I did not set out in life to become a “wedding DJ” and I did not become a seasoned wedding professional (haha) overnight. But I did get my start a long time ago as a teenager and thought I would share a beautiful story that came about recently because of that First Wedding Event.
When I was still in high school, my friends and I all worked at a local movie theatre. As things would have it, teenaged boys and girls that worked together would occasionally pair-off and shenanigans would ensue. One such couple, found themselves in the position of fast becoming teenage parents… and this is where our wedding-related story begins.
Under the circumstances of the time for this couple, they decided to get married and bring their child into the world with both parents under the same roof. The wedding was planned on a very limited budget, mainly with family & friends at a private residence. Since my friends at the movie theatre were also my high school pals, many of them had seen me DJ at a school dance or two. As a result, the happy couple asked me to play some music after the wedding… thus was born my career as a wedding DJ.
Flash forward to the Facebook era and I was happy to be reacquainted with some of my movie-theatre friends more than 20 years after we had all worked together. To my delight, the couple that had married under less-than-ideal circumstances back in the late 1980s had stayed together all these years and had had a beautiful, happy life. Not only that, but the daughter born just months after their wedding (now in her early twenties) was herself about to be a bride.
First, we re-connected through Facebook. Then we spoke on the phone for a bit. But when we got together at a local Starbucks, I was genuinely touched by meeting the bride & groom-to-be, and her parents (my old friends). We met and made the entertainment and lighting arrangements for their special day.
I do my best to make sure that every bride and groom have the special day of their dreams that they will never forget. And after all these years of working as a wedding professional, I wish I could say that I remember every one of the 500+ weddings I have been a part of. Specifics sometimes are forgotten along the way… but I will always remember being a part of my first bride’s daughter’s wedding.