The guests then made their way through a bridal party receiving line and into the cocktail room, Palmer’s Cove, where I had music waiting. Just before noon, the guests came into the ballroom and I went out to line up the bridal party that was introduced to Blue Man Group’s “Opening Mandlebrot” and the bride and groom came in to “Cliffs of Dover” by Eric Johnson. Both of these choices were totally unique and new to me, but worked awesome!  The crowd went nuts when Cheryl and Raymond hit the dance floor to their first dance “Smile” by Uncle Kracker.  A blessing was given and the lunch stations opened.

As lunch was winding down the maid of honor and best Ma’am (love that title) gave their toasts and the lovely cake from Sweet Memories was cut.  Dancing came next.  I’m always a little worried for daytime receptions and no dancing, but this crowd blew that idea out of the window! From the first song to the last, they were dancing!  I had some great requests and played every genre you can think of. I can’t wait to see the photos from photographer Jeff Massey. As the evening wound down around 4:30, I was thinking 2 things-1)that was a great reception and 2)I have the night off!  What a great Saturday! Congrats to the new Mr. and Mrs. Spagnola.

After the ceremony, the guests all turned around and looked up at the Villa to see Allison and Lee come out on the balcony and wave. It was the perfect ending to the ceremony!  As the bridal party had pictures taken, the guests went around to the other side of the villa where drinks and food and the Classic Carolina Photobooth was waiting for them.  The weather held out just long enough to have this cocktail hour as the bottom fell out just as the last guests came in for the bridal party intros! This was a storm of epic proportions! I was seriously scared that we were going to lose power for a while. Crazy!

The intros were done to Fat Boy Slim’s “Rockafeller Skank” and the guests went bananas when Allison and Lee finally made their way down the grand staircase and hit the dance floor to dance to Train’s “Marry Me” (one of my all time favorite bands, by the way, great choice).  After their dance, everyone had a seat as the parents of the bride welcomed everyone and then a quick blessing was said before the buffet opened up.  The food looked delicious and dinner went by in no time. After the toasts and cake cutting, Lee and Allison did their parent dances.  Allison and her father danced to “I Loved Her First” and Lee danced with is mom to a song he found on YouTube that I had never heard called “All to You” by Scott Keo. Great song which was definitely written specifically for the mother/son dance.  Finally it was time to dance and from that very first song “My Girl”, until the last one, that dance floor was MOVING!  This crowd had a blast and so did I.  The only stop was to do the garter and bouquet tosses, and then it was right back to rockin’.  I can’t wait to see some of the images from Greg Mills with The Image Mill.  I also have to give a shout out to Dragonfly Florist and James Perry (cake), and of course Cathy (Barclay Villa).  Another great wedding in the books!

The day started with an outdoor ceremony that got delayed by just a few minutes due to rain, but not to worry, it happened! Once the guests were seated, the ceremony began with “Going to the Chapel” and included a lovely song in the middle by The Beatty Family singers (doing it live) and ended with “Everlasting Love” by Natalie Cole.  We were in charge of  mic’ing not only the officiant, but also the singers. It went off perfectly.  The cocktails started right afterward inside the old house, and then guests came into Nathan Hall about an hour later for the rest of the evening.

Guests entered to “What a Wonderful World” as I lined up the bridal party in the hall outside.  The parents entered to “Still the One” by Orleans, the bridal party to “Celebration” and then of course the new Mr. and Mrs. Jones entered to Billy Paul’s “Me & Mrs. Jones”!  Killer!  Then they danced to “When I Say I Do” by Clint Black. Rachel then danced with her dad to “I Loved Her First” by Heartland, and then Matt and his mom danced to “Then They Do” by Trace Adkins.  At the end of the dance, the father of the bride welcomed everyone, the blessing was said, and the incredible food stations opened to the hungry guests.

After everyone got their fill, it was time to move on in the evening with the toasts and cake cutting (great work again by Swank) and then open dancing.  They picked a ton of songs and I tried to get through as many as possible from country to beach to Top 40 to line dances. We did it all!  What a great party! Check out the photos from Cara Galati of F8 Photo Studios.  Also, I can’t forget to mention the great work of Jamie and Stephanie of Viva L’Event, the planners of this event and also Makeupforyourday and once again Lyn and Michael with the incomparable Fresh Affairs.

On Friday, I had the pleasure of running some PA gear at the Mahler Gallery on Fayetteville Street for an old friend’s rehearsal dinner.  They needed mics for the toast and audio for the slideshow he had put together.  After handling that part of the night, I walked right around the corner to The Architect (a hot new bar downtown) and started the official rehearsal dinner after-party. I played all types of stuff for this event-from line dances to brand new hip hop and even some shagging music! The guests loved it, and I was able to escape around midnight just as they opened the bar to the public.

On Saturday, I had a big wedding at Rose Hill near Rocky Mt., NC, but I’ll save that for a separate post.

And finally, just last night, on a Monday, I was the DJ for the kickoff party for the Inspire Smart Success event in Durham at The Cotton Room.  Not only was THE Preston Bailey in the house, but so were several of my vendor friends from the area, as well as tons of others that I got a chance to meet.  I never thought it would happen, but by the end of the night, I had ‘em dancing!  What a great start to the ISSENC 2 day event! Special shout out to wedding planner Erin McLean for pulling this event off.

After the intros, a blessing was given and the huge buffet dinner began. As dinner began to wind down, we finally got to the toasts which were all very touching from the best man, sisters of the bride, and father of the bride.  Finally, it was time for the bride and groom’s first dance to Alexi Murdock’s “All My Days” (first time playing this). Next, Emily danced with her dad to “What a Wonderful World” and finally Chris and his mom danced to “Forever Young” by Rod Stewart. We then cut the cake, which was totally amazing. Check out my instagram photo.  There are really no words for this cake by Swank!

Finally, it was dance time!! And from song one, it was ON! I loved this crowd. They had plenty of energy and rocked all the way to the end of the night! Other vendors that I have to give props to are photo booth by Shutterbooth, lighting by Get Lit, videography by Blueberry Fusion, flowers by Tre Bella, Catering by Catering Co. of Chapel Hill, and photography by Sandra Reid.

The ceremony took place outside of The Palmer Building in Charlotte with the cocktails and reception inside. This was my first visit to the venue, and I must say it is pretty cool!  After everyone packed inside, I went out to do the lineups and get ready for the intros. All of the bridal party came in to “Tonight is the Night” by Outasight, but Greg and Erica entered to “Who Let the Dogs Out”.  A funny choice, but trust me, everyone that knows Erica knows she really goes by “E-Dogg”, so this song was totally perfect. The place went nuts!  Greg (who goes by Ski) and Erica went into their first dance “You Are The Best Thing” by Ray Lamontagne (love this dude).  On their request, I invited everyone in around the 1:00 minute mark.  After their dance, Erica and her dad danced to Harry Connick Jr.’s “Way You Look Tonight” and Ski and his mom danced to “Because You Loved Me” by Celine.  Lastly, Jacob (brother of the groom and another of my previous clients) danced with his sis to “I’ll Stand by You” by the Pretenders.  One of the groomsman gave a sweet blessing and then it was time for everyone to eat from the buffet and hit the photo booth by Strike-A-Pose.

We picked it back up with some incredible toasts, the best being from two of E-dogg’s best friends, Amanda and Jackie.  They had me (or rather DJ Randy Bennett) cut an instrumental of Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend” so they could do a custom rap for Erica. It was hilarious and they had the entire crowd singing along to the chorus, “You, You got what I need!”  Awesome!  I then sent Greg & Ski over to the cake for the cutting and then it was dance time!  I played a few oldies, but then went right into the requests and really went back in time to the late 90′s and early 2000′s, when I first met Erica and her friends. It was such a blast and I got to play some awesome hip hop, plus there were two karaoke performances. Erica’s brother rocked “Baby Got Back” and another guy did “Eye of the Tiger”! I loved this reception and wish all the best to E-Dogg and Ski!

After Brian and Diana hit the dance floor, it was time for their first dance to “She’s Got a Way”, a Billy Joel song, but this version was by Michael Cavanaugh. It was beautiful. Before the father/daughter dance, Diana took the mic and told her dad how much he meant to her. It was super emotional, as was their dance to “Carolina In my Mind” by James Taylor.  Next, Brian had his dance with his mom to “What a Wonderful World”.  A very nervous father of the bride was up next to welcome everyone.  I wondered how he would do since earlier that week I had met with him and he had asked if he could “give his toast from the closet”! LOL. But you know what? He was great! He killed!  The blessing took place and the delicious buffet opened to the head table and guests.

As soon as dinner was winding down, I decided to get into some oldies before the toasts and cake.  I could tell right away, this was my kind of crowd! They came to DANCE!  It was hard to get them to settle down long enough to get through the two amazing toasts from the best man and maid of honor. Both of whom had everyone in tears!  The cake cutting was next and then BOOM, right back to more dancing.  It was madness on the dance floor all the way up to the very end when I played “Sexy and I Know It” and all of the groomsmen ditched their shirts and came in wearing only vests and bow ties up top.  Hilarious! The night ended with Norah Jones’ version of “Love me Tender” and a big trolley departure for the new Mr. and Mrs. Oates.  I can only hope that all of my 2012 weddings are this fun! Soon to come will be the trailer from Heart Stone Films, and you’ll see what I mean!