If you know anything about my personal music taste you know my list of favorites artists goes like this:
1- Prince
2- everyone else
And as a huge Prince fan one of the songs I’m most proud of is “1999“. The way he captured that rare emotional logic that tells us: “bad times may be coming so tonight…Lets Party.”
It was that same emotion that pervaded the wedding reception for Lindsay and Matthew. This wonderful couple got married on October 27th. By that Saturday the local media was filled with stories of doom and gloom about an incoming hurricane. Hurricane Sandy was its official name although the media in their never-ending race to come up with new and inventive names for disasters had already dubbed it Frankenstorm (It was arriving the week of Halloween after all). So as Lindsay and Matthew’s guests started to arrive at The English Manor it was with that same sense of impending doom that Prince and The Revolution sang of:
“We could all die any day.
But before I let that happen,
I’ll dance my life away.”
Well if you’re world were going to end tomorrow and you had one last party to attend, I’m glad I had the chance to DJ this one. From the first song of the night till the grand finale Lindsay and Matthew’s family and friends danced defiantly. Without ever saying it every guest had an attitude that said, “Oh no Mother Nature you ain’t raining on this party.”
While Hurricane Sandy was a “perfect storm” because of a confluence of meteorological events (I read that somewhere) Lindsay and Matthew’s wedding had a similar confluence for me. First of all I love working at The English Manor. It’s become almost my home away from home and I couldn’t be happier about that. The staff is awesome, the food superb, and they take such pride in their gardens that the outdoor area is the envy of any New Jersey reception site. Plus Lindsay and Matthew’s photographer was a man I’ve worked with for longer than either one of us care to admit. Emil Bartsche owner of Contemporary Image in Point Pleasant is, to put it mildly, an icon in our area. I’ll never forget the day so many years ago when almost every wedding photographer was telling me why digital photography would never take the place of traditional film, I stopped in to see Emil and he showed me how awesome his digital camera was and the pictures he was getting (not to mention the post-editing options that now were available to anyone willing to invest the time and money into them). I’ve always respected Emil for that. He was about a year or two ahead of that curve and as far as I can tell that’s the definition of being an expert in your field.
There were 2 more factors that made this night stand out for me. Lindsay and Matthew had hired our Video company to shoot their wedding and it just so happened Chris Monaco was the main cameraman. Chris is a great videographer as well as an awesome DJ (when God was handing out talents Chris apparently kept getting back in line) so DJing in front of Chris always brings its own unique set of nerves (oh, Chris also has a biting wit so one screw up in front of him can lead to a never-ending barrage of teasing – I’m happy to say I didn’t give him any fodder for new jokes). And to complete the Grand Slam of nerve racking I just happened to be working with a guest DJ from Virginia named Wyatt Hill. I’d met Wyatt at a DJ convention over the summer and he’d asked if he could come up and check out an “Elite” wedding. Wyatt served as my music mixer at Lindsay and Matthew’s wedding and suffice to say when a guest DJ drives 600 miles to check out one of your events the last thing you want to do all night is explain how you usually get people dancing… Again I’m happy to say Wyatt got to witness and be a part of a pretty phenomenal wedding. Not just the Elite way but in true Jersey style!
Lindsay and Matthew were an awesome couple to work with. Lindsay specifically loves to dance and she was on the dance floor almost all night. As any DJ will tell you having a beautiful bride on the dance floor all night only makes our job about 10 times easier. Because of Hurricane Sandy they were delayed leaving for their honeymoon but they did eventually get away to Antigua. Upon their return Lindsay gave me this incredible Wedding Wire review:
My true wish for Lyndsay and Matthew is nothing short of a lifetime of health and happiness.
