By: New Year’s Eve is a time for celebration and it was for us when we were DJing an event and one of the attendees asked if he could send a friend of his an e-mail about us DJing his wedding. Of course, we’re happy to help, and that’s how we met Chuck.
St. Francis Hall is a quaint, but comfortable facility with a lot of natural light.
Chuck and Kate were getting married in Washington, D. C. the upcoming April, but it was early January when we first made contact to talk about his wedding at St. Francis Hall in Washington, D. C. Because of our affiliation with Monumental Sports & Entertainment, going over the details of the wedding was simple as the first meeting took place before a Washington Capitals home game.
The happy couple knew they wanted to have a low-key reception and told us right from the start. Knowing that going in, allowed us to take a list of songs they wanted and create a sound track that kept their guests upbeat and happy. We had a walk through at the facility just before Valentine’s Day and that’s when we had the chance to get a first look at the beautiful hall and go over all the information with Pedro, the coordinator at St. Francis Hall.
The gift and place card table featured this framed collage with pictures from parent’s and grand parent’s weddings.
Now that we had the layout in mind, and loading in-and-out was going to be simple, getting the playlists ready and the introductions set was all that remained. Those were good to go a week before the reception.
Once the happy day arrived, the couple was already at the church when we arrived to set-up at the hall. It was a quick and easy set-up on the stage which overlooked the dance floor. Like we do on most stages, we pull the curtains in a little to block any excess materials that may be behind us. In this case, a beautiful piano was on the stage and our light tree was placed on the other side to allow for a gobo to be projected on the floor while the piano could still be seen by guests.
As guests started to arrive, they were entertained by a playlist the Chuck and Kate chose in the weeks leading up to the wedding. A great mix of music from several genres that did a superb job of matching well with their guests. Once the happy couple arrived, they had the chance to meet some of their friends and family before the grand entrance which consisted of just the bride and groom, who entered from the back of the hall to their table. The fathers of the bride and groom spoke to the crowd, however the father of the bride was very brief in thanking everyone for coming. So much emotion, with so few words brought many smiles throughout the room.
Guests seated and enjoying dinner.
After the toasts by the maid of honor Riana, and best man Patrick (who was welcomed to the mic with the playing of the Chicago Bulls intro theme) that brought a lot of laughter and tears, it was time for the blessing by Father Keily.
The couple chose to hold their first dance until after dinner to allow their guests to get something to eat. The first dance, “Stand By Me” by Ben E. King, was a beautiful dance with many in awe of the happy couple. Kate, then danced with her father Tobias to Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World”. The dance floor opened to “Shut Up And Dance” by Walk the Moon which started a set of music that encompassed the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and today.
Once the dancing started, they cut loose!
Guests enjoyed singing along and dancing to “Dancing in the Dark” by Bruce Springsteen, “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel and dancing along to the Cupid Shuffle among many other songs from the couple’s playlist.
When choosing playlists, we always like to get input from the happy couple. We also offer the opportunity for guests to make requests ahead of time and have found this to be very important to making sure that a special song or two isn’t missed during the celebration. Planning can take a lot of focus and spread it on many different little items which leaves something to get missed.
One of the groom’s friends loves to hear Daft Punk’s “One More Time” so we invited him up to the booth to play it…and he did a terrific job!
One of the groom’s friends always had the song “One More Time” by Daft Punk played. Well, we took it to the next level by allowing him to come up on stage and DJ the song, which was one of the last songs of the night. He and the guests enjoyed it!
We’re so happy for Chuck and Kate, they’re an awesome couple and really enjoyed their reception. We thank them and their guests for giving us the honor of entertaining them at the reception.
