Good thing, too…. we need to continue my “BEST WEDDINGS EVER” Month!

You have to see the videos to believe how many people danced in the middle of the afternoon. The location, colors, setting, and everything was perfect and seemed to really fit their personalities!

First, the location was the beautiful Huntington Hills in Lakeland, Florida. Denise is one heckuva Chef, and her staff is always prompt, effective, and smiling! The big windows allow plenty of sunlight to come in, but their effective AC system keeps the place comfortable. It’s amazing how many weddings one has to do in a Florida Summer before you really appreciate air conditioning.

The colors were chocolate and apple green elegantly splashed throughout the whole room.

And of course, Maggie made the cake. It was delicious– you’re darn right I had some. Yum!

Lots of unique things were done, and I want to share a couple:

• Father Daughter Dance: The Hokey Pokey — the ultimate in cheese became something fun and special for Robyn and her father Bud
• Families were encouraged to bring in their own homemade cookies for a “cookie buffet.” It was very unique and delicious! Any wedding with Snickerdoodles, Chocolate Chip, and Oatmeal is a good wedding!
• Instead of a guestbook, there were cards to be filled out. Guests were able to fill out their best wishes in these cards, seal them up, and place them in the bowl.
• This wedding was another example of using colors wisely. Their wedding colors matched Huntington Hill’s signature colors perfectly!

Package chosen: Premier, upgraded to Entertainment Coordinator compliments of us.

Check out some great photos and a video in the link below!!

Half of the head table!

My setup!

Myself, Robyn and Eric!

And a YouTube video!

Floating above their heads on the swag was a custom made monogram. This one was very unique as Alisha designed it herself. You really have to see the photos and videos to appreciate how it all turned out. We also had the chance to uplight the beautiful wedding cake made by Custom Cakes by Linda (407.673.0082)… the plexiglass base shone bright!

Next was the décor… it was STUNNING! Alisha’s mom, Suzanne, owns Suzanne Nichols Design Group (www.SuzanneNichols.com) and they did a beautiful job. I was blown away by the creative ideas!

Now, my dear brides & grooms.. Alisha  & James had some GREAT ideas that turn into AMAZING wedding tips. Let’s discuss, shall we?

• Use your surroundings! For the ceremony, the groomsmen arrived on a boat. It was awesome!
• GO ALL OUT! Mr. and Mrs. Borelli added a unique touch by including a white dove release. Some may say “it’s played out” but in all my years of being an MC, this is the second time I’ve seen it done. NICE!
• Design your own monogram! We’ll help you (some DJs won’t… but that’s them, haha)
• Guys– do something romantic and funny! James and his crew sang “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” a la “Top Gun” style!

Oh yes, I have to tell you about the food! Charles Putney, Event Designer of Arthur’s Catering, did an amazing job with the food. He and his staff were amazing to work with and created some AMAZING dishes. My favorite was the Coconut Shrimp! Theirs was the best I’ve had! I’ve work with so many wonderful couples who allow me the honor of partaking in the celebration by sharing dinner with the guests… so I’ve learned a thing or two about good eating… and the shrimp was phenomenal!!

Package chosen:

• Entertainment Coordinator
• Uplighting, Swag Lighting, Pinspot Lighting
• Ceremony System
• Monogram

Look at the photos in the link below and check out a cool YouTube video!

If God ever chose a personal chef for Heaven, the Hilton Resort in Lakeland, FL would be a strong contender. The food was amazing…. and even better than the food was the service… and even better than the service was Jason and Pamela Todd. First off, anybody that has fun to Lil Wayne’s Got Money remixed live to the NFL intro song shows the sign of a really fun couple. The moment we opened the dance floor up, Jason was out there having a blast and his wife soon joined. Keeping the floor packed was NO problem at all.

I love couples like these: fun, easygoing, and the kind that just want to enjoy their reception. (If that sounds like you, call me at 863.324.7333 so we can discuss YOUR party).

I did not MC this party though. Kyle Davis (www.DJKyleDavis.com <– his blog) did the MCing and half of the DJing. I tagged along and naturally brought my system. Jason nor Pam complained about the free upgrade to the BOSE system. (In the photos, you can barely see the monogram projector elegantly rigged on top).

We left from that wedding pumped up– so many weddings in 2008 were a blast, and I am so glad to see 2009 will continue that trend.

Check out the video by clicking below. No pics? OH NO! My iPhone ran out of battery.

Wow! Three event weekend! Lots of photos and descriptions of a karaoke event in Davenport, a wedding in Lithia, and another one in Plant City. Check it out below!

First one was a karaoke party for the Providence Golf & Country Club in Davenport, Fl.. this place is GORGEOUS!

It was raining like never before, streets were flooding, cars were water skiiing, not a pretty site.

I was actually facing the right side of the picture… my van started spinning… and I was only only driving 15MPH! Only spun halfway through but it was enough for a new change of underwear. Driving down the road I saw a few other accidents and several cops, one at each stop light, to prevent any more accidents.

Flooding on the sides.. the photos do no justice on how deep the water is.

Just arriving there…

Inside the gates… really nice area.

The clubhouse.

The Karaoke setup, featuring the BOSE.

15 minutes into the event and we’re full!

The crowd dancing in between Karaoke!

The kids were singing Hannah Montana’s If We Were a Movie.

This is Stephanie, she is an amazing singer.. apparently going pro. She was the crowd favorite. We also had a group of girls called the Cash Sistas who had coordinated dances as the girls sang karaoke.. they were also a crowd favorite!!

******

Move on to Saturday!

So here we are in Lithia, FL. We had no idea if we were in the right neighborhood until BAM! Out of nowhere appeared one of the most beautiful venues we’ve seen.

Matt & Karen were amazing with a crowd who not only were a lot of fun, but also danced to everything.. including Cher’s Believe, a techno version of Sweet Caroline, Electric Avenue, and other assorted goodies. Although she is Polish, it wasn’t a traditional Polish wedding. Kelly was the MC and I did the DJing. It was fun not having to MC for once and just enjoy being on the ones and twos (and threes and fours!)

Karen & Matt’s colors matched the carpets and ceiling

This room screamed “UPLIGHT ME!” Next time we perform here, we’ll discuss uplighting options with the couple.

The Gardens… the dude in the second pic was Kelly.

The door handles, edges, hinges, opening mechanism, etc… everything was CHROME!

Head table.

Since the doors were DEAD CENTER of the room, our DJ setup was on the side.

EDIT: We arrived 3.5 hours early because we were coming in from a Bridal show and drove straight there. We set up and had a couple of hours to relax, which was nice. When I snapped this shot I forgot to clear my table. The bottle sitting on it is the wine bottle that the couple bought for the “winners” of the anniversary dance. The coordinator placed it on our table so it won’t get lost.

First dance.

Stars! We brought out the Starfield compliments of the house.

All focus on Karen & Matt.. the sign of a good MC (and DJ, can’t give Kelly too many props now!)

Mother/Son Dance.

Father/Daughter dance.

The Chicken dance? NO WAY! The request came from Karen and it went great! We did the trance version!

Yup.. RICK ROLL!

Happy couple with the world’s best entertainer..oh, and Kelly’s there, too.

LOL.

******

Sunday, another wedding where I was just the DJ while Kelly MC’d.

This was in Plant City.

It was thundering bad.. all the lights dimmed and the BOSE started making a horrible sound as the voltage dropped to 90V. I quickly shut the Furman (Power Strip) off.

Despite that, the wedding went awesome! Holly & Karen are a great couple who were referred to us from another wedding Kelly and I did. She wanted all cheese… the dance floor was open for only about 45 minutes (lots of events and large dinner.. 300 people in four hours) but it went so well! Chicken Dance, Macarena, Cupid Shuffle, Cha Cha Slide, Electric Slide… the entire dance floor was packed. It goes to show you that cheese can still work and is still lots of fun… especially when they were all requests!

The room..

Our setup.

Find the speakers!

Didn’t get a chance to do a lot of pics…

Kelly and I with the couple.

****

It was a fun weekend.. I have a Bubble Party http://www.bubblemaniaparties.com Wednesday and events Friday and Saturday as well. Stay tuned!

Cody & Kristen Guengrich.

They’re a wonderful couple with a family that “gets it!” What I mean by “gets it” is that all eyes were on Cody and Kristen. No side conversations, no eyes astray; the entire focus was dead-on the new couple.

You can’t get energy like that anywhere else but a wedding.

They were a real participative family… I really wish I had a video of the intro. The energy level was through the roof. The uncle sang Frank Sinatra’s Way You Look Tonight and he was DEAD ON. Awesome performance…

The best part? It was at Lake Ashton Golf & Country Club.. amazing venue with amazing service (and great food!)

I also learned an important lesson about the iPhone, you’ll see it in a minute.

Click the break below to see photos!!!

The system looks real obvious from here, but it was hidden from everyone else. This is what Geminis are good for… a quick ceremony system with an on-board mixer. Normally I use the BOSE, but setup would not allow it.

Large-scale chess pieces and the rest of the lake.

Ceremony view from my spot. My wife and I coordinated via bluetooth headsets. She was dismissing the bridesmaids as I did music. Using the headsets looked nicer than having a cellphone attached to our head. Haha.

Half of the room before guests came in.

Sweetheart table and cake table. Cake was made by It’s a Piece of Cake by Maggie. She’s a local vendor celebrity here– her cakes are amazing and set the standard in our county.

My setup BEFORE cleanup.

Slideshow…

Monogram in the middle of the day… still visible.

First dance.. all eyes on Cody and Kristen.

Monogram at sundown….

…and at night.

So we were invited to eat. And apparently you do not touch the iPhone lens with greasy hands. The lens gets smudgier than the screen.

See?

First slow song of the evening.

Electric slide.

Wiki-wiki-ing.

Cupid Shuffle…

And yes! The Train!

W00t!

We went longer than expected.. some of the older guests left. However the rest that stayed had a great time! 50s and 80s music went great! We even played some newer stuff such as Low and Don’t Stop the Music.

Last dance…

Myself, my wife (Monica), Kristen, Cody.

Monica hurt her foot as did I… not sure how.. but we smiled.

*****

Cody reminds me of Michael Buble, he has a slight resemblance… both of them were sweet people and I wish them nothing but the best!!

After a busy Friday full of events I got to enjoy a great wedding Saturday!

Saturday I had a Hispanic/American wedding at the Cleveland Heights Golf & Country Club in Lakeland, Florida. Naturally, a bi-lingual DJ was requested. The groom, Javier, is Puerto Rican. Aaron (the bride) picked a great set of songs… we played everything latin, but we ended the night with some great old school rap, current top40s, and the last 30 minutes ended with classic rock and then trance and house.
We had a few glowsticks from a previous gig so we had some fun with those!

I’m amazed at how well the iPhone takes photos in complete darkness!

This wedding was tons of fun and I had a blast!

Click the break below to see photos!!!

Instructions on laying out the center-pieces. Very detailed and with pics!

Instructions were well-followed.

Setup. After a busy prom season, it’s nice not having to set up lights.

Yummy. Cake. Good stuff.

Another angle of the amazing BOSE system.

Right after dancing. Dinner was great– people danced during dinner, always a good sign!

Last 30 minutes! Woo-hoo!

My wife and I with the couple.

Congratulations to Keith and Lori Mixon! They were married at the beautiful Eaglebrooke Country Club in Lakeland, Florida! The weather was beautiful and nothing could be more perfect!
The family was lovely, everytime I introduced an event all eyes were on whatever I spoke about. During the first dance, there were no side conversations, no wondering eyes, just the bride and groom.

This one had real custom intros… each couple coming in had a 15 second story and the bride and groom entered right after a 1 minute love story. There wasn’t a dry eye, even our photographer told me she cried.

Lo and behold– people danced! It wasn’t a huge crowd dancing… they came in sets.

What I love about this wedding is that each photo really captured some great expressions from the guests, you can see the love and excitement in their eyes!

Click the break below to see photos!!!

*************

Last minute preparations….

Using those disposable cameras and putting them to good use!

.

First Dance– SIDEWAYS!

Right after the blessing…

Anniversary Dance.

First slow song to open up the dance floor…

Father of the groom steals the spotlight with the flower girl.

Hey– we danced!

One of the many line dances done. I think this was the Cupid Shuffle… we also did the Copperhead Road, Redneck Girl, and of course Cottoneye Joe.

Oh yes! Mac!

Doing that thing called DJing.

They were happy!