Leeanne and Paul are an awesome couple. I love people who I can joke with and not worry so much about being a stuffy professional– I felt like I was able to relax and really have fun with this whole crowd. The whole night was amazing as we got to set up an entire nightclub at this wedding. Here’s the list of what we set up:

• 4 lit up columns around the dance floor with moving heads on them
• Blue laser
• Color-changing uplighting
• LED Floods
• Aerial effects lights
• Haze to bring it all together
• 2 Realistic Water Reflection Effects on the dance  floor.
• Game Show system customized with questions about Leeanne and Paul
• …and slide shows!

What happens when you take our popular Video Explosion package used for homecomings and proms and modify it for a Sweet 16 to blow out all Sweet 16s?

Let’s talk about the decorations- beautiful! All done by Jillian’s mom, Judy. Judy gave us a very detailed planner that was beyond professional. All the vendors were impressed by her thoroughly thought-out planning! Speaking of vendors, the Embassy Suites on International drive couldn’t have been more accommodating. Monica and I were beyond impressed by all the work they put in to make things easy for us and the client. If you’re looking for a Sweet 16/wedding hall in Orlando– this is THE place!

We brought out lighting; uplighting; dance on the clouds; projected stars with our Source 4s; monogram; uplighting; table lighting; a 12′ video screen for music videos, custom videos, and photos; and of course, a crazy amount of bass. The entire hotel could hear the bass rattle so we had to keep the bass down, haha.

The choreographer, Billy, was incredibly easy to work with and adapted his ideas and work with some last-minute changes and ideas for lighting. The overall production was very VERY sharp!

Check out the photos I took below as well as three video clips. The first video is the custom video we did for Jillian’s grand entrance; the second video was shoutouts from her friends and a couple music artists; the third video is the event log!

Amazing stuff! Check it out!!

Shortly after we calle Jillian’s court in, the lights dimmed and all attention was focused on the screen.. check out her CUSTOM intro I made to hype everyone up before she walked in!

Watch in HD!

Next video shows some special shoutouts played on the big screen at Jillian’s Birthday from her friends… and a few music artists too:
Acafool, from the hot track Hatablockas.
TREAL (Not Locked Down, Swag On, Spaceship)
Thrill da Playa (With the 69 Boyz, makers of Tootsee Roll, Kitty Kitty… helped with C’Mon Ride the Train, Whoot There It Is, Space Jam)
And another shoutout from Cupid from the world-famous Cupid Shuffle!

Watch in HD!

And the event log!

Watch in HD!

Jodi and Jose had one vision in mind: a stunning wedding reception that exuded elegance but thumped like a nightclub when we cranked it up. Yup, there’s a DJ for that.

Now there’s something about the name Rodriguez that is synonymous with night club receptions, so keep ‘em coming!

That being said, we had one challenge: Jose is deaf and couldn’t hear the music. Using our powerful 4SchoolsOnly subwoofers and the awesome 4Bar setup, along with the 7′ video screen showing music videos, Jose was ableto feel and see the music.

While the Bayanihan offers LED uplights like we do, LEDs cannot do browns or certain teals accurately. Jodi and Jose’s colors were Aqua Teal and Brown… LEDs cannot produce these colors (brown– fugghedaboutit) so halogen uplights had to be brought in with carefully matched gels.

They were a great crowd– Kyle and I had such a blast! Check out photos and videos below!

And the video… I took an idea from a DJ friend, Jason Jani, about introducing what we’re offering in each video!

Watch in HD!

I don’t think the Royal Plaza in Orlando knew what their venue could be REALLY transformed to…. heck, I didn’t even know. With my amazing team (Monica, Derek and Charles), we created an out of this world experience for Cypress Creek High!

What did they get? Amazing lights around the entire dance floor, black lights, glow in the dark bubbles, stars on the ceiling, clouds during the King & Queen dance, spandex pulls, a photo booth, video screen with live video and ambients to complement the music videos, uplights, color-changing tables…. annndd, get ready for it: The most powerful lasers available for school dances. (Update: We’ll be offering an even bigger pair in blue for multiple colors!)

The students were amazing and the energy level was beyond anything I could’ve imagined. Check out the photos and video below!!!

(The video is very shaky… apologies ahead of time, but there was so much energy that everyone, including my crew, were jumping!)

And the video!

Watch in HD.

First, I would like to share a poem I wrote about Florida:

#*&^, It’s Hot.

I most certainly hope your life has changed upon reading my classical piece of Shakespearean rivalry!

In all seriousness, it was hot… but it didn’t stop Robbie and Shannon and their guests from dancing ALL NIGHT LONG. Shannon is Elizabeth Voss‘s sister and I still remember that wedding clear as day. Kelly and I were worried that it may appear to be the same show…. we had the same family and friends, so would music and style be the same? Nope!

After talking to Anne, the super-cool mother of the bride, we were assured that they would be polar-opposites… and yes they were. One had air conditioning, one was at the beach. Just kidding, of course; In all reality, the weather wasn’t that bad… the outdoor ceremony was breathtakingly beautiful and the reception site was beautifully done including the Chinese lanterns that lit up the room in a soft glow.

The mood was kept upbeat the entire night as we played slideshows and music videos during dinner…. ooh, and I forgot to mention that we played Soca during cocktail hour. You can’t beat that!

Just like Jeremy and Elizabeth’s wedding, everyone danced all night! We didn’t have a chance to shoot photos at this wedding, but Tina Sargeant, the photographer, will provide me with some to share– I can’t wait to see it!

Watch the video below and check out an amazing party– including a hot old school set featuring Snoop Dogg, DMX, and Biggie, some Jersey-style Fistpounding, and double-dutch jump rope… without the rope!

It was an amazing evening… I can’t wait for this family’s next big party! Tune in about a year from now to see it!

Immediately following Collin & Jerrika’s amazing reception from the day before, Nick & Tammy’s wedding was not only just as fun, but officially marked the end of my “BEST WEDDINGS EVER” month!

First off, Tammy gave me a list of her favorite artists and songs, covering the greats such as Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, and even Ella Fitzgerald. This made an incredible cocktail hour list that defined her vision for her wedding: elegance, class, style, but fun.

As she danced with her father and Nick danced with his mom, they created special slideshows for them to be shown on our large LCDs hung elegantly with white trussing. I have to mention that to my knowledge we’re the only DJs in this area that offer REAL white trussing…Much more elegant than a large aluminum structure hanging in the middle of your reception room!

Mr. and Mrs. Edds created slideshows for their first dance as well as a few special surprises.

Monica and I had a special treat working with a wedding coordinator team who recently took on a new team member… Jessica Santiago is not only a family member on our church, but I also did her wedding (as well as Erica and Matt, who are related to her).

For the dance, 80s music really hit the sweet spot, as well as a large Michael Jackson Megamix. (RIP to the KING OF POP!)

And I must say…. the Lakeland Yatch Club is not only a beautiful room with an amazing staff (Thanks, Bill!) but their food is top notch. I enjoyed my Chicken Cordon Bleu (thanks for inviting us, Tammy & Nick!).

Andrea, president of Sweetcakes, managed to amaze us once again! You may recall from Jonah and Haley Brock’s wedding reception that she made a groom’s cake shaped like a deer’s head. This cake was incredibly realistic. This time, the groom’s cake was a dinosaur… you MUST see this. Andrea is truly the queen of cake design!

One last thing: a big thanks to Nick, who serves in the Air Force, for serving our country and keeping our freedoms… well, free. Your efforts always go appreciated and we keep you and your fellow men & women in our prayers!

Package chosen:

• Entertainment Coordinator
• Dual LCD package with multiple slide shows

Now, mosey yourself to the link below to see photos and video. Photos are provided by Jenny from KC Photography!

As Nick & Tammy’s friends and family came in, this is was their welcome screen.

My wife setting up the last minute details. Notice the elegant white trussing.

Doin’ the intros.

Nick pulling his wife in for a kiss. The whip was a fun prop they used to tie in his favorite movie: Indiana Jones!

Andrea (Sweetcakes) made the coolest cake– ever!!!

IT’S EVEN GOT LIL’ CLAWS!!!

Dancing!

Myself, Monica, Tammy, Nick!

And a video!

This is APE – Pro!’s second year doing a turnkey solution for JW Mitchell High’s awards ceremony titled Night of Excellence. This time we brought out the 14′ screen instead of the 20′ screen for space reasons.

Check out some sweet photos and a quick video clip below!

Package Chosen: Keynote System – Medium

• 14′ Screen
• Dual Live-Video Feed
• Custom PowerPoint
• MC
• Teleprompter System
• Heat-less floods
• Custom Slideshow Presentation
• DJ

Room presentation.

Getting last minute details ready. One computer is to control the entire system, one for the presentation itself, one for music, and the last one controls the camera feeds and video board.

…teachers are getting ready.

Yorkville speakers fill the room with a comfortable volume.

In case I haven’t told you: I LOVE Eaglebrooke. Their food is FANTASTIC! I was excited to hear that Trans-Phos chose this location.

The evening started with guests mingling. It was a small crowd of 40+ people, but you could tell they were here to party. Neil (the gentleman who helped put this all together) was going to use Eaglebrooke’s beautiful screen to hook his laptop up to in order to show a special slideshow. Unfortunately, his laptop did not have the proper hookups. Luckily, he had a Blu-Ray player which played photo CDs… unfortunately, the CD was not a photo CD as it was created into a VCD (Video CD).

I offered to step in. Using my Mac laptop (usually my backup), I played their slideshow on LOOP for the entire evening.

*whew* that’s glitch was avoided easily.

Other than that it was a fun party. They LOVED disco and slow songs. I think I played more slow songs this evening than I’ve ever done in 4 hours. At the end of the night, I played the Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go” for everyone to exit out to. THEY KEPT DANCING!

Delores, a big dancer of the evening, asked me if I could sneak in Shake Rattle and Roll. I told her I couldn’t as I was already shut down. She was disappointed, but took the time to compliment me on my music selections and wished me in for next year. What can I say? I’m a sucker for flattery. I unhooked my Mac (my main rig was powered off) from the TV and played her request. Her eyes lit up and she ran to the floor to dance.

EVERYONE CAME RIGHT BACK IN! WOW! I decided to do one more song and did “Nothing But a Hound Dog”… the place erupted.

I left it at that and got a round of applause.. Sweet!!

This was a real appreciative group. Neil gave me a very nice set of thank you bills… always appreciated!

Enjoy photos and video below!

Eaglebrooke adorned my DJ setup with leftover centerpieces. It made my area smell Pine-fresh. I love the smell of Pine!

The staff at Eaglebrooke is serving the food. They are top-notch every time!

Surprise for me! Filet Mignon and Lobster… so good! I had to take a photo and IMMEDIATELY e-mail it to my wife and fellow DJs. Jealousy, arise!

Here are some of the real party animals!

And now a video below!

Field trip for all of us! Kelly (MC) and myself (DJ) drove to the Leu Gardens with KC Enterprises Photography. Kevin and Jessica Hallmark were a unique couple who knew exactly what they wanted…. they were so busy they couldn’t give us a playlist of their favorite songs. It’s no big deal because we knew how to read the crowd… Kevin complimented us right away on the fact that we played all his favorite songs and not once did he have to request any one!

Karaoke was a big plus here as several of them sang unique songs: Manson, Bjork, Gin n Juice… you name it!

They also started the dance floor with the Time Warp and we did amount of swing music. I loved it! I’ve attached some photos below. I will post KC Enterprises’ blog later so you can check it out as well!

Oops, forgot to mention: the Leu gardens have little signs that identify each flower. Kelly took a photo of a sign and I Photoshopped it on the spot with Kevin & Jessica’s names. As guests walked in to see photos from the ceremony appear instantly on the big screen during the reception, they were surprised with the following graphic in between slide shows!

Package Chosen:

* Entertainment Coordinator
* Slideshow
* Live photo feed
* Music videos

LIbby & Jess were a pleasure to work with and I enjoyed every bit of it– despite the rain! Even though it dumped all over the equipment for the ceremony, it still worked (thank God!) for the entire evening. We had a large setup in a tent with over 200 people.. so we had to make good use of the room we had! These people were here to PARTY… The entire celebration lasted over 8 hours!

Lights Transformed their Tent

Here’s some highlights:

* We did a Jeopardy-style game show.

* White trussing lit up to match the wedding colors

* BOSE Sound System

* Uplights

* Live Video Camera

* Starfield!

Libby & Jess wanted this to be a casual-style wedding, and requested I don’t wear slacks or a tie. So I came in dress jeans and a coat jacket. During the game show, I got to put on my “Gameshow Host Jacket.” Absolute cheese, but everyone loved it!

So check out the pics by clicking below! The first 9 are from a Alex Gilliard, an amazing photographer! Check him out at AlexGilliard.com

The rest of the pics were taken on my iPhone… and of course a video!

Gotta love it when someone answers a question 1/2 right and “judges” have to make a call. There’s my assistant, Derek.

“I’ll take ‘Before the Wedding’ for $300″

Got it right!

“She Cheated!”

An amazing shot from Alex. The lighting REALLY transformed the tent!

Teaching line dances… with a stupid look on Derek and my faces. We were still waiting for the cold front to come in. It was around 80*+ in there.

Everyone was singing along… Derek had to open a crack on the tent to let some cool air in.

Someone requested Tom Jones’s “Not Unusual”

Here’s the place on the way in… 2000+ acres. We saw deer on the way back!

No, the house isn’t tilted.. just a windshield refracting side effect.

Uplights, LED floods, video screen (only place we could put it) and the starfield!

This cute lil’ guy was chasing the lights the entire time. We had fun controlling them as he chased them around the room.

Dance!!

Ok.. the last two pics need some explanation. We were way out in the beautiful country in Hardee County. They rented porta-potties as the rest rooms. These always amuse me because people write clever (sometimes) sayings on the walls. Whoever rented this before wins hands down. Check out the writing next to the urinal.

“This way to Mexico”

I’m not sure why, but that’s the funniest thing ever!!!

And now, video!

Need a DJ? Want to contact me? Click here

I did a bubble party.. and it was my first video log, but there were too many kids and I didn’t want to post pics or video up.

I also did a corporate event Friday, but I need to remove photos with the kids.. again, safety reasons.

Friday was a fun wedding. It was a destination wedding. Wei, the groom, is Chinese and Eileen, the bride, is from the Philippines.

This was the first wedding where I did very little coordination, everything was handled through a coordinator who handled everything (and did a great job at it).

Lots of changes were made during the wedding itself, but it went along great! The floor stayed packed the entire time– I love weddings like these!

Click the break below to see photos and video!!!

The room and decorations. This was at the beautiful Wyndham Hotel in Orlando, Florida.

Dancing

Hmm.. I took a few photos of my system, not sure what happened… I’ll look.

Chevy, myself, Eileen, and Wei.

I do have to mention a slideshow was done. It was created by Eileen, who is in the graphic arts, and I have to say it was the most beautiful slideshow I’ve seen. Seriously, I doubt I’ll ever see any slideshow that will impress me this much….

And alas, my video-blog!

Need a DJ? Want to contact me? Click here

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!!