DJing of late pt. 2

And so my other DJing gig of the past week was a paid wedding spot. I've done weddings before, and used my laptop and MP3 mixer, but still, it's someone's wedding, so there's still an extra extra extra level of nerves about the night. The party at my wedding was without doubt the greatest night of my life, so I know how important to the whole day it can be to some people.

I knew the couple a little and they'd given me some instruction on what they wanted to hear - I know some people who don't like the prescriptive-ness of wedding DJing, but I really believe that it's the happy couple's day and they should get to hear whatever they want. And if, as a DJ, you don't want to compromise your integrity and provide that for them, well I suppose that's your call. Basically, don't take the gig if you won't deliver what's wanted. Hopefully I pulled it off. The feedback on the night was good, and the dancefloor was full for the most part.

I tried to be philosophical about the couple of lulls that there were, partly because it was spread over the course of over four hours, which is pretty standard for a wedding, but I still think it's unrealistic to expect the dancefloor to be full constantly given that everyone's had a big meal, lots to eat, and generally a big day.

Like I say, good news was that there only seemed to be a couple of lulls I think. Oh, and it's worth saying that most of the tracks I played were specifically requested by the couple, either themselves or by their guests, who on their RSVP were asked to suggest a song they'd like to hear. I just had to put it all in some sort of sensible order and cross my fingers.

Particular highlights included the first dance, the ever-classy Carly Simon's Nobody Does It Better. Then the 90s chart dance section really got everyone going, featuring such 'lost gems' as Haddaway's What Is Love, SL2's On A Ragga Tip and Prodigy's Outta Space.

The rock section went down well too, including my own personal picks (and all-time wedding disco faves) of Springsteen's Dancing In The Dark, Bon Jovi's Living On A Prayer and Don Henley's Boys Of Summer.

Oh, and Queen's We Are The Champions was a rousing end to the night.

So there we go - the newlyweds will be the only people who can really say if it was a success or not, but they seemed to enjoy so I'm gonna go with that. Good luck to them and their lives together - it was a great way to kick off married life!