For the first dance at our wedding, my fiance and I would love to do a waltz. Problem is, we're having a really hard time finding a good one. Does anyone know of a waltz that would be in keeping with an all swing-and-standards type of evening? Need a waltz with a cool, 1930's-40's feel. We love Billie Holiday, Ella, Nina Simone, old and new swing. All the waltzes our dance teacher has played us have been really hokey. (Ala Lawrence Welk) Only thing we've been able to find so far is "Fascination" by Nat King Cole. But we'd like to find something better. Any suggestions at all would be appreciated!

My favorite wedding waltz is the Irish one, I think it's called, "The Wedding", sometimes played after the wedding bands have been exchanged, "Here they stand, hand in hand, they've exchanged wedding bands, today is the day, they seal all their plans...May God bless, this couple, who marry, today..."

If you have a band, they can technically turn any song into a Waltz by changing it to 3/4 time. I've heard medleys of a song, "Amapola" comes to mind, where it starts out as a Rumba, turns into a foxtrot, then a swing, then back to Rumba, just by changing the timing.

I've been teaching wedding couples for 9 years, and have only taught about 4 waltzes. A pretty one was from Cinderella, "10 minutes ago". Another recent one was from West Side Story, "One Hand, One Heart" and of course Debby Boone's "You light up my life". You can look at my website at www.weddding-dance.com under the 'Congratulations to some of my couples" link for other ideas of songs, but most of them are Foxtrots and Rumbas.

All the best,

Lee Ann

Joy:

Although the following suggestion may not fit the era of music you desire, the CD entitled "The Lover's Waltz" by Jay Unger & Molly Mason (Angel Records)has a few really lovely social waltzes on it that lend themselves to small dance floors. They tend to be slightly fast if you desire something to do International Style Waltz however.

Congrats on your impending wedding,

Pete

Perhaps you might like 'Sunrise Sunset', a lovely waltz, although better suited for the father-daughter or the mother-son dance. I found the Roger Whitaker version on Napster oh-so-long-ago when it was still legal to steal music.. I am sure Bearshare, AudioGalaxy or
iMesh can help you find the same.

S.