”Jamie did a fantastic job at our wedding, through the beginning to the end. And we didn’t exactly have it easy for him, our wedding was basically at the top of a windy hill in the middle of a woody area. To top it off, our after-party was at a different location than our reception, which was also up-hill. But Jamie nailed it. He was really attentive to not only our music tastes, but the music tastes of friends and family to create the perfect blend of music. His library is extensive and his knowledge is vast, and even more importantly he has a good concept of how to blend everything flawlessly. Even my usually grumpy dad was giving his compliments on the music. Jamie is great at sensing the crowd and picking the right songs for the right moments to get people on the floor dancing. Having good music is key to building the right mood at a wedding, highly recommend Jamie.” - Natalie Repin

“I was worried about finding a DJ for our wedding. We didn't want the same standard set of songs or formula you hear at weddings all the time. We really wanted the music to match all the other details of or wedding we had spent so much time planning. Thankfully I heard that Jamie and Rocky did weddings, and luckily they were available for our date! When we met with Jamie and Rocky they really dug into not only our preferences and relationship to music, but also that of our family and friends. From this and other details about our plans for the wedding they did their magic and came up with the perfect set of songs that tailored seamlessly into the other aspect of the wedding, helping create the atmosphere we envisioned. They were able to play music that guests of all generations enjoyed without compromising the integrity of a cohesive set of songs. Also, they really know how to keep the dance party alive! If you want music for your wedding that is played with as much thought and care as you put into all other aspects of your wedding, I can't recommend Ceremony DJs enough.” - Gonzalo Eyzaguirre

A Whimsical, Baroque Pop Wedding at Pema Osel Ling

Natalie and Gonzalo are good friends of ours, so we had a fair idea of the kind of stuff they might like, but their wedding was an epic 3 parter with multiple locations for the ceremony, reception and after hours, so we pretty much had to throw the book at them to keep things rolling for the full 12 hours.

A 12 Hour Spectacular

We’ve done a few iterations of a lot of the ideas at play here, but this wedding was the integration of all of them. We’ve done a few different versions of a 60’s folk wedding, one or two baroque pop weddings, a 60’s summer of love wedding, a few 60’s garage weddings, more 60’s soul weddings than I can count, and at least one epic 60’s pop and french yeh-yeh wedding.

This was all of that, plus a punk and indie after party.

An Extremely Hip Couple

But let’s take it back to the start with Natalie and Gonzalo. These guys and all our mutual friends know each other from UC Davis, where the lot of them played in bands and participated in the college radio station KDVS there. So stuff like The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks and The Jam were a given.

A Brazilian Family

Their family’s liked a lot of 60’s stuff and Natalie’s mom lived in Brazil in the 60’s so we wanted to pick up some of that element. Gonzalo’s family is also latino, so if we went with 60’s pop, rock and soul, we needed to be sure that there was an element of latin rhythms incorporated as well. And I know both these guys from indie pop events, so I was pretty sure some 60’s pop would be both classy and fun.

A Folk Ceremony

We decided to do folk ones before the ceremony but give it a little more of an edge with songs like The Kinks “Village Green Preservation Society”, Syd Barrett “Baby Lemonade” and Van Morrison “Everyone”. We had some epic build up ones in there like Simon and Garfunkel “The Only Living Boy in New York” and The Rolling Stones “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”.

A Garage Rock Cocktail Hour

For the cocktail hour, we did some more upbeat garage ones like you might hear in Good Morning Vietnam or the Nuggets compilations like Them “Baby Please Don’t Go” or The Searchers “Sugar and Spice.”

A Soul and Girl Groups Dinner

For the dinner we did 60’s soul and girl groups with a smattering of French ones, Spanish ones and Brazillian rhythms. So The Supremes, The Chiffons and Martha and the Vandellas, but also Serge Gainsbourg, Frances Gall, Francois Hardy, and international pop hits you might have heard in Mad Men like Gillian Hill “Zou Bisou Bisou.”

A 70’s Pop Family Dance

We pretty much cached out the 60’s by the time the dancing started, so we did 70’s baroque pop ones like ABBA “Fernando” that still had some of those elements and some disco ones for the family part of the dancing. We did the Spanish versions of the 70’s songs wherever we could at this point.

A Punk Rock After Party

For the friend part of the dancing the whole party moved back up to the top of the event space for another 3 hours of dancing. At that point we were mostly just taking requests for upbeat punk ones and there was quite a bit of silly dancing from the bride and groom to things like The B-52’s “Rock Lobster”.

If you get married at Pema Osel Ling, know that this is an epic undertaking! But it’s a great venue and among our favorites.

Big Ups & Shout Outs

Special shout out to the venue for having us back once or twice since then!

And many thanks to Natalie and Gonzalo for thinking of us when it was time to get married. We had a lot of fun.

Ceremony Songs

Prelude:

Delicate Steve "Luna"

Processional:

Sigur Ros "Takk"

Recessional:

The Zombies "This Will Be Our Year"

First Dance:

The Everly Brothers ”All I Have To Do Is Dream”

Jamie’s Ceremony Set:

Leonard Cohen “Suzanne”
Nick Drake “Pink Moon”
Judy Collins “Mr. Tambourine Man”
Nico “The Fairest of the Seasons”
Simon and Garfunkel “The Only Living Boy in New York”
Crosby Stills and Nash “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”
The Mamas and the Papas “Creeque Alley”
Syd Barrett “Baby Lemonade”
The Kinks “Village Green Preservation Society”
Bob Dylan “Like a Rolling Stone”
The Rolling Stones “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”
Andrew Oldham Orchestra “The Last Time”

Venue: Pema Osel Ling / DJ: Ceremony DJs