Rachel and Xavier’s Ballroom Blitz at The Westin Richmond
The Wedding Reception
As a wedding DJ in Richmond, I love working closely with clients on their music selections. Crafting the perfect wedding reception playlist is (as one of my DJs observed when shadowing one of Bunn DJ Company’s best DJs) like creating a symphony.
Because all tastes are different a wedding DJ needs to work with the bride and groom to get a sense of what they and their guests like. Bunn DJ Company in Richmond (and the other offices) offer an amazing online wedding planning system that helps clients craft the perfect wedding playlist.
So you can imagine my surprise when I looked at Rachel and Xavier’s music planner to find they had selected…..three songs. Now I’m confident in my DJ abilities and can read a crowd but going in cold to a 225-person wedding, that’s a test!
The Introductions
For their introductions they had at least selected a few songs, including Wang Chung’s hit from the 80s Everybody Have Fun Tonight, AND as a surprise, for the Maid of Honor and Best Man’s entrance the bride asked me to play a song off of the groom’s hip hop album he made in college, the expression on his face was priceless!
The cocktail hour at the Westin Richmond was held in the hall outside the ballroom, and the mother of the bride pulled me aside and said she couldn’t wait for the dance part of the wedding reception to start – that’s always a good sign for a wedding DJ!
I had put together a great mix of jazz standards (Sinatra, Dean Martin, etc) and Motown hits for dinner. I was happy with my selections but absolutely delighted when couples were on the dance floor during dinner! Nothing makes a DJ more excited than having wedding guests dancing early.
The bride had booked me until midnight and the bar was open until late so there are too many amazing moments to write about.
Highlights From The Evening:
- The dance floor and all clear space near it are being taken up by guests jumping around and dancing for the ENTIRE length of the Hora Medley – all 7 minutes of it!
- Seeing the bride’s mother dancing ON TOP OF HER CHAIR at her table!
- Getting to see Xavier and Rachel cut their cake with a sword, and not just any sword but her grandfather’s sword from when he was in the Navy!
- Watching people of all ages dance to everything from The Temptations to Prince, and Bruno Mars and Justin Bieber to Salt ’n’ Pepa.
The team I worked with that evening was awesome, Karla Crisp from Petals and Lace Events did a killer job co-ordinating the night and Paige Stevens Photography (aside from cracking me up) did a stellar job of being everyone at once to capture the great moments from the evening.
This wedding was one for the books and was a reminder of how much I love my job here in Virginia as a wedding DJ!