Backyard Wedding | Norfolk, VA | September | Jason + Angela

Home is wherever I'm with you. Jason and Angela decided to have their wedding in the beautiful backyard of the bride's long-time friend's home which made it a very easy going, stress-free, and fun atmosphere which made everyone feel at home the entire day. Initially, I thought it was because they were in the comforts of someone’s home, or because of the near-perfect weather in late September, or because of the drinks, but I quickly realized it was because of them, the couple. They made everyone feel at home. As I played prelude music prior to the ceremony I watched from a distance as the Groom shook hands and hugged every single guest with a smile, making sure they felt welcome and appreciated for being there.

During dinner time I watched as Angela sparked conversation with every table, listening smiling, and making them feel at home and making an effort to dance with every guest on the floor. There is just something amazing that happens when a couple, that not only wants the day to go well for themselves but who sincerely and joyfully desires everyone around them to have the best time possible and to feel at home. Their first dance song meant everything to them. I did a special edit for it so that it could fit perfectly for their style. It was a cover by the artist of a popular song- Thank You- Recorded Live at Esplanade Arts & Heritage by Chris Cornell.

My favorite moment of the night was when I played "Fireman" by Lil Wayne which was a request from one of the guests, it was a song the bride and her friends used to jam to back in school. There was a table of guests that were full of their high school friends and I actually spent a good amount of time during dinner time chatting with them and joking with them which led them to tell me during the dance party that "Fireman" was their favorite song and when I played it they all went crazy and the bride knew every word!

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“DJ West was fantastic to work with for our wedding ceremony and reception! We enjoyed all of the communication with him and his wife, Shina before the event and they were awesome in helping us work out some details of our music and even the timeline of our reception that we weren’t sure about. They offered great advice from their experience but still let us plan our day how WE wanted it. DJ West had no problem setting up a bit earlier at our venue in order to have music for our first look (2 hours before our ceremony started) and stayed high-energy all the way through until closing time. He was an AWESOME emcee, even when we had a non-traditional timeline of events in our reception. He made it out on the dance floor with us multiple times, which we loved! Guests asked me for his name all night long and are continuing to do so because they loved his energy so much! One of my personal biggest fears during our 16-month wedding planning process was having a dull dance floor and hiring DJ West was the smartest move I made. Hoping I can come up with some reason to need a DJ again in the near future! Thank you, West!!”