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Sarah & David ~ Friday 13th September

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New Forest Wedding Host

Friday 13th September may sound like a strange day to get married but for Sarah and Dave it’s a very special because seven years earlier on that very date they got together as a couple, seven years after they first met! So fourteen years since they first met, they finally got married on Friday.

New Forest Wedding MC

They got married in church and then travelled the few mies to Foxlease, just outside of Lyndhurst. The site is well known as a camping centre for Girl Guides and is used by a wide range of organisations. The wedding breakfast and party were held in a marquee located in the walled garden. I was their master of ceremonies and provided music throughout the afternoon and evening. Their celebration was based on a very relaxed vintage afternoon tea theme and the atmosphere was lovely as friends and family mingled and chatted.

Vintage Wedding entertainment

I introduced all the wedding party into the wedding breakfast and then the speeches before everyone settled down to a wonderful afternoon tea of sandwiches and homemade cakes provided by the excellent Hel’s Kitchen from Lymington. After the meal there was a lovely slideshow which combined pictures of Dave and Sarah growing up, we also put together one of our special Wedding Day Quiz’s for the guests to complete.

Foxlease Wedding DJ

Then it was time for the evening guests to join us and we started the evening party with Sarah and Dave’s Love Story which prompted plenty of ooh’s, ah’s and laughter. Then it was time for their first dance, we also had a “Guess The First Dance” competition but nobody got the right answer.

Foxlease Wedding Disco

There was a fabulous Hog Roast and then we got the party going. Sarah and Dave had set up a FaceBook groups for their friends to share ideas and requests for the party so there was no shortage of songs for us to play.

Marquee Wedding Disco

If you are looking for a marquee wedding I would recommend talking to the people at Foxlease. The marquee was lined and dressed by Finest Marquee Hire, talk to Michelle and the food was provided by Hel’s Kitchen contact helen.

Lyndhurst Wedding Disco

Sue & Ashley’s First Anniversary Party

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Crazy cake

Last Sunday I had the absolute pleasure of playing for our friends Sue and Ashley’s first anniversary party. Ashley is an excellent DJ in his own right and it was a great honour to be asked to play for them. They were married a year ago in the village in the Cotswolds where Sue was brought up and another friend of ours, Brian Mole, DJ’d their reception. Brian, along with many other DJ’s, came to the party on Sunday so I was under considerable pressure!

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The party was held at the gorgeous Tithe Barn near Petersfield where Ashley, along with Brian and my Party Hosts colleague Gary, is one of the recommended suppliers – again, no pressure! Ashley offered to let me use his amazing set up, all I had to do was plug in my controller and laptop which operate on a different system to his – it all looked fantastic. Even more so because another mutual friend of our, Mark from Storm Productions, set up some incredible moving heads lights. If you look at the first picture of the top of their topsy turvy cake (baked by Sue’s mum Lyn) you can see a fabulous effect on the wall behind – that’s Mark’s handy-work.

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There was a very tasty BBQ prepared by Wright Choice Catering and even more entertainment provided by, our friend, Magician Steve Charrett Sue and Ashley played “Getting To Know You” (the shoe game) and then we opened the dance floor. It was a great night and I have to say a special thank you to all the DJ’s in attendance who all hit the dance floor and were very kind to me.

Good times!

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A Taste Of Glastonbury?

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Last night’s party was really great fun! The event was the Autumn party for The Buttercup Ball charity and was staged in a marquee supplied by Michelle and Mark from Finest Marquee Hire. Earlier during the day they staged a very successful open day and I met some great new suppliers, plenty of old friends and lots of lovely couples and people looking at staging marquee parties – more about all that later.

For anyone reading this in the future, I should point out that the weather yesterday was terrible, in fact the weather has been grim all week. Inside the marquee we were totally oblivious to what was happening outside, we were warm and safe and getting towards 200 braved the conditions determined to support the charities and have a party.

I was there to support local band Shuffle Alley who played two 45 minute sets of rockin’ covers with a couple of their own songs. Again more about the band later, but for now I’ll just say Jack, Chris, Justin and John are well worth checking out.


I played a mix of styles across the evening, but my final set after the band had finished was a hands-in-the-air mix of anthems from the 90’s to date.

So I got to play with a rock band in a very muddy field. Not quite Glastonbury, but the muddy walk from the marquee to the car park was fun in the early hours of this morning.

Tonight ~ The Concorde Club

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I’m really looking forward to my latest visit to the Concorde tonight – it’s been a while. The Concorde is open to members and their guests only ~ more information HERE

Then it’s up bright and early on Sunday morning for the Wedding Fair at the Swan Hotel Alton – no rest for the wicked!

Glasses raised …

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Ladies and Gentlemen, please raise your glasses to Chris and the team ~ Cheers!

Friday Night

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This Friday I was booked for a 50th Party for Andrea and Tony.
They had also booked a band to provide some live music.

“Shift” played two 45 minutes sets full of gutsy covers of tracks ranging from “Teenage Dirtbag” to “Tears Of A Clown”. They were mostly a four piece with a saxophonist joining them for some tracks. They created a really good honest rocking sound and soon had the guests up and dancing.

The party was held at the excellent Totton Sports & Social Club, a really nice venue for parties like this, and Simon and the team provided their usual excellent service both behind the bar and on the barbecue.

I’ve DJ’d at several events Andrea and Tony had attended including last years New Years Eve Party at Le Blaireau so I was delighted to see lots of familiar faces. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did, plenty of great dance music from across the last 40 years ending up with Rufus & Chaka Khan’s “Ain’t Nobody”, The Fatbacks “I Found Lovin” and The Jackson Fives “I Want You Back” – great fun!

Why I love my job …

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I was at Marwell Wildlife on Friday for an all-day wedding and then The Bartley Lodge Hotel on Saturday – both weddings were great fun, so obviously I had a fabulous time too. But I love every day!

Yesterday (Tuesday) I spent the morning …
editing a video for the Bride and Bridegroom from Saturdays wedding
and then I had my weekly Skype with my colleague David in Cyprus.
Next I met up with 16 other local DJ’s from the Hampshire DJ Alliance for a networking lunch.
After that 3 of us continued the brainstorming for a couple more hours.
Finally I met with a couple who I’m providing Master of Ceremonies and music from drinks reception to party in September.

… and today I went to the beach with my lovely wife – well everyone deserves a day off sometime!

Love it!

The Rose & Thistle

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So, on Sunday we took our third trip over to the charming village of Rockbourne, this time for a party to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the 4th anniversary of Kerry’s reign at the Rose & Thistle. The whole village was adorned in red, white and blue, and was possibly responsible for the national bunting shortage!

The village had events throughout the day and we arrived at the pub just before 4pm to be set up for 5pm it was good to see people everywhere already in festive spirits. Basket Case, the band for the evening, arrived shortly afterwards and were all set by the time the bar and gardens really started to fill up. Despite the weather not being as kind to us as it had on previous visits the atmosphere was brilliant.

Basket Case played 2 sets with a short break to enjoy their super – as I said yesterday, those pork baps were the best I’ve ever tasted! I’ll do another post all about the band somewheb in the coming days, suffice it to say for now that they ROCKED!

To be honest, they were so good I had no idea how I was going to follow them! I needn’t have worried, a mix of recent dance hits with plenty of classics kept the dance-floor packed. Kerry, our charming host, and Bridget hosted their dance-off and, as usual, experienced considerable difficulty in getting people to step back as they whittled down the entrants to the final winners.

We concentrated on up-lighting the marquee and used a couple of other effects lights on the floor and ceiling, as the evening went on it looked really great. I also decided to use the new DJ booth screen again which looked great despite the fact it was a bit wonky on the lawn of the pub garden.

Everyone was so welcoming and kind, these people really know how to party and we very much hope to be invited back to celebrate Kerry’s fifth anniversary next year. If you are looking for somewhere different to visit I can wholeheartedly recommend finding your way out to Rockbourne and The Rose & Thistle.

Monday morning …

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Shattered!

Great night last night at the Rose & Thistle. The band, Basket Case were awesome. The pork baps were the best I’ve ever had – the crackling was … words cannot describe how good. Kerry certainly knows how to give a party. The party people were fantastic, thanks to the family and friends who came. So, even though the weather was not on our side a good time was had! I’ll blog more about the evening later in the week.

Joe and I were listening to Radio 1 on the way home and Ally McCrae with on with his “introducing” show ,playing lots of really great Scottish new music. Here’s one track that I thought was worth tracking down ~

Newest single from Ghanaian/UK based Hip-Hop artist Kobi Onyame.
‘Dreams’ is taken from his current album Green Green Grasses.

Saturday ~ what a beautiful day!

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What a fantastic day Saturday was, the first real Saturday of Summer this year.

I was at The Norton Park Hotel just north of Winchester for an evening wedding reception booking. Although I was booked for the evening I was able to go up in the morning and get all my equipment into the venue and mostly set up ready for the room turn-around after the Wedding Breakfast.

There was a beautiful backdrop and I set up with my speakers behind it and just my new screen to go around my booth at the front which looked really elegant. I up-lit the backdrop for the evening which was very effective.

I’m still struggling to get to grips with my latest camera but hopefully these snaps will give you a feeling for how things looked. Once the Bride and Bridegroom return from their honeymoon next month I hope to be able to share some more pictures with you from their brilliant official photographer Clare of OnLocation Photography

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