Those that follow me know that I’ve been putting out a live video Christmas mix annually. This year is no exception, so here’s my 2011 Live Christmas Mix, complete with Track IDs, and several live mashups including dubstep and some classic holiday favorites.
Happy Holidays from The Creative Music DJ!
I had an incredible wedding where the ending set was all house and top40 remixes by request from the bride and groom. I had a feeling it was going to be quite a mix so I hit record in Serato Scratch Live shortly after I began the set.
Since I planned to post an August Top40 Remix podcast and never got around to it, I decided to post this. This mix has sooo much energy, it is impossible not to want to move to this!
Note: This is NOT a typical example of what the end set of the night is at one of my weddings, however it is an example of what it could be if the client requested for me to go in that particular direction!
Venue: <Private Residence>
Venue Address: <withheld>
Number of guests: 200+
Services Provided: Wedding DJ and Master of Ceremonies, Basic Dance Floor Lighting, Ceremony DJ
Party Planner: Rita Boes
Photography: Stuart Guardner
Cake: Cake Lady
In March of 2010 Derek Marso posted a comment on his Facebook page asking his friends for a good DJ. Soon after, my good friend Andy messaged me via Facebook messages and asked me if the date was open. It was, and Andy let Derek know. Derek and I talked a bit over email, and then arranged to meet at person at their house.
Derek and his fiance, Katherine (Katie), and I discussed a lot of details during that meeting, but the one that really stood out was the fact that they liked that I had lots of suggestions for genres to use for ceremony music and cocktail music. Of course! How could I be THE Creative Music DJ without creative ideas, right? A few days later, they contacted me and booked the date.
On their wedding day, I arrived and set up equipment for the ceremony on the top pool deck, and their reception on the lower grass lawn.
The pool deck was large but divided, and they had guests on both sides of the pool. To compensate for this, I made sure to bring some really powerful speakers and placed one equidistant from both guest seating areas. After testing one speaker, there was no need for a second one!
Ceremony Prelude (Guest Seating): Vitamin String Quartet
Ceremony Processional (Bridesmaids): Israel Kamawawiwo’ole – Somewhere Over The Rainbow
Ceremony Processional (Bridal March): Christian Joseph – Just The Way You Are
Ceremony Recessional: MGMT – Kids (DJ Dennis J Ceremony Remix)
My view of this poolside ceremony was great, as you can see here. I really like this picture, it shows the look that a poolside wedding can have.
For cocktail hour, guests remained on the pool deck while the wedding party went out front for photos.
Cocktail Music: Hidden Beach – Assorted Selections
After pictures were finished, I instructed guests to move downstairs to prepare for the Grand Entrance. Since the stairway was narrow, it took a while for the guests to get seated, but they diligently made their way to the reception area.
Grand Entrance: Lil Wayne – A Milli (instrumental)
We started dinner after the Grand Entrance, which was a buffet. For dinner music, they wanted me to perform my ‘whosampled mix’. This is a fun live mix that I do where the tracklist consists of songs that are easily recognized as the original source for lots of modern hip-hop hits. Guests seemed to really enjoy the mix, and as always I enjoyed putting on the show for them.
Dinner Music: DJ Dennis J’s Old School Whosampled Collection
After dinner, we began toasts, starting with Katherine’s sister, Jen England.
We then transitioned into their formal dances.
First Dance: J.R.A. – Best I Ever Had
Father Daughter Dance: John Mayer – Daughters
Mother Son Dance: Barbara Mandrell – I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool
We then opened up the dance floor. I tried a lot of older music but only the disco seemed to work well. Music moved to current tunes rather quickly, but I kept bringing it back to older stuff for a while to let all ages enjoy some dancing. Can you say, “packed dance floor”?
After a bit of dancing we took a break and started the cake cutting.
Cake Cutting: The Turtles – Happy Together
Bouquet Toss: Beyonce – Single Ladies (sorry, no pics!)
By this time, the newlyweds and their guests had decided that they wanted to keep me an extra two hours! We had fun with some more dancing, but since they had extended their time I really wanted to give them some more special memories, so I surprised them with the ‘shoe game’. For those not in the know, this is a fun activity where I put the bride and groom in chairs facing away from each other, then have them remove their shoes, and hand one of their shoes to the other person. I then ask questions to which the answer is either the bride or the groom, and they raise the shoe of the person they think is the answer. It is a lot of fun because the bride and groom can’t see each other’s answer, but all the guests can! The questions have to be chosen carefully to make the game fun. To give an (tame) example, a question like “who was the most nervous about tonight?” is a good starter.
It was a big hit, and they as well as their guests had a lot of fun with it. See the laughter on the guests’ faces? That’s memories that will keep for a long time.
This one was actually posted on Facebook by one of the guests, Tiffany Nelson.
And the party continued!
For their last song, they liked my mashup remix of Cheers with Tipsy. I’m not a big fan of mashups unless they are done live, but every once in a while a good one comes along!
Last Dance: DJ Deville – Cheers I’m Tipsy
After such a great night, I made sure to get my post-reception photo with the happy newlyweds, Derek and Katherine Marso.
Congratulations to Derek and Katherine, and best wishes for a wonderful life together!