Mendocino is the most beautiful place in the world and I’m not just saying that because I’m from there!
When I got the call about this wedding I was pretty excited about going home to Mendo for the gig and it turned out to be even more fun than I imagined.
Justin and Ashley put together an amazing weekend long celebration. Their overall plan (Saturday wedding on the bluff, reception in the Spring Ranch Barn and house party after-party at the Spring House plus a Sunday crab and oyster feed) and attention to detail (custom “J&A” crab mallets and napkins!) really set us up for a wonderful time.
The wedding on Saturday took place on the bluffs overlooking Mendocino. It was an intimate vibe with no microphones or recorded music needed. The bride and groom were gracious enough to invite me to the ceremony and it was lovely. A jazz trio provided the music, Ashley and Justin’s dog was in the ceremony and things came together perfectly.
Next was the shuttle to the reception at Spring ranch in the amazing Wedding Barn.
I was glad to see that Matt Roland Productions was there providing the tables, chairs, sound for the band and basically everything but the catering. I worked for Matt when I was 16 and it was great to see him. He knows what he’s doing and everything was beautiful as always.
Cocktail hour featured the excellent band Good Job Honey and I was pleasantly surprised to see my friend April Tone on vocals. I didn’t know that she could sing like that!
Next was dinner outside. I set up a Bose Compact speaker for background music and a Shure wireless mic for toasts.
We moved inside and the band played another set before I took over for the First Dance and then rocked vinyl for the rest of the night. Like most of my clients, Justin and Ashley told me to just “do my thing” musically (funk/soul/maybe reggae or old school hip hop/R&B when appropriate) and they gave me some direction and song suggestions regarding their tastes to fill out my record crates for the gig. They love reggae, which I’m always happy to bring, and they wanted me to include Classic Rock and bring plenty of Grateful Dead records. My pleasure!
No one wanted the party to end so I enlisted some of the guests to help me carry the DJ table and Bose PA system over to the Spring House where the wedding party was staying so that we could go as late as we liked, which was really late!
Sunday was casual with friends and family hanging out and reminiscing about the wedding day with no agenda other than listening to good music and feasting on crab and oysters. The groom showed up in his apron and proceeded to cook crab and shuck oysters all day with the help of his buddy Jim (I DJed Jim’s epic wedding at Saratoga Springs), no caterer needed!.
Playing laid back tunes and enjoying another beautiful day was the perfect way to wind down and appreciate such a comfortable and fun gig and I was able to get to some of their more mellow requested songs that I wasn’t able to work into the excitement of the wedding day.
Thanks again J&A!
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