To describe this year as ‘surreal’ would be an understatement. We began it with a spring in our step and a busy diary. As we head towards the end of 2020, we’ve had a year of wedding limbo (and we don’t mean the fun, dancing kind of limbo where you put your back out trying to sashay under the bar!). It’s been tough for the wedding industry, but The Wedding Chaps have risen to the challenge and between us, we’ve been able to support our couples through this most testing of times.
So rewind to mid-March. The world is an increasingly odd place as the realisation dawns on us that - to put it mildly - Covid was going to be a bit of a party pooper. To really ratchet up the surreal feeling, we’d been asked to DJ for two weddings being filmed across one weekend at one of our favourite venues, Eastwell Manor. Two couples were due to tie the knot in front of the cameras, for Channel 4’s ‘Married At First Sight’.
We normally get to meet our couples ahead of the wedding day, to share ideas and find out what makes them tick. However, neither couple have met each other before the wedding day, so they certainly won’t have met any of their suppliers! So we turn up armed only with a list of tunes and a sense of excitement at being part of something extra special.
We’re greeted with a hive of activity. Along with the wedding guests, an army of camera crew, sound engineers, production and support staff rush around. It’s a wedding, but not as we know it.
I’ll let you into a secret, announcing the first dance with not just eyes, but TV cameras trained on you is pretty nerve wracking! Pyrotechnic fireworks explode in effervescent sparkles and the guests cheer as Owen and Michelle take to the dance floor for their first dance. Remember, they were strangers just a few hours before. How mad is that?
As you’d expect when two people who don’t know one another get married, they each chose a first dance. So of course we played them both:
Owen’s choice: BB Rexa - Meant To Be
Michelle’s choice: Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody
On Sunday night we were back at Eastwell Manor for David & Shareen’s wedding party. Only this time, we’re working alongside a band who are taking care of the first dance before handing over to us.
