I had the chance to dj the ceremony and wedding reception for Irang and Dave this past weekend at the Torpedo Factory in beautiful Old Town Alexandria. The weather was crisp and perfect outside and the Torpedo Factory was transformed into a wonderfully intimate space by Terri Eaves and her assistants from Bash, with lighting by John Farr. We quickly set up all our speakers and were ready for the first guests to arrive. The bride and groom picked out the music for the pre-ceremony and seating which was comprised of some indie and folksy tunes. At 7 PM sharp the wedding began without a hitch and the wedding party was walking down the aisle to Bright Eyes’ “First Day of my Life”. Once the wedding party was in place, the bride was escorted down by her father to Pachelbel’s “Canon in D” and the ceremony was performed in front of a wonderful display of flowers and candles hanging from chains set in front of lovely white curtains, courtesy of Shawn Cosette’s crew from Beehive Events. The ceremony was emotionally charged as both Dave and Irang were moved to tears during the reading of the vows.
After the ceremony the guests were moved upstairs to the catwalks for cocktail hour, and the ceremony area was transformed into a dance-floor. For the cocktail hour the couple had picked out some classic tunes and chilled indie rock songs which all fit perfectly the vibe and tempo of the evening. Some highlights include Artic Monkeys “Baby Im Yours” and Feist “Mushaboom” which I matched with Katy Perry’s acoustic cover of Electric Feel by MGMT and Fleet Foxes “Blue Ridge Mountains”.
As the cocktail hour ended and the guests were invited downstairs to enjoy dinner, we switched the music over to some classic jazz and smooth jazz standards which really seemed to work perfectly with the calm and quietness of the guests. The father of the bride and groom both gave short but heartwarming speeches and then there was a blessing before the first course of gorgonzola and pecan crunch salad was served. The guests had a choice between beef tenderloin or herb crusted halibut, which looked and smelled amazing. The third course of sweet corn ice cream, coffee and donuts, dark chocolate bark was served and a series of toasts from the brothers of the groom and bride quickly followed with a surprise toast from Dave’s friend Matt which all worked out perfectly.
After dinner we quickly moved into the introductions of the wedding party to Bruno Mars’ “Just the Way You Are”; which led directly into the first dance to Al Green’s “Let’s Stay together” and then the two parent dances which were all just wonderful, short and sweet. I opened the dance-floor up to some Motown and the entire wedding party jumped on the floor and started getting down. After a couple of songs the bride and groom exited the dance-floor to say good-bye to some of the guests that were leaving and the wedding party followed suit leaving the dance-floor empty for a song or two.
One of the groomsmen asked me to play some classic hip hop so he and his friends could do some breakdancing and with no one on the floor I dropped into some classic Run DMC and then just mixed in a barrage of classic hip hop songs which had them headspinning and top rocking all over the place!
We then stopped the music for a minute to announce the cake cutting and then started back with Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” which got everyone back into the dancing spirit.
Since most of the crowd left was younger, I decided to play a more dance pop oriented set which included Ke$ha, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Afrojack, etc. and the crowd was fist pumping the night away. The biggest hits of the night were LAMFO “Party Rock Anthem” and Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” which were both requests from the wedding party.
All in all it was a wonderful night in the Torpedo Factory and I felt honored to be a part of Dave and Irang’s celebration.
