Hey, I’m Paul…
I’m really glad you’ve found your way to the Wedding Party Events website.
As the owner of Wedding Party Events, I’ve been lucky enough to spend a huge part of my life surrounded by music, parties and, of course, weddings. But how did I get here? Where did it all begin?
If you’re thinking about inviting Wedding Party Events to be part of your wedding celebrations, I think it’s only fair that you get to know a little more about the person behind the business.
It all started in 1985…
I’d just left school, I loved a good party and, naturally, I decided to start creating my own.
With a very modest collection of vinyl records, I hired a few spaces, played some music and invited plenty of friends along. There was no grand business plan and certainly no five year strategy. I simply loved music, loved entertaining people and loved seeing a room come alive.
And somewhere in the middle of all that, the DJ in me was born.
From parties to the Hippodrome
By 1993, I’d already been DJing at weddings for eight years. As I moved into my twenties, I found myself spending more and more time in nightclubs, dreaming of getting behind the decks at my local, the legendary 1,500 capacity Colchester Hippodrome.
Eventually, that opportunity came along.
I secured an unpaid residency and began playing to packed crowds two or three nights a week, while continuing to DJ at weddings at the weekends. It was an exciting time and certainly a busy one!
The equipment changed too. Vinyl became CDs, CDs eventually gave way to digital music, and the amount of music I could carry with me grew from a few boxes of records to an entire library in my pocket.
East Anglia and beyond
As the nightclub scene grew, so did the opportunities.
I travelled extensively around East Anglia, playing venues from Colchester to Norwich and Cambridge to Ipswich. One night I could be behind the decks in a packed nightclub, and the next I’d be setting up for a wedding.
Those years gave me an incredible education in music and, more importantly, in reading a crowd. You quickly learn that knowing what to play is only part of being a good DJ. Knowing when to play it and understanding what the people in front of you want is what really makes the difference.
Then came Vibe FM…
I eventually found myself in Bury St Edmunds, around the same time that a pioneering new dance music radio station called Vibe FM was being conceived.
A few years later, having somehow acquired the nickname “Chappers”, I found myself behind a microphone rather than a set of decks, hosting a nightly request show called The Mix Monkey.
I stayed with Vibe FM for many years, becoming part of the station as it grew and eventually went through its changeover to Kiss.
Looking back, I never really set out to build a career in music and entertainment. I simply followed something I loved, one party, one wedding, one nightclub and one song at a time.
Making Weddings My Focus
In 2011, after many amazing years in radio and nightclubs, I decided it was time to take a step back and focus my energy on the wedding industry.
Since then, I’ve worked throughout Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk as a full time professional wedding DJ, building on everything I had learned over the previous decades. Along the way, Wedding Party Events has been fortunate enough to receive recognition from Bridebook, The Wedding Industry Awards and Lux Life Magazine.
Some of the highlights include:
The Wedding Industry Awards
Best Wedding DJ, East of England Regional Finalist, 2015
The Wedding Industry Awards
Best Wedding DJ, East of England Regional Finalist, 2016
The Wedding Industry Awards
Best Wedding DJ, East of England Regional Finalist, 2017
Bridebook Wedding Awards
Gold Certificate of Excellence, 2018
Bridebook Wedding Awards
Silver Certificate of Excellence, 2019
Lux Life Magazine
Suffolk’s Most Outstanding Wedding DJ, 2019
More than 30 years in the wedding and music industry has given me a huge amount of experience. More importantly, it has given me the opportunity to create smiles, fill dancefloors and help create amazing memories at countless weddings and events across the region.
A New Chapter
In 2021, I decided to hang up the headphones and step away from performing so I could spend more time with my family.
I’m still very much involved with Wedding Party Events, though. These days, I play a key role behind the scenes, making sure everything from your initial enquiry through to your wedding day is handled professionally, personally and with the level of customer service you would expect.
Meanwhile, my colleague Kevin has taken over as Head DJ at Wedding Party Events.
Kevin and I have worked together for more than 25 years, so you can be confident that the person looking after your wedding reception shares the same approach, experience and passion for great music and great parties.
Hopefully, We’ll See You Soon
After all these years, I’m incredibly proud of what Wedding Party Events has become and of the part we continue to play in so many couples’ wedding celebrations.
Hopefully, we’ll have the opportunity to be part of yours too.
Take a look at our Wedding Disco & DJ Packages or Get a Wedding DJ Quote today. I’d love to hear about your plans and see how we can help make your wedding reception one to remember.