On November 19th I finished my season by DJing Emily and John’s wedding reception at the historic and wonderful Metropolitan Club in downtown DC.
Wedding planners (and twin sisters) Amber & Emily from Amber Karson Events had the club looking wonderfully romantic with candles, the fireplace lit, and table settings looking perfect. Emily and John hired a pianist for cocktail hour; she played the grand piano on the upstairs landing as guests mingled and enjoyed cocktails served from silver trays.
As cocktail hour closed, the ballroom was opened for the guests to enter, and I played some light jazz during the transition. As soon as everyone got inside and found their respective seats I then started the first dance to Mumford & Sons’ “Winter Wind” (which we’d edited down to a comfortable three minute length).
Following the first dance John took the mic to welcome everyone and then handed the mic over to Emily’s uncle Doug who gave a nice blessing of the meal. For dinner the couple picked a soundtrack consisting of Pearl Jam and other soft rock classics, a nice break from traditional dinner music and a nice expression of Emily and John’s vision for their wedding. We were treated to several speeches and a final heartfelt toast from the father of the bride Mike, which brought more than a few tears in the room.
We then moved into the Father-Daughter dance and Mother-Son dance, which the whole family joined them half way through to Marvin Gaye & Tammy Tyrell’s classic “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” Picking up on the Motown vibe, we started off the dance set with more Motown classics and everyone was instantly on the floor. Emily and John gave me a long playlist, so I basically just set to getting as many of the songs they picked mixed in and properly managed so that everything flowed.
We broke into a Greek set about 30 minutes in, and everyone held hands and danced in a circle with some of the men and John breaking out some awesome Greek moves in the circle center. After the short Greek set, it was straight back into dance-time with the biggest hit of the night being The Isley Brothers’ “Shout.”
Everyone was having such a great time, Emily and John asked me to stay later. I was happy to oblige and continued to rock the dance floor. [It was about this time that D-Mac & Dylan made a late-night appearance, having finished their own last wedding of the season just a few blocks away at the Hay Adams Hotel.]
I played a group of classic songs from their must-play list: Kenny Loggins’ “Footloose,” Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al,” and we closed with Oasis’ “Don’t Look Back in Anger.” Everyone was sweaty and still asking for more! But by 12:40 a.m. the lights had come up in the oak-paneled room and it was time to call it a night.
What a great year of weddings, and this was a perfect one to close out my year! Thanks to Emily and John and all their wonderful friends and family for absolutely owning the dance-floor.
