Sophie & John Wise

The last word of the weekend fell on Sophie & John’s wedding in the Bearstead Suite at The Marriott Tudor Park, Maidstone ….and WOW what a night, in fact it took a couple of days for the headache and lethargy to subside it was that good …and after the previous night’s shananagans packing up in the rain soaked marquee down at Crockham Hill it really was a weekend to remember for all the right reasons.

I’ve played at The Marriott Tudor Park several times and all the available rooms are excellent party rooms, however I particularly like the Bearstead Suite as it actually does feel quite exclusive despite it being a hotel.  It’s got a very intimate cosy ‘club like’ feel with it’s low ceiling and bar within close range of the dance floor (similar to Eastwell Manor), also the walls are quite neutral which is great as you can really start to transform it.  The room works very well with the marquee attachment, which I have to say had an almost tropical feel to it thanks to the fab heaters installed. We provided background music during the meal which was pretty much a selection of the best music from the Ibiza chillout albums iv got.

bearsted suite uplit with cocktail table

We installed 10 uplighters set to purple to tie in with Sophie and Johns colour scheme which looked great alongside the chequered dance floor and stylish uplit cocktail tables, finally we colour co ordinated the dj booth to blue as a contrasting colour from the purple and we also installed two blue uplighters behind the bar so the room looked very cool indeed.

The music throughout the evening just flowed beautifully from start to finish, John was quite keen for some of his Motown selections early in the evening and a lot of his friends were into their 80s soul so I covered all those genres incorporating the bride and grooms requests into the set as per usual. The majority of guests were aged between 30-40 which is a great age range for people who fully appreciate the last few decades of music, it was also a fantastic testimony to a clearly popular couple that everyone still let their hair down despite it being a Sunday and gave John & Sophie a great send off on their wedding day. With the floor heaving all night it got a bit too much for one reveller who spotted Keeley Webster/Choice camera girl Julia poised with the camera during ‘Sexy & I Know It’  as he stylishly dropped his pants to leave the blushing photographer aghast at his bare faced cheek. I guess that’s my fault for getting them a bit too excited but that’s the kind of things people can do when it buzzing ! Another particular highlight was a great moment as we played Rhianna’s “Umbrella”, as if by magic and for no apparant reason someone plucked an umbrella from seemingly nowhere to the amazement of everyone on the dancefloor, never have so many woman wanted to get their hands on an umbrella before !

revellers bare faced cheek

As the end of the night approached the bride made a hasty last minute decision to give Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes the swerve as the last song and instead that accolade was the pleasure of Montel Jordan as the couple left their theatre via the requested archway, and with all guests still fully clothed that was the end of a wonderful four hours, it just goes so quickly when it’s that good. One final act was still to come though, courtesy of the very customer focused and lovely Sarah who is the wedding co ordinator, following the usual chants of “one more song” I was extremely impressed at midnight that she gave the thumbs up for an encore song, which is very rare these days in venues especially hotels so I thought that was an excellent touch, a great end to a brilliant day and a very happy wedding co ordinator with a whopping sunday night bar bill  🙂

As the bride and groom left via an archway from the floor to the door I wished everyone a safe journey home, or at least back to their hotel room, however I was soon reuinted with them all after being railroaded into to the hotel bar (it didnt take much persuading) and this carried on until around 3am when I found myself taking a palm reading from a psychic who used to run an escort agency and talking to an actress who has been in and out of all the top soaps on the BBC (see there’s never a dull moment).

Article written by DJ Phil Webster 

Click here to see more photos from this wedding on our facebook group. Here’s the set list from Sunday, if you were at the wedding how about leaving us a comment.

20:03 : Van Morrison – Have I Told You Lately?
20:07 : Paolo Nutini – Last Request
20:11 : Jackie Wilson – Your love is Lifting Me Higher
20:13 : The Isley Brothers – This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You)
20:16 : The Supremes – You Can’t Hurry Love (Single Version – Mono)
20:19 : Martha Reeves & The Vandellas – Jimmy Mack
20:21 : Jackson 5 – ABC
20:24 : Stevie Wonder – Sir Duke
20:28 : Billy Ocean – Love Really Hurts Without You
20:31 : Jerry Lee Lewis – Shake, rattle and roll
20:33 : Bill Haley and his Comets – Rock Around the Clock
20:35 : Jackie Wilson – Reet Petite
20:38 : Frankie Valli – December 1963 (Oh What A Night)
20:41 : Peter Andre – Mysterious Girl
20:44 : Inner Circle – Sweat (A la la la la Song)
20:48 : Chaka Demus & Pliers – Tease Me
20:52 : UB40 – Red Red Wine
20:57 : Mark Morrison – Return of the Mack
21:00 : The Fatback Band – I Found Lovin’
21:04 : Luther Vandross – Never Too Much
21:08 : Alexander O Neil – Criticize
21:08 : Jermaine Stewart – We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off
21:12 : Diana Ross – Chain Reaction
21:17 : Beyoncé РSingle Ladies (Put a Ring On It)
21:20 : Rizzle Kicks – Mama Do the Hump
21:24 : JLS – She Makes Me Wanna (feat. Dev)
21:26 : Maroon 5 – Moves Like Jagger
21:30 : Cheryl – Call My Name
21:31 : The Black Eyed Peas – I Gotta Feeling
21:34 : The Black Eyed Peas – The Time (Dirty Bit) (Radio Edit)
21:38 : Pitbull – I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)
21:41 : Robin S. – Show Me Love
21:44 : Byron Stingily – Get Up Everybody
21:48 : The Original – I Luv U Baby (Dancing Divas 1995 Remix)
21:50 : Alex Party – Don’t Give Me Your Life
21:52 : Todd Terry – Keep On Jumpin’
21:53 : Armand Van Helden & Duane Harden – U Don’t Know Me (Featuring Duane Harden)
21:55 : Rihanna – Only Girl (In the World)
21:59 : Mac Band – Roses Are Red (feat. The McCampbell Brothers) [Radio Edit]
22:03 : Cameo – Candy
22:08 : Blackstreet & Dr. Dre – No Diggity (Radio Version)
22:11 : Double Trouble – Street Tuff (feat. Rebel MC)
22:14 : S’ Express – Theme from S’Express
22:15 : Black box – Ride on time
22:20 : Salt-N-Pepa – Push It (Radio Version)
22:23 : Sam and the Womp – Bom Bom (Radio Edit)
22:24 : PSY РGangnam Style (강남스타일)
22:28 : Rudimental – Feel the Love
22:31 : LMFAO – Sexy and I Know It
22:34 : Bobby Brown – Two Can Play That Game
22:38 : Blues Brothers & Ray Charles – Shake Your Tail Feathers
22:40 : Blues Brothers – Everybody Needs Somebody to Lo
22:44 : Sam and Dave – Soul Man
22:46 : Take That – Relight My Fire
22:50 : Wham – Wake me up before you go
22:54 : Whitney Houston – I Wanna Dance With Somebody (2000 Remaster)
22:58 : Jocelyn Brown – Somebody Else’s Guy
23:04 : Evelyn “Champagne” King – Love Come Down
23:04 : McFadden & Whitehead – Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now
23:07 : Musical Youth – Pass The Dutchie
23:12 : The Jacksons – Blame It On the Boogie
23:16 : Rick Astley – Never Gonna Give You Up
23:19 : Rhianna – Umbrella
23:23 : Queen – We Will Rock You (Remastered)
23:25 : Vanilla Ice – Ice Ice Baby
23:29 : MC Hammer – U Can’t Touch This
23:33 : Run DMC – It’s Like That
23:37 : House of Pain – Jump Around
23:40 : Kings Of Leon – Sex On Fire
23:43 : The Killers – Mr. Brightside
23:47 : Bryan Adams – Summer of 69
23:50 : Bon Jovi – Living On a Prayer
23:54 : Montell Jordan – This Is How We Do It (Radio Mix)
23:57 : Snow – Informer
00:03 : ACDC – Back In Black