How to DJ your own wedding: a full playlist in order
By The Cue Club. This is a planning order, not a track list, and not a list of songs sold on this site.
A full wedding playlist is a run of moments, not one long party mix. Put it in this order: guest arrival, ceremony if you are playing one, drinks, entrances, dinner, first dance and any parent dances, party sets, then one last song. If you are DJing your own wedding, build that order in rekordbox beforehand and leave a press-play version with someone you trust, because you cannot be on the dance floor and behind the decks at the same time.
If you would rather not cue the whole night yourself, download a wedding set that already has the music and the hot cues. Import it into rekordbox and it behaves like a USB another DJ packed for the gig.
The order of the night
Keep each block as its own playlist. A helper who hits "next playlist" should not be able to start the party during dinner. Volumes are a planning guide for a typical reception, not a measurement of your venue.
| Moment | What it has to do | How to treat it |
|---|---|---|
| Guest arrival | Fill the room without stopping conversation. | Quiet. No drops, no long outros of silence. It runs until the ceremony or the drinks, whichever comes first. |
| Ceremony | Hit specific cues in the order of service: processional, signing or register if you use music there, recessional. | A separate short playlist. One song per moment. Hot-cue the first beat so nobody waits through an intro. |
| Drinks | Familiar, mid-tempo, still talkable. | Louder than arrival, quieter than the party. People are standing and finding their seats. |
| Entrances | The couple, the wedding party, parents, whoever the couple named. | One track per entrance, cued at the downbeat. Agree the length. A full song is usually longer than the walk. |
| Dinner | Background while people eat and talk. | Same family of music as drinks, slower. Music off, or right down, for speeches. |
| First dance, then parent dances if you are having them | The specific songs, then stop. | Not a genre block. Cue the start. Let the song finish, or cut where the couple asked you to cut. |
| Party, first stretch | Get people up with records most of the room knows. | Open format. Mix decades rather than one club genre for an hour. |
| Party, later | Higher energy if the floor is already full. | Only after the first stretch has worked. Empty floors do not need a harder set. They need a song people recognise. |
| Last song | One closer the couple chose. | Then stop. Leave lights and goodbyes alone. Do not add a secret encore unless they asked for one. |
An example by style, not a track list
This is one way to colour those blocks by era and feel. It is an example of order. It is not The Cue Club's catalogue, and it is not a set of songs you can download from this page. Swap any block the couple does not like. A do-not-play list beats a clever genre idea.
- Arrival: acoustic, soul, and older vocal records, kept low.
- Ceremony: only the pieces named in the order of service. Instrumental if the celebrant wants to be heard.
- Drinks and dinner: 80s and 90s pop, disco and Motown-era soul that still works under conversation. Dinner a notch slower than drinks.
- Entrances and first dance: the couple's songs, not a style. Cue them and leave them alone.
- Party, first stretch: open format by decade. A block of classics, a block of 2000s singles, a block of current songs they actually asked for.
- Party, later: the higher-energy end of those same requests, plus club edits only if the floor is already dancing.
- Last song: one agreed record. Often a singalong. Then silence.
Write the must-plays and the do-not-plays before the week of the wedding. Requests on the night go on a piece of paper. They do not jump the first dance, and they do not play during speeches.
If you are the one getting married
You can DJ your own wedding. You should plan for the fact that you will miss the part you are mixing. A lot of couples only want their hands on the party, or do not want them on it at all.
- Decide which blocks you will actually mix, and which blocks are press-play. Ceremony, dinner and the first dance are the usual press-play blocks. The party is the usual mixed block.
- Build the playlists in rekordbox in the order above, with boring names a helper can read: 01 Ceremony, 02 Drinks, 03 Dinner, 04 First dance, 05 Party.
- Hot-cue the first beat of every entrance and of the first dance. The comment on the pad can say "start". A map of what pads can mean is in template DJ set with hot cues. For a wedding, the comment matters more than a full eight-pad scheme.
- Soundcheck two levels and mark them: ceremony and dinner quiet enough to talk, party loud enough to fill the room. Put the mixer back to the dinner level before guests arrive.
- Export the playlists to a USB from rekordbox, and pack a second copy. AlphaTheta's USB export guide covers what gets written to the device. Test the USB on the venue's player if they will let you. A library that plays on your laptop is not automatically a library that plays on their CDJs.
- Give one person a single page: the playlist names, when to change, and the line "if unsure, leave dinner playing". Pick someone who will not wander off.
Press play for someone else
A non-DJ can run a night that is already in order. They should not have to beatmatch.
- Confirm whether the venue player moves to the next track in a playlist on its own. If you have not seen it do that, assume someone presses play for every song.
- For ceremony and entrances, one song per playlist is harder to get wrong than a long list with the processional in the middle.
- Dinner tracks should already be cued past any long quiet intro. A helper will not trim an intro live.
- Leave the party as one playlist in an order you would be happy to hear with no mixing: song, song, song. If you are there and you want to mix, you still can. If you are having your photo taken, the list still makes sense.
- Speeches: music fully down, microphone on, playlist paused. Write "pause" on the page.
You are not trying to make a helper into a DJ for one night. You are trying to make the file impossible to play in the wrong order.
Music and licensing
This is not legal advice. Wedding music is still music you need the right to have, and playing it at a venue is often a public performance. Who holds which licence in Australia is explained for DJs by the DJ Alliance Australasia, with the licences themselves at OneMusic Australia, ARIA and APRA AMCOS. The Australian Copyright Council publishes general information sheets. A longer comparison of stores and pools is in where DJs get their music. Ask the venue what they already cover before you assume you need nothing, or that you need everything.
FAQ
What order should a wedding playlist go in?
Guest arrival, ceremony if you are playing one, drinks, entrances, dinner, first dance and any parent dances, then the party, then one last song. Keep those as separate playlists so dinner cannot turn into the party by accident.
Can I DJ my own wedding?
Yes, if you accept that you will miss some of it whenever you are behind the decks. Many people prepare the night in order and only mix the party, or hand a press-play USB to someone they trust.
Can a non-DJ press play on a set I prepared?
Yes, if the playlists are already in order, the entrance and first-dance tracks are cued, and someone has a one-page running order. If you have not confirmed the player advances by itself, assume they press play for each song.
Should the ceremony share a playlist with the party?
No. The ceremony is quiet and timed to the service. The party is loud. Separate playlists stop a helper starting the wrong one.
Where do I get a rekordbox-ready wedding set?
The Cue Club has a Wedding genre page that lists whatever sellers have put up. Open Format and Commercial are the neighbouring shelves. This guide is not a track list of a pack.
Does a set pack include the music?
Yes. You get the tracks and the hot cues, plus a file of mixing codes that names the handoff. One code is as direct as: bring the new track in on its A cue when deck 1 hits its D cue.
Can I sell my own DJ sets?
Yes. DJs upload their own sets and sell them on The Cue Club. Open the sell page to list one. Sellers may only list original music and licensed tracks.
How The Cue Club works
A wedding set from The Cue Club is the music and the hot cues in one download. Our software packs it so rekordbox opens it like a USB straight off another DJ: entrances and first dance already marked, not a folder of loose MP3s.
The mixing-code file says the handoffs in plain speech. Bring the new track in on its A cue when deck 1 hits its D cue is the sort of line you get, which is also what you would write on the helper's page if they are pressing play.
Prepared a wedding USB of your own, and the tracks are yours to sell? List it on the sell page.
Browse wedding sets
Wedding sets listed by sellers are on the Wedding genre page. The page shows what is actually in the catalogue. If you want a wider brief, look at Open Format and Commercial, or browse everything. Sellers may only list original music and licensed tracks. That is in the Terms of Service.