damomoo

Last wedding gig of the year

Unless we get a last minute call we had our last wedding gig of the year. I've got a couple of X-mas party gigs lined up but the majority of the season is ending. We were in Cupertino for a wedding. The groom was Moe's old coworker who apparently has a drinking problem. Uh-oh you're thinking, could it be like the wedding from hell that I did? Let's find out.
We left early for the South Bay because we were also providing audio for the ceremony which was also at the hotel. I left Vacaville at around 9:30am (the wedding wasn't till 4:00pm!) and we made it to Cupertino around 11:30am. The groom was running most of the show. He's a bit of a micro-manager. He made us mp3 discs for all different times of the reception: wedding ceremony, hors d'ouevers, pre-dinner, during dinner, first dances, and even dancing music. We really didn't need to be there until probably 3:00pm but it made it kinda nice that we were able to setup early and just chill. Oh yeah, we even had lunch at a restaurant called PJ's, some kinda brewery. Reminded me of a restaurant in Surrey that we used to go to. I had a deep dish pizza, mmm...
The ceremony was nice but unfortunately the event coordinator of the hotel couldn't get the engineer to lower the power of the fountain which was kinda loud. She said she was in trouble for that. It still turned out nice though, a short 15 minute ceremony of entrances and vows. The pre-reception was nice because it was open bar so I drank a couple before we got started. In fact it was open bar all night.
The dinner was nice. The hotel gave me a vendor plate, even though I was on the couple's guest list. They had me down for a portobello mushroom plate but the hotel gave me a chicken dinner. Everyone liked my meal more than their own. I heard the filet minot was dry. My chicken was scrumptuous.
When it came time for dancing I have to say, I tried everything. We started out with the Celebration mix to play some 80s R&B, but they weren't buying it. They did come out during Michael Jackson and during Whoomp there it is. (Yes, I still play that one, it works, go figure.) Then the requests started coming in. Here is a dj's pet peeve. Someone comes up for a request, even a pretty good one, and no one dances, even the one who requested it. It happened several times. I said screw it, played some Korean house music (they provided, groom=chinese, bride=korean), and they were jamming. I played for about 20 minutes throwing in old house songs, nice. It's been awhile since I've been able to do that but the best thing is, it's easy. Same beats for all of the songs.
Most of the time, since it was open bar, people stayed outside drinking and smoking. We ended early, about 10. The groom with the drinking problem? He didn't make it past 9 but he didn't make an ass of himself like the other groom. He made one short appearance late, when his buddies carried him in, but he was knocked out.
Not a bad gig to end the wedding season, not all weddings are going to be fun like the Cruz's, but for the most part I'd have to say this was our most successful year djing and it's already looking great for next year. Congrats to all those who made us a part of their big day. It was an honor.

posted by DJ John @ 9:43 AM