All photos on this post courtesy of JF Photography, www.jfphotography.com
Meredith and Gianluca had a clear early September day for their church wedding. After photographs in the park, their celebration moved over to the Berkeley Plaza, the well known Union County banquet facility/wedding reception site located in Berkeley Heights.
On their way!
The bride and groom did their first dance to our take on Etta James’ “At Last”, after which Meredith and her father danced to the Smokin’ Section version of Sinatra’s arrangement of “The Way You Look Tonight”. Gianluca then took his turn on the dance floor with his mother to Josh Groban’s “You Raise Me Up”, sung by our guitarist Mike and accompanied by the band.
At Last!
After a series of 4 toasts culminating in a heartfelt thank you speech by the groom to his guests, the guests were ready to hit the dance floor and they did so to Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me”. After that, Dion’s “Runaround Sue” really got everyone in the party going.
Tarentella time...
Early on we did two selections, “Mala Femina” and “L’Italiano” which were dedicated to Gianluca’s father, who made the trip over from Italy to be with Gianluca and Meredith on their special day.
After dinner we did a special request of Bruce Springsteen’s “Rosalita”, dedicated to the maid of honor, which really got the guests excited. The swing dancers in the crowd got to jitterbug to our medley of the Glenn Miller chestnut “In The Mood”, Louis Prima’s & Bryan Setzer’s “Jump, Jive and Wail” and the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies’ “You & Me & The Bottle (Makes Three Tonight)”. Michael, the event coordinator and maitre’d for the Berkeley Plaza, ran his usual smooth party. We had met Jamal from JF Photography at several gatherings for event professionals before, but this was the first time we had the pleasure of working with him at an actual party or reception.
Just after cake cutting, an Elvis Presley special request from Meredith got a bunch of the guests “All Shook Up”. Later on Meredith’s mother got her own dedication number, Beyonce’s “Crazy In Love” done by the band. Things built from there, with our first live performance of the Black Eyed Peas’ “I’ve Got A Feeling”, followed by James Brown’s “I Feel Good” and Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer”. Our final selection was “Jersey Girl”, which ended a great party.
Banquet facility: Berkeley Plaza www.berkeleyplaza.com , 908-464-0300
Photographer: JF Photography Studio, www.jfphotography.com 908-709-1797
Smokin' Section, NJ wedding band at Berkeley Plaza, NJ wedding reception site and banquet facility
