Jade & Tom’s evening reception at Victoria Hall in Oakham is one that I’ll remember for an awfully long time to come!
It was my last wedding of the 2018 season, and had several challenges attached. It turned into an absolutely AWESOME evening!
Jade had booked me just after the Christmas break after being at Emma-Jane & Jacob’s wedding reception last year. The venue this time though rather than being 10 minutes from my front door (as Bedinghams Farm was where they last saw me), was 90 minutes away and involving some treacherous Fen roads on the way home at 2am in the rain.
The big, beaming grin on the way home more than made up for the time travelling though….it made me realise exactly WHY I do what I do!
Because the venue was so far away, it hadn’t been practical to physically visit beforehand. I’d researched the venue’s own website long before the day though and knew I was in an upstairs room (always a nightmare as a DJ – thankfully there’s a lift there 🙂 ), and limited parking (and I arrived in time to nab the last available spot outside….things were looking good).
All communication with Jade and Tom had been via email because they live even further from the venue than I do (they grew up in the area and moved away). It’s not always ideal, but together we formed a plan for the evening.
I was to lead the cake cutting (lots of whooping and cheering as that was stage managed!), then straight into the first dance which has to be the BEST first dance I’ve seen in a long time…..Praise You by Fat Boy Slim. An unusual choice, but the main brief for the evening was to create a party atmosphere. Thirty seconds into the dance, I invited their guests to join them on the dance floor….I’ve never seen a first dance with so much energy and hands held in the air!
And then….a rest!
Jade & Tom had hired a Ceilidh band to do an hour’s dancing with the guests. Now for those that have never seen this….it’s a lot of fun. It’s basically Scottish country dancing, but made fun! I’ve worked with several Ceilidh bands in the past and it’s always a lot of fun to watch.
Ceilidh over and it’s my time to shine.
And this is where I was a little nervous. Because I was now only playing music for three hours, Jade and Tom had set the entire playlist and asked that I took no requests.
This can go either of two ways, and is rarely successful. I have no problem in working in this way, but when the entire playlist is prescribed, I have no way of being able to change the shape of the evening if nobody’s dancing.
It soon became obvious that the playlist Jade and Tom had sent over was perfectly created!
A mix of just about everything to cater for the age groups there saw the dance floor busy for the entire three hour set! Every time I looked up from the booth there were arms waving in the air, guests jumping up and down, and at one point….Tom and Jade being carried aloft on guests’ shoulders!
It was an absolutely AMAZING evening, and from my side of things, the perfect way to end a very long and hot year of weddings.
So, I suppose I’d better share some photos
And so, to the playlist
As already mentioned, the playlist was specified by Jade and Tom and no guest requests were allowed on the night. Whilst this normally makes me very nervous, this one worked an absolute treat – I really couldn’t have picked better myself if I’d tried!
- Fatboy Slim – Praise You (First Dance)
- Elvis Presley – Burning Love
- The Beach Boys – I Get Around
- Sheila & B Devotion – Spacer
- The Rolling Stones – Brown Sugar
- T Rex – 20Th Century Boy
- Van Morrison – Brown Eyed Girl
- Rod Stewart – Maggie May
- Chic – Good Times
- Fine Young Cannibals – She Drives Me Crazy
- Madonna – Like a Prayer
- Dexys Midnight Runners – Come On Eileen
- The Jam – Town Called Malice
- New Order – Blue Monday
- House Of Pain – Jump Around
- Toto – Africa
- Candi Staton – Young Hearts Run Free
- Free – All Right Now
- Annie Lennox – Walking on broken glass
- Daft Punk – Around The World
- Cornershop – Brimful Of Asha (Norman Cook Remix)
- Gala – Freed from desire
- Sweet Female Attitude – Flowers
- Architechs Feat. Nana – Body Groove
- Mylo – Otto’s Journey
- PULP – Common People
- Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart
- Arctic Monkeys – I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
- The Libertines – Don’t Look Back into the Sun
- The Futureheads – Hounds Of Love
- Queens Of The Stone Age – No One Knows
- Iggy Pop – The Passenger
- Primal Scream – Rocks
- Beyonce feat. Jay-Z – Crazy In Love
- CANTRELL BLU – BREATHE
- Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Dogg – The Next Episode
- Warren G – Regulate
- Snoop Dogg feat Pharrell Williams – Beautiful
- Drake feat. Wizkid & Kyla – One Dance
- Jay-Z – Big Pimpin
- Kanye West – All Of The Lights
- Calvin Harris, Sam Smith – Promises
- Robyn with Kleerup – With Every Heartbeat
- Wankelmut & Emma Louise – My Head Is a Jungle
- Todd Terje – Inspector Norse
- David Bowie – Heroes
- The Beatles – Hey Jude
