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Every wedding reception I go to broadcasts a slide show of old photos accompanied to music. Because I often don’t know the couple getting married really well, I spend a lot of time considering the length, style and audio accompaniment of these PowerPoint presentations. What’s the best approach? How long should the show be?

I’ve assembled a bunch of resources, tips and advice that might be useful to the wedding slide show planner:

1. My own views on the perfect slideshow, complete with attention graph:

Every photo should elicit an emotional response. Whether it’s the groom’s mullet in grade 8, or grandma who’s no longer with us, or the bride all kitted out during her hen night (er, bachlorette party), they should each make us laugh or tear up.

2. What music should you choose? That’s a tricky one. Obviously you want to choose something that’s meaningful to you and your betrothed. After that, I’d suggest picking something pretty upbeat or groovy, without being sickeningly sweet or poppy. Avoid anything too slow, because that can kind of drag out proceedings and the ‘first dance’ song is often a slow dance anyway. Also, avoid insanely popular songs. They’re cliches, and you want your wedding to be unique, don’t you?

Musical tastes are pretty personal, but if I was planning a slideshow, I might go with:

• “Anniversary Song” by the Cowboy Junkies
• “Mr. Jones” by the Counting Crows
• “Time After Time” by Cassandra Wilson (kind of slow, but a gorgeous version of this song)
• “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” by Bob Dylan (surprisingly upbeat for his Bobness)
• “Like Humans Do” by David Byrne
• “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)” by David Byrne
• “As Cool as I Am” by Dar Williams (good for lesbian weddings)
• “My Favourite Mistake” by Sheryl Crow (a bit ironic, but that’s kind of funny in its own right)
• “Oh La La” by The Faces
• “Casimir Pulaski Day” by Sufjan Stevens (offbeat, but a beautiful, nostalgic song

3. Michael provides 10 tips for a great slide show or video montage:

Shorter is sometimes [always! ed.] better – After you’ve determined who your intended audience is you can start to get an idea as to how many pictures you’ll want to include in your slide show. We’ve found that video montages that are between 8 – 12 minutes in length are ideal for wedding receptions.

4. What tools can you use to make your wedding slide show? Well, the obvious and most common choice is Microsoft PowerPoint. That works great, but there are some other options to consider. If you’re on the Mac, consider the (far superior, in my opinion) Keynote from the iWork suite. Two other options which I haven’t tried are ProShow Gold and DVD Photo Slideshow (?).

5. This slideshow is under 4 minutes, and seems like a pretty good example of the medium: