I’ve always said I prefer working with clients who get involved in the music and planning. I’d much rather sit with brides and grooms and brainstorm and come up with a collaborative approach to the entertainment on their day, incorporating their tastes with my experience. I don’t remember a wedding where this came to fruition more than Marc and Kathleen’s on March 31st at The Vanity Fare.
When I met with Marc and Kathleen in early March they were already beginning to formulate some cool and unique ideas for their reception. As we began to delve into the details I could see that this couple wanted a fun and different party. For example, they had a great twist on throwing the bouquet and garter. I’d invite all the women in the room to the dance floor (not just the single ladies) with the invitation: “Come on up if you want to get lucky tonight.” After a moment to let that sink in, I then explained that Kathleen was throwing a bouquet with lottery tickets attached. We did the same for the guys with a garter and lottery tickets. It just so happened that the record setting Mega-Millions lottery had been drawn the night before so I ad-libbed to the guys, “if any of you won the 680 million dollars last night please don’t come up to the dance floor… let someone else win some money this weekend.”
Marc is a big KISS fan and so he wanted their grand introduction to be with “Shout It Out Loud.” Like most songs, “Shout It Out Loud” has an instrumental introduction then goes into the first verse. This is usually not the best layout for bringing a couple in to because usually the chorus is the best, most recognizable and highest energy part of the song. “Shout It Out Loud” is definitely an example of this. So I made an edit of the song (listen to it hear on SoundCloud) and Marc loved it. He also asked me to introduce them the same way KISS gets introduced at their concerts so when it came time for the bride and groom introduction we hit the song and I laid it on as thick as I could: “Alright New Jersey… you wanted the best bride and groom, you GOT the best bride and groom . . .” It was definitely a first for me and after 23 years of DJing that’s not easy.
One of the things I noticed was how often Marc and Kathleen slowed danced throughout the night. Besides their first dance they must have slow danced to probably eight other songs.
Plus they got their meeting and greeting done early so for the last 3 hours of the reception they were on the dance floor the entire time! I’m not even sure if they ate dinner.
I had the pleasure of working with a photographer and videographer that I had never worked with before: Jennifer Starr of Shutter Starr Photography and a great guy named Andrew of Stomping Bread Productions. They both stayed till the very end of the night and continued shooting right up until the last song (which I have to be honest I don’t always see). Jennifer was also nice enough to send me a few images for this blog. If you are looking for a photographer for your wedding you should definitely check her out.
Speaking of the last song of the night, or I should say the last songs of the night, Marc and Kathleen scripted the final 25 minutes of their celebration. My music mixer Dan Fumosa commented about how perfect the 5 songs they selected were. We went from Van Halen’s “Jump” into all 8 and half minutes of “Paradise By The Dashboard Lights” complete with a “Women versus The Men Sing Along.” From there we did two more awesome sing-along songs “Sweet Caroline” and “Don’t Stop Believing” before ending with The Blues Brothers version of “Everybody Needs Somebody.” It was the perfect ending to a night that had been both fun and unique.
