Wedding Tales from our Musicians and DJs

Sep.03.2010

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Kris Pappas, well-known vocalist and pianist:

One of my favorite moments though was when a bride threw the bouquet and it hit the ceiling fan and was sliced and diced into pieces and all of the single women were scrambling onto the floor to try and get the biggest piece. It was hilarious :) Craig Ball, leader of White Heat Orchestra, Boston's most highly regarded Swing and Big Band: which one we have a thousand; the bride making out with a bridesmaid on the dance floor the family dog plays in the mud and then runs up and jumps on the bride's white dress the bride breaks out laughing during the ceremony because the justice of the peace forgot his teeth the father of the groom, the band leader and the caterer all tell the event planner (originally from Hopple ......) to jump in a lake and leave all of us alone. the elderly father of the bride wants to do a rhumba on a sloping dance floor at a backyard wedding................ a cloud burst followed by a double rainbow

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Ray Novack, leader of the popular wedding and function band Horizon

At Angelicas, the father of the groom got up with us and was doing an Elvis medley.....he was pretty good and had the crowd going.....Unfortunately, some cousin over by the bar area started mixing it up with another guest and a full fist fight broke out....right in the middle of his performance, he tossed the mic to me and joined in the fracas....needless to say the rest of the evening (about 45 minutes left on the gig) didn't go so hot as there were only a few people left. I can elaborate on the following....a guy dying on the dance floor....a woman naked in the building next to us as we played in a Boston Hotel.....mother of the bride falling down during the Alley Cat and breaking both wrists.....ouch

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Vic Paul, musician and DJ

My Worst Wedding
It was a beautiful sunny Saturday back around 1990.
It was an especially good time for good bands.
The club bands of the 70’s and early 80’s had realized that the average age
of the function guest was getting to a point where they didn’t really
want the bands who could only play the old standards.
Most of the “younger” bands had been infiltrating the Function market
since the early 80’s and, with videos, had taken over the market.
So, on this beautiful sunny Saturday morning, I headed out for a double:
A wedding reception from 1:00 to 5:00 and a Dinner Dance in Boston from 8:00 to 12:00
We were a bit worried about making it into Boston and setting up on time.
This particular version of the band was the best that I had ever put together.

The room was beautifully appointed, the wedding party was large
and everyone was set for a great party.
The introductions went very well, the guests were cheering
(always a sign that they would be a responsive dance crowd).
The band played a very nice dinner set and took a short break for a quick meal.

On the way back to the bandstand, the father of the bride pulled me aside,
complimented the band and paid me, in full. I noticed that,
even though the room was cool, he was looking uncomfortably warm.

All the first dances went very well (we had to learn 3 or 4 songs).
The father of the bride had danced with his daughter, then his wife
and now we started the music that almost always got a lot of people dancing.
I think that it is safe to say that most of the bands had a certain group
of songs that seemed to work at the beginning of the first big party set.
About fifteen minutes into the set, we were doing a 5 song / 5 minute medley of 50’s songs.
The fourth song was “Great Balls of Fire” by Jerry Lee Lewis (who had the nickname
of “The Killer”), the entire dance floor was filled (it was going to be a very good afternoon).

All of a sudden the entire crowd stopped, I heard screams, the father of the bride
was lying on the dance floor and a few guests were tending to him.
He didn’t seem to be moving at all.
We stopped playing, there were a few guests who suggested that we continue to play,
but I thought not.

In a completely quiet and stunned room, we waited.
The EMTs arrived and took him out on a stretcher.
I was later told that he had died quickly.

Well, at least he got to dance at his daughter’s wedding.
As we packed up, it occurred to me that this young bride and groom
would (hopefully) have many anniversaries but only with the passage of time
would they be able to celebrate.

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Norm Brunelle guitarist in the Boss Band with Chris Waller

Here is one. Was playing a wedding at Promises To Keep in Derry NH. The Keyboard player just purchased a new ESQ complete with built in Sequencer and samples of what you could do with it (rock-heavy rock-jazz-etc) Anyway, the power flow at this place was not as consistent as you would like and during the parent dances (nice slow thoughtful totally mushy tunes) the sequencer kept on randomly playing this outrageously inappropriate funk pattern while the Keyboard guy was trying to play and sing these tunes. He kept shutting down the keyboard and turning it back on again and was really frazzled by the whole thing. The rest of the guy's in the band were including me were trying not to outwardly laugh but give me a break, trying to suppress it made it even worse. We get through the 1st song which was the mother-son dance and as the keyboard player was still fiddling with the keyboard announced that the Bride should go find her dad. As soon as he said this he realized that he fucked up big time as the bride was to dance with her uncle because dad had pass away just 2 weeks before the wedding. Man if looks could kill

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Chris Culkeen - One of Boston's Most Requested DJs

OK here I go. As I said there are too many to just pick one. I'm sure you can all relate.
Freakish:

The couple was having the ceremony at Hawthorne Hotel. I should have know it would be different when instead of Pachelbel's Canon in D or The Trumpet Voluntary, the couple selected Darth Vaders March for the recessional. The first reading was given by the brides brother on marriage. As the brother took the mic he began, "marriage is hard," and then ended his lecture after just those three prolific words.
The second reading was given by a friend of the bride and groom, and he would read from the children's classic The Owl and The Pussy Cat. The function director and I stood by and thought how odd could a children's poem be? It starts out tame enough; "the owl and the pussy cat went out to sea," but it got very awkward again as the reader got to the lines:

"O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are, you are, you are,
What a beautiful Pussy you are."

We were waiting to see granny and auntie Mable drop.
Sad:
One wedding at The Beverly Golf and Tennis Club, the bride was so drunk, the groom asked me to play their last dance 2 1/2 hours early. This was after she was dancing on the tables, picking up her dress and lowering it down over men's heads as she continued to grind. I found out later they never made it home from the reception and were divorced. What a surprise!

Shocking:
Danversport Yacht Club - The Brides Grandfather had a major heart attack while dancing. As the EMTs work on him for about a 1/2 hour the photographer keet the bride occupied outside. The medics tried everything including paddles for electric shock. They finally said they had a faint pulse and take him away. The bride comes in and announces that she has to go be with her grandfather. The mother of the bride, also the heart attack victim's daughters asks me to get everyone to do his favorite dance in his honor and asks everyone to stay to the end. So I oblige by playing... yes, the electric slide. An hour or more goes by and the bride and groom burst back into the room. "He's alive" she yelled. "I just talked to him and they say he is going to be fine." We played a short set of party dance music in celebration of the good news, but we were already past the time the wedding was scheduled to end, so I had to call the bride and groom up for their last dance. Their song was "My Heart Will Go On."

Disgusting
During the toast, the best man decided to discuss in very graphic detail, the bathroom habits and hygiene of the groom. As he continued on, and the guests were groaning, I was trying to determine what would be worse; do I let this idiot continue, or do I just take the mic away no matter how awkward it would be? I stepped and took the mic away. By the way, again not at a dive club...this was at The Boston World Trade Center.

Funniest:
I was doing the old blindfolded dance contest where you initially blind fold 5 people in the dance contest, but then secretly remove 4 blind folds leaving one poor bastard out there by himself. It's always good for a few yuks, but one night when I removed the 4th blindfold, I removed the man's hairpiece as well. "Oh sorry sir, my bad" just wasn't enough.

Romantic
The couple had a piano player for dinner in one room at the Andover Inn. Dancing would be down the hall in another room after dinner. The piano player called the groom up to the mic after the salad course, and the groom sang "You're My Best Girl" from the musical Mame to his new bride. I thought it sounded pretty good too!!!

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Joe Maza - DJ and Pianist

I'd say it was a gig we did back in the early 90's in Canton at Casa Bianca. The bride and groom & wedding party were a piece of work, most of the night they were either smoking pot and/or drinking heavily then they would throw up outside on the bushes then come back to the bar & start again. The place was run by mafia folks and they were very picky. They were going to feed us in the kitchen before we changed into our tuxes. The highlight was when the bride threw her bouquet into the chandelier, the maid of honor then boosted the bride up with her hands to get it then got tired of holding on leaving the bride literally swinging from the chandelier. The very fussy room captain then comes running in as beet red as can be trying to bring her down and for a time they both were swinging as she wouldn't let go.

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