Estancia Wedding – Jason and Julia

When I first met Jason and Julia, there was this connection between us during conversation which was obvious. The reason for it? Jason is a DJ, and also the Entertainment Director of his place of employment. When I tell people this, they always comment, “wow, must be nerve-wracking DJing for a DJ, huh?” Well, I actually consider it quite an honor when someone who is a club DJ trusts me to take care of their wedding properly, which takes event management on the microphone, and ability to get everyone on the dance floor as well as take it ‘club-style’ when the time is right. Club-style doesn’t mean just mixing, by the way. It means understanding phrasing, programming, and the actual music being played in clubs now. Being able to blend that with tradition wedding-esque themes and track selection is my specialty, and something that I am proud of taking the time to develop and evolve.

So, we vibed. Julia was wonderful too. According to her, her musical tastes have evolved since meeting Jason, and these tastes would need to be incorporated into the night as well. Ironically, they both mentioned the fact that Julia had a dislike for house music before she met Jason, and now it’s her favorite genre!

Oh yes, and as for DJing for a DJ… this was much more than that. Bear in mind that good DJs have lots of good DJ friends! Let’s just say that the guest list was full of guests with a discerning ear for good mixing, transitions, and music selection!

Note: All photos on this blog post were provided by McCluskey Photography (Carrie McCluskey). She gave me some quality images, so don’t forget to click on any you like to see it at full resolution!

Wedding Reception

Cocktail hour was held on the patio outside the reception ballroom, and was supplied by guitarists. Since I didn’t participate in this, my part in their evening started after cocktail hour.

Wedding Reception

Once cocktail hour was over, we opened the ballroom doors and invited guests into the Grande Ballroom. I set up my equipment on the far side of the dance floor, clean and professional as always. I was working alongside a lighting technician, so we made sure to accommodate each other space-wise, and then I spent some time collaborating with him so that we were in sync with the events and his part in them.

Grand Entrance

Once guests were seated, we began the Grand Entrance.

Wedding Toasts

Immediately after the Grand Entrance, we went into dinner. Once dinner was finished, we began toasts.

Jason and Julia then gave a short thank you speech to their guests.

First Dance

When toasts were completed, I invited Jason and Julia to the dance floor for their first dance.

Father Daughter Dance

Mother Son Dance

Wedding Dancing

For the first set of open dancing, I played a lot of classic favorites and some redrums where I felt they would work best.

After a bit of dancing we took a break for some more formal activities.

Wedding Cake

Bouquet Toss

Wedding Dancing Part II

For the second set of dancing, we ramped up to the infamous ‘club-style’. I was enjoying this set a lot so I took the initiative to hit record on Serato ScratchLive and recorded my ending set. I’m still working on getting this working on my blog, but if you’d like to hear the set, it is posted at http://djdennisj.podomatic.com/entry/2011-09-11T19_58_58-07_00.

And this photo just goes to show that you didn’t have to be on the dance floor to enjoy the mix!

Post-Reception

The party wasn’t over when the reception was finished, so I instructed the remaining guests to head over to Mustang and Burros (the bar on premises) for the after-party. I did manage to catch Jason and Julia for a post-reception photo, but I’ve lost the photo and so I can’t post it here. I’m so bummed! I assure you they were pleased with my services!

Congratulations to Jason and Julia and their families, and thanks for choosing The Creative Music DJ for your special day!

Additional Photos

A couple great photos by Carrie McCluskey of yours truly in action.

I’ve mentioned my increasingly-popular live wedding first-dance mixes a few times, but you can’t really understand until you see me perform one, so for the last one I did, I enlisted the assistance of San Diego Wedding Planner Amy Anderson (Affairs By Amy) to get video of the dance while I set up a camera to get video of the turntables. The result? I’m able to demonstrate the full effect now with a multi-view video of the Charest’s first dance, mixed live The Creative Music DJ-style!

Wedding Mix Tracklist:

Bad Meets Evil – Lighters
J Dash – Wop
Michael Jackson – Billie Jean
Sir Mix-a-lot – Jump On It
Bad Meets Evil – Lighters (outro)

Client: PJ and Louanne Charest

Venue: Marine Corps Community Services, MCRD San Diego – Bayview Room

Venue Address: Marine Corps Recuit Depot, 3800 Chosin Avenue, San Diego, CA 92140

Number of guests: 150+
Services Provided: Wedding DJ and Master of Ceremonies, Enhanced Dance Floor Lighting, Live First Dance Mix

On-site Coordinator: Shelly
Photobooth: 360 Photobooth
Photography: Patricia Lucia Photography
Florist: Branches Floral Studio

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!