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Unfortunately over the last 4 -5 weeks we have had a number of minor server and software issues which have not been catastrophic but have resulted in us missing enquiries, our system showing us as unavailable when we have been, not receiving certain emails for weeks on end and outgoing emails not reaching there destination!

We would like to apologise for any problems you may have encountered or if you have got in touch with us and not received a reply, your enquiry is important and valued but some of our technology has really let us down.

Thankfully everything appears to be running smoothly now and we have a batch of old enquiries which we are responding too right now.

Sorry!

I have nothing to say apart from “much respect” to a man who really loves his work, or recreational drugs, or both, you decide!

Foxhills

Saturday night saw a trip to one of our favourite venues, Foxhills Golf & Spa Resort in Ottershaw. We like it because it has some lovely buildings, great grounds, nice food and attentive staff. Oh and because it’s 12 minutes from our base!

Unfortunately the weather had “turned” with the day being mostly overcast with occasional showers, but that didn’t dampen the spirits of Colin & Emma and their guests.

First dance on the night was Amazed by Lonestar and after that we were given free reign to play what we felt was best mixed in with requests from the crowd.

A good night was had by all but there were a couple of things that prompted me to write this post. Firstly, the weather. It didn’t really affect the Bride & Groom’s outlook on the day but I know from experience that many couples can really beat themselves up after an event spends so long in the planning phase only for the weather to be dull and miserable.

I think Colin & Emma adopted the right attitude in that it doesn’t matter when or even where you get married, no one can control the weather and whatever will be will be, you can’t beat yourself up about it. You can however mitigate the “damage” by having a wet weather “Plan B”, something I will expand on in a future post.

Secondly I want to talk about timings. The clients took the first time slot available to get married, Midday, with the evening reception starting at 7 PM. That leaves a significant amount of time to fill and keep your guests entertained/involved in the day, especially when the weather precludes you from spending time outside enjoying the grounds and surroundings.

By the evening reception, many of the guests were already tired from a long day and this has a direct effect on how “successful” the celebration part of the day is. It isn’t just about the music that is played, just as important is the “vibe”, the ambience, the integration of the guests, in fact there are numerous things that have an affect on how well the evening goes. Again I will expand further in a future post.

Thanks gain to Colin & Emma for letting us be part of their special day and here’s hoping for a sunny Bank Holiday Monday!

The Baseballs

We do like to hear something a little different here at DJ Towers and have to admit to secretly enjoying the Rock ‘n’ Roll twist that 3 German boys who call themselves “The Baseballs” deliver with their new album titled “Strike” (which we thought was more to do with ten pin bowling but what do we know…).

The guys have covered a range of modern R&B and well known pop songs to create an album which is a great deal of fun and should appeal to a wide range of ages. It’s difficult to say whether or not the novelty will soon wear off but it certainly gets the thumbs up from us just for trying to be a bit different!

No doubt we will be slipping some songs from the album into many a “buffet set” over the Summer…

DJing, vocals and live percussion, this guy is a genius!

…get in the back of the line, you wanna do it, have a slice of lime…

Northbrook Park

Another of our favourite venues is Northbrook Park in Farnham and we were very pleased to return there for the Thursday Wedding of Jonathon & Sarah.

Northbrook is a lovely venue that has a wide range of feathered wildlife roaming round the gardens including a beautiful peacock that always wanders over to look at us as we wait outside, ready to get in and set up. The weather was glorious which really helped the excellent photographers Julian & Sue Porter get some brilliant shots, some of which you can see in their Wedding Blog.

The day was managed expertly by Louise on behalf of the venue and Geoffrey Cornwell who is a very experienced and excellent toastmaster, which meant everyone could relax and enjoy the ceremony, food and celebration without missing a thing.

The music chosen by Jonathon & Sarah focused mainly on the 60′s and was very well recieved by their guests who danced away the evening, culminating in a large circle forming for the last dance, the Beatles – All You Need Is Love.

Highlight of the night was Jonathon choosing to surprise Sarah with a short rendition of Oasis’s “Wonderwall” on the guitar with the guests joining in at the chorus. Naturally we added the original to the playlist and played it near the end of the evening for everyone to sing in full.

We are taking more and more bookings for midweek Weddings and whilst it was a relatively small affair (around 60 guests), it just proved that you can enjoy a brilliant celebration at any time in the right setting and with the right people around you.

Thank you to everyone that we worked with and to Jonathon & Sarah for allowing us to be part of their special day.

Barnett Hill - Wonersh

Last weekend the weather was simply gorgeous and I was very privileged to entertain at the Wedding of Neil & Vicky in Wonersh just outside of Guildford.

The Wedding took place at the lovely Barnett Hill which is very similar to another venue we work at frequently, Hartsfield Manor in Betchworth.

The Bride & Groom had settled on an intimate affair with just over 50 guests in total and Barnett Hill is ideal as a venue for those with smaller numbers of guests.

The main building has a number of rooms that can be used with the Wedding Breakfast taking place in one, the disco equipment is set up in another and the ceremony takes place in a third which is then “turned around” and used in the evening. This room also leads out onto beautiful gardens to the rear.

When the DJ is set up in a completely separate room from where the guests eat and drink then it can be difficult to build an atmosphere. Fortunately Neil & Vicky’s friends and family where ready to party and we had good dance floor action all the way through to the Midnight finish.

If you do consider this venue I would recommend the use of a toastmaster or MC during the day to keep everything (and everyone) moving around as they should, plus would ask your DJ to install a wireless speaker in the main room (that can operate at a lower volume level), but allow everyone to hear the music or announcements and entice them towards the dance floor.

A fun evening and thank you again to Neil & Vicky for letting us be part of their very special day.

We take it as a compliment that our services are reserved so far in advance, especially as most of our clients are referred to us by previous couples rather than us relying on expensive advertising.

If you are looking for a quality DJ this year then we do have some gaps left, so do get in touch, just don’t leave it much longer!

The Infamous Ash Cloud

I am sitting in the office working on the new version of the website with Sky News on in the background.

Apparently there will be another cloud of volcanic ash heading in the UK’s direction over night causing more problems only 4 or 5 hours after they decided to reopen some of the airports tomorrow.

What does this have to do with DJs or Weddings? Well, we took 8 calls last week from various disco companies, agents and clients trying to source replacement DJs as the ones they had booked were stuck everywhere from Spain to Korea!

I doubt an eruption has caused so much fuss and aggro over such a wide area before…

Update: That’s another 2 calls today for Weddings THIS WEEKEND where DJs are stuck overseas…

We hope you like it!