Not every wedding in the same. There is not cookie cutter way to have a wedding. Bride and groom decide what type of wedding they want to share with their guests. 

  I met with a couple that wanted an early Sunday wedding. They let me know they did not want any lights since it was so early.  But I brought one just in case.  It was a cloudy day so it did create a dark room even though they had a lot of windows. 

  They had one of their bridesmaids officiate the wedding. It makes it a nice touch with someone knows the bride/groom officiates the wedding and talks about him or her.

The cocktail hour was held outside separate from the reception. During the cocktail and dinnertime, jazzy music was played so it gave the wedding a classy feel.

The grand entrance was only the bride and groom then it lead to the first dance. Soon after then it was the father daughter dance. After those dances, the bride and groom thanked their guests. 

What made this wedding so different was it was not dark outside and it was minus the bouquet toss and garter toss.  A wedding can be any which way. It is a celebration of passage of life and certain traditions do not need to be included. Wedding was a blast.  

The pluses of having an early Sunday Wedding is that guests do not need to leave the event early since it finished at 330. It would give guests an opportunity to get home at a reseaonable time in case they have to go to work the next day.

 Every time after an event, I think about what would make it better. Often I would think what other songs would have been appropriate and what equipment would be better to make the set up faster. I like the fact that I believe in having back ups to my back ups. I always bring my main Pioneer controller.  It is a work-horse and I can use it without fail. Earlier this year, I would bring another Pioneer controller just in case. Just in case never happened but it was peace of mind and there was no worry since I had my back up. 

  I learned of a mini controller that would fit on the laptop. Maybe it was too good to be true but I looked into it. Many folks thought it was a nice piece of equipment.  The Numark DJ2GO2 is a matter a fact to go equipment that can be set up in minutes. There was no learning curve and it was easy to mix music. If there is a fear that someone can not mix with it, but one can actually beat-match and throw in a song at the appropriate time.  One of the only downsides is one cannot get down with the scratching on this equipment. It is a simple controller to manage your music. Also if one is going on a trip, he or she can prepare their set since its very mobile. This piece of equipment is a good back up and can rock any party if needed.

SILK CITY FT DUA LIPA ELECTRICITY

ARIANA GRANDE  THANK U, NEXT

BENNY BLANCO, HALSEY AND KHALID  EASTSIDE

LIL DUVAL FT SNOOP DOGG AND BALL GREEZY  SMILE

BAD  BUNNY FT DRAKE  MIA

HALSEY  WITHOUT ME

DJ SNAKE  TAKI TAKI

PANIC! AT THE DISCO HIGH HOPES

MEEK MILL FT DRAKE GOING BAD

POST MALONE AND SWAE LEE SUNFLOWER

TRAVIS SCOTT SICKO MODE

5 SECONDS OF SUMMER YOUNGBLOOD

GUCCI MANE, BRUNO MARS AND KODAK BLACK  WAKE UP IN THE SKY

MARSHMELLO AND BASTILLE HAPPIER

LIL BABY AND GUNNA DRIP TOO HARD

  At some functions, I have an assistant with me who can get requests from students of a song they have to hear. Typically I have a list a week before that I follow, but I do take requests. Sometimes, I am doing the event solo so there is no one to take requests. Most often than not, a student will approach me right in the middle of a transition so they don’t have my all my attention. But when I m able to focus on their requests I will look it up and put it on my prepare list to have it close by so I can include it in the mix.

   I try to give all the students the attention that they want but it makes it difficult since I’m trying to keep the dance floor filled with paying attention to the lighting and the volume control. I have put down a notebook for students to put down their requests.  In the notebook, students are able to put the song name and artists.  Songs that have profanity or inappropriate I cross off since I cannot play them at a school dance. Once I see a song written a few times in different handwriting then I can slip it in. There were a few times students wrote their song in really big handwriting. Those ones are not played! This past week a student wrote please play this song and I will give you 10 dollars. Of course there was no student name but I thought it was funny so I played the song because the student was creative. I knew no one was going to be giving 10 dollars but it stood out.

BENNY BLANCO, HALSEY, AND KHALID  EASTSIDE

KHALID AND NORMANI  LOVE LIES

TRAVIS SCOTT SICKO MODE

SILK CITY AND DUA LIPA  ELECTRICITY

DJ SNAKE  TAKI TAKI

BEBE REXHA I’M A MESS

CALVIN HARRIS AND SAM SMITH  PROMISES

ARRIANA GRANDE  BREATHIN

MEEK MILL  DANGEROUS

DRAKE  NONSTOP

BAZZI  BEAUTIFUL

JUICE WRLD  LUCID DREAMS

KODAK BLACK  ZEZE

SHECK WES  MO BAMBA

BAD BUNNY  AND DRAKE  MIA

CARDI B  I LIKE IT

 Typically at a wedding, I am the only source of music. There are some instances when that is not the case. On October 20th, I did a wedding with talented guests and it was one to remember. I brought my typical equipment plus an extra mixer with cabling. The young musicians delighted the crowd with their vocals and their keyboard and guitar skills. It did not take them long to set up since it was running through my system. For this set up, I included a Mackie 1402 analogue mixer. It had 14 channels  (and it was not complicated to work) so I can easily add 2 more microphones, 2 guitars and 1 keyboard. Also I had my own wireless microphone connected and with my controller was connected to the mixer. From the mixer out, the videographer was able to record everything that took place at the wedding with a recording device. 

   The best man told me he was nervous and wanted to do the second toast after the maid of honor. With that information, I introduced the toast and gave the microphone to the maid of honor. Later I was told that the best man would be doing the toast while a guitar was strummed and I relayed the information to him and he had a shocked look on his face. The best man started serenading the bride and groom and it surprised everyone. In reality, the best man was not nervous but it was an act. He had a good voice and sang a good song. Weddings can be creative especially when you have talented people. 

1 Des’ree  I’m Kissing You

2 Sade  By Your Side

3 Luther Vandross Here and Now

4 Christina Perri A Thousand Years

5 Eric Clapton Wonderful Tonight

6 John Legend All of Me

7 The Righteous Brothers  Unchained Melody

8 Ingrid Michaelson Can’t Help Falling in Love

9 Stevie Wonder  You are the Sunshine of My Life

10 Etta James  At Last

11 Journey  Faithfully

12 Stevie Wonder  I Just Called to Say I Love You

13 Lonestar  Amazed

14 Dooley Wilson It Had to Be You 

15 Nat King Cole Unforgettable

16 Louis Armstrong What  A Wonderful World

17  Jason Mraz I’m Yours

18 The Goo Goo Dolls Iris

19  Joe Crocker  You are So Beautiful

20 Savage Garden Truly Madly Deeply

21 Aerosmith  I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing

22  Israel Kamakawiwo’ole  Over the Rainbow

23 K-Ci and JoJo  All My Life

24  Mazzy Star  Fade Into You

TRAVIS SCOTT SICKO MODE

BENNY BLANCO, HALSEY AND KHALID EASTSIDE

MAROON 5 AND CARDI B  GIRLS LIKE YOU

JUICE WRLD  LUCID DREAMS

POST MALONE  BETTER NOW

DRAKE  IN MY FEELINGS

EMINEM  KILLSHOT

CARDI B  I LIKE IT

6IX9INE FT NICKI MINAJ AND MURDA BEATZ FEFE

KANYE WEST AND LIL PUMP  I LOVE IT

TYGA FT OFFSET  TASTE

MARSHMELLO AND BASTILLE  HAPPIER

DRAKE  NONSTOP

ELLA MAI  TRIP

KHALID AND NORMANI  LOVE LIES

LIL WAYNE FT KENDRICK LAMAR  MONA LISA

BEBE REXHA I’M A MESS