I was priveleged on Monday night to work at wedding videographer Paul Taberhams reception as he married fiance Noelle yesterday at The Orangery in Maidstone. Both myself and Paul were finalists at the Kent Wedding Awards last month, but a month on and with Christmas just around the corner all eyes turned to their special day which they celebrated it in style at the 2013 Kent Wedding Venue of the year.

I got into the venue bang on time at 630pm to set up before the scheduled 815pm first dance, this was my first taster of a Jewish wedding and I have to say despite being scheduled on a Monday it was a thoroughly excellent occasion with several memorable highlights.

I had got to know Paul a little bit over the past few months, we first met at a wedding in the summer and he is an instantly likeable character, a true old fashioned gent and generally nice person …alongside Noelle they make a lovely couple and it was a genuinely romantic couple of minutes as they took their first dance to Bing Crosby. In stark contrast they then turned on the style showing their true fun loving personalities as they got the evening off to a belting start with a choreographed second dance to Flo Rida “Low” ! It was a wonderful switch of character and had myself and the majority of the guests highly amused as he gave his new wifes “booty a slam” 😀 …experiencing these moments makes all the hard work in this industry worthwhile.

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Paul and Noelle had provided around 35 requests for the wedding, however with it being quite a small crowd on a wet Monday evening I was conscious following the lively start that I needed to quickly find a genre that would ensure the party carried on in the same vein and then maintain it for the four hours …I needn’t of worried.

I instantly picked up on a very clear love amongst the crowd for Motown, Jive and Rock & Roll and thats pretty much how it went for the entire evening with the couples selections dropped in here and there at the appropriate times, not to mention a large amount of guest requests including back to back Bruce Springsteen which went down very well amongst the American …AND Belgian contingent 🙂

The other huge highlight of the evening which has been stuck in my head all day today was the couples “Hora”. I understand that a “Hora” is a traditional Jewish dance where a number of strong armed men hoist the bride and groom high in the air whilst the guests dance around. At one point Paul indicated they may drop the dance but I was very pleased at around 10pm that they decided to go for it to the song “Hava Nagila” as it provided to be yet another defining memory of the evening.

As we neared the end we even saw a demonstration of Paul’s breakdancing skills to “Its Like That” by Run DMC and lots of enthusiastic guests bouncing around to “Boom Boom Shake The Room” and “Jump Around”. It all ended on the stroke of midnight and after spending the evening with such a thoroughly nice group of people its left me dreaming of a Bar Mitzvah or maybe a guest or two at this one that will tie the knot sometime on the near future.

Huge congratulations to Paul and Noelle, all the best for a great future together and hopefully you can get away at some point for that honeymoon 🙂

If you were at Noelle & Paul’s wedding how about leaving us a comment at the bottom of this page

Playlist –

Count Your Blessings Instead Of Sheep Bing Crosby 83.03
Low Flo Rida & T-Pain 127.99
ABC Jackson 5 93.31
Rockin’ Robin Michael Jackson 172.97
Brown Eyed Girl Van Morrison 148.32
(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher Jackie Wilson 94.72
Johnny B Goode Chuck Berry 82.99
Jailhouse Rock Elvis Presley 166.53
Shake, rattle and roll Jerry Lee Lewis 167.19
Rock Around the Clock Bill Hayley & The Comets 90.50
Good Vibrations Beach Boys 150.69
La Bamba Ritchie Valens 149.48
California Girls (2001 Stereo Remix) The Beach Boys 114.29
Good Vibrations Beach Boys 150.69
That’ll Be the Day Buddy Holly 126.06
Peggy Sue Buddy Holly 149.38
Reet Petite Jackie Wilson 86.58
Twist and Shout Beatles 123.28
I Saw Her standing there Beatles 160.15
Run Around Sue Dion & The Belmonts 79.51
Dancing In The Street (Single Version) Martha Reeves & The Vandellas 125.90
You Can’t Hurry Love (Single Version – Mono) The Supremes 97.69
Baby Love (Single Version) The Supremes 135.90
It Takes Two Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston 151.52
Respect Aretha Franklin 114.63
December 1963 (Oh What A Night) Frankie Vallie 104.28
Loco In Acapulco Four Tops 123.05
Two Hearts Phil Collins 155.66
One Love Bob Marley 76.42
Red Red Wine UB40 89.24
I Can See Clearly Now Johnny Nash 124.44
Sweet Soul Music Arthur Conley 160.03
You got it Roy Orbison 114.64
Do You Love Me The Contours 150.11
You never can tell Chuck Berry 156.96
Hound Dog Elvis Presley 89.64
All Shook Up Elvis Presley 150.37
Roll Over Beethoven Chuck Berry 94.56
Great Balls Of Fire Jerry Lee Lewis 87.40
Lets Twist Again Chubby Checker 163.16
Tutti Frutti Little Richard 93.14
Stuck in the Middle with You Steelers Wheel 124.10
Crazy Little Thing Called Love Queen 154.37
( Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (Mono Version) Rolling Stones 136.37
Start Me Up Rolling Stones 122.48
Bad Moon Rising Creedence Clearwater Revival 179.13
Jimmy Mack Martha Reeves & The Vandellas 130.59
Born in the USA Bruce Springsteen 120.91
Hava Nagila The Klezmer Lounge Band 145.51
Singing In the Rain Gene Kelly 136.90
Only You Platters 80.89
Earth Angel Paul Anka 148.34
You Can Call Me Al Paul Simon 128.34
Day Dream Believer The Monkees 124.62
The Time Warp Damian 127.10
Everybody Needs Somebody to Lo Blues Brothers 96.18
Mmmbop Hanson 104.87
Get Lucky (Radio Edit) [feat. Pharrell Williams] Daft Punk 116.04
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Cyndi Lauper 120.41
I Wanna Dance With Somebody Whitney Houston 118.82
Higher Love Steve Winwood 98.67
Pressure Drop Toots & The Maytals 147.99
I Want You Bob Dylan 98.90
Don’t Stop Believin’ Journey 120.45
Hey Ya Outkast 158.97
Mony Mony Billy Idol 134.88
I’m a Believer Smash Mouth 164.66
Place Your Hands Reef 109.46
Boom! Shake The Room DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince 100.02
Jump Around House Of Pain 105.93
It’s Like That Run DMC & Jason Nevins 129.04
My Special Angel The Vogues 142.09

Encore –

Midnight Rambler The Rolling Stones 149.87
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy The Andrews Sisters 81.47
This Magic Moment Jay & The Americans 126.34
Cantina Band John Williams 131.51
Long Shot Kick the Bucket Pioneers 119.22

The Orangery – website

Package: creative mood lighting

Music Preferences: – Jive, Rock and Roll, Motown, 80s

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