With just the one wedding this weekend we returned to one of our local venues, Penshurst Place for Laura & Mark’s wedding …a venue that we have been to a number of times over the past few years.

Laura & Mark Hart – Penshurst Place, Kent, 10/8/2013 

venue – website

package: – total music package

music preferences: – Latest Charts, Club Classics, Garage, R&B & Guest Requests

all images on this website: – © choicedj.co.uk & soundproofweddings.co.uk

Mr & Mrs Hart

Laura had booked our Total Music Package for her wedding at the beautiful Penshurst Place, a stunning example of 14th Century architecture and a venue once owned by King Henry VIII. Parts of the house and gardens are open to the public and you can read more by clicking here to visit Wikipedia and learn more about its fascinating history.

Access for suppliers is via the court yard adjacent to the on site cafeteria and this can commence at 4pm once the doors close to the public. Its a bit of a “90 minute makoever” from that point onwards as Penshursts well drilled team are joined by myself (DJ), florists, table decorators, cake companies and chair cover companies as everyone works alongside each other to transform the Baron’s Hall from a tourist attraction into an amazing wedding environment.

The Great Hall 1915 – disco sets up on the right

The disco sets up behind the wood panels round to the left as you first enter the hall, its a side set up to the dance floor which is positioned centrally but we managed to set up the arch loaded with lighting effects including our new water effect which we projected onto the wood and floor for the first dance which looked lovely. Penshurst do supply a couple of gold coloured uplighters behind the top table for the meal but in addition to this I set up another 6 for Laura and Mark to highlight the wooden walls which I set to a slow fade throughout the earlier part of the night then once the evening was under way to a colour changing sound to light which looked very effective.

I actually set my own bit of history at Penshurst when I first visited the venue about 5 years ago as I became the first DJ to play from the Minstrals Gallery (this is located above the wooden panels in the photo). I did it because it’s a great vantage point to set up lighting and it looked spectacular and some of the staff have recalled that over the past few years when I’ve returned. It worked really well that night as I was playing from a pre-set playlist but it’s not something I would do again as the norm because you would be too isolated from the guests and find yourself unable to take requests or connect with the crowd …but it was a great experience !

The wedding party arrives along the elegant sweeping driveway at a private entrance, following the ceremony the guests can mingle and use the various different areas including the walled garden and the buttery which is where the bar is located during the evening reception. The guests access the Barons Hall at approx 530pm and shortly after are followed by the new bride and groom to open the wedding breakfast.

Laura and Mark had booked classical themed background music for the meal so we combined classical guitar along with some “classical style” versions of club classics by a band called Lowland which worked really well, with Penshurst Places in house PA taking care of speeches and announcements it all works seemlessly well.

The first dance took place around 9pm with Boyce Avenues version of “A Thousand Years” …a moving song that has been very popular throughout this wedding season. Laura and Marks music preference on the night was Club Classics and Latest Charts which went down very well over the 3 hour set which also included some guest requests mid way through and towards the end but it was the R&B and dance tunes that went down best with this crowd who were mainly aged between 25-35.

The night finished on a high with the dance floor packed as I played Laura’s final song selection “I’ve had the time of my life” bringing to an end another great Penshurst gig. We wish Laura & Mark all the very best for the future as the aptly named Mr & Mrs Hart.

Next week we are back at Westerham Golf Club for Nathalie & Nicks wedding, I recently DJ’d Nicks brothers Mikes wedding to Diana so looking forward to catching up with everyone again for what appears to be a Latest Charts and Rock/Indie night judging by the playlist. Check back for more reviews and photos soon.

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

click here to visit our facebook group to see more photos from this event

– PLAYLIST

First Dance A Thousand Years Boyce Avenue

Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) Beyoncé
Pon de Replay Rihanna
Never Leave You (Uh Ooh, Uh Oooh) Lumidee
Get Busy Sean Paul
Beautiful Snoop Dogg
Play (Radio Edit) Jennifer Lopez
Livin’ It Up Ja Rule & Case
Turn Me On Kevin Lyttle
Hot In Here Nelly 106.60 Hip Hop
Get Lucky (Radio Edit) [feat. Pharrell Williams] Daft Punk 116.04
Don’t Cha The Pussycat Dolls & Busta Rhymes 120.00 R&B
Blurred Lines (feat. T.I. & Pharrell) Robin Thicke 120.00 Charts
Rude Boy Rihanna
So Good To Me Chris Malinchak
I Love To Boogie T-Rex
Wake Me Up Before You Go Go Wham
Respect Aretha Franklin
You Can’t Hurry Love (Single Version – Mono) The Supremes
I Want You Back The Jackson 5
Sir Duke Stevie Wonder
Brown Eyed Girl Van Morrison
Sweet Soul Music Arthur Conley
Danza Kuduro (Throw Your Hands Up) Lucenzo & Qwote
Run the World (Girls) Beyoncé
Rock This Party (Everybody Dance Now) Bob Sinclar
Put Your Hands Up for Detroit (Club Mix) Fedde le Grand
Sambuca Wideboys ft. Dennis G
Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta) Artful Dodger & Craig David
Try Me Out (Original) Sunship & Anita Kelsey
Straight from the Heart Doolally
Wake Me Up Avicii
Bang Bang will.i.am
Crazy In Love Beyoncé
You Can Do It Ice Cube
Hips Don’t Lie Shakira ft Wyclef Jean
Hey Sexy Lady Remix (feat. Sean Paul) Shaggy
Thong Song (Radio Edit) Sisqo
Don’t Stop the Party Pitbull
I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho) Pitbull
Loca People (Radio Edit) Sak Noel
Yeah 3X Chris Brown
We Found Love (feat. Calvin Harris) Rihanna
#thatPOWER (feat. Justin Bieber) will.i.am
Let the Bass Kick In Miami Girl Chuckie & LMFAO
Good Feeling Flo Rida
Sexy and I Know It LMFAO
Play Hard (feat. Ne-Yo & Akon) David Guetta
Place Your Hands Reef
Don’t Stop Believin’ Journey
Sex On Fire Kings of Leon
Mr. Brightside Killers
Waiting All Night (feat. Ella Eyre) Rudimental
Shake Ur Body (feat. Di) Shy Fx & T-Power
Born Slippy Underworld
Time to Burn Storm
Jumping all over the world Scooter
Omen The Prodigy
Smack My Bitch Up (Noisia Remix) The Prodigy
Get Lucky (Radio Edit) [feat. Pharrell Williams] Daft Punk
Love Me Again John Newman
(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes