We had a few events again in various locations around London and the M25 and I was doing a Civil Ceremony in Dulwich.

Had to fight with the nightmare that is driving through South London on a Saturday afternoon! Lot’s of jams and roadworks but eventually arrived at the venue on time; the venue being Beauberry House for the union of Rob & Rich’. They’re big Cher fans and had also hired a Cher tribute act to do a couple of sets. She was a superb entertainer and really worked the crowd well, with the songs Walking In Memphis, The Shoop Shoop Song and Just Like Jesse James going down particularly well. At the end of her set the crowd would not accept that she had finished and she did two encores. I was gonna have to be on top form to maintain the level of excitement, so kicked off with Black Eyed Peas-I Gotta Feeling which has been a great way to start the night for quite a while now with many different types of audience, and it went down a storm.

Actually, this was also the 3rd marriage in a row that the couple didn’t have a 1st dance; maybe a new trend is starting! The request list Rob & Rich had given me was quite eclectic and the crowd were mostly in their late 20′s, early 30′s and the music that worked best from the dancefloor point of view was 80′s pop, funky house from a few years back, Kylie and some classic 70′s disco! One issue I sometimes encounter with Civil Ceremonies is whether to play the almost stereotyped camp tracks such as I Will Survive, I Am What I Am, Dancing Queen and so on, because it could seem like you are taking the Mick!? However when MacArthur Park from Donna Summer went down so well I took a chance and followed it up with I Am What I Am and it was a big success. The set list was quite different to many events and other songs that went down really well included Sympathy For The Devil, Ring Of Fire, Wish I Didn’t Miss You remix, 9 to 5, Rockin’ Music, Disco 2000 and Once In A Lifetime.

This is a bit of a generalisation but gay audiences seem to enjoy themselves so much more and really have fun, which from a DJs point of view is ideal. The night ended with a track that was special to the couple which was a song previously unknown to me, David Gray & Annie Lennox – Full Steam.

All in all a great night and it’s a lot easier getting home from South London at 2am than it is at 2pm!