Wedding: First Dance

You remember the first time you were wrapped in each other’s arms, but today, well today is a little different — it’s your first dance as a married couple, and it’s like nothing that’s come before. If anything calls out for a truly special tune, this one magic moment is it, whether you take to time-honored tradition with Etta James’s first-dance classic “At Last,” or mix a little rock-pop punch into the proceedings with Journey and the sonic embrace of “Open Arms.” Kelly Clarkson is standing by with her once-in-a-lifetime tribute “A Moment Like This,” and the incomparable soul pipes of Luther Vandross bring it all back to you, yours, and the “Here and Now.”

“We’ve Only Just Begun,” croon the Carpenters, and how right they are —more first-dance perfection awaits in Next Steps.

How do you envision your first dance? Do you picture the fleet feet of a Fred and Ginger routine? Enlist Harry Connick, Jr. and the big-band sounds of “It Had to Be You” for your own swinging soundtrack. Rather stare lovingly into each other’s eyes and simply sway to the full-hearted feeling of it all? Roberta Flack and her soul-steeped stunner “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” is just the tune to stop time to. With our first-dance classics, it’s easy to show off your moves to Frank Sinatra and a jazzy “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” or simply rely on the lifting power of Jeffrey Osborne’s “On the Wings of Love” to sweep you off your feet.

More First Dance moments play on, in Deep Cuts.

When it comes to your first dance, there’s a lot to be said for tradition — for the smooth, polished warmth of a tune like Atlantic Starr’s wedding-day declaration “Always,” or the timeless romantic power of Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling In Love.” Then again, your wedding is a prime opportunity to proudly display you and your beloved’s own unique personality as a couple, and that’s where Deep Cuts can help, with everything from Dusty Springfield’s sultry lounge spellbinder “The Look of Love,” to Dean Martin’s warm and wonderful sing-along waltz “That’s Amore,” to Ike & Tina Turner’s epic pledge “River Deep, Mountain High.”

Think of it as a visit to the Wedding: First Dance dimension — your friends and family are all gathered ‘round, yet somehow it seems as if you and your new partner for life are the only two people in whole wide world, and the only sounds are the beating of your two hearts and the music you’re moving to together. It’s a dance you’ll remember for the rest of your life, and the song has to be perfect, so turn to our Essential playlist of first-dance perfection to help you find just the right tune, whether you’re stating the obvious with John Tesh & James Ingram and “Give Me Forever (I Do),” communing with the two-part country harmonies of Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, and “It’s Your Love,” or even digging the offbeat charm of Phil Collins and a “Groovy Kind of Love.”