As a Welshman, travelling up to Rugby , the home of …. some ball game or other that we Welshmen like… was a real pleasure. This is a lovely part of the country, made lovelier by the October sunshine, and the Victorian venue, Brownsover Hall, was delightful.
The couple and I had planned to include music for all ages, so I opened the evening by warming the crowd up a mixture of swing and soul, then after a short increment of traditional disco tunes, I engineered for the guest artiste, before returning with a final set of pop and rock favourites.
The groom later revealed they had received “comments from people on the evening that noted they thought you were actually the original artist on the CD - until they saw you singing so hopefully a great compliment to you.”
The groom later revealed they had received “comments from people on the evening that noted they thought you were actually the original artist on the CD - until they saw you singing so hopefully a great compliment to you.”
Making someone’s wedding perfect is also not about behaving like a diva, so I had no problem swapping out some of my regular songs so not to clash with the guest singer’s more specific repertoire. It was also a real pleasure to work alongside this high-quality artist - a lovely young singer called Krystal. She adding some wonderful live vocals to fabulous funk, disco and soul classics, performing tunes I simply don't perform live, by artists such Whitney Houston, Candi Stanton and The Weather Girls. (All a bit high for me!) This added a tangible new dimension to the variety of night – which is exactly what the couple were after.
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| The Gothic Bay we performed in. |
Planning well ahead with the couple and tailoring to what they wanted helped me construct my final live set up to end with some rock classics, climaxing with the recently added Sex on Fire: which formed a perfect point to then start to mix into the rock and beat-beats/drum n bass styles of music the couple and many of their guests were huge fans of.
With a little research and some practice I rose to the challenge of live club-style mixing - a little outside of my comfort-zone – although alongside the guests’ pre-requests I was pleased to be able to drop in some favourite artists of my own choosing – including some The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Pendulum and even Roni Size!
Not something weddings often require too much of - but the big grins and thumbs up from the crowd were very reassuring!
Al later commented of me: “Not only was it a professional and quality service that was personally catered exactly to our requirements but working with you was the easiest most enjoyable part of the wedding for me at least.”
[ED: Well thanks – just don’t let Tash read that, fella. ;-) ]
After the club-selection-section ;-) I was able to coax older guest back to the dance-floor with some modern classics including Scissor Sisters, Black Eyed Peas and Amy Winehouse. I was adamant to not fall into the “Abba-trap” as - that night - ‘Dancing Queen’ was not an option! Afterwards, Al’s email said “Everybody else commented on the great music selection and a personal thank you from me in providing a non-cheesy package which as you know was so important to me.”
The groom went on to add:
“We had a brilliant day and the singing and entertainment you provided was outstanding….Your easy and professional approach to the day was also very welcomed - any questions or queries were always answered promptly and I felt throughout that you cared about our wedding and took pride in making it both special and unique for us. This is something I can say you do well and above some of your competitiors I also looked at initially.
I would recommend you without hesitation to everyone and anyone that would listen. Once again we had an amazing day and if our cake had had a cherry on it, I'm pleased to say that it would have been a Phat Aahs! Al (and Tash!)”
I would recommend you without hesitation to everyone and anyone that would listen. Once again we had an amazing day and if our cake had had a cherry on it, I'm pleased to say that it would have been a Phat Aahs! Al (and Tash!)”
Take care...and have fun
Jon Paul
Jon Paul Wedding Singer & DJ is available as a high-quality alternative to a wedding band, providing top class and self-contained, wedding entertainment tailored to each client. He is available in in Warwickshire, Wiltshire, East and West Midlands as well as Wales and the West, Home Counties and London.
