As an experienced wedding DJ in Norfolk I have provided my wedding disco hire to over 150 weddings so far, and each one has been memorable, exciting and best of all – fun! I can work in a whole array of venues, but this particular blog is going to tell you about my side of the ‘decks’ at an all day wedding in Benacre, Norfolk. The reason I picked this wedding to blog about? I’m not too sure to be fair. It may well be from the many memorable moments (arriving to set up with a reservation sign for ‘The One & Only DJSebina’, to being mentioned as a celebrity on the running order of the day or possibly the pod of lobsters on the dance floor at one point! It’s a Norfolk wedding I refer back to time and time again at client meetings and in general DJ chit chat. When I speak about an all day wedding as a DJ I mean all day. From providing discreet ceremony music all the way through to the wedding reception.
Date: A beautiful Saturday during August 2015
Venue: Woodfarm Barn, Benacre, Norfolk
Number of guests: Approximately 40 during the day and an additional 50 in the evening. The bride and groom were in their late 20s and they had a variety of ages with no more than 5 children.
How the day evolved: I was booked approximately one year in advance of the wedding by the bride and groom along with the brides father. They had researched a number of wedding disco suppliers in Norfolk and I was the fortunate wedding disco supplier to be picked! In the initial enquiry stages I knew the whole wedding party were keen to know they had booked the best DJ suited to their wedding. From a number of questions over emails, to a few telephone calls to ensure I was perfect for them, their wedding was soon just a week away! As I have worked at this Norfolk Wedding Venue a few times before I knew what they were expecting from me and roughly what they were doing in terms of set up. Woodfarm Barn is a beautiful blank canvas near Beccles. The barn is quaint, well equipped and a superb setting for a rustic wedding. What it lacks in terms of space, it is more than made up for in charm! With this being the case, when the ceremony is held here the wedding breakfast tables need to be stored to one end of the barn, and often no room for a disco to be set up until after the wedding breakfast. As I was providing the ceremony music I was equipped with my music source and one speaker. I set up discreetly at the rear of the chairs so I could see the cues from the registrars when they wanted the music to be played and could also see what was happening and ensure the volume was at the correct level. As the guests all filled in the venue ready for the blushing bride to make her way to her excited husband to be, the atmosphere was mostly excitement, with a hint of nervousness! The excitement may have mostly been me at the rear of the room! The music was picked by the bride and groom, all I needed to do was play the correct tracks in the correct places. This went with no hitch, the ceremony was beautiful and there wasn’t a dry eye in the barn when the bride came beaming in to make her way down the aisle with her gushingly proud father! When the ceremony was over the guests went outside for their drinks reception. At this point the room needed rearranging – the chairs needed placing around the tables which needed placing in accordance to the table plan. The ceremony table needed rearranging to become part of the top table. Woodfarm Barn is a great venue for a ‘diy’ wedding, but as such it means there are no staff to help with rearranging of furniture. Obviously I was more than happy to help (possibly take charge!) with the manoeuvre of the room. It was soon looking wedding breakfast ready with the help of myself and 2 best men. Once the room was rearranged I set up my fully self enclosed mobile disco (I couldn’t set up before this as there were tables and chairs in the way!) I left the lights off during the wedding breakfast and supplied a range of ambient background music. Jools Holland covers was the perfect choice for this beautiful Norfolk wedding! During this time I was chatting with the caterers out the back of the venue, who very kindly also allowed me to have (probably too much) food! It was delicious though and I highly recommend Funnell’s Kitchen! The staff were lots of fun too which helped keep all our spirits high and in stead for the rest of the day. During the speeches I was able to keep tabs on the volume and offer a bit of assistance to a best man with the position of the microphone. Once the speeches were over all guests mingled between the barn and the area outside where the bar was. During this time I ensured I had the music ready for the first minutes of the wedding reception. It was time to cut the cake… I have a few tracks I use as a good setting for this moment if there is no particular song chosen by my client. I do find the track Sweet Disposition is a strong choice and there are normally a few people to comment on a ‘nice song choice’ for that moment! I had encouraged people to take their cameras to take a picture of the cake cutting, and then encouraged people to make their way to the edge of the dance floor ready to make the start of the party. It took a few times for people to make their way over, this is often he case, but then when the guests were surrounding the new bride and groom the roof was raised with the biggest cheer I could encourage. The first dance was a lovely, well known song which had been picked by the bride and groom. I knew the bride and groom were keen for their guests to join them part way through the song and so after a quick announcement on the microphone the dancefloor was so full people were having dance around it. This remained for most of the night. A short while after the first dance were a surprise pod of lobsters who were wanting to dance to the well known B-52 song, Rock Lobster.They had choreographed a routine and all the guests loved it. As this was a surprise for the bride and groom I ensured to get the whole party involved with clapping and shouting along. (This was an ongoing joke within the family) To say it absolutely set the scene for an evening of pure fun all night is an understatement! A few more announcements during the evening (for the evening buffet, and a taxi!) along with a mix of their requests and my knowledge meant for a brilliant evening. The superb feedback from the brides father the very next day really did make me feel like the superstar he had made me out to be, and make my job worthwhile.
To concur, when booking a potential wedding DJ in Norfolk, make sure you ask any questions you have. A worthwhile, experienced DJ will always offer you a meeting to chat about your day and will always answer your questions in full! If you have met me, you’ll know all I say is please ensure you book the DJ you’re comfortable with! There are lots of events, lots of different DJ’s with lot’s of different styles.
