60’s folk and 90’s alternative wedding, Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco, CA.
"If you’re looking for a top-notch wedding DJ, look no further: Jamie is capital-A awesome. For years, Jamie hosted Debaser (excellent 90s dance party), and it was through Debaser that I got to know Jamie and his work. When my now-husband and I started planning our wedding, we aligned on what we were looking for in a DJ — someone with impeccable (and broad) musical taste; someone with the emotional IQ to cater to not just the bride/groom’s preferences, but also to honor both extended families’ wishes; and someone who can bring a rockin’ dance party. Jamie exemplifies all of these qualities. He spent several hours with us discussing the sort of mood we wanted to create and how we wanted our reception to evolve; he then translated this vision into a playlist that kept our guests on the dance floor all night (and into the morning). What’s more, he was extremely professional, handling all the tiny details that no bride or groom wants to deal with. You’d be hard pressed to find a better, more intuitive DJ than Jamie. " - Kate Garklavs
“Jamie kicked ass at our wedding ceremony and reception. We'd both known him for years through Debaser and other parties he'd DJ in the Mission, so when we decided we wanted someone for our wedding that'd get our guests to dance their faces off, we knew who to go to. Jamie was amazing to work with. We talked through the general theme we were hoping for, he worked with us to come up with our lists of must haves, as well as some secret requests, and was just generally super attentive and responsive. The party, of course, was amazing! Jamie is incredibly good at reading the energy of a room and adapting his set to both feed on and feed that energy. We didn't have an emcee or a day-of planner or anything like that, and Jamie was able to direct the flow of the night using the music he was playing. And yes, we all danced our damn faces off!" - Micah Saul
A Romantic, 60’s Folk and 90’s Alternative Wedding at Bottom of the Hill
We’ve known Kate and Micah for a long time. I’m pretty sure Micah was there when we started DJ’ing way back in 2001 at house parties and small bars. He was definitely there when our 90’s party, Debaser, started really popping off at The Knockout in 2007.
They were both there when we started trying to invent what a 90’s themed alternative party should sound like, and helped pioneer all sorts of tracks you would never in a million years expect a room full of people to dance to. Especially the late 90’s emo and hardcore ones. They were also totally there and in support when we switched to DJ’ing all 00’s rock stuff like The White Stripes, The Strokes, The International Noise Conspiracy and the Hives.
So when we started doing weddings, these guys were first in line to take us up on figuring out what our new idea of having an indie wedding DJ company was going to look and sound like. We did the usual client process, mining their taste and ideas for cool creative ideas, but at the end of the day they didn’t want it to be too far of from all the music we had already been partying to together for at least a dozen years. The event was also going to be at the famed Bottom of the Hill rock club, so it made sense to stick with punk and indie from that perspective.
A Classic Rock Ceremony
They were planning to walk down the aisle to The White Stripes “Hotel Yorba” so it made sense to do a lot of 2000’s indie stuff at the reception part of their party, but for the ceremony we wanted to start out with a lot of folky 60’s ones to set the stage. So before the ceremony we warmed it up with a lot of Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin type ones.
A Soul and a Girl Groups Dinner
For the dinner we did 60’s rock and a little bit of soul and girl groups. For the dancing, we slowly eased it in to some more 70’s power pop and punk type ones.
A 90’s Alternative Dance Party
For the beginning of the dancing we did accessible punk and new wave ones and for the end of the dancing we did a set of 90’s indie ones culminating in a horah to Neutral Milk Hotel “Holland 1945.” We also did a lot of more punk 00’s ones like The Strokes “Modern Age”.
There was moshing. There was crowd surfing despite the no crowdsurfing sign.
A good time was had by all.
Big Ups & Shout Outs
Special shout out to Helena and Laurent for giving me a pep talk on how to set up my website.
Special shout out to Bottom of the Hill for having an awesome wedding and catering package you should take advantage of. Always an honor. Apparently, I’m on the preferred vendor list down there now, so if you call them ask for me!
Ceremony Songs
Processional:
The Velvet Underground “I Found a Reason”
Recessional:
The White Stripes “Hotel Yorba”
First Dance:
Chuck Berry “You Never Can Tell”
Father Daughter Dance:
Crosby Stills and Nash “Teach Your Children Well”
Venue: Bottom of the Hill / Photographer: Helena and Laurent / DJ: Ceremony DJs
