2nd November 2019 – Wet, Wet, Wet, No pun intended!
Jess and Gideon chose me to provide my All Day Wedding DJ Service for their awesome day at the fantastic Blackstock Country Estate. It was a very wet and windy winters day, but they didn’t let that stop them. I provided them my Wedding Ceremony Music service as well as being the Master of Ceremonies throughout the day. It was a real honour being part of their special day. It was a pleasure to work alongside a fantastic photography duo – S2 Images – Simon & Sonia, who kindly provided all of the images used in this blog post.
During setting up for the “Man Music” (pre-ceremony music of the bridegrooms choosing), there was a power cut. The venue staff where fantastic in trying to get this fixed as soon as they could and put out candles so guests could see. We played music via a battery powered speaker and everyone seemed to still be happy.
Man Music:
- I walk The Line – Johnny Cash
- Black Betty – RamJam
- Walk this Way – Areosmith
- Londons Calling – The Clash
- Cocaine – Eric Clapton
- Zombie – The Cranberries
- Bang On Gong – T Rex
- Personal Jesus – Depeche Mode
- Blue Monday – New Order
- Mr Blue Sky – ELO
- Game Of Survival – Ruelle
- Hey Joe – Jimi Hendrix
- Pinball Wizard – The Who
- I fought The Law – The Bobby Fuller Four
It was now time for the ceremony, my songs were queued up and ready, but it was still pitch black! Then just as the bridesmaids were ready to walk down the aisle, the power comes back on, fate.
The ceremony music concludes, everyone cheers with joy, the celebrants conduct the ceremony and then Jess and Gideon sit down to sign the register.
Ceremony Music and Signing the Register:
- Trigger song: The Rains Of Castemere – Romin Djawdi
- Bridesmaids and Brides Processional: Skyrim Theme – Taylor Davis
- Serenade Of Water – Taylor Davis
- Under No Flag – Johan Soderqvist
- The Avengers – Alan Silvestri
- Song Of Storms – TPR
- Bride & Grooms Recessional: Country Roads – John Denver
Wedding Breakfast
It’s time for the Grand Entrance, guests are seated and I explain the events of day and how they can help with the grand entrance. Parents, Maid of Honour, Best Man and Jess and Gideon are all waiting for me to give the signal to head into the the barn for the wedding breakfast. This was my first wedding of the year to have four different songs for entrances, it was great – the atmosphere was wild!
Wedding Breakfast entrance songs :
- I’m A Believer – Smash Mouth
- Ring Of Fire – Johnny Cash
- Baby Got Back – Sir Mix A Lot
- Star Wars Main Theme – London Symphony Orchestra
A full four hours of personalised gaming and film scores music is played during their meal as background music. The sweepstake was going round and everyone was eager for the speeches!
During the speeches they had also picked the lotto game with their full house word being “Exsavior”. Another game introduced to keep guest listening to the speeches.
Evening Entertainment : cake cutting, Newly Wed Game, First Dance and Party Time!
During the meeting with Jess and Gideon before their wedding, we came up with a great way to cut the wedding cake… they both loved their films so much that we decided to create a star wars tunnel to the cake, and for the actual cake cutting using a real sword to tie in with their wedding theme. Truly a magical moment.
For the newly wed game, I always get the Maid of Honour to choose the questions, what made it more fun is Jess’ maid of honour was her sister Abi. The tension between Jess and Gideon was fantastic. I find the newly wed game always goes down well before first dance.
First Dance Song: Michael Buble – Crazy Love
Jess and Gideon had booked the Dancing on Clouds option which always adds the wow factor to any first dance, and it didn’t disappoint.
Music For Dancing:
- Promises
- DJ Tron – Swing The Beats Mix 3
- Love And Marriage – Frank Sinatra (Instrumental)
- Crazy Love
- Livin’ la Vida Loca
- Baby Shark
- Bad Guy
- Tones & I – Dance Monkey
- DJ Beats: Karma Chameleon
- DJ Beats: Somebody Else’s Guy
- DJ Beats: I’m Coming Out
- DJ Beats: Should I Stay Or Should I Go
- DJ Beats: Never Gonna Give You Up
- DJ Beats: A Little Respect
- DJ Beats: Relax
- DJ Beats: Ghostbusters
- DJ Beats: Into The Groove
- The Avengers Theme
- DJ Beats: Billie Jean
- DJ Beats: Don’t You Want Me
- DJ Beats: I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)
- DJ Beats: Ride On Time
- DJ Beats: When Will I Be Famous?
- DJ Beats: Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)
- DJ Beats: Just Can’t Get Enough
- DJ Beats: You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)
- DJ Beats: Uptown Girl
- Eye Of The Tiger
- Pirates of the Caribbean He’s a pirate Hans Zimmer Klaus Badelt
- Swing The Mood
- Mustang Sally
- Chuck Berry – Johnny B. Goode
- Shake a Tail Feather
- Lip Up Fatty
- Dance The Night Away
- One Step Beyond
- Cotton Eyed Joe
- cha cha slide bjs disco remix
- Macarena
- Saturday Night
- 23 Village People – YMCA
- 5, 6, 7, 8
- We Like to Party
- Who Let The Dogs Out
- Spice Up Your Life
- Mr Brightside
- Bleed It Out
- Thnks fr th Mmrs
- Sk8r Boi
- Stacy’s Mom
- Before I Forget
- Killing in the Name
- Take Me Out
- Another One Bites The Dust (Remastered)
- Jump Around
- It’s Tricky
- Hollaback Girl
- The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air
- Crank That Soulja Boy
- The Real Slim Shady
- Number 1
- Party Rock Anthem
- Bonkers
- One (Your Name)
- Pump It
- Gold Digger
- Sandstorm
- The Time Warp
- Circle Of Life
- The Final Countdown
Wow, what can we say – Ben was absolutely amaaaazing! From the moment we met with him, we knew he was for us. Ben was so reassuring and had a massive library of ideas to make sure that our wedding day was special and one of a kind! When we received the planner that Ben gives you, I was over the moon when I saw how much time and dedication goes into making sure your day is perfect; it’s so organised!!
On the day, we had awful weather and a huge power cut right before the ceremony but Ben was so professional and organised in communicating with the venue and our suppliers that we didn’t feel worried or stressed at all as we knew we were in good hands!
The music was on point with lots of awesome game music – the guests were loving the music so much they were all bopping along and asking for the names of songs all day.
From start to finish, Ben was so helpful, friendly and you can just feel how passionate he is about music and making sure you have the best time through the effort he puts into making your day unique to you.
Everyone we spoke to had a brilliant time and enjoyed how it reflected our personalities into the day.
We couldn’t have asked for anyone better, thank you so, so much for being the best DJ/wedding planner ever. We had the most magical time and it couldn’t have happened without you 🙂 thank you!!!
Jess and Gideon Holdgate
Blackstock Country Estate, Sussex
This blog post is a look back at Jess and Gideon’s wedding day at Blackstock Country Estate and reflects their music choices. Every wedding I do starts with a meeting with the Bride and Groom to discuss their plans for their day, as well as a discussion about their music tastes.
To arrange an appointment to talk to me about your wedding, please get in touch and let’s start planning.
