's your wedding day. It's one of the most important days of your entire life, and you want it to be perfect, flawless, and exactly how you imagined it.

The reality is that most wedding ceremonies run roughly 20 to 30 minutes behind schedule. A fair amount of your guests will either cancel or arrive late. Things might not go exactly how you envisioned them, and that's completely okay.

Here's what I've learned after DJing hundreds of receptions: the brides who have the best experience are the ones who are easygoing, relaxed, and focused on enjoying their big day instead of stressing over every small detail. They have general expectations but aren't completely attached to making things go a certain way.

Stress competes with fun. At the end of the day, you have to decide which one is going to win at your wedding.

The bride sets the energy for the entire day, even more than the DJ. She's the most important person at any wedding. When a bride is relaxed and having a great time, that energy radiates to every guest in the room.

Weddings where the bride is focused on having fun consistently produce bigger, fuller, and more responsive dance floors, and an overall better experience for everyone, not just the couple.

The most important thing about your wedding isn't that everything goes exactly according to plan. It's that you have fun.

2. Having Too Many Must-Play Songs

A packed wedding dance floor with professional DJ lighting

I've done weddings where the couple had upwards of 300+ must-play songs on their request sheet. And here's what happened: most of them never got played because they emptied the dance floor. Meanwhile, I still had to purchase, download, organize, and back up every single one of them.

Brides often worry about the playlist, but as a DJ who has packed hundreds of Reno and Tahoe dance floors, I promise you: your guests want to dance to the hits. Let me take that stress off your plate.

I've personally DJed hundreds of weddings from Twenty Mile House in Graeagle, California, to The Old Forge Steve Wynn Mansion in Incline Village, to the Tahoe Bleu Wave. I know exactly which songs clear the dance floor, and I know exactly which songs pack it.

With over 20 years of experience in DJing, emceeing, and event production, I know how to pace the evening so the vibe stays fun all night instead of peaking early and then crashing. I also know how to read the room and dynamically choose songs based on crowd reactions, while keeping the energy moving upward.

You shouldn't have to worry about any of that. Your only job is to relax and enjoy your wedding day.

I've personally found that couples report the best results when they have roughly 10 to 20 must-play open dance songs and leave the rest up to me and the crowd. I love taking requests from guests, and I've found it's the best way to make everyone feel like they're actually part of the celebration, not just attending a wedding.

Requests can go either way though, and I'll work with you before your big day to set a framework for how you'd generally like me to handle them.

I've also worked with upscale clients who provide a strict must-play list and then tell me I can only select songs from their playlist. At one of these events, a guest asked me to play something different, and I unfortunately had to tell them I wasn't allowed to.

The whole point of hiring a DJ is trusting their creative expertise and freedom to give you the best result possible. When you give a strict must-play list, you're removing the DJ's creative freedom from the equation. You're effectively hiring a glorified Spotify playlist, and that completely misses the point of hiring a professional.

3. Skipping the Shoe Game

Devin & Emily playing the shoe game at their wedding reception

Many brides want to skip the shoe game because they're afraid it'll be too cheesy or corny. Or sometimes, the couple just doesn't want to be in the spotlight.

But here's the truth: it's your wedding, and all of your friends and family have traveled to see you. You're going to be in the spotlight no matter what.

And yes, it's a little cheesy. I'd say it's roughly 10% cheesy, but it's 90% fun. That said, 100% of the shoe games I've hosted have been an enormous success.

Why? Because it achieves the most important goal for any wedding: the bride and groom having fun together.

It's the perfect transition between the first half of the evening, which can be more emotional, more serious, and more stressful, into the second half, which is always more relaxed, enjoyable, and most importantly: fun.

Picture this: you and your partner sitting back to back in front of all your loved ones, having a good laugh together. Not only does this set the stage for the rest of the evening, but it also gets your crowd involved and laughing with you.

At the end of the day, it's your wedding, and I'll do exactly what you want. That said, I highly recommend the shoe game. Every single wedding I've done it at, it's been a huge success. And every wedding where it's been skipped, I feel like it was a missed opportunity.

It only takes about 20 minutes tops, and the return on investment for your overall wedding experience is unmatched.

4. Having Too Many Must-Not-Play Songs

Dance floor lights at a Reno wedding reception

We all have songs we don't like. We all have songs we've heard too many times, or popular songs we absolutely can't stand.

Some brides even want a playlist built in opposition to the classic wedding dance songs. Specifically, they want to avoid songs like:

Usher — "Yeah!"
Lil Jon — "Get Low"
Flo Rida — "Low"
Sir Mix-a-Lot — "Baby Got Back"
Daddy Yankee — "Gasolina"
Soulja Boy — "Crank That"
Whitney Houston — "I Wanna Dance with Somebody"

They generally want these skipped because they feel the songs are cheesy or overplayed at weddings. And honestly? They're a little bit of both.

But here's the thing: these songs are the building blocks of any classic wedding open dance playlist. They're overplayed because they absolutely dominate dance floors and have for over 30 years.

Like the shoe game, even though you could view these songs as cheesy, I still recommend playing them 100% of the time. When you restrict them, you're restricting the DJ's ability to pack your dance floor and make your wedding night exceptionally fun.

The reason these songs always work is because they're so familiar. People gravitate toward what they know, and these songs are a common language among DJs and wedding guests alike. If you put them into a playlist and hit play, most people would say, "That sounds like a wedding playlist." And that's exactly the point.

You simply have to ask yourself: would you rather the DJ play only the songs you personally like, or would you rather have a packed dance floor?

5. Skipping the Classic Line Dance and Group Songs

Packed wedding dance floor at night - DJs In Reno

You might not be the biggest fan of the Macarena. You might have heard the Cupid Shuffle one too many times. The Cha Cha Slide might make you cringe.

Here are the classic line dance and group songs that pack wedding dance floors every single time:

Los Del Rio — "Macarena"
Cupid — "Cupid Shuffle"
DJ Casper — "Cha Cha Slide"
V.I.C — "Wobble"
The Village People — "Y.M.C.A."
Vanilla Ice — "Ice Ice Baby"
House of Pain — "Jump Around"

However, like the songs we talked about in the last section, these songs are fundamental to any modern wedding DJ's setlist. They also have the added benefit of being line dances or group dances, which means their steps are universally known.

These are the songs that fill the dance floor more than any others, regardless of how you personally feel about them.

When you restrict the DJ from playing these songs, you're removing the bread and butter they use to get everyone on their feet. The question is the same as before: would you rather have a strict playlist with no line dance songs, or a packed dance floor that your friends and family talk about for years to come?

I highly recommend allowing as many line dance songs as you can. This gives your DJ access to the standard, popular, fundamental tools that guarantee the greatest chances of a full dance floor all night long.

Your Wedding Should Be the Best Party of Your Life

At the end of the day, your wedding shouldn't be a stressful production. It should be the best party you've ever thrown. Every tip in this guide comes down to one thing: trust your DJ, let go of the small stuff, and focus on having fun.

If you want a packed dance floor and a stress-free night in Reno or Tahoe, check my availability here and let's start planning your perfect celebration.