Just an hour before the start of the wedding, it appeared as though I could be running late. I quickly returned to the Hofsas House to ready for the wedding. I had plenty of time, no worries!
As I layed out my clothes for the evening, a brief panic set in. You see, I bought a new pair of dress pants for the occasion last weekend in Peoria. I hate trying clothes on in the store....and I never did try them on, only washing them during the week, and packing them up for the trip.
Fortunately, the pants fit perfect. Fortunately, luck was on my side during this trip! At one point in the day, I thought that I would be late, and as I pulled up to Wedding Rock, a few miles outside of Carmel, I was one of the first there.
Joel, one of the ushers was guiding the parking for attendants. Parking was alongside the road in a neighborhood that overlooked the ocean. After talking at the entrance for a bit, I headed in as many people started coming.
The wedding was on a cliff that overlooked the Pacific Ocean. It was a very nice view! Since the bride and groom were from, Kansas and Illinois, respectively, it was a limited amount of guests. In total, there were probably around 60 who made the trip.
The wedding party made their way from the front entrance to the park, which was a pathway on the top of the cliff along the ocean. They call this "Wedding Rock", because there is a large rock where it is located, and several weddings take place at this point. As I took my seat and took in the view, I noticed a lizard crawling on the rock.
It went off without a hitch, and was about a 20-30 minute ceremony. Apparently, the pastor who did the wedding lives in the neighborhood, and is retired. Most of the pastors were at a conference in Sacramento.
I was the wedding DJ for the night, and was not familiar with the equipment. I was using a speaker box with microphone for the announcements, and for the music, the wedding planner (Kathy), had a pair of speakers and a sub, that you plug an IPOD into. The playlist was all predetermined, which made my night very easy. The IPOD was the sister of the bride, and she had given me a brief tutorial on the different playlists.
They were very organized, which made it extremely handy for me. I get a little nervous when I start heading into unfamiliar territory...for the most part. That was the good part of being a "stand-in" D.J. The bad part, is that I could be playing music that people hated, and then people think I am a bad D.J. That thought only occurred to me for a moment, because I didn't care. This was the first wedding I have ever D.J.'ed and it was a pretty small party.
I only received a couple of requests, and just told them that I would try and see what I could do. This is a famous phrase that radio D.J.'s use when you call in a request. We started with dinner, and went with the outside tables first. The reception was held at Il Fornaio on Ocean Avenue in Carmel. It had a small room inside, and then a large deck that overlooked the avenue, with a view of the ocean. There were three large tables outside, and three on the inside. The bridal party, and the bride and groom's family tables were inside, with the other guests outside. There was also an outside bar.
Once the outside tables finished eating, they were tore down, as it would be doubling as the dance floor. We started the dance music right at 7:00, and the playlist on the IPOD went in order as to what songs were wanted to play first.
About a half hour into the dance music, the IPOD went dead. I rushed to get Jordan, whos IPOD it was, and the battery had gone dead. Her boyfriend ran back to the hotel to get the charger. I tried to entertain the crowed with some improv, and also offered up the microphone for anyone to do some singing. Nobody was willing to sing.
The groom's sister had an IPOD, and it was loaded with some new hit music. A couple of the bridesmaids helped me pick out a few songs that would get the dance floor moving. After a few songs, the charger had arrived and we were back to the music.
Before heading off for a sunset ocean photo shoot, the groom approached me and started handing me Bud Lights and said I need to be ready for the 9:00 hour. This worried me. When we were in Peoria last weekend, we went over some of the songs and playlists, and he mentioned a "special song" that is labeled "Beau's Song" in the IPOD.
The 9:00 hour came, and the dance floor had died down a bit. Quincy came up to me and asked if I was ready for my song. I said I was, but I needed two songs to warm up. He presented me a piece of paper in a plastic sheet. The paper....lyrics to "Funky Cold Medina" by Tone Loc. The first time I had met his wife, Mallory, was in Macomb at the former Parkside Sports Bar & Grill on a karaoke night. I sang "Funky Cold Medina", and apparently it was a very memorable version for Mallory.
Since it was their day, even though a little nervous, I went through with it. I gave the lyrics a quick run-through, as to not stumble to bad. It was quite the hit. Quincy mentioned to Kathy, the wedding planner, that it was probably the first time "Funky Cold Medina" had been sung at Il Fornaio. And I can place a pretty safe bet, they it will be the only time!
The reception closed at 10:00, and I packed everything up, and it was pretty much just the wedding party still around. We walked back to the Hofsas House, and most of the group headed back to the hotel. It ended up being just me and one of the groomsman who headed over to Brophy's. It was fairly busy, but a little slow (it seemed) for a Saturday night. I turned in shortly after 11:00, as I wanted to hit the road early, going north to Oakland.
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