051. Lizzy & Gareth’s Wedding

For anyone wanting to hone their practice of the dark art of playing music to other people, a wedding offers no better a social occasion. DJing at a wedding is particularly tricky. Unlike a club, people don’t come with the intention of having a drink, socialising and having a dance. People attend a wedding to see and celebrate the happy couple. Everything else is an optional extra. So, as a DJ trying to operate the dance floor you’re immediately on the back foot. You have a wide mixture of ages, a wider still mixture of musical tastes, and a number of social rules and set pieces to navigate through. This is the couple’s ‘perfect day’. They’ve spent months agonising over the menu, the dress, even the typeface of the invitation. Then finally comes you; the compulsive record collector with a garage load of audio electronics.

The opulent Tring Park School for the Performing Arts was the magnificent venue for the wedding reception of Lizzy and Gareth. Setting up in the ballet practice room of the beautiful building designed by Sir Christopher Wren and built during the 1600s you couldn’t have wanted for a nicer location to set up. Given our location, selected movements from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake seemed only fitting as a quiet backdrop as the evening progressed.

After the initial half an hour of dancing following on from the bride and groom’s first dance, it was evident that most people were more inclined to soak up the splendour of the venue, let their dinner settle, and catch up with old acquaintances. Prudence at this point recommended a lower-key approach and for the next half an hour acoustic, jazz and soul featured on the playlist.

Some choice motown was used to assess the mood for dancing and as the toes started tapping and the heads nodding, it was time to start upping the ante and tempt people to the dance floor. The challenge in this gig lay in the venue’s layout. With a vast and beautiful outdoor area, seating in one room, the bar in another room and the dance floor in another room – where drinks were not allowed – getting people into the disco was hard work.

Hard, but not impossible, and the steady ebb and flow of people to and from the dancefloor continued for the rest of the night. As the bride and groom made their way from the wedding reception in their carriage, the night began to wind down as many people from the north of England who had a considerable drive ahead of them began to make their way home. After a final few floorfillers it was sadly time to wrap up the night and pack up the gear, reflecting on how beautiful a venue it was to DJ in.

Congratulations once more to the happy couple: Lizzy and Garreth.

Special thanks must go to Sonic Bass for their exceptional professional service:
www.sonicbass.co.uk

Finally, if you'd like to discuss the possibility of hiring me to DJ at your event be it a club night, corporate event or wedding, leave me a message and I'll be in touch.

Tune of the Night: The Killers - Mr. Brightside
Cleared the Dancefloor: Kings of Leon - Sex On Fire (First time I've ever seen this get a bad reception! Are people finally getting bored of it?)