Rebecca and Scott’s December 1st celebration took place near Sandy Hook National Park at top of the beautiful Jersey Shore. It was a clear example of how “team efforts” can pay off. Rebecca found us on-line, but she and the groom live in Virginia. She sent her parents, Karen and Bill to see us at a live showcase early in ’07 and they loved the band.

This was the first wedding (indeed the first party) that took place at the newly redesigned clubhouse/banquet facility at the Beacon Hill Country Club in Atlantic Highlands. Our pianist provided the mood and music for cocktail hour upstairs in the bar area. The club's banquet manager, Grace Muchiri and the entire BHCC staff acquitted themselves ably throughout the evening. At this time, Rebecca and Scott’s guests had their first chance to enjoy the long wooden bar and great view of the shore, Staten Island and the NYC skyline from the picture window.

We knew that this was going to be a great party, as many people crowded on the dance floor (before we even had a chance to do the bridal party intros) for our version of Van Morrison’s “Crazy Love”. The happy couple had selected Ben Folds’ tune “The Luckiest” as their 1st dance and our guitarist Mikey Del handled the vocals on it along with piano accompaniment. Rebecca and her father danced to “Daddy’s Girl”, and Scott and his mom then took the floor to “the Perfect Fan” by the Backstreet Boys.

After salad course was served, the floor packed up for several selections originally made popular by Frank Sinatra, “Summer Wind”, ”Witchcraft” and “the Way You Look Tonight”. We then segued into “My Girl”, and kicked it up a notch for a medley of the Boss’ tunes, “Fire” and “10th Ave Freezout”, which really got the crowd rocking.

After that, it was time for entrée and then the co-best men gave a nice toast at the end of the meal. After entrée, a riotous Hora ensued, after which the audience got right into the funk for the Smokin’ Section’s versions of “Play That Funky Music”, “Lady Marmalade” and “Oye Como Va”. Before cake time, 2 excellent singers from the guests sat in with the band. First Mary Baum (sse picture immediately below) got the crowd worked up and wild on Led Zeppelin’s “Been A Long Time Since I Rock n Rolled”, then Jack O’Connor kept them excited with his take on Otis Redding’s and the Black Crowes’ “Hard To Handle”.

At 10 o’clock (the originally scheduled ending time), the party was going too hot for people to leave, so Rebecca’s father Bill requested the band do an extra hour and we were happy to comply. The crowd kept the dance floor full for the whole hour with selections including Classic Rock (“Brown Eyed Girl”/ “Domino”), Disco/Funk (“We Are Family”/ “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now” / “Bad Girls”/ “Love Train”), Motown( “Respect” with Mary Baum guesting again with band, “Soul Man”/ “Rescue Me”/ “Proud Mary”) . The band ended a memorable evening with our singer Tommie Knight’s heartfelt version of “Danny Boy”.

Photographs courtesy of DuPree Studios