This fun wedding was at the recently opened Hotel Monaco, a Kimpton Hotel, diagonally across from Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The bride and groom both work at nationally recognized, innovative Jewish start up organizations. Musically, they wanted a lot of energy and dancing, particularly when they made their post-ceremony entrance.
We shared playlists on Spotify and exchanged files on Dropbox. They specified that they didn’t want to hear Shout or YMCA, but did want a healthy dose of Michael Jackson. I was especially happy to fill their request for some Styx, which fit nicely during the cocktail hour set.
The couple put together a great song list for the pre-ceremony, which played in the background as the guests assembled downstairs in the Johannesburg Room for the wedding ceremony. At the conclusion of the ceremony, the guests went upstairs to the Girard Room for a cocktail hour with hors d’oeuvres, including some really delicious lamb. After the cocktail hour, the guests moved across the hall to the Lafayette Room for dinner and dancing. That meant that we needed to play music in three different rooms. With the help of the courteous and competent staff at Hotel Monaco, I was able to plug into the house system to play music at the ceremony and cocktail hour, and my main system was set up in the Lafayette room for the whole wedding.
Simcha Dancing
For this wedding, I knew I needed more music for the Jewish circle dancing. An old army buddy of mine put me in touch with a friend of his named Eli David Elto who has his own DJ business in Ashdod, Israel. He totally hooked me up with quality material. The perfect combination of good music and great crowd created enough energy and excitement to keep the dance going for about 25 minutes. Seeing bridesmaids spin out of the fray to dab off sweat with cloth napkins was a good indication that music had the desired effect!
Hey Ms. Kosher
The groom wrote a song and prepared a choreographed dance for the wedding. He emailed me the song from his phone during the wedding itself. Here’s a clip of fun that ensued.
Music from the Hotel Monaco Wedding:
