Dance Til Wedding – Emma and Steve

Emma and Steve are comic book and sci-fi geeks – a badge they (and I also) wear with pride.  I can’t tell you how happy it made me to show up at their wedding and see a TARDIS-inspired wedding cake complete with Gallafrayen symbols and a little Lego Doctor and Assistant on top:)

I’m a great believer that you should make your wedding your own.  Don’t just settle for things you’ve seen on blogs and pinterest but rather change it up and put your own stamp on things.  That’s exactly what Emma and Steve did with both the little details that adorned the room and their music suggestions.

Emma and Steve’s first dance was a classic indie cover of a classic indie song – Iron and Wine’s version of ‘Such Great Heights’ by the Postal Service.  Superb choice:)

The couple’s boys had to get in on a little first-dance action.

AIR TRUMPETS!

Got tired legs?  No problem…. just take a wee nap on top of Daddy on the dancefloor!

This looks a little bit like Irish Dancing but I’m really not sure what song inspired it!

AIR GUITAR!

Some of my favourite songs from the night:

Doctorin the Tardis – The Timelords
We are Superheroes – Robbert Bobbert and the Bubble Machine (For Emma’s wee boys)
Girl From Mars – Ash
Batman Theme – The Ventures
Spiderman Theme – Michael Buble
I wish – Skee-Lo
Bust a Move – Young MC
Losing You – Solange Knowles
Birdhouse in your Soul – They Might be Giants
Hit Me Baby – Britney (Emma’s guilty pleasure)

Dance Til’ Wedding – Mel and Mark

Meet Mel and Mark Lyons.  They got married yesterday and I had the pleasue of DJing at their wedding party!  I brought my camera along to give you a little sneak peek at another great Dance Til Tomorrow wedding.

It’s been nearly a year since I was in the Temple of the Winds at Mount Stewart estate and it’s one of my favourite wedding venues to DJ in.  Its small and charming and always has a great intimate atmosphere.

For their first dance, Mel and Mark chose a lovely cover of Lana Del Rey’s song ‘Video Games’ performed on acoustic guitar by American songwriter Collin McLoughlin.  I wasn’t actually aware of this cover until Mel sent me the youtube link below.

Mel dedicated Roberta Flack’s ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ to her parents who had a sweet wee slow dance on their own.  This is how its done!

This is Sam.  The only person I’ve met that knows every single word to Rapper’s Delight.  EVERY. SINGLE. WORD.

Shoes? Pffft… who needs shoes to dance?!

Bill Withers’ ‘Lean on Me’ at its beautiful, literal best.

Every wedding I DJ at will have a request or two that surprise me.  Nothing from this wedding on will surprise me as much as Dorothy, the mother of the bride requesting ‘Slam’ by hardcore drum n bass band Pendulum!  Her other request was for ‘Jump’ by House of Pain.  Coolest mum ever.

Here’s some of my favourite songs from the night…

Pendulum – Slam (seriously Dorothy! I’m still in shock…)
Darude – Sandstorm
Bedouin Soundclash – When the Night Feels My Song
Imelda May – Tainted Love
Josh Ritter – Snow is Gone
Sugarhill Gang – Rapper’s Delight
Muse – Plug in Baby
Bill Withers – Lean on Me
Bomfunk MCs – Freestyler (Mark wouldn’t let me go home til I played this!)

Dance til Wedding! Tracy and Marty, Manor House Hotel, Fermanagh

Apologies for the lack of blogging in the past while but I had a really busy summer!  I’ll be updating the blog more from a state of semi-hibernation over the winter but in the meantime here’s a great little autumn wedding I had the pleasure of DJing at recently.  Tracy and Marty’s wedding was a DJs dream – an amazing couple who love their music, and loads of guests who were keen to party!

When Marty told me the first dance song they’d picked, he basically apologised for picking an ‘obvious track.’ It was One Day like This by Elbow, and there was no need for him to apologised.  Its a brilliant track and its one that they love.  That’s what a first dance should be.  It was perfect.

Newly formed wedding band ‘The Rockits” were on before me and did a sterling job!  They may only be new but these guys have been playing in bands for years.  If you want a wedding band that are young and different then give them a look! Niall and Liam (along with their sister Bronagh) also did the music in the church for this wedding….

Marty serenaded his beautiful new wife with that lovely Baritone of his when he took to stage with his band Levity Breaks.

Richie, Jonny, Marty and Eamon – Levity Breaks.

This is Tracy’s dad dancing to LEFTFIELD!!!! I told you they were an amazing crowd!!!

No wedding is complete without a special dance routine to Madonna’s ‘Material Girl.’

Some of my favourite tracks from the night!

Groove Armada – Superstylin
Leftfield – Open up
Daft Punk- Da Funk
Two Door Cinema Club – something good can work (twelves remix)
R.E.M. – It’s the end of the world as we know it
They Might be Giants – little birdhouse in your soul
Dr Dre – The Next Episode
Run DMC – It’s Tricky
Madonna – Material Girl (I’m a sucker for vintage Madonna!!!)

 Check out more pictures at Photography by Brideen’s amazing blog!

Wedding DJ Northern Ireland – David and Kathryn, Clandeboye Lodge

It’s a miracle I didn’t know David and Kathryn before we met to discuss their wedding. We have a million mutual friends – it was at a mutual friend’s birthday where they first heard me DJ. Since then we’ve bonded over our very similar music tastes and I knew their wedding was going to be a bit special:) I brought my camera along and took a few snaps…

David and Kathryn had a brilliant attitude to the weather, and didn’t let the rain get them down – their first dance was a defiant ‘Here Comes the Sun’ by the Beatles.

One of Kathryn’s bridesmaids Jeannie – it was only a month before that Kathryn was a bridesmaid at Jeannie’s wedding.

Gangstas Fo’ Life.

Anytime there was any jumping or moshing you could pretty much guarantee David would be in the middle of it!

David and Kathryn’s photographer and friend, the amazingly talented Carrie Davenport rocking it on the dancefloor.

Some Belfast Music Royalty Stevie Mac (Uber Glitterati), Amy McGarrigle and Walter D’Goon (Master and Dog) on their best behaviour.

David’s dad used to play guitar in bands years ago and loves music – we had a great conversation about bands afterwards.

Here’s a selection of some of my favourite tracks from the night;

Sultans of Ping FC – Where’s me Jumper?
REM – It’s the End of the World as we know it (and I feel fine)
Daft Punk – Da Funk
General Fiasco – Waves
Jurassic 5 – Concrete Schoolyard
Pixies – Here Comes your Man
They Might Be Giants – Birdhouse in your Soul
Weezer – Hash Pipe
Ronettes – Be my Baby
Etta James – I just want to make love to you
Violent Femmes – Blisters in the Sun
Otis Redding – Hot to Handle

Dance Til Wedding! Claire and Darren, The Redcastle, Donegal

Over the years I’ve DJ’d at a lot of weddings for friends. The great thing about this is that you know the couple and guests really well so you have a clear idea of what kind of music they love. I’ve known Darren for more years than I care to remember. He’s a fellow DJ as well as touring soundman for bands such as General Fiasco, One Night Only and Wonder Villains.  He’s also done sound for my band as well for his sins!!

Anyway, let’s start this blog by saying hello to Darren and his beautiful wife Claire…

The first dance was a song I’ve never actually heard before; Cat Power – “Lived in Bars.”  A pretty apt song for a couple who met through working in The Empire bar in Belfast years ago:)

One of the most common questions I’m asked by couples is whether I can recommend a good wedding band.  Darren and Claire officially had the finest wedding band i’ve ever seen perfoming a one-off wedding gig… General Fiasco!

Before I started DJing, General Fiasco sprung a wee surprise and invited Darren up to the stage for their encore.  He serenaded Claire with a BRILLIANT cover of the Beatles song ‘Oh Darling’…

Darren and Claire gave me a pretty free reign when it came to music but threw in a few key selections of their own.  One my favourite tracks of the night was Darzo’s request of ‘Zorba the Greek.’ TUNE!

The wedding had the highest DJ to guest ratio of any wedding EVER (well, maybe not… but there were loads).  I think I counted 9 DJs…  its great seeing that they weren’t afraid to hit the dancefloor!

That’s Darren’s mum in the picture above.  I forgot to play Bob Marley for her so I ended up singing ‘could you be loved’ to her at the end of the night. I’ve a funny feeling that she might have preferred Bob’s version…

Here’s a selection of some of my favourite songs from the night:

Bill Withers – Use Me
Ottis Redding – Hot to Handle
ODB – Got Your Money
R Kelly – Ignition (remix) <— I don’t care what you say!  Its CLASS!
Estelle – American Boy
Paul Simon – Obvious Child
Don Henley – Boys of Summer
Dre – The Next Episode
Fun – We are Young
and of course
Zorba the Greek

Photography was by Photography by Brideen.  The Redcastle is a stunning venue in County Donegal situated on the banks of the river foyle.