After last nights 11pm finish at Chiddingstone Castle I was back out on the road at 11am for my first ever visit to Wotton House in Dorking, Surrey for Caroline & Steven’s wedding. Unfortunately over this weekend photos are at a premium due to me being in the process of seeking a replacement camera (excluding Saturday) so if you were at the wedding and would like to send us a couple then I will gladly include them in the blog – our email address is events @ choicedj.co.uk
Caroline & Steve Taylor – Wotton House, 26/7/2013
venue: – website
package: – total music package
music preferences: – Rock, Indie, Latest Charts & Disco
all images on this website: – © choicedj.co.uk & soundproofweddings.co.uk
I arrived in Dorking after a fairly decent M25 trip at 1pm which was bang on schedule and immediately met up with the lovely Jessica who was co-ordinating Caroline & Steve’s wedding in the The Evelyn Suite, first thing I noticed was that the room was air conditioned which was very much welcome as the great weather continued.
Jessica who had been working as a co-ordinator at the venue since last October told me that The Evelyn Suite is one of a staggering 44 rooms at the stunning country house 300 acre venue that can be used for wedding and corporate events, which surely has to make it one of Surreys largest venues. Intrigued as to what else the venue had to offer I had a quick look around the venue at various different points throughout the day and was staggered by the multitude of stunning photography opportunities the venue has to offer which included: the grand driveway, a pond with a roman pillared backdrop which can be used for outdoor ceremonies, a raised piece of land which has the entire venue as a backdrop plus rolling views of the Surrey countryside and the breathtaking indoor ceremony room, surely one of the most beautiful rooms you could ever hope to get married in and an absolute must for creative mood lighting with uplighters onto the pillared aisle.
stunning ceremony room at Wotton House
For DJ’s visiting Wotton House, the access isn’t too bad …you pull up on the gravel path adjacent to the courtyard by the Evelyn Suite, once your in its about 20 metres into the room, inside the room there is a sound limiter installed but apparantly this wasn’t working on this occasion, however there is no warning system it’s just a red light that comes on when the power trips so that’s worth investigating if you are playing there. Also the venue don’t allow the use of haze/smoke so a small simple set up would be the best way forward but tbh with the starcloth and the general style of the room a minimalistic set up suits the room better anyway.
set up in the evelyn suite
Inside the Evelyn Suite was a plain dancefloor complete with huge starlit backdrop which I set up in front of with a couple of uplit plinths. With it being quite an intimate afternoon (around 40 guests for the meal), the disco area was seperated from the wedding breakfast part by some draping which gave the room a nice wedding feel. Caroline & Steve had provided an extensive selection of music to cover the day and evening so I broke it into two appropriate sections for each part of the day, I also installed a microphone near to the top table for the speeches.
The bride and groom selected the first 3 songs of the evening and then after the gorgeous smelling buffet had been served at about 930 the party kicked off with some slow requests for some of the older couples to get up and dance to before Caroline and her friends enjoyed an hours worth of the pop on her playlist and then for the final hour the groom and his mates enjoyed the Indie/Rock selections.
I wrapped things up on the stroke of midnight with Caroline & Steve’s final song before I bid good night to everyone and once the room was clear the staff began the transformation of the room for Saturdays wedding at the venue. Congratulations to the new Mr & Mrs Taylor, thank you for your kind words at the end of the night and we wish you all the best for the future.
Tomorrow evening comes the highly anticipated visit to Highclere Castle in Newbury for a job that involves 14 uplighters in the stunning environment used as the film set for Downton Abbey …
If you were at Caroline & Steve’s wedding how about leaving us a comment at the bottom of this page
– PLAYLIST
Background Music
Make You Feel My Love Adele
Beatles – Norwegian Wood Beatles
Got To Get You Into My Life The Beatles
Beatles – Blackbird Beatles
When the Night Feels My Song Bedouin Soundclash
You’ve Got a Friend Michael Jackson
Something In the Way She Moves James Taylor
Put Your Records On Corinne Bailey Rae
How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) James Taylor
Warwick Avenue Duffy
Your Song Ellie Goulding
Tonight the Streets Are Ours Richard Hawley
Once Around the Block Badly Drawn Boy
Better Together Jack Johnson
BBC James Walbourne
Coles Corner Richard Hawley
La Cienega Just Smiled Ryan Adams
Cannonball Damien Rice
Going Home Jon Allen
I See Monsters Ryan Adams
A&E Goldfrapp
Next to Me Emeli Sandé
Beneath Your Beautiful (feat. Emeli Sande) Labrinth
I Want You Bob Dylan
Tangled Up In Blue Bob Dylan
Ruby Tuesday (Mono Version) The Rolling Stones
You Can’t Always Get What You Want (Single Version) The Rolling Stones
Son of a Preacher Man Dusty Springfield
Somethin’ Stupid (with Nancy Sinatra & Nancy Sinatra) Frank Sinatra
High and Dry Radiohead
I Can’t Explain (Artificial Stereo Version) The Who
Tears Dry On Their Own Amy Winehouse
Changes David Bowie
Drifting Away Faithless
One Day Like This Elbow
First Day of My Life Bright Eyes
End of a Century blur
Let There be Love Oasis
First Dance Soul On Fire Spiritualized
Cigarettes & Alcohol Oasis
I Bet You Look Good On the Dance Floor Arctic Monkeys
Brown Eyed Girl Van Morrison
I Love To Boogie T-Rex
Crazy Little Thing Called Love Queen
Rock Around the Clock Bill Hayley & The Comets
Run Around Sue Everly Brothers
December 1963 (Oh What A Night) Frankie Vallie
Celebration Kool & The Gang
Valerie (Feat. Amy Winehouse) Mark Ronson
I Don’t Feel Like Dancing Scissor sisters
Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) Beyoncé
Forget You Cee Lo Green
Locked Out of Heaven Bruno Mars
P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) Michael Jackson
Love Come Down Evelyn \”Champagne\” King
He’s The Greatest Dancer Sister Sledge
Brown Sugar Rolling Stones
You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet Bachman Turner Overdrive
Stuck in the Middle with You Steelers Wheel
Sweet Home Alabama Lynard Skynard
Respect Aretha Franklin
Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours) Stevie Wonder
Master Blaster (Jammin’) Stevie Wonder
New York, New York Ryan Adams
Charmless Man blur
Lady Marmalade Patti Labelle
Red Red Wine UB40
Caribbean Queen (No More Love On the Run) Billy Ocean
Loco In Acapulco Four Tops
Sultans Of Swing Dire Straits
Baba O’Riley (Remixed Version) The Who
Won’t Get Fooled Again (Remix) The Who
Yellow Coldplay
Chasing Cars Snow Patrol
Wonderful Tonight Eric Clapton
Lady In Red Chris de Burgh
Have I Told You Lately Rod Stewart
Three Times A Lady Commodores
Just The Way You Are Barry White
Stand By Me Ben E. King
Lets stay together Al Green
Rock With You Michael Jackson
Chain Reaction Diana Ross
Locked Out of Heaven Bruno Mars
Get Lucky (Radio Edit) [feat. Pharrell Williams] Daft Punk
Cant Get You Out Of My Head Kylie Minogue
Moves Like Jagger Maroon 5
I Gotta Feeling The Black Eyed Peas
The Time (The Dirty Bit) The Black Eyed Peas
Bad Romance Lady GaGa
We No Speak Americano (UK Radio Edit) Yolanda B Cool
Life Is A Rollercoaster Ronan Keating
Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) Backstreet Boys
Relight My Fire Take That
Everybody Get Up Five
There she goes The La’s
Can’t Stand Me Now Libertines
Dreaming of You Coral
Bohemian Like You Dandy Warhols
Suffragette City David Bowie
Common People Pulp
I am the resurrection Stone Roses
The Only One I Know Charlatans
Step On Happy Mondays
Sweet Child of Mine Guns ‘N Roses
Living On a Prayer Bon Jovi
The Final Countdown Europe
Human Killers
Viva la Vida Coldplay
Firework Katy Perry
Jump Girls Aloud
Heroes David Bowie
Don’t Look Back In Anger Oasis
Fell In Love With a Girl The White Stripes