I wonder if I can squeeze in an F4 song?

I've finally come to one of the few stages in the wedding preparations that I'm actually excited about—picking the songs for the ceremony and the reception.

It's good that our musicians of choice (Da Capo Chamber Instrumentalists) has a pretty comperehenshive songlist, so I had choices other than Pachelbel's Canon in D for the processional and Steve Curtis Chapman's I Will Be Here during the picture-taking.

The hard part, though, is choosing the 25 songs for the reception. It's easy to ignore the Must-Not-Have's, like Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On or David Pomeranz' Born For You (cringe, cringe). And it was a piece of cake to choose the Must-Have's, like Julia Fordham's Love Moves in Mysterious Ways, Basil Valdez' Tuwing Umuulan at Kapiling Ka and The Company's Now That I Have You.

Now, I'm debating over including songs which I really love but whose lyrics convey a dubious, un-"happily-every-after" vibe, like Paolo Santos' Living In Up (which celebrates a breakup!) and Maroon 5's This Love. And conversely, there are songs whose lyrics are very romantic, but whose melody is just too mellow; I would really want the general tempo of the night to be upbeat.

Still, Da Capo has a pretty extensive repertoire, and they did tell us that they can play songs that are not on their list as long as we advise them ahead of time.

I'm so excited! I have a feeling that during the reception, I'll be spending more time listening to the music than participate in the rest of the programme!