The place How I set it up Photos Questions All the rooms DJ Wayne Noel home Instagram
Wayne Noel's DJ booth and speakers set up on the parquet dance floor in the ballroom at the Inn at Spanish Bay, Pebble Beach

DJ and MC at The Inn at Spanish Bay

The lawns at Spanish Bay look over the dunes and the Pacific, the ballrooms are indoors, and a bagpiper plays every evening. Company night, wedding or private dinner: I run the sound, the microphone and the timeline, so you don't have to hold any of it.

Pebble Beach, Monterey County

Pines on one side,
the Pacific on the other

The Inn at Spanish Bay is a resort hotel inside the Pebble Beach gates, off 17-Mile Drive on the coast south of San Francisco. Monterey pines behind it. A Scottish-style golf links and dunes out front, then the ocean. It's low-rise and relaxed, more California coast than formal hotel, and it's part of Pebble Beach Resorts.

The ceremony sites are outdoors, on lawns and a patio that look over the links and the water, and open coast means wind on the microphone and no wall to hold the sound. Then the reception moves inside, to a ballroom or one of the smaller rooms. It all happens on one property, so nobody drives between the vows and dinner, but the sound has to be ready in two places.

And then there's the piper. Every evening he walks from the first tee to the fire pits outside the lobby. It's a lovely thing to have at your event. It's also a sound I don't want arriving in the middle of your vows, so I find out whether and when he plays that night and build around it.

The spaces

Lawns over the links,
ballrooms inside

01

Grand Ballroom

The big room, hung with chandeliers under a vaulted ceiling. A room this size wants speakers placed for even coverage, not one loud corner, so the layout of the tables and the dance floor decides where the booth goes.

02

St. Andrews Ballroom

A mid-sized room with a patio beside it. If your party will move between the two, I ask whether the patio can have its own speaker, so the music follows people outside at a talking level while the dance floor inside keeps its energy.

03

Royal Troon Room

At fairway level, a smaller room with ocean views and a pair of fire pits on its patio. It suits dinner and conversation: a compact setup, music kept low, and a wireless mic for the toasts.

04

Pèppoli Lawn

Open lawn with a wide view of the coastline, and the largest ceremony site here. Nothing out there holds the sound in, so the seating plan decides where the speaker goes and how far it has to reach.

05

1st Fairway Patio and Lawn

Two ceremony sites over the links, dunes and ocean, one a tiled patio and one a groomed lawn. The venue has listed the patio for later in the day only, so I confirm when each site is open before the timeline is set.

How I set up here

Two setups,
one property

Outdoors first, indoors after, and a piper somewhere in between. That holds for a wedding and for a company night.

01

Wind on the vows

The ceremony sites here are open lawn and patio over the links, with ocean air and no wall behind your guests. So the ceremony gets its own setup: a speaker close in and aimed at the chairs, a mic chosen for wind, a backup already set up. I arrive early, so the reception setup is in place before the vows.

02

Timed around the piper

I ask the venue whether the piper is playing on your date and when, then place the ceremony and cocktail hour so he's a moment your guests enjoy, not a surprise over the vows. The 1st Fairway Patio has been listed for later in the day only, which pushes a ceremony there toward his hour, so I check that first.

03

Inside, under the chandeliers

In my photos from 2013 the booth sits at the edge of the ballroom's dance floor, a speaker on a stand at each side, close enough to read the dancers. Through dinner the far tables hear every toast and the near ones can still talk. Then the plates clear and I build.

04

Through the gate, early

The Inn sits inside the Pebble Beach gates, so vendor entry gets sorted before the day, not at the gate. Then it's the unload and the push to your room, and power out on the lawn or the fairway patio. No outlet out there? The estimate adds a generator. Backup equipment comes with me either way.

My own photos, 2013

From the booth
at Spanish Bay

Wayne Noel's DJ booth and speakers set up on the parquet dance floor in the ballroom at the Inn at Spanish Bay, Pebble BeachThe ballroom at Inn at Spanish Bay, set up and ready Wayne Noel's DJ setup with speakers and booth on the parquet dance floor in the ballroom at the Inn at Spanish BaySpeakers and booth set on the parquet floor, ready for the first dance Wayne Noel at his DJ setup during a wedding reception at the Inn at Spanish BayAt the decks as the reception gets going Wayne Noel working his DJ rig at a wedding in the ballroom at the Inn at Spanish BayCueing the next moment at an Inn at Spanish Bay wedding Wayne Noel playing a dance set as guests fill the floor at the Inn at Spanish Bay ballroomDance set underway, floor full from the first song DJ controller and laptop at the edge of the parquet dance floor in the Inn at Spanish Bay ballroomThe decks look out over the ballroom floor and chandeliers Wayne Noel working the DJ controller while couples dance at the Inn at Spanish Bay ballroomKeeping the dance floor going View from the DJ booth across the dance floor to dressed banquet tables at the Inn at Spanish Bay ballroomFrom the decks: dance floor, tables and chandeliers all in view Wedding guests with their hands in the air on the ballroom dance floor at The Inn at Spanish Bay in Pebble Beach, with the DJ raising an arm at the decksHands up across the ballroom floor at Spanish Bay DJ Wayne Noel mixing at his booth beside a crowded dance floor in the ballroom at The Inn at Spanish Bay in Pebble BeachAt the decks, a few feet from the floor Wedding first dance on the ballroom floor at the Inn at Spanish Bay with Wayne Noel at the DJ controllerThe first dance, with the whole room watching
No planner? You're covered

You don't have to
hold the day

Two sites, a gate, a piper and a music cutoff. None of them should be yours to track on the day. Before your event we go through a planning questionnaire and planning calls: the order of things, who speaks, your must-plays and do-not-plays, the exact versions of the songs you love. By the time I arrive, I already know your event inside and out.

Then I'm the MC. Every entrance, toast and announcement comes from me, on a timeline built back from the venue's music cutoff so the dance floor gets its full stretch. I don't assume the Inn's sound rules. I ask its events team.

Lighting, if you want it

Light for a room
with chandeliers

A ballroom with chandeliers already has its own warm light, so anything I add works with it. Uplighting along the walls sets the color of the room for dinner. Pin spots pick out the cake or the centerpieces. Dance-floor lighting takes over when the dancing starts.

A monogram or pattern projection gives a big floor or wall a focal point. All of it is optional, and you add it in the instant estimate.

Beyond weddings

Galas, dinners and
company nights

Spanish Bay hosts far more than weddings. Corporate meetings and conferences, galas and banquets, rehearsal dinners and private dinners all happen here, and the property has hosted golf groups and festival events too. When a conference ends with a party, I run the awards microphone first and the dance floor after.

For a welcome party, a cocktail hour or a dinner in one of the smaller rooms, a Selector Session fits: a set of my own programming, up to four hours, kept at a level made for conversation. I also play birthdays and milestones, fundraisers, holiday parties and mitzvahs. And The Journey, a live sound bath that flows into a facilitated ecstatic dance, can be its own event or one part of a bigger one.

Good to Know

Questions about a DJ
at Spanish Bay

Have you DJed at The Inn at Spanish Bay?
Yes. The photos on this page are my own, from my work there in 2013: the ballroom set and ready before guests arrived, a first dance, and guests on the dance floor. I've been behind the decks for more than 25 years and over 1,000 events, and I plan each one around the room it's in.
What time does music have to end at Spanish Bay?
The venue sets it and rules change, so I won't print a time here. I ask the Inn for the cutoff indoors and outdoors as soon as you book, then plan backwards from it. The entrances and toasts land early, dinner breathes, and the last song is the one you chose.
Can you do sound for an outdoor ceremony on the lawn or the fairway patio?
Yes. I confirm with the Inn what amplified sound each lawn or the patio allows. It's a separate setup from the reception: a speaker for your guests, a wireless mic for the officiant and your vows, the processional cued. If there's no outlet nearby, the estimate asks about power and adds a generator when one is needed.
Will the bagpiper interrupt our ceremony?
It's something to plan for. I ask the venue whether he's playing on your date, what time, and whether he can be heard from your ceremony site, then set the ceremony and cocktail hour around him. Handled well, he's a highlight.
Do you travel to Pebble Beach, and do you play events there besides weddings?
Yes to both. I'm based in Petaluma and travel for destination events, with travel added to your estimate. At Spanish Bay that covers company events and conference parties, galas, rehearsal and welcome dinners, birthdays and milestones. The instant estimate gives you a price in a couple of minutes, or you can book a short call.
More rooms

Other rooms I've played
on the coast and beyond

Every room, from Napa Valley to the coast, is on the rooms list.

Your event

Tell me about your event at Spanish Bay

Your date, which space you're looking at, and the feeling you want in the room. I'll take it from there.