The Song That Empties the Bar and Fills the Floor

There is a moment at nearly every reception in Beverly Hills when the band steps aside for a set from the DJ booth, and one particular kind of song gets played. It is not the first dance, not the cake cutting — it is a track most of the room hasn't heard on purpose in years, something that once came out of a bedroom stereo. The instant it starts, a scream goes up, and the guests who had drifted to the bar or their tables move at once, not in a polite trickle but all together, toward the floor.

With reporting from Green Wedding Shoes.