07-05-2008: Wedding in Rochester, NY

My sis in law visited us from Seattle so, we were thrilled to take a vacation to hang out with the two adorable kids she brought along. Since we had this wedding to DJ in Rochester, NY, we thought it would be cool to take these folks to Niagara falls, drop them at Buffalo, rock the gig and pick them up while driving back. So, we got a hitch installed on the DJ van and tagged a U-Haul along.

Getting to Rochester, NY was quite a drive so, we hit the road on 3rd, bunked at Erie, PA that night and drove to Rochester on 4th and checked into Double Tree, where the wedding was planned.

COOL IDEA:
At the door we were handed this kitty with Rupa and Sanj's name on it. The kitty had a wedding detail book, a biscotti, a Gujrati papad pack, a biscuit pack, few sesame snacks, few hersheys, a spicy Indian Mixture pack, two bottles of water etc. That was the best thing they did. The snacks saved us both the nights when we got back to the room late in the night after the party. The book was neatly arranged with what to expect throughout the weekend, directions, addresses, phone numbers and a cute fact sheet about the bride and the groom.

We were invited to join the Garba night on 4th but, something kept telling me that I have to dine outside and do something that my conscience was telling me repeatedly to, back up my hard drive ! So, we crawled into a neighbourhood TGIF and had dinner and I backed up my hard drive. The family danced all night to Garba tunes which were sung by a Garba band from New Jersey. They did an awesome job. We met Shawn a very talented teenager with great sense of rhythm for dhol. DJ Vinny and Shawn sync-d up the previous night to see if, they could rock together.

The DAY-OF started with lovely weather and Baraat. Since we had two dhol players, we decided to keep music in a car out of the scene. Shawn and DJ Vinny rocked the baraat with their high speed sync beats. When the meet and greet (Paukvanu) happened at the entrance, they changed gears and hit some Garba beats for the family. The nervous (of falling down) groom was carried over shoulders into the ballroom.

Ceremony started on time and ended hastily so much that, there wasn't enough time to take pictures too. The hall had to be transformed with the reception gear. We were set up on floor directly so, we needed a raiser for the reception. To all DJs and wedding hosts out there, please please insist on having a raiser for a DJ. It is very important for a DJ to connect with the audience, to be able to see what is going on, on the dance floor and for the overall success of your event. It took us forever to re-setup everything and there was hardly an hour left for us to rest, before the reception.

While we were setting up for reception, my primary hard drive accidentally fell down from the table onto the raiser. Remember what I was saying about the conscience earlier? GOSH! If not for that back up, i would have been dead in the evening. Not that we couldn't DJ without it, but there was so much work to be re-done, the entire strategy for the reception had to change, the mixing style would have changed...!!! Still shuddering thinking, what would have happened if, I had not listened to my screaming voice inside.

An indoor pool was right in front of the ballroom so, guests went straight from the ceremony into the pool. Reception ran real fast with a few dance performances and short speeches. I quizzed the guests in the room on the fact sheet from the kitty. Apparently, all of them read that book, they got the answers right. Dinner was served on time and we went straight into dancing at 9:30. Ladies did a traditional jago and guys did a surprise Daru Jago. I thought since the family had a Mehndi on thursday, a Garba on Friday, they would be tired to dance anymore on Saturday but, oh NO! This family rocks, they hung out on the dance floor for 3 straight hours dancing non-stop. We started the night with Bhangra, mixed in bollywood and bhangra beats and ended it with an exculusive hip-hop, 70s hour. Elders had enough to dance earlier so, the last hour of hip-hop was okay for them to chill out and watch.

One of the guests had an accident on the dance floor with her own shoes tumbled with the sari ends and had to be sent to the hospital. We wish her good luck and speedy recovery.