60’s soul and garage rock wedding, Blackbird Farm, Philo, CA.
“DJ Jackie was FANTASTIC: she played terrific music, adapted to the crowd, handled a tricky three-location wedding day while making it all look easy…and we got a ton of compliments on our music afterwards from all our guests. Awesome.
It’s obviously a bit nerve-wracking picking a DJ for your wedding — this isn’t something most people do very often! — but Jackie made it easy. From sitting down with us to discuss musical styles — she coaxed good stuff out of us, despite us not exactly being music nerds! — to coming up and visiting our (far-away!) venue weeks ahead of time to get the lay of the land, to picking up on exactly the right kind of music for us and our crowd, it all was easy and felt great.
By the time the big day came, we were feeling really confident about things…and they went off without a hitch. The ceremony was beautiful and the music perfect, her MCing was great at getting our guests to where they needed to go (and juggling multiple speeches), the reception felt perfect, and our dance-party-in-a-barn was a total blast. We were both really impressed and incredibly happy with the results. I’d highly recommend her to anybody.” - Andrew Geweke
Venue: Blackbird Farm / Photographer: Gather West / DJ: Ceremony DJs / Bartenders: Night & Day Productions / Florist: Heib Family Farm / Rentals: Bright Rentals / Hair & Make Up: Kiss and Make Up Creations
Looking Back at My First Wedding with Ceremony
Getting to know DJ Jackie
In the summer of 2018, I had been working in weddings for about a year and a half, after training with a wedding DJ collective based in the Bay Area, and doing a few one-off gigs on my own. Which isn’t to say that I was new to DJing- far from it! A music nerd since birth (my parents tell stories about putting on the Rolling Stones to calm me down when I was being a fussy baby), I had been collecting records since about the age of 15, and had worked in record stores in my teenage years and early twenties. It was there that I learned that people would actually pay you to play this stuff in public! I started DJing in bars and clubs as soon as I was old enough, and I was hooked. You see, DJing means not just loving music, but understanding how to read a crowd- how to perform, how to incite others to have a good time by your example as well as by the tunes you play. I found that not only was I a music nerd, but a natural performer, too.
As time went on, I started working more in the service industry: hotels, restaurants, and bars. It was there that I gained a good understanding of working directly with clients, how to listen to their needs, and how to draw out information about their desires and interests. I also learned how to work with other vendors- a key aspect of working in the wedding business, which is a machine with many moving parts: the caterers, the photographers, the venue staff, etc. all coming together to make one special day function smoothly.
The final ingredient in the wedding DJ stew is my natural interest in a lot of varieties of music. You could say that I’m a bit of a musical dilettante, but I think in a good way. I definitely have my strengths and weaknesses, but I know at least a little bit about a very broad range of musical genres and sounds, enough to connect the dots when working with clients who namecheck artists who I am maybe not completely familiar with, but know enough about to know where to start. And part of the beauty of being a wedding DJ is that you often get to learn about music that you might not have heard of otherwise. I can’t count how many times my clients have introduced me to a song or artist that is outside of my normal repertoire, but has since become a favorite.
In any case, by the time 2018 rolled around, I was a well-seasoned DJ and had been thoroughly trained on the set up, use, troubleshooting, and breakdown of the sound equipment that we use for events. This includes of course the two turntables and a mixer that you probably have already heard of, but also different kinds of microphones and speakers, which can vary depending on the venue and the needs of the clients.
A Magical Bay Area Wedding at Blackbird Farm, Mendocino
When I met with Jamie, the founder and head of Ceremony, and newlyweds-to-be Andrew and Julia at a bar in Oakland (ah, the days before COVID when you always met in person!) to chat about music and the timeline for their big day, I was putting into full effect all of my customer service and music nerd skills, but it wasn’t until later, when Jamie and I met up with Andrew for a site visit at the venue itself, that I realized how important my training on the equipment was going to be. Andrew and Julia’s wedding was on an absolutely beautiful estate in Mendocino- the kind of place with rolling hills and epic views that inspire a thousand instagram selfies in guests, but a kind of terror in wedding vendors who can see how much work it is going to take to move around heavy equipment between locations. Fortunately, not only were Andrew and Julia extremely pleasant and chill people to work for, but the venue contacts were also great, and provided me with a lot of help, literally ferrying me and my equipment around in a little golf cart to get me to and fro quickly so that I could keep the party going sonically, even though I was working otherwise alone!
60s & 70s Rock Soul meets Indie Wedding Music
The soundtrack to the day was a great blend of classic and retro sounds ranging from soul to indie to oldies. Al Green and Earth Wind and Fire sounded great next to Sharon Jones with the Dapkings and Leon Bridges. Contemporary favorites from Lord Huron and Sufjan Stevens played well with some obscure personal favorites from Dillard and Clark (who do an amazing country-folk version of the Beatles’ “Don’t Let Me Down”) and Steve Young (another country-folk cover, this time of “That’s How Strong My Love Is” that I would argue gives Otis Redding’s a run for the money).
Overall, it was a very fun day that I look back on fondly as the start of my career with Ceremony DJs. All my couples are important to me, and I strive to make each wedding a special and unique day, but this event stands out as it was my first with the company, and therefore unforgettable. I hope that when Andrew and Julia think of that hot indian summer day, they remember the music and my service with as much warmth as I do.
— Jackie
