On the last warm night of the year I DJed a wonderful little wedding reception for Friedrich and Maryam at the quaint McLean Ballroom in Washington DC. Fred and Maryam live in London and came over to DC a couple months before to meet me and we got along quite well, they even came and watched me dj at U Street Music Hall that night and stayed till the bitter end, dancing away the whole night. I knew this was going to be a special wedding, as Fred had informed me that they wanted more of a club sound for the reception.
I didn’t witness the actual wedding, but was set up in the ballroom for the cocktail hour when the guest starting arriving. Fred had opted for some classic jazz, bossa nova and classics for the cocktail hour and everything flowed very smoothly. The guests were all stunningly dressed and cosmopolitan which made for a really vibrant atmosphere. Several guests were from Germany, England and as far away as Iran.
The drinks were flowing and as the cocktail hour wrapped up we invited everyone to find their seats so dinner could be served. For the dinner I played a selection of lounge music from the likes of Thievery Corporation, Nightmares On Wax, and Bonobo which really set the mood for the later change to straight up club music. There was some wonderful toasts from the best man and maid of honor; and the father of the groom made a really impassioned speech about family, friends and his love for his son which was really sweet.
Once dinner was over, Fred and Maryam performed a planned dance to “Roxanne Tango” by Tommy Blaize & The Laurie Holloway Orchestra; which was perfectly executed. We then moved into some classic Motown and a couple of 80’s tracks and then we broke for a quick cake cutting. I played a quick set of Iranian music which everyone was out dancing too.
Soon after that I was playing the club tracks that Fred and his friends had sent me and everyone was getting down. The couple was out dancing from the first song to the last, enticing all their guests to join them which made for a wonderful dance party. Several guests started asking me for some more Iranian music and I was soon mixing those seamlessly making for a really international sounding dance party. The biggest hit of the night was “Give me Everything Tonight” by Afrojack which the bride demanded I play twice. The father of the groom was even in the booth taking pictures of my screen so he could later track down the song. In the middle of playing the song the second time, both Fred and Maryam were hoisted up on chairs and paraded around the ballroom.
They contracted me until 1AM in the morning, and boy did they use up the time with a ton of dancing. We finished with a couple more Iranian songs and Kings of Leon “Somebody”; which had everyone slow dancing the final minutes away. With that song over, we closed up the music and everyone poured out into the street with laughter and sweat looking like they were ready to hit the clubs.
*Sorry for the blurry pictures as I only had my camera phone with me for this event