The fantastic wedding photos below are used by kind permission of Claudia Difra. The other rather more raw photography and videography in the YouTube clip is by me. The first half should be soundtracked by “On Days Like This” by Matt Monroe, but YouTube erased it due to copyright restrictions, so you will just have to hum it 🎵
When Jayne and Josh first contacted me to ask if I travelled abroad to DJ at weddings, I had never heard of the picturesque town of Cortona in Italy. When I realised you could travel via Rome I was all-in, as was my wife (and co-DJ for the evening) Wendy. The wedding was on the Saturday so on Friday we stayed in the Piazza Navona area of Rome and after sight seeing went for dinner at the Bio Hotel Raphael’s Terrace.
It turned out a particular waitress had been waiting expectantly for us since seeing our reservation, because she had a cat called John and a dog called Wendy. You don’t really expect to be called a bitch at a Michelin star restaurant, but they brought Wendy a birthday cake and all was forgiven. The same waitress was also incredibly interested in Paolo Nutini, to the extent that when we said we used to know him a wee bit, she may or may not have asked for his exact address. It was a tricky conversation to get out of, but I’m sure the big man doesn’t open his own mail anymore anyway, or at least not envelopes addressed to “Paolo Nutini, Queens Park, Glasgow” in the handwriting of a crazy woman and covered in cat and dog hair.
While we were in the restaurant, Scotland were playing Germany in the opening game of the Euros, and we thought we might see the second half. But we succumbed to checking the half time score (Germany 3 Scotland 0, and Scotland down to 10 men) and decided it wasn’t worth rushing dinner for.
The next lunchtime after more sight seeing we were on the train to Cortona, but only after a mad dash around Roma Termini when it turned out our platform was literally about 3/4 km away from the barriers. The taxi driver from Cortona station spoke no English, but was still able to say “cinqo uno” in reference to the previous night’s football battering. Not even John McGinn’s big bum saved Scotland on the night.
And so onto the main attraction, Jayne and Josh’s wedding at Terzo Di Dancanio, a stunning venue a short drive outside the lovely town.
I wouldn’t say I had been nervous, but I was aware I didn’t want any wedding guests thinking “they brought this guy all the way over here, and he’s crap”.
I was only on the mic a few times and each time involved saying bongioirno quite lot. I am confident everyone got the Quentin Tarantino/Brad Pitt reference. Maybe.
My one extended bit of chat was to make sure the man of the moment Josh was in from the outside bar to hear one of his fave songs, that had got him through some tough times, by an obscure artist I had never ever actually played during a set before (THIS IS 100% TRUE). A chant of “JOSH JOSH JOSH” erupted to accompany the opening beat of “Rock DJ“. (I’ve subsequently played Robbie twice. I’m hooked.)
Just to prove I’m not congratulating myself too much for completely “smashing it”, I exited a warmly received dance section (stuff like Todd Terje, Stardust, Moloko, Modjo etc) with “nessun dorma“, which bombed.
Otherwise it was a spell binding night and the party went on til around 3am. Claudia’s photographs are like something out of a movie, and Jayne and Josh are the stars. I’m not sure they expected quite so many people to sign up for an Italian wedding, but nobody can have regretted the decision. I chucked a coin in the Trevi Fountain, so I will be back, and I hope I’m back in Cortona some day too. Grazie Jayne and Josh, eri bellissima, and grazie mille Wendy for the DJing and styling advice.
