Basically ive got a wedding coming up on saturday and was after any ideas from you guys as its not a usual wedding in all respects.

The couple are getting married in Balham (south london) the groom is south african and hasnt been in the country long - has NO IDEA about english weddings. the bride is polish and having all her family flown over. I havnt spoken to the bride but the groom seems very nice, 1st dance - Eric clapton - Wonderful Tonight. Rest of the music left up to me. Fine so far.

However, speaking to the groom earlier he was asking about what order they should do things etc so i outlined as - enter the venue from the church for hte buffet, then speeches wi radio mic etc (all the while playing background stuff - smooth jazz kinda ting). then first dance. At this point he asked me if there were any other "games" like the first dance etc for the B&G to play with the audience. So, by his definition of "game" i mentioned the throwing of the bouquet and the wedding arch as they leave which he liked, but he also wants some more games for the middle of the night - U guys have any ideas? - he did mention drinking games but im guessing that most of the guests at a wedding aint gonna wanna play centurion club or the like lol

Any help Appreciated
Many thanks
Steve

As long as you are a confident DJ and have Wedding experience - don't worry, be yourself and you'll be fine.

For the Polish quarter - I'm a little lost for anything specific.
South African - they are not too far behind the rest of the world with music, so relax.

But it sounds like the B&G want to be 'entertained'.

Whatever the Groom wants to do, go with the flow but 'suggest' caution if you think other guests may be offended.
After all, its a Wedding celebration, not a potential nightmare!

You can amuse the kids before the first dance with pop and novelty games, but, alas, I think it's going to be played by ear on the day.

Maybe Spin, Chris, Ian S, Paula, Mikeee, etc, has more advice.
Good luck Steve!

Thanks for that mate. im not worried or anything - i know that i can entertain them on the day whatever happens. ive only ever done 4 weddings but done about 200 other gigs so am perfectly sure i can handle it - was just hoping for any tips or advice - u can never stop learning!
the polish thing got me too - who ever goes to poland?!?!? lol
thanks for the reply
Steve

This is definatly a "suck it and see" wedding.
You need to ask the questions:
Do you require any trad. Polish or SA music, if so do you have any that you would like me to play, the onuse is now on them. Unlike this country, both of these do have a lot of Trad. "folk" music. If not or they what a more trad. english wedding, keep it easy dancable pop. i'm only guessing here. When i talk to clients I try to build a mental picture of what they want, then create at least two varients, and then two more and so on. A bit like qauntum physics, for each action you have multiple reactions.

Oh I need to ask, is he a white or black SA. Why do i ask, it will make all the difference to your evening.

If the Bride & Groom sit there all night watching you, waiting for games...they'll be the first ever couple to have done so... They'll be mingling with their guests, having drinks bought for them all over the place, leaving those drinks, half drunk, everywhere...and generally chating...

So, the question is more, what are their guests expecting? Are their guests all coming over from the respective countries? Or, are the guests all UK work colleagues for example...in which case you could be playing to a 95% UK English audience anyway.

Play it by ear...Dont play "I've never met a nice south african" from the Spitting Image Album.... and I would give "Special AKA: Free Nelson Mandela" a wide berth too.

Hiya,

I wouldn't worry too much about it. I did a similar Wedding about 12 months ago. Both Bride & Groom were from Africa originally, and although they had moved to this country at an early age, there were a large number of family who had travelled over for the Wedding - for some of them this was their first trip to England.

I was asked to play some music so a group of the Youngsters could do a Traditional Dance. They were more than happy to bring a CD with them for me to play, with the music that was required.

Contact the people that are booking you, and tell them that you are more then happy to assist them with any traditional aspects at the wedding, but you would like to familiarise yourself with any customs before the actual event. You can then request that if they wish, they can bring any music along with them in order for you fulfil their requirements.

At the gig I did, even the guest's who could speak little English were more than happy to join in with the usual "Wedding Playlist", so like Dan said, a lot of our Chart Music does make it to the S.A radio playlists

Just thought id fill u in on how this went.....

after the first dance i thought id go straight into some funky 70's disco - then a bit modern - then some 80's, a couple of slow songs then some rock n roll - all fine - had the dancefloor pretty packed - but as the evening drew on it occured to me that not many of the actual head table were on the dancefloor - anyway the best man came up to me and said
"this musics cool n all that - your entertaining the guests really well - but the bride and groom would like something a bit harder - have u got operation blade or any other techno stuff?"

Tis obviouly took me a bit by surprise since the tracklist theyd sent back was just usual wedding party stuff - but i obliged happily and suddenly the dancefloor was packed with em. - i literally played about 2 hours of hard dance music and had the place jumping all night (especially the polish nutters!) - the groom even got me to do an extra half hour because the bride and he didnt wanna leave yet. and somehow he had understood the £40 per hour extra after finishing time as jsut chuck £60 at the dj for a extra half hour - so i shant complain!

Buy yeah - quite a surprise - btu all went great in the end - the best man took a card and said that when he got married he'd have me for his hardcore wedding also!!!#
hope all ur gigs went well
Steve

See! all that worrying for nothing!

yeah i know - its always the way tho isnt it - you try really hard to get a particulr few tracks you think will be suitable for a certain event or something and then its completly different to how you expect.

Great gig tho - its paid for my lads holiday to greece with a couple of hundred going towards spending money too

QUOTE (Dynamite Discos @ Jun 15 2003, 03:07 PM)

the best man came up to me and said "this musics cool n all that - your entertaining the guests really well - but the bride and groom would like...

Ok, luckily, your bride and groom were up dancing to the things the Best Man requested...

But OH how many times have we all played some song or style of music thats been requested as "The brides favourite..." or "The groom says..." only to find out later/afterwards, that it wasnt them at all that wanted it, or even liked it. Its just one of those ways that some punters try, to get their own requests shuffled to the top of the play list (or out of the bin, if they're into some dodgy music...)

Sounds like my Sat night actually, I had a request from the bride a few weeks ago for "no cheese whatsoever" and "If you play the macarena or anything similar i will cry" So we went there with the intention of being obliging as its 'her' day.

Upon arrival we find it to be a normal wedding with about 20 kids in tow, so i grab groom and explain that i was bound to be asked and how did he want it explained. He says "oh that was wedding nerves play what you like you're the expert"

Upon which yours truly the Cheesemeister lets fly with rock n roll and later into the party stuff only to find the bride sitting on floor in wedding dress doing Ooops upside your head. I grab video guy and get him to zoom in on bride and at the appropriate moment voiceover "no cheese eh Jane..........sorry!" To which we got peals of laughter and her sticking her tongue out at the camera.

Both sets of parents came up to congaratulate us on a blinding night, and we left in a little glow of satisfaction having managed to give out every business card we took with us.