The 2019 wedding season for me just keeps getting better and better!
Sarah and Nigel’s wedding in the heart of Thetford Forest was no exception. A beautiful sunny and warm September afternoon, a huge field surrounded by the forest, and lots of guests ready to celebrate with them.
What more does a wedding need?
My role for the day was to provide background music for the wedding breakfast and of course, the floor filling evening party.
Having arrived early, I was setup in good time with my Rustic style booth and invited to go and watch the ceremony itself.
What an absolutely gorgeous location! The wedding took place amid the trees (the picture doesn’t do the setting justice!). It was nice to watch a ceremony without actually being involved in helping to make it happen.
The music for the ceremony was provided by an acoustic guitarist who did a brilliant job at setting the right atmosphere for the occasion.
Ceremony over, it's time for "cocktail hour"
Now it’s time for me to start work.
Sarah & Nigel had provided a list of music they wanted to hear for their background music whilst their guests relaxed with a drink before the evening food was served.
During this time, I did as I usually do and spent time with some of the guests finding out their music preferences, talking to those who were to make speeches as to how and where they wanted to do them, liaising with Sarah and Nigel about last minute changes to their timeline for the day, and generally helping the flow of the afternoon.
This part of the day (and indeed the speeches section a little later on) was really relaxed and informal….exactly the style of wedding I enjoy working at.
And then....its party time!
Sarah and Nigel opted as most couples do, to only do around half of their first dance (Different Corner by George Michael) alone.
At the halfway point, confetti was fired into the air (this always looks BRILLIANT in the photo album!), and their guests were invited to join them on the dance floor.
They certainly didn’t disappoint with the ‘floor soon full of couples enjoying the second half of the first dance.
In fact, the dance floor stayed pretty much full for most of the evening to music from the 1970’s to the 1990’s with just a couple of more modern tracks included.
More on that later…
Some photos of the evening
For me, this was a busy one on the decks. I didn’t get too many photos, but the ones I did manage to capture perfectly reflect how the evening went.
And so, to the playlist...
I’d met with Sarah several weeks before the big day to go over things like music preferences.
The brief was for mainly ’80s music which on the day sadly didn’t work very well (it happens sometimes). On paper, the selections she and Nigel had requested should have worked a treat.
Luckily, they also gave me permission to do what was needed to keep the dance floor busy. It involved a lot of thinking on my feet at times, and it worked (phew!).
Background music
This was the music played during the wedding breakfast and was chosen by Sarah & Nigel
- XTC – Making Plans For Nigel
- The Verve – Bitter Sweet Symphony
- Paul Young – Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home)
- Ellie Goulding – Love Me Like You Do
- Berlin – Take My Breath Away
- Depeche Mode – Everything Counts
- Queen – Under Pressure
- Pet Shop Boys – West End Girls
- David Bowie – Let’s Dance
- New Order – True Faith
- KC and the Sunshine Band – Give It Up
- A-Ha – The Sun Always Shines On TV
- Spandau Ballet – Gold
- Spandau Ballet – Through The Barricades
- Del Amitri – Nothing Ever Happens
- David Bowie – Sound & Vision
- Thin Lizzy – Sarah
- China Crisis – Wishful Thinking
- Sinead O’Connor – Nothing compares 2 U
The evening party
As already mentioned, the preference was for music from the 1980’s which on the night didn’t work as well as expected, so there’s a lot of ’70s and ’90s music in this one as well which went down a storm.
- George Michael – A Different Corner (First Dance)
- Abba – Dancing Queen
- Bee Gees – Stayin’ Alive (2007 Remastered)
- Various Artists – The Grease Megamix
- Donna Summer – I Feel Love Edited Version
- Earth, Wind & Fire – DJ Beats: September
- David Bowie & Mick Jagger – Dancing In The Street (Single)
- Communards – Don’t leave me this way
- Bronski Beat – Why
- Edwin Starr – Contact
- New Order – Blue Monday
- Jimmy Somerville – You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)
- Abba – DJ Beats: Mamma Mia
- Barry White – You’re The First, The Last, My Everything
- Bee Gees- You Should Be Dancing (2007 Remastered)
- The Trammps – Disco Inferno
- The Jacksons – Can you feel it
- Sigala – Easy Love
- Madness – One Step Beyond
- Madness – Baggy trousers
- Special AKA – Too Much Too Young
- Selector – On My Radio
- The Specials Feat. Rico – Nite Klub
- The Jam – Town Called Malice
- The Jam – Going Underground
- Frankie Goes to Hollywood – Two Tribes
- Justin Timberlake – Can’t Stop The Feeling
- Chubby Checker – Let’s Twist Again
- Stereophonics – Dakota
- Billy Idol – White Wedding Part 1 (2001 Remaster)
- The Killers – DJ Beats: Mr Brightside
- Kings Of Leon – DJ Beats: Sex On Fire
- Kaiser Chiefs – I Predict A Riot
- The Fratellis – Chelsea Dagger
- Sigala – Sweet Lovin’
- Flo Rida Feat. David Guetta – Club Can’t Handle Me
- Pet Shop Boys – Always On My Mind
- Communards – Never Can Say Goodbye
- Ike and Tina Turner – Proud Mary
- The Nolans – I’m In The Mood For Dancing
- Dolly Parton – 9 To 5
- S Club 7 – Reach
- The Weather Girls – It’s Raining Men
- Tiffany – I Think Were Alone Now
- Diana Ross – Chain Reaction
- Black Box – Ride On Time
- Yazz – The only way is up
- Faithless – Insomnia
- Darude – Sandstorm
- ATB – 9pm (DJ Mix)
- Vengaboys – Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!
- Vengaboys – We Like To Party (The Vengabus)
- Rednex – Cotton Eye Joe
- PULP – Common People
- Blur – Parklife
- Queen – Radio Ga Ga
- Neil Diamond – Sweet Caroline
- The Proclaimers – I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)
- Tony Christie – (is this the way to) Amarillo
- Dexys Midnight Runners – Come On Eileen
- Bryan Adams – Summer of ´69
- Bon Jovi – Livin On a Prayer
- Queen – Don’t Stop me Now
- Queen – I Want to Break Free
- Blur – Country House
- Artful Dodger And Romina Johnson – Movin’ Too Fast
- George Morel – Let’s Groove
- Ce Ce Peniston – Finally
- Cola Boy – 7 Ways To Love
- M.C Sar & The Real Mc Coy. – Another Night
- Dr. Alban – It’s My Life
- Corona – Rhythm Of The Night
- Haddaway – What Is Love
- Snap! – Rhythm Is A Dancer
- Urban Cookie Collective – The Key, The Secret
- Culture Beat – Mr. Vain
- M People – One Night in Heaven
- Betty Boo – Where are you baby
- Rick Astley – Never Gonna Give You Up
- Erasure – A Little Respect
- Taylor Dayne – Tell It To My Heart
- Erasure – Stop
- Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody
To conclude
2019 has been an AWESOME season of weddings for me, and Sarah & Nigel’s big day with the gorgeous location and guests in the mood to party confirmed how lucky I am to do this for a living.
An absolutely AWESOME wedding reception that makes the hours of planning, heavy lifting and long drive home along dark and winding country roads more than worthwhile!
