Katie & James first dance

Client: Katie & James Kaminski

Event: Wedding

Venue: Northbrook Park – website

Date: May, 9 2013

Package: Creative Mood Lighting Package

Music Requested: Indie, Motown, RnB, Party Classics & Guest Requests

All images on this website © choicedj.co.uk & rememberthatphoto.co.uk

The weekend got off to an early start this week with Katie & James Thursday wedding at the fantastic Northbrook Park in Farnham on the Surrey/Hampshire border. I’ve been to this wedding venue previously but that was before I started blogging so good to have the chance to do this now as it’s a great venue in many different ways.

Firstly at this venue I would highly recommend you take either the Total Music Package or the Creative Mood Lighting Package. Katie and James went for the latter and we installed Pink and Gold uplighting on either side of the Orangery which looked absolutely stunning once it started to get dark outside around 8pm. Another major benefit of that package is that you get the option to have all the equipment set up before the meal whilst the wedding ceremony is taking place in another part of the building and you get your background music supplied throughout the afternoon with the option of a microphone for speeches, which is useful as it’s a large room and there’s no PA installed in the Orangery.

pink and gold uplighting

What I didn’t realise when I first arrived in the Orangery on Thursday is that there is actually a swimming pool underneath the brown wooden floor that runs down the centre of the room, the disco sets up at the opposite end to the bar and dancing is mainly encouraged at that end of the room. There’s also a lot of palm trees inside which make it feel extra special and the 5 brick pillars that run down each side are screaming out for uplighters, its perfect that the bar is in the corner at the other end as this keeps everyone together in the room throughout the day and evening. The ceiling has been draped which looks great, this hides the old glass roof …but if your a band or a DJ using a lot of bass be warned, we were told that on one occasion they had an Indian wedding there and the bass was thumping so much that some the glass roof actually caved in.

There’s a lot more to this venue than just the orangery though, there is some fantastic looking alpine accommodation thats less than 5 years old. Katie and James got access the day before with exclusivity and rooms for guests on the wedding night but I guess this depends on whether there is a wedding there the previous day as far as access time is concerned. There is also an abundance of great photography opportunities including quirky passageways, walled gardens, countryside backdrop, the main house with its grand drive, lake, water features and statues. One character you won’t miss at Northbrook Park is their resident peacock, he’s a vocal chap and quite happy to impress you with his extravagant eye-spotted tail feathers.

girls enjoy the r&b

Overall its a very well thought out venue that works fantastically well all year round. Weddings during colder times of the year benefit from heaters that are installed throughout The Orangery, and during the summer when the suns beating down on the glass roof all the doors can be opened down one side of the room. Due to local residents that reside in some of the rentable accommodation at Northbrook Park the last song is always at 1130, which isn’t too bad …a lot of other venues call time at 11 under similar circumstances. Another good thing about Northbrook Park is that you are not tied to one particular supplier, the venue provide the scene and stage for your wedding and you complete the jigsaw puzzle with your own choices, for example the catering company yesterday were Super Event who we have had the pleasure of working alongside many times over the past couple of years.

indie rock went down a storm

Onto the main event …the 9 tables were named after songs personal to the couple, this formed the opening 9 songs of the meal and we filled the rest of the time with R&B smooth grooves and soul background music. One thing I thought was a very good idea was Katie and James made use of an additional marquee close to the orangery by hiring in a children’s entertainer to look after the younger guests during the meal. The speeches took place before the meal and the formalities came to an end at around 630, leaving just over an hour until the evening guests arrived. The first dance got underway just before 8pm and at the outset it was the older guests that made for a lively start so I concentrated mainly on the older rock and roll and motown hits. I held back Katie and James main R&B and Indie requests until later on in the evening for after the buffet, it proved to be a cracking last 90 minutes or so including the best of Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, Reef, Kings Of Leon, Kaiser Chiefs, Fratellis, Pulp, Stereophonic’s, Happy Mondays, Supergrass, Smash Mouth to give the event a real festival feel, after dropping a feel of Katie’s requests towards the end we finished with Oasis.

Next up are Becky and Chris on Saturday 18th May, we are providing them with our Remember Everything package for their Kent Castle Wedding

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

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SETLIST

First Dance Be Mine David Gray