Songs you can play at your wedding! 3 Dream Theater tracks that won't make people say, "This is so metal!"

I recently held my wedding. It was incredibly fun. On the other hand, the preparations were tough, and my wife and I struggled especially with the music. I really wanted to play Dream Theater, but if I had told my wife—who is a violinist but not a metalhead—that I wanted to enter to a song by a progressive metal artist, she definitely would have reacted with, "...Huh? (angry) (angry) (angry)." That is the fate of a metalhead. If your partner is a metalhead, please cherish the fact that you are in a very blessed environment.

However! There are a few Dream Theater songs that can be (and were) used at a wedding. In other words, you shouldn't start by saying, "This is a song by a metal band," but rather let them judge the music itself. Even though you really want to tell them.

The following are the Dream Theater songs I actually used at my wedding reception. They lean toward a solemn atmosphere.
I have also noted which seconds I used, so please feel free to use this as a reference.

▫️Bride and Groom Entrance
"Beneath the Surface" from "A Dramatic Turn of Events"
The sound of water droplets really grabs people's attention. The gentle guitar tone that follows was also lovely. We entered right as James LaBrie started singing.

▫️Toast
"I. Overture" from "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence"
I started playing it from [0:21] and played it until [1:45]. It makes for a toast wrapped in grand music.

▫️Groom's Exit
"I. Overture" from "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence," played from [3:21] until the exit. It's a scene very similar to the toast.

▫️Exit
"The Answer" from "The Astonishing" by Dream Theater
It's a song that's only 1 minute and 54 seconds long, but since the exit is just a fleeting moment, this was perfectly fine. It creates a slightly sentimental atmosphere.

So, I played 3 songs across 4 scenes. If you're thinking, "I want to play metal, but my partner won't understand," why not start by letting them listen to the songs before you tell them what kind of artist it is?

On the day of the wedding, my mentor, who introduced me to Dream Theater, told me, "You did what I couldn't do!" and I was so happy. Thinking that even this teacher couldn't play it at his own wedding, I realize you have to be more careful than you'd think about how you go about choosing the songs. I am grateful to my wife for considering the content instead of dismissing it out of hand.

Please use this as a reference! I sincerely hope that Dream Theater continues to be played at weddings in Japan.