Those who know me know that I cry at weddings.  And not a delicate tear slowly rolling down my perfectly blushed cheek the way people cry in movies.  No, my nuptials waterworks are more of the whimpering, blubbering variety.  And at Raquel and Tyreak’s wedding I realized that I don’t even need to have a personal relationship with the bride and groom to induce my wedding weeping.  I realized that this innate part of my nature makes the chances of me being a good wedding DJ pretty slim.

DJ Tommy was kind enough to let me help him as he spun the tunes for the happy couple’s ceremony and reception.  I had imagined us scratching old vynls as wedding guests chanted “Hey Miss DJ.”  Ok, that did not happen.  These days the world of DJ’ing is a digital one.  We were armed with a laptop instead of boxed of records.  But don’t think that the ability to create a play list made this experience an easy one.  There was a curve ball: the bride and groom are Cape Verdean (Cape Verde is an archipelago off the coast of West Africa) and wanted to include some traditional tunes.  We had to work very unique Cape Verdean songs — with their thumping beats and perfectly complementary melodies — in with Justin Bieber and Jay-Z?

We did manage to master the mix, but this was not a dancing bunch.  When I am a guest at a wedding, you can’t drag me from the dance floor.  But this group couldn’t be lured out there.  There was more dancing going on behind the DJ booth than on the dance floor.  We played all the requests we received including a few new(to me) dances I had never heard of including the Cha Cha Slide and the Cupid Shuffle (watch these videos to learn the steps) which are the modern day versions of the Electric Slide — where have I been?  Those did get a good number of people out on to the dance floor, but it was a fleeting moment.  These people just didn’t want to dance.  DJ Tommy has the experience to know that every crowd is different, and as long as the bride is happy the night should be considered a success (and at the end of the reception the bride did gushed about what a good job we did) but it was hard for me not to view the night as a failure.  I had envisioned my DJ debut as looking more like late-night at the hottest club, not a middle school dance with only a brave few cutting a rug.  

But I had to remind myself that this night was not about me and my potential future as a DJ.  It was about Raquel and Tyreak, and the first night of their life together, and if the night is measured by the smiles on their faces than it was a huge success!  DJ Tommy and I had every foot in that place tapping, every head bobbing…even if we couldn’t get their entire bodies into it.  So, tears and all, it was a pretty good night for DJ E-M.

Many thanks to DJ Tommy who was so great to let a DJ wanna-be hang out with him.  And to Raquel and Tyreak for letting me share their special day with them.