When I first met Mike in Brooklyn to talk about his wedding to Katie, I knew it was going to be special. Mike is a really interesting guy with a friendly demeanor. We chatted about his job and music taste. I immediately liked him and hoped they would choose me as their DJ. Read on to learn about the amazing Bacchus wedding and dance set we planned together.
Bacchus Wedding
Brooklyn, NY for Katie and Mike
By DJ Ben Boylan
Venue
Bacchus is a French restaurant in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Boerum Hill. It has two separate sides and a large backyard. At the 4 weddings I DJed there, they kept one side of the restaurant open to the public.
Bacchus is great for people who want an outdoors wedding in Brooklyn. You can have your ceremony and dinner outside. After dinner, head inside for dancing. But the doors stay open until 10 pm so your guests can hang outside practically the whole time.
Since Bacchus is a restaurant, the food is part of the deal. And it's delicious. They specialize in French bistro classics. Nothing overly fancy. Just familiar dishes done really well.
I had my larger DJ setup inside the restaurant for the dance set. And I had one speaker in each portion of the backyard so everyone could hear the ceremony and speeches. My normal wedding package is 6 hours. Katie and Mike knew they wanted to extend an additional hour for more dancing. They booked the additional hour about a month before the wedding.
Ceremony
Katie and Mike had their ceremony outside surrounded by 120 of their family and friends. I provided mics and music. Their friend officiated. It was her first time so I gave her extra attention, but she didn't need it. She did a great job. They had two of their guests come up to the mic and do a reading.
Katie and Mike didn't have a wedding party. They walked in to The National's "Slow Show" and walked out to "The Geese of Beverly Road" also by The National. Their vows were really sweet and sincere. It was a nice ceremony.
Bacchus is made up of two combined storefronts and a P-shaped backyard. Behind the lefthand storefront, the backyard is straight and long. Behind the righthand storefront (the side of the restaurant not used for the wedding), the backyard is a square. The lefthand backyard was filled with chairs. The righthand backyard had all the tables for dinner with some chairs.
Cocktail Hour and Dinner
After the ceremony, everyone headed inside for the cocktail hour of this Bacchus wedding. The restaurant staff cleared the ceremony chairs outside and arranged the tables. Inside, guests enjoyed drinks and snacks while a Spotify playlist played. Katie and Mike provided the playlist. It included many different genres including indie, rock and funk. It was great.
After cocktail hour guests were seated outside for dinner. They had three courses. Salad, appetizer, and entree. Between the appetizer and entree courses we did two speeches using my wireless mic. After the entree we did three special dances.
Katie and Mike did their first dance to "Chateau Lobby #4" by Father John Misty. Katie danced with her dad to Van Morrison's "Wild Night". I love that song. And Mike and his mom closed it out to "The Circle Game" by Joni Mitchell. During each dance they had me invite their guests to join them. It was fun.
Dance Set
After dessert, guests joined me inside for an epic dance set. As I mentioned above, Katie and Mike extended my time an additional hour. We had a nice long dance set without a break. They knew what would work. Their guests packed the dance floor until the last song. I was really impressed.
They chose a mix of indie dance, 90's rock and top 40. They had me singing along and dancing behind my DJ table with their choices. I improvised with selections that matched theirs. We kept their guests on their feet for over 3 hours. It was so fun.
Would 100% recommend Ben for any event you're planning! We hired him for our Brooklyn restaurant wedding after reading a bunch of glowing reviews. He even made the trip down to our neighborhood so we could meet in person before deciding to work together. Ben really took our input to heart about the type mood we were trying to strike at both our dinner reception and dance party. I'm a huge audiophile and lover of music, so he encouraged us to fill out a really thoughtful questionnaire to help him craft the perfect party. He also hopped on the phone with us to fully discuss our answers and make sure we were on the same page going into the day. One of my favorite things was the dance party portion of the night! We told him that we wanted to keep the mood upbeat and super danceable. Ben did not disappoint. We're a month out from the wedding and friends are still telling us it was one of the most fun weddings they've ever been to! Just a sweaty, dancy, high-energy party that even had the waitstaff getting onto the floor! I'm not the type to say, "Dude, it was an epic night!." But dude... it was an epic night! - Mike
Thank You Katie and Mike for letting me be a part of your
Bacchus wedding in Brooklyn!
I was lucky enough to work with these great vendors:
Venue: Meryl of Bacchus
Photographer: Sarah of Sarah Bode-Clark Photography
All photos by Sarah of Sarah Bode-Clark Photography
