…. Florida is very hot. Enough said. It must’ve been about 100º in the middle of the night with all the dancing.

Did it stop anyone? Nope. They only danced faster, harder, and sang a LOT louder! This is by far the most high-energy wedding I’ve ever done. Scratch that, make it the most high-energy event you could imagine!! I have a few schools that I’m going to have to tell to step their game up in terms of energy!

Then again, Derek and I knew this was wedding was going to end in epic proportions (the last song was Peanut Butter Jelly Time). Irene is Greek and George is Mexican…. you heard right, two amazing families who are KNOWN for being in a culture that throws parties often shut down by authorities.

I’ve done Greek weddings. I’ve done Mexican weddings. They’re always loud, proud and lots of fun! I even did another Mexican/Greek wedding that required me to get 18 hours of sleep the next day in order to recoup. However NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING, could have prepared me for this night… there was just SO MUCH ENERGY!

Located at the beautiful Bilmar Beach Resort, where Justin and Megan had a very similar-paced reception, music was flying in and out of cue. How fast-paced where we? 18 songs in 15 minutes… the second video shows you this megamix. This wasn’t a rarity, this was ALL NIGHT with the exception of Greek music which should never be mixed. Leave culturally-revelant traditions alone, I always say!

Check out the amazing photos, then videos below!! MUST WATCH! Treasure Island (or is it St. Pete Beach?) will never be the same again!

This is the main gig log… watch it full screen, it’s an HD video.. thanks to my new iPhone 4!

Remember that 18 song mix in less than 15 mins…? It’s below.. and it’s a must-watch!

Pete and Erin did NOT travel all the way from Cincinnati, Ohio to Ruskin, Florida for a beachside ceremony to see rain stop it all. Nope. A little drizzle never hurt anyone– and in the sunny weather, the COLD rain felt great– guests loved the light sprinkle!

Fast forward to the reception… the food at the Little Harbor Resort was fantastic! A tender prime rib, amazing mini-crab cakes, coconut shrimp, and stir fry created a very eclectic menu that everyone, especially yours truly, enjoyed. The sunset was AMAZING. I hear many travel to this area just to see the sunset. I can see why!

As for dancing– they were NON-STOP! The requests were all over the charts so as a DJ, I enjoyed NOT sticking to sets. I was mixing from disco to country to rock to rap to dance mixes… it was crazy– even the bartenders were dancing behind the bar!

Check out the photos and video below!

Wow— what an amazing reception– I’m still pumped up!

I’ll be honest, the day started in my least favorite form: a 115º heat index. Really, Florida… REALLY??? Kelly and I set up our awesome BOSE sound system along with our D’Elegance lighting and Starfield at the Bilmar Beach Resort in Treasure Island, Florida. While setting up, Kelly and I had a debate on whether Treasure Island is an actual city or a suburb of St. Pete… hmmm…

As we wired our setup to their TV system for the slideshows and music videos, the weather cooled down just in time for the ceremony… beautifully laid out by the beach.

While Kelly supervised the ceremony, I created an image in Photoshop to be shown on the screens as they walked in. It was their monogram laid out as “clouds” on the beach sky. A couple of guests were so impressed they even asked “when did the skywriter come in?”

Along starts the reception and the venue laid out sushi. Truth be told, it was the most delicious sushi I’ve ever had.  Kelly did the MCing and I did the DJing and lights… we’re a good team, this was a DOUBLE Entertainment Coordinator, lol.

The dancing started out like any typical Arnoldo/Kelly wedding (which is usually amazing).. but progressed into something even more….well… amazinger! We got requests for lots of gangsta rap (Snoop Dogg, Dre, 2Pac’s California Love), Old School (This is How We Do It, Jump Jump, Bust a Move), 80s Pop (I Wear my Sunglasss at Night, Walk the Dinosaur) and my personal favorite: FREESTYLE! I felt like I was working at the skating rink again (our good friend Tony would have a chuckle as he always made a joke about us being nothing but skating rink DJs, hahahaha).

You have to watch the video and look at the awesome photos that Kelly took. I must say, I am impressed.

Package chosen:

• Entertainment Coordinator
• Outdoor Ceremony
• D’Elegance Package
• Dance under the Stars
• Video Slideshows
• Music Videos
• Custom Ambients

I have to go now… but click the link below to look at even more photos! Ciao!

The setup:

The ceremony…

The most delicious prime rib in St. Pete!

Outside the hotel:

Dancing!

Video!

Wow! Ceremonies couldn’t turn out more beautiful than today! Not a single cloud in the sky… the beach was PERFECT, sun was warm and well, sunny… and it was only 70*!!!! WOW! I love it!

Everything was beautiful outside. Tom & Julie chose Jimmy Buffet’s Brown Eyed Girl to start off the processional.. what a perfect way to complement the beautiful scenery at St. Petersburg beach!

The reception was held in the B-E-A-utiful Tradewinds Hotel (where the food was amazing!) right in front of the beach. Tom and Julie opted for our popular Entertainment Coordinator package and chose under-table lighting as well as the Starfield.

Halfway into the dancing, Tom had made the comment that he would go back and get some dance floor lighting because the house lights were either too bright or too dark (the Staff was very accommodating though and great to work with)… so we took two of our backup uplights and aimed at the ceiling.

See, our uplights are LED-based, so we put them on music-trigger and the entire ceiling was glowing to the beat of the music. Since the ceiling is white, the lights reflected onto the dance floor. IT WORKED!

I worked with a GREAT photographer, Greg Spivey. Check out his website here http://www.amasterimage.com/

And the coordinator, Meghan Campbell, did a great job working with everyone and keeping us in check! http://www.dreamdayproductions.com you can also read her blog here: http://www.dreamdayproductions.blogspot.com/

Greg will be emailing me some photos, so I will post those up.. until then, enjoy iPhone-pics and some video footage as well!

Ceremony photos.

We lit up some of the tables with a deep red. The phone’s camera throws it off to an orange color… but believe me when I say it was CHERRY RED.

The setup, featuring the BOSE. Screen was provided by a guest.. we use Rear Projection screens.

Even in the middle of the day you can see how bright the tables are!

“Sand Castle” cake. SWEET!

You can see the stars!

My other DJ, Matt (very energetic!), Julie, Tom, yours truly.

Now, how about the video?  :)