Claire had booked us to play on her special night following her brother Tim and new sister in law Hannah’s wedding reception which I had DJ’d at back in February at Chiddingstone Castle. Considering how local the venue is to us it was surprisingly our first ever gig at Oakwood House situated just outside Maidstone Town Centre, but like her brothers wedding reception it was another memorable highlight from the 2013 calender. The venue is a grand Victorian mansion and boasts accommodation as well as being a venue that hosts conferences, functions, weddings and other events, it’s a fusion of modern and traditional styles originally built around 1869.

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The evening got underway with a new first for me as Claire took the first dance of the evening with her father to wedding artist T Carters “Daddys Angel”, the proud father of the bride then handed over to Dean as the newleywed’s then took their first dance to Van Morrisons “Have I Told You Lately”. The playlist was a mixture of new and old to accommodate the wide range of guest ages and tastes but it was 2013 favourite “Blurred Lines” that really got the party started following the buffet. Claire had contributed around 50 songs towards the evening so it was left to us to fill in around her tastes with guest requests being played after 11pm for the final hour.

We met up straight away with Hannah & Tim who were once again in fine form 9 months after their own big day and clearly still very much enjoying their own honeymoon period, enjoying a drink and generally holding each other together on the dance floor which was great to see …which may have had something to do with the two bottles of red wine in Tim’s possession as we arrived, at one point Tim and Claires mum had to take care of one of his drinks so he could dance with a cushion which was quite amusing as Hannah strutted about in costume courtesy of the props provided by the photo booth company. Big shout also out to Claires mum who looked after us all evening with drinks which was much appreciated and generally everyone that kept the dance floor packed for the final 3 hours and made it a memorable experience for Claire and new husband Dean who was dressed in full Military attire for the occasion.

If your a DJ reading this to get an idea of the venue, we were in the The John Wigan Suite which is situated on the ground floor. I believe its the largest and newest of the Oakwood House function rooms and contains its own private bar, a factor which is important to both the DJ as well as the bride & groom as it keeps all the guests in the room for the evening rather than in different areas.

The access is a bit of a trek with all the kit as its the furthest point from the entrance with no vehicle access directly up to the room itself, however the venue did provide us with a handy trolley which accommodates a fair bit of kit so this definately helps make it a bit easier. I would advise DJ’s and Bands to get there a bit earlier and transport equipment firstly into the adjaceant room which I believe is the Lewis Wigan room, that way once the John Wigan suite is vacated from the room turnaround your kit is more or less at the point of the set up position. Because of the layout of the room and position of the dance floor the set up is actually to the side and you play across the room, there’s not a huge amount of space but we managed to set up the booth and a couple of plinths with moving heads and barrel lighting effects, we also included 6 uplighters which we dotted around the room just to add some additional ambienc to the rear of the room where the top table and seating areas had been during the daytime, we didn’t use any haze due to the smoke detectors above the dance floor.

After 3 great hours we managed to get in Scooters “Jumping all over the world” in as the penultimate song before the big finale to Claire’s chosen final song, the upbeat “Wake me up” by Avicii, as the room calmed down we slipped in Coldplays “Paradise” as an encore before grabbing a few words with Claire and Dean at the end before the new Mr & Mrs Hurdman started focused their thoughts to Mondays trip to Bali for their honeymoon.

Final congratulations to Claire & Dean, we wish you all the best for a great honeymoon and future together.

Next week we are in Uxbridge, Middlesex for Fiona and Terrys wedding celebration following their recent intimate wedding abroad, which is our final gig we do before the Kent Wedding Awards on the 14th  …check back soon for news, reviews and photos soon.

If you were at Claire & Deans wedding how about leaving us a comment at the bottom of this page

Oakwood House – website

Package: –plug & play

Music Preferences: – 60s, Rock, 70s, 80s, Latest Charts, Party Classics

All images on this website: – © choicedj.co.uk

Playlist

[Father & Daughter Dance] Daddy’s Angel T Carter Music

[First Dance] Have I Told You Lately Van Morrison

My Girl Temptations
Mysterious Girl Peter Andre
Red Red Wine UB40
Return of the Mack Mark Morrison
Crazy In Love Beyoncé
Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) Beyoncé
Hips Don’t Lie Shakira ft Wyclef Jean
Brown Eyed Girl Van Morrison
Sugar, Sugar Archies
Let’s Dance Chris Montez
Run Around Sue Dion & The Belmonts
Shake, rattle and roll Jerry Lee Lewis
Rock Around the Clock Bill Hayley & The Comets
Tequila Champs
Blurred Lines (feat. T.I. & Pharrell) Robin Thicke
Dance With Me Tonight Olly Murs
Moves Like Jagger Maroon 5
Gangnam Style PSY
Sexy and I Know It LMFAO
What Makes You Beautiful One Direction
Valerie (Feat. Amy Winehouse) Mark Ronson
I Don’t Feel Like Dancing Scissor sisters
I Gotta Feeling The Black Eyed Peas
Baby (feat. Ludacris) Justin Bieber
Get Lucky (Radio Edit) [feat. Pharrell Williams] Daft Punk
Counting Stars OneRepublic
Raise Your Glass P!nk
We Found Love (feat. Calvin Harris) Rihanna
Love Me Again John Newman
I Love It (feat. Charli XCX) Icona Pop
Without You (feat. Usher) David Guetta & Usher
Don’t You Worry Child Swedish House Mafia
You’ve Got The Love Florence And The Machine
You’ve Got The Love Source ft Candi Staton
You’re the First, the Last, My Everything Barry White
It’s Not Unusual Tom Jones
Reach S Club 7
Uptown Girl Billy Joel
I Wanna Dance With Somebody Whitney Houston
Dancing Queen ABBA
Don’t Leave Me This Way Communards with Sarah Jane Morris
Footloose kenny Loggins
Don’t Stop Believin’ Journey
Sweet Child of Mine Guns ‘N Roses
Don’t Stop Me Now Queen
Walk This Way [featuring Run DMC] Aerosmith
Summer of 69 Bryan Adams
Ho Hey The Lumineers
Your My Best Friend Queen
Mama Do the Hump Rizzle Kicks
Earthquake Labrinth
Diamonds Rihanna
Feel the Love Rudimental
Mr. Brightside Killers
Chelsea Daggers Fratellis
Sex On Fire Kings of Leon
Hi Ho Silver Lining Jeff Beck
Sweet Caroline Neil Diamond
Hey Ya Outkast
Jumping all over the world Scooter
Wake Me Up Avicii

Encore Paradise Coldplay