Steed/Civils wedding at The Stockroom on December 5th, 2014

Gabbi and Brian chose the urban chic feel of Raleigh’s Stockroom at 230 for their cocktail hour and reception after a ceremony at All Saints Chapel.  I was thrilled to be working with some of my favorite vendors in Stephanie from Viva L’event, Cara Galati from F8 Photo Studios and Phil & Jess from Twenty-One Films. For the cocktail hour, I played a mix of indie rock for the 100 guests to represent Gabbi and Brian’s musical taste.  Guests enjoyed bruschetta and risotto balls in marinara along with cocktails.  Gabbi’s grandmother even snuck a bottle of fireball in and was drinking right out of the bottle.  Loved that!!!!

The wedding party arrived and Gabbi and Brian were ready to get the party started.  I introduced the wedding party to Jagged Edge’s “Let’s Get Married (Remix)” and they came into the room to a loud roar of applause.  They stopped in the middle of the dance floor for their first dance to “That’s How Strong My Love Is” by Otis Redding.  I always love playing that song!  Brian’s father welcomed everyone and blessed the meal and the Italian buffet opened.  I continued a mix of indie rock during dinner.

 

After dinner and 5 toasts, we had the Edible Art cake cutting to ”I’ve Got This Friend” by Civil Wars.  Gabbi made her way back down the stairs and joined her father on the floor to dance to “In My Life” by The Beatles and Brian danced with his mother to “How Sweet It Is” by James Taylor.  His mother got a huge grin on her face when the song started!  I opened the floor to some Motown and oldies that started the dancing.  Some 80’s music and 90’s R&B and Hip-Hop kept guests dancing until the end of the night along with some current dance music.  For the last dance Gabbi has wanted “Purple Rain” played since she was a child, so I played that.  The guests made a circle around them and sang along to it while they danced in the middle.  It was so sweet!!

What a great couple and I was thrilled to play for them.  Thank you Gabbi and Brian and congratulations!

Anderson/Thompson wedding at The Fearrington Barn on November 29th, 2014

Kara and Patrick chose Pittsboro NC’s Fearrington Barn for their outdoor cocktail hour and indoor wedding reception on a beautiful 50 degree November day.  I always love playing at the barn and working with the Fearrington’s planner Gilda and photographer Krystal Kast.  Every wedding I do here is a blast and this one was no exception!

 

The 160 guests were invited into the barn after the cocktail hour and found their seats.  The wedding party was introduced to The Black Eyed Peas “I Gotta Feelin’” and Kara and Pat came right in and to the floor for their first dance to “Unchained Melody”.  Kara’s father said a short welcome, their maid of honor and best man gave toasts and minister John Oliver blessed the meal.  The 3 food stations opened (including a seafood station, beef carving station and a taste of the south, yum!!) and I played a mix of standards, soft rock and country during dinner.

 

After dinner, Kara joined her father on the floor to dance to The Beach Boys “Surfer Girl” that has special meaning to them since he owned surf stores in Florida while she was a little girl and grew up on The Beach Boys.  It’s also one of my personal favorite songs ever!  After that, Pat escorted his mother to the floor to dance to “My Wish” and I opened the floor to everyone with “My Girl” that packed the floor for the next 3 hours!

We paused briefly for the cake cutting to “How Sweet It is”, bouquet toss to “Man, I Feel Like A Woman” and garter toss to The Troggs “Wild Thing”.  I have seen a lot of funny thing happen during garter toss, but this was a classic!  When Pat went to remove the garter he had a funny look on his face, then pulled out a full bottle of beer that Kara had just put up there.  He got a huge smile on his face and downed the whole bottle, then went in again for the garter.  So great!!!  After that, back to dancing which included an epic dance-off between Kara and Pat to “Billie Jean” and the ring bearer showing his awesome dance moves to “Timber”.  The night ended with Eddie Money’s “Take Me Home Tonight” and a sparkler exit.  What a fun night and a wonderful group to play for!

Gawkins/Roach wedding at The Carolina Inn

After a beautiful ceremony at St. Thomas More Church in Chapel Hill, Katie-Ann, Bryan and their guests made their way to The Carolina Inn for their cocktail hour and reception in the Hill Ballroom. I had a mix of standards, soft rock, country and classic soul playing for the 160 guests as they enjoyed cocktails and hors d’oeuvres in the front hallway during the social hour.  I was thrilled to be working with some of my favorite vendors in Brian Mullins Photography, Chris & Toni from Heart Stone Films, Rick from Total Production Services on lights and planners Kristen from The Inn and Tia Jones-Nusbaum from Erin McLean Events! 

The doors to the ballroom opened and guests found their tables decorated with floral arrangements by Lyn from Fresh Affairs.  Before I announced Katie-Ann and Bryan into the room, we had a couple visitors.  UNC’s mascot Ramses and NC State’s Mr. Wuf came running i  They dropped the banned and got into a short fake fist-fight that was classic and had everyone cheering them on!  They made up with a hug and made way for Katie-Ann and Bryan to enter.  They came into the room to a huge round of applause and right into their first dance to Elvis’s “Can’t Help Falling In Love”.  They took their seats and Katie-Ann’s father gave a heart felt welcome to everyone and Bryan’s father, who was also his best man, blessed the meal.  The plated appetizers, salad’s and entrée’s came out and I continued a mix of standards, soft rock and classic soul during dinner as the mascots made their way around the room for pictures.  After the salads, we had a couple toasts by Katie-Ann’s sister and Bryan’s father.

nto the room to Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” with a huge banner.

After dinner we had the Sugarland cake cutting to Uncle Kracker’s “Smile” and Katie-Ann joined her father on the floor to dance to Ray Allaire’s “A Song For My Daughter” and Bryan danced with his mother to “What A Wonderful World”.  Before I opened the floor to everyone, Katie-Ann and Bryan’s wedding party joined them on the floor to dance to “Carolina Girls”.  Frank Sinatra’s “The Way You Look Tonight” opened the floor to everyone including a couple ballroom dancers.  After that, some oldies and current dance music kept the floor filled for the next 3 ½ hours!  We only stopped briefly for the bouquet toss to “Single Ladies”, garter removal to “American Woman” by Lenny Kravitz and toss to “Wild Thing” by Tone Loc.

For the rest of the evening guests danced, enjoyed the dessert/candy station by Candyland buffets, visited the Sugarland gelato bar and had pictures taken in the Laugh Out Loud Photo Booth.  For their last dance Katie-Ann and Bryan danced to “Carolina In My Mind” and had guests make a “Tunnel Of Love” line on the dance floor that they made their exit through.  What a fun group to play for and I have said it before, Katie-Ann was one of the most “excited to be marrying him” brides I have played for!  Thank you Katie-Ann for having me as your DJ and Thank you Bryan for your many years of service to our country!

Some photo's by Brian Mullins Photography (the good ones..ha ha)

Moore/Vane wedding at The Carolina Inn

Shannon and Alex had their official NC wedding ceremony and reception at Chapel Hill’s historic Carolina Inn on Saturday November 15^th, 2014.  They both are in the service so do not see each other much, even though they were married 2 years ago.  The outdoor wedding ceremony started a little after the UNC/Pitt football game got out..and yes, Carolina won in the last minute.

I was thrilled to be working with the Inn’s Melissa Sayre, planner Tia Jones from Erin McLean Events and world class photographer Shane Snider!  For the cocktail hour, Shannon and Alex had an acoustic guitarist, Dave from Save The Date Music. The cocktail hour ended and the doors to the Old Well Room opened.  I had light standards playing as guests found their tables in the black and white ballroom that was decorated with beautiful floral arrangements by Lyn at Fresh Affairs.  The wedding party came dancing into the room to “Happy” and Shannon and Alex to “I Do” by Colbie Caillat.  They came down the stairs and right into their first dance, “You and I” by Michael Buble that they both sang to each other like they were the only ones in the room.  After that, guests took their seats and the 3 courses of soup, salad and entrée’s came out.  For dinner I continued standards playing.

 

As dinner wound down, we had a few toasts and the Sugarland cake cutting to Queen’s  “You’re My Best friend”.  Shannon made her way back to the floor and danced with her father to “My Little Girl” by Tim McGraw and Alex escorted his mother to the floor for their dance to “93 Million Miles” by Jason Mraz.  I opened the floor to the wedding party to “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and then for everyone to “Crank That” by Soulja Boy because that is the song Shannon was dancing to when Alex first saw her and went up to meet her. LOL, classic!!  After that, “My Girl” brought everyone out for the remained of the night.

After some oldies, line dances and current dance music it was time for the bouquet toss to “PYT” and garter toss to “Keep Your Hands To Yourself”, then back to dancing to 80’s and current music.  We ended the night with “At Last” and then a soul train line dance to the end of “Shout” that Shannon and Alex exited to.  What a fun night and a wonderful group to play to!

Palecek/Huber wedding at The Umstead in Cary NC

Wendy and Kyle chose Cary’s 5 star Umstead Hotel and Spa for both ceremony and reception on a beautiful November 8^th day with The Umstead’s planner Margaret Northrup.  I knew this was going to be an awesome party when I met Wendy!  She was so excited and happy! 

The ceremony was held out back in the courtyard with minister Barbara Lodge who always done a fantastic job and is a pleasure to work with!  As guests arrived I had a mix of classic love songs playing.  It was time for the ceremony to start and the grandparents and parents came down the isle to “Canon In D”, the wedding party (including Yuki their puppy) to “A Thousand Years” by Sherron Brown and Wendy and her father to Kim Taylor’s “I Am You”.  After Barbara’s beautiful ceremony, the wedding party exited to Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit Of Happiness (Steve Aoki remix))”. LOL!  Guests made their way through the hotel to the cocktail hour and there was a bit of energy in the air because they passed Dave Chappelle chillin’ in the lounge!! 

As guests arrived to the cocktail hour I had a mix of trip-hop/chill music playing by the likes of Thievery Corporation, Gotan Project and Bebel Gilberto among others.  Very cool playlist and really set the tone that this was not going to be the typical wedding reception.  Photographers Taylor & Maria West from Zozo photography were there to take pics through the night.  As the cocktail hour wrapped up, the doors to the ballroom opened and the 60 guests found their tables.

The wedding party entered to T.I.’s “Whatever You Like” and Wendy and Kyle came in and right to the floor for their first dance to “Bloodstream” by Stateless.  They were so sweet singing it to each other like they were the only ones in the room.  I opened the floor up for a short 20 minute dance set that included Motown and top 40 that had everyone dancing!  They took their seats for dinner, Wendy’s father welcomed everyone (who may or may not be Mic Jagger) and her pop-pop Paul blessed the meal.  The food stations opened including a craving station, seafood station and taco bar and I played a mix of alternative rock and classic rock during dinner.  After dinner we had 3 toasts that ended with Wendy’s brother doing the “Schmurda Dance” and then Wendy joined her father on the floor to dance to Bowie’s “Never Let Me Down”.

 

I opened the floor again with “The Cupid Shuffle” and some 70’s that filled the floor again and the Shutterbooth opened in the hallway.  After keeping them dancing for an hour or so, we paused for the cake cutting to “You Are The Best Thing” and guests helped themselves to cupcakes and desserts and came back out to the floor for more dancing.

Close to the end, Kyle’s Uncle Bill (who has been a DJ for 30 years) borrowed the mix to sing “Can’t Help Falling In Love” and “New York, New York” that did a great job!  Wendy had never heard him sing before.  We ended the night with “Sweet Caroline” and their last dance to “I’m Yours”.  What a fun crowd and I had a blast!  Thank you Wendy and Kyle and congratulations!