Salt City Sound Machine

Mike Ganley and Lisa Mengual Wedding

Venue: Southport Community Building – Southport, NC
Date: May 30, 2015

Jason here! This gig blog will be a bit different from the rest. It’s not often that I write these in the first person but for this one, I am compelled to do so. Reason being, I was not only DJ, but Best Man for this wedding… thus, I am a part of the narrative. So, I decided to tell the story of Mike Ganley and Lisa Mengual as I saw it on Memorial Day weekend of 2014, however only focusing on the wedding day itself, while leaving the pre and post wedding festivities locked in the minds of those who experienced them. Words can’t describe how happy I was and still am for Mike and Lisa and writing this gig blog is something I have very much looked forward to. Also big thanks to Josh Peckham and Gabe Petrocci for all their help that day.

The setting was Southport, North Carolina, the first time Salt City Sound Machine DJed outside of New York State. Initial fears of rainy weather were soon put to rest as the clouds parted and gave Mike and Lisa a very sunny day and wonderful views of the Cape Fear River. Mike was often seen buzzing around the island on a rented golf cart that would eventually be decorated for the bride and groom. However this early on, Mike and the rest of the groomsmen were getting ready at a local bed and breakfast while Lisa and her bridesmaids were getting prepped at a rented house further down the road. In the middle rested the Southport Community Building, where a few hours later the two would be married and would celebrate their reception with family and friends.

The Southport Community Building was adorned with a rustic beach feel. The chairs for the ceremony were set up on the expansive deck and its pristine view of the river. Round Edison bulbs and a small chandelier were strung up and lit to give the deck some brightness as the day moved on into night later in the evening. Throughout the outdoor area, seashells were used as the main theme of décor. There were seashells accenting tables and other thematic items such as fishing nets and mini lanterns, all culminating with an impressive visual of a large shell filled with toothpicks with mini shells on an end for hors d’oeuvres. The stage was set and soon the deck was filled with guests ready to celebrate.

The ceremony began with some instrumental prelude music. Mike along with myself, his father, and the rest of the groomsman made our entrance from a set of stairs leading to the deck from the street. The bridesmaids entered from the Community Building onto the deck with Andy Lange’s cover of All of Me serving as their musical accompaniment. Finally, Lisa emerged from the Community Building, escorted down the aisle by her brother, Michael Mengual. The song she chose to play as she walked down the aisle was Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s Somewhere Over the Rainbow, a perfect choice to accent the aesthetic of the day. The ceremony itself was quick, but wonderful and at its conclusion, Israel Kamakawiwo’ole played again for the recessional, but this time it was his version of What a Wonderful World.

Following the ceremony, Mike and Lisa buzzed around the island taking pictures that turned out to be extraordinary. Meanwhile, back at the Community Building, it was time for cocktail hour. Myself and my assistants for the day repositioned the sound equipment inside and the music began quickly. The guests had their choice to wait inside or enjoy the outdoors, and I’d say it was pretty split. The type of day it was made it pretty difficult to choose to go inside if the choice was presented. The cocktail hour ended up being extended due to the pictures, but everyone continued to be happy, entertained, and anticipatory of the reception that was about to occur.

When Mike and Lisa got back, we immediately got ready for the introductions. First, Josh gave me an introduction and passed the reins of the reception to me. Once I got my microphone, the rest of the party was introduced to Can’t Hold Us by Macklemore, featuring Ryan Lewis. When Mike and Lisa finally made their triumphant entrance, the music changed and the wedding party took part in a choreographed dance of The Wobble by V.I.C. We had learned and practiced the dance the night before at the rehearsal and pulled it off quite nicely as you may see in the video at the bottom of the page. Following the dance, Mike and Lisa took the dance floor for their first dance, which was My Cherie Amour by Stevie Wonder. It was a song that was the beginning of many songs and references pointing to the bride’s French heritage. Finally, when the dances were over, Mike and Lisa sat down, and after toasts from myself and Lisa’s sister, Laure, it was finally time to eat dinner.

I’ve seen a lot of interesting and new ideas in my time in this professional, but until this wedding I had never seen someone rent an outdoor pizza oven to serve for dinner. The guests seemed to really love it! Plus it made dinner go very quickly, as it allowed several people to get their dinner at a fast rate, therefore allowing more time for dancing later in the night.

When dinner ended, Mike and Lisa moved on to some more specific moments of the day. They cut the cake to Hungry Eyes by Eric Carmen and then moved on to the family dances. The songs were shortened by request of the bride and groom, but in the meantime, Lisa danced with her brother, Michael, to Coeur de Rocker by Julian Clerc, and Mike danced with his mother, Terri, to Because You Loved Me by Celine Dion. Later on in the night, they also had a bouquet and garter toss with Lisa tossing to all those single ladies in the house to Fancy by Drake, while Mike removed Lisa’s garter and did his own throw to Pony by Ginuwine.

As for dancing, the crowd was all about it. There was such a variety of songs on both the bride and groom’s request list and my own selections. The music ranged from the groove classics of old school Michael Jackson to the Folk Rock stylings of Mumford & Sons. At any given moment you could have walked in on a skank pit to Reel Big Fish’s Take On Me or a jig kick circle to Save Ferris’s Come On Eileen. Since we were in North Carolina, no wedding celebration would be complete without Petey Pablo’s Raise Up. The bride and groom had compiled an almost definitive playlist of great dance tunes, mostly ranging from the mid-90s to throughout the 2000’s. And as the night went on, everyone seemed to have more and more of a good time, to the point where we got to stay a little later than expected due to the generosity of the administration at the Southport Community Building.

But of course, all good things eventually have to come to an end, and the Ganley/Mengual wedding is no exception. After a long day of anticipation, excitement, and celebration, the guests arrived on the dance floor and danced to the final song of the night as chosen by Mike and Lisa, Ignition (Remix) by R. Kelly. Shortly after, the music was silenced and the crowd dispersed. Mike and Lisa took their golf cart back to the bed and breakfast and enjoyed the rest of their night alone. Luckily I got a chance to see my friend and his mikeganley_withdj
beautiful new wife together the following morning as I packed up for the long drive from Southport back to Syracuse, NY. As for Mike and Lisa, they tied up some loose ends before taking off to an extended honeymoon travelling the coast of California.