My penultimate wedding reception of 2018 was to be for Sam & Dan over in the beautiful Lanwades Hall .

I’d met Sam and Dan a couple of weeks before the big day just to quickly go through things, and I could tell from the moment we met that their wedding was going to be just a little bit “different” musically.

They’d been planning the wedding for just over a year (that’s how long it can take to organise a Registrar at the moment!), and this was to be a wedding with a big emphasis on fun and informal.

For example, the cake was of pork pie and cheese because let’s face it, who doesn’t like that combination….it beats sponge and fruit in my book 🙂 . They did actually have a traditional cake as well by the way.

Musically Sam was very much looking for the “party classics” – basically in her words when we met “music that people will dance to”. Dan on the other hand, very much into very hard rock and metal (we’re talking Rammenstein here!).

How to combine the two?

Actually with occasions such as weddings it’s fairly easy. I don’t do “club style” mixing for weddings as a general rule (although I’m more than capable, it doesn’t tend to be what most of my couples are looking for).  Because I was allowed to interact with the microphone as well, there was the opportunity to build into Dan’s style of music.

Lanwades is a fairly small venue (I was last here for Kimberly & Jason’s wedding last year). For Sam & Dan’s wedding we only had around 50 guests for the evening. A small wedding compared to some I do, but that makes it all the more intimate. From my side of the decks I can really get to know who’s who and interact accordingly, and that can make a huge difference.

The dance floor stayed healthy for the entire evening, right up until the last song of the night, with a selection of songs requested by Sam & Dan before the big day, and from guest requests on the night. It really was a pleasure to work at.

The Playlist

The majority of the music for this one was chosen by Sam & Dan before the evening, with the rest being suggested by their guests during the night. This combination always seems to work best as guests feel more included in the music selection.

A few photos from the night