Eddie and Amber saw us TWO years ago at a bridal show and said “we HAVE to have you… and the BOSE… and that sub!” They are a young, Christian, enthusiastic couple who had MANY ideas about an exciting New Year’s Eve wedding celebration with their closest friends and family.

So the challenge? The location was a church gym; A gym with a balcony that allowed some of the lighting to have a higher vantage point.

The easy part? I worked with Joette from Party People Celebration Company and Marilyn with Flowers by Marilyn. EASY WORK! These two ladies, coupled with Monica (my lead lighting designer) and Derek (senior tech) made the gym transformation super easy. I promise you won’t even recognize that it’s a gym!

Oh yeah, and there was a WICKED COOL balloon drop!!

So what did the lighting include?

• Well, we had 4 totems around the dance floor lit in a cool white (camera didn’t show it as cool) with a moving head on top of each one.
• Baby blue uplights adorned the entire room, even warming up the swag and drapes that Joette set up
• White trussing held scanners (which were used as spotlights), special requested effects lights, and dance floor floods. Trussing was lit up in wedding colors.
• The balcony held two leikos which projected a really nice pattern on the wall. The pattern rotated super slowly!
• The balcony also held floods which lit the entire area where the tables were placed. A couple of blacklights gave the white décor a very subtle pop. We didn’t want to saturate it.
• Blue and green stars grazed the area between the balloon drops.
• A blue liquid sky made a special appearance that transformed this beautiful wedding into a chic night club!

LOTS of beautiful pics and three videos… two timelapses and an event recap! What an AMAZING New Year’s Eve!!!!!!!

Oh yes, and a Snap Yourself Silly Photobooth added to the perfect ambiance!!!

First time lapse (from up high):

Second time lapse (floor level):

And the event itself!

Sometimes, simple looks better! Keith and Areej hosted their reception at the Winter Park Farmer’s Market (past Orlando). This is a former train station surrounded by brick, adorned sparingly but the charm is certainly visible.

They requested all white uplights and an all white light show, which blended perfetly with the venue.

Their family and guests were big partiers, dancing to everything from Top 40, club, oldies, and a large array of Arabic music, especially Dabke. Monica and I had a great time! Check out the pics and video below!

Package chosen:

Entertainment Coordinator
Uplighting
Dance Lighting
Under-Table Lighting

I adore penguins.

No other way to say it. I think these lil’ guys are the coolest creatures ever. I’ve no idea why…. but I want a penguin bad enough that I’d sell a lung to get one. Even though we were still wrapping up homecoming season, when Edward and Stephanie said “oh yeah, there’s going to be penguins at our event,” I just had to be there.

Glad I did, too, because these two (the couple, not the penguins) were the coolest, most chill people ever. They just wanted a stress-free wedding where they could enjoy the company of their loved ones, have a good meal while enjoying some awesome 90′s alternative, and dance to an eclectic mix of music.

All this while enjoying the enchanting sights the Florida Aquarium has to offer. I’m not going to lie, load in SUCKED as I had to walk a long way, but the amazing staff did everything they could to make this as super comfortable as they could. This was my first time there, and they treated me like family.

Edward and Stephanie also treated me like one of their guests and let Carlos and I have just as much as fun as they did.

Truly, it’s an experience I won’t forget. I always tell each one of my couples to find an element that turns your wedding day into an EXPERIENCE…. and that night was a huge #WINNING in my book!

Pics and video below!

Wow– am I behind on posts!

Lyman High School was one of our original tour stops, and they’re back again to be bigger and better than ever. After 100% polled complains on last year’s entertainment, they decided that 4SchoolsOnly is the only choice in Central Florida for amazing school dances!

Two dance floors were going to be set up, but the outside dance floor was cancelled by rain. No worries, we just doubled up inside and played a huge variety of requests. The lighting, lasers, uplights, and 12′ video screen with live video were a smash hit! Add 2000 glowsticks to the mix and Lyman got a homecoming they’ll never forget! Check out the photos and video below!

Package: Shock ‘n’ Awe CUSTOM

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!

There’s something about summer weddings in Florida, maybe the scorching heat, that causes people to go crazy on the dance floor. Good thing, because I am gearing up for 4SchoolOnly’s Homecoming Tour HCx11!

Megan and Matt had their reception at one of my favorite places, Eaglebrooke Golf and Country Club. As usual, their service and food didn’t disappoint. Nothing transforms Eaglebrooke like some beautiful uplighting and a ceiling wash, and that’s exactly what Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham wanted!

Their introduction song was U2′s “Beautiful Day” for the whole wedding party. To kick it up a notch for their personal intro, we dropped in the bassline from Trick Daddy’s “Let’s Go.” Check it out!

To top it off, they had a great request list of a little bit of everything, including some Hispanic (Salsa, Merengue and Bachata) music.

Check out the photos and video clips below!

Talk about one heck of an event… with a beautiful ceremony (despite the intense heat) and a huge party crowd, you’d think that I’d be talking about how great things were from my end? Well, they were going well until the outlet DIED (not a breaker, not my system… the OUTLET itself) in the middle of a HOT dance set!

Crissy, Neil and the guests were SO cool that they didn’t react to the issue and gave us time to run power to a new outlet and reboot the computers. Once the music began again, they resumed from where they left off!

We provided the ceremony sound, DJ/MC, dance floor lighting, ceiling wash, uplights, and monogram!
Check out the pics and video below!!

TK and Jessica wanted to party and party hard. They had a big variety of tastes in music and so did their family and friends… after our last meeting prior to the wedding, I knew that Monica and I would have a blast. They did a great job planning their own wedding, as the Admiral’s Inn in Winter Haven was completely transformed; Our uplighting, flood lighting, monogram, stars, and under table lighting added the perfect final touch!

As we provided DJ and MC services for the ceremony and wedding reception, Snap Yourself Silly provided a photobooth that was used the entire time, including all the props!

Check out the photos below as well as the video summary. Though TK and Jessica left, the party continued for another hour, and several guests stayed all night… especially for a special performance of Bohemian Rhapsody from Dave and Mike.

Video summary:

Watch in HD!

…and below is Dave and Mike having a good time. No the room wasn’t empty, the guests were on the other side while others were piled up in the photobooth!

Watch in HD!

Matt & Holly are an awesome couple who had one big request: NO WEDDING CHEESE. By this they meant nothing overly traditional, such as line dances, cheesy 70s and 80s songs, or horrendous music no one dances to. Easy enough! Adam and I set up a beautiful uplighting display at the Bok Tower Vizior Center. The uplighting results were a result of ideas from myself, Holly and Matt, and coordinator, Staci Mandikas of Unique Event Design.

As usual the Bok Tower’s gardens were beyond beautiful. If you have not been there, do yourself a favor  and check out one of the best treasures that Central Florida has to offer. Weddings there are always unique and complimented by amazing vendors, including tonight’s catering provided by Terrie Lobb. Mmm mmm, delicious! I would also like to add that we’re the ONLY DJs in their recommended vendors list. This should come to as no surprise though.

It was a fun party and I learned something new that night: People LOVE dancing to The Proclaimer’s 500 Miles!

Check out the photos and video below!

Watch in HD!

Jason and Nikia wanted something that we love to do: TOTAL VENUE TRANSFORMATION. The Lake Eva Banquet Hall in Haines City, FL is already a beautiful place. This means monogram on the floor, total flooding with lights, uplights in a custom array, and of course our awesome spotlight to highlight them amongst the 250+ people there. Joanne did a great job with the coordination and linens while Maggi impressed everyone with a beautiful bride’s cake and a unique groom’s cake… see the photos below to be surprised!

A large variety of music was played from Nikia’s favorite group, Lady Antebellum (also my favorite), to lots of flashback booty music per request. This is the first time I played “Shake Ya Tailfeather” in years and even got to play Rated R – In Here Tonight! Check out some awesome photos and a video below! The video shows a before and after shot of the whole room. Thank you to my good friend and colleague, Jason Jani, for the idea!

Watch in HD!

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!

The ARC foundation caters to adults with mental disabilities.

I love doing parties for these kinds of organizations.. they’re the nicest people and dance to EVERYTHING you play. Lots of high-energy songs were played, and about 1-2 minutes of each to keep their interest piqued. Along with an amazing sound system, we also brought uplights to complement their fall theme, projected their logo onto the wall (We use REAL Source-4 projectors and not LEDs), and also provided a Snap Yourself Silly Photobooth.

Check out the amazing photos and video below! Christina and I had such a blast!

Watch in HD!

I still remember short lil’ Adam when he came to my skating rink dressed in spongebob Pajamas.

Now he’s much older, one of our DJs, and a client. Not necessarily in that order, haha.

His wedding was an afternoon wedding, but you certainly can’t tell that thanks to Eaglebrooke’s roll-down curtains. With some lighting, we can make the place look like a late evening wedding/night club. With Joann doing the linens, Maggi doing the cakes, Bob Snyder for video, KC Photography for the beautiful photos, and of course A Premier Entertainment for DJ, MC, lighting, game show, and our special Dance on the Clouds feature, Adam helped create a wedding reception that took the breath from Bethany.

This wedding was a piece of cake for me, and professionalism almost flew out the window. I’ve known a lot of these people for a while… Sarah and Stephanie from the skating rink (and I’m doing Stephanie and Bryan’s wedding soon), I performed at Casey and Jeff’s wedding. We saw Sally Mele, who’s daughter, Erica, used us for her wedding; (Hmm, that wedding cake looks familiar, lol). Last but not least, most everyone there was also at Bethany’s birthday bash.

The hardcore party tradition continues!

Check out the video below for the beautiful Dance on the Clouds and the real fun game show!

Video!

Watch in HD!

I met this awesome couple, who LOVE to dance by the way, through Jerell’s father, Alvin, whom I’ve done a few parties for in the past. They held the ceremony and reception at the Lake Mary Events Center (past Orlando) and everything looked beautiful. They chose a deep red color for their uplighting which really added to the effect!

Check out the photos and video below!!

And video!

Watch in HD!

Ok, now I’ve been to Eaglebrooke MANY times, (How many? Click here for an idea!) but I have to say: this is the most beautiful set up I’ve seen at Eaglebrooke.

Then again, it should be. Natonia and Alfredo, with the help of Tarra Parnell, coordinator extraordinare, chose a dream team of Lakeland/Polk County vendors. Monica and I attended to music, lighting, and MCing. Jenny of KC Photography handled some exquisite shots. Tim and Patty Hicklin of Storybook Weddings took some cutting-edge video. Flowers by Marilyn did an amazing job with the linens and drapery and made Eaglebrooke look amazing. Beth and her staff did an amazing job, as always, offering top-notch service and food… and to top off an impeccable meal, a delicious cake was provided by Andrea of Sweetcakes!

The food… ohh man, you know I could go on for HOURS talking about how good it was. I’ll just say this: I had the salmon. The filet was easily a foot long, smothered in butter and light lemon juices, and fell apart the moment you looked at it hard enough. Delicious is an understatement here, folks!

Not only did it look beautiful, with our colorful uplighting and “Dance on the Clouds” feature, but it was a real fun party as you’ll see the video. (Lots of Latin music, too, helps being bilingual!) Three highlights are the soul train as the wedding party dance, Tarra’s son bustin’ out some MJ moves, and Natonia’s 90 year old grandfather moving it to some Earth, Wind, and Fire.

You just can’t rock any harder than that! Check out the photos and video below!

Package chosen:

• Entertainment Coordinator
• Dance Floor Lighting
• Uplights
• D’Elegance Under the Stars, custom (Sans Stars)

And two quick videos.. the first one shows the First Dance, courtesy of Storybook Weddings!

The second video is the event log.. check it out!

Watch in HD, click here!

Go enthusiastic bridal party!! Watch the video– these girls (there were only handful of guys there) were cheering everyone on!

This is the first wedding I’ve been to where 1) There was a guest MC (the wedding coordinator) and 2) everyone matched! The colors were tan and cream white and everything look tres chic. Monica and I had a blast working with the La Playa Staff in Naples, and they treated us very well.

After Kingsley and Felicia left, the guests continued to party, sing karaoke, and ended strong on Usher’s OMG. They ended this amazing Jamaican/Trini wedding with STYLE!

Check out the photos and video below! The video features the cutest little boy dancing!

And the video!

Sing Along, you ask? Watch the video and you’ll see what I am talking about!

Alan & Sheri George are an amazing couple– the only thing that could’ve topped this wedding was… well… um… I don’t know! As Pete and I were watching everyone have the time of their lives, singing along to every song I played, we both asked the same question: Where do I begin on this blog?? So much coolness happened, so I’ll describe everything one piece at a time.

Location: Eaglebrooke Golf & Country Club in Lakeland, Florida.
Food: DELICIOUS!!!!!
Cake Decorator: Piece of Cake by Maggie– it, too, was delicious!
Flowers: Not sure, but he did a GREAT JOB!!!
Photographer: Jenny from KC Photography. Who else?

Sheri and her family: She’s from New Jersey – they wanted 80s, freestyle, 90s, and top 40.. oh yes.. and TECHNO!!!!
Alan and his family: They’re from Texas– lots of country, rock, and 70s-80s.
Both of them: a non-stop party. At no point did the floor clear. It was crazy how they sang along to everytune!!!!!

Dinner:  I can still taste the mashed potatoes..mmmmMMMMmm. The Centerpiece Giveaway Game and the Alan & Sheri Jeopardy game were a hit!!!
Game Show: It went great! Categories where: Dating Life, Curious Georges, Alan Wrenches, My Sheri Amour, Wild Card

Dancing: A HUGE PARTY!!!! WOW! This video goes by quick because there’s only 15 second long clips… every song seemed to get them pumped up!!! They crowded around the TVs and danced while watching the music videos!

In summary: IT ROCKED!!!! You must watch the video!

Package Chosen:

• Entertainment Coordinator
• D’Elegance Lights (Monogram,  Uplights [pink, yellow, and orange], dance floor lighting)
• D’Elegance Video with Music Videos, Slideshows, and the Game Show System

Check out the photos and video! Note: Photos were taken by KC Photography. However, they didn’t edit these… I played around in LightRoom until I get the final product from Jenny!

The setup…. Pete is getting some last minute details ready!

Bryant says the prayer. You can see the screen behind him with a custom graphic!

The game show is about to begin… the buzzers light up!

The game show begins! Guests laugh at the custom questions full of inside jokes!

The categories made everyone laugh!

“What’s that answer again…?”

“Oh… THAT’s the answer?”

Alan preps for a high energy garter toss!

Wait– isn’t it cheating if the Replacements are engaged???

Guests all focus on the excitement in the middle of the floor.. except for the guy in the red shirt, lol!

And now dancing!!!

The monogram! Sheri describes it as this: “We like it a lot! We decided it doesn’t stand for ‘Alan’ ‘George’ ‘Sheri’… it stands for Arnoldo’s Got Skills! Thanks again.”

Taken with my camera…

Pete, Alan, Sheri and myself.

And finally… a YouTube video!

A big congrats go out to Collin and Jerrika Aiken!

They wanted to have a PARTY from the beginning the reception started and party they did! The ceremony was moved indoors due to the rain, but that didn’t slow anyone down. Pete (my assistant) and I rearranged certain parts of the room to prep it for the ceremony.

Everything looked beautiful and the rain was just a sign of God’s promise to a new beginning in their lives.

The reception was great, featuring their first dance on clouds using our one of a kind system.

The dance crowd was small, but they danced large! Pete and I had a blast!

Package Chosen:

• Premier (Upgraded to Entertainment Coordinator compliments of APE)
• Custom D’Elegance Lighting Package with Uplights
• Lighted Columns
• Dance on the Clouds

Check out some amazing photos by KC Photography and a video below!

Pete and I by our setup as we clean up our area.

The setup for the head table/ceremony altar!

First dance on clouds… Mr. and Mrs. Aiken look in awe at the stars on the ceiling!

Dancing begins!

Pete, Collin, Jerrika, and myself.

And now a video!

June kicks off the “BEST WEDDINGS EVER!” month!

Almost three years ago I did a wedding for Mr. and Mrs. Acevedo. This promptly led to creating an amazing reception for two more family members: Mr. and Mrs. Santiago. We got along so well that they invited me to their church, New Hope, in Winter Haven, FL. This has been the best decision in my life– I’ve finally found a church I can call home.

Fast forward to yesterday, Matt and Erica came to my office needing the wedding of the century. Knowing their family and friends, very little effort would be needed to accomplish this– and boy was I right. This was a party from the very beginning on out!

The photographer, Danny Cruz (with his son, Brandon) and Tim & Patti (with Storybook Weddings Videography) did an amazing job capturing all the special events. We felt very welcome not only as vendors but as guests by everyone there.

The ceremony was at Victory Church in Lakeland, FL and the reception was at the Lone Palm in Kathleen.

Highlights:

• Harry & Shannon Acevedo’s son, Davin, is 2 years old— he wasn’t even born when I met these two– how time flies!
• Very energetic introduction with a remix of Beegees with Lil Jon, Boom Boom Pow, and Right Round!
• MERENGUE!! NEED I SAY MORE?
• Lots of interaction without bordering on cheesy!
• My wife was there– despite her injured knee, she couldn’t lift anything up, but she handled the music very well! (I love working with her.)

Package Chosen:

• Entertainment Coordinator
• Extra Extra Extra Bass
• Uplights in Pink
• Extra Hour

It truly was a party– check out the many iPhone photos and videos, soon! As soon as I get footage from Tim, I’ll make sure to share it!

My setup… the pink uplights look orange thanks to the iPhone’s cam.

Cocktail hour arrangement… pretty hearty! Ha ha– get it? GET IT?

180+ people!

Preppin’ before guests arrive.

Uplights behind the candy buffet.

A beautiful cake by Karen (from Lakeland).. the tiers were THICK!

Everyone went for the Dove Chocolates!

The limo arrives. As you can imagine, the curb was NOT made for a limo that long to pull up. My eyes tell me this is a Lincoln conversion, judging by the chassis. Either way– it’s absolutely beautiful.

Dancing begins!

Tim, the videographer, getting his roll on!

Erica dancing with Anthony (the ringbearer).

As you can (slightly) tell, the uplights threw a hue of pink around the room!

Tim watching me DJ.

Monica, myself, Erica, and Matt.

And a YouTube video!

Erica & Matt– I wish you both the best! See you in church.. we love you guys!

Wow, what a wedding!

To the future couples reading this, take the following tip: if you don’t want dance floor lighting, but still want the most unique of atmospheres, choose color-changing uplighting!

Very few DJs in Florida have color-changing uplighting, and this is one of the many reasons Elizabeth and Jeremy Voss knew we were the right DJ company for them. Being in the middle of prom season, I was worried that my “high-dance energy rush” I’ve been stuck on may be a bit too much for the wedding. Alas, the opposite was true. These people were here for two reasons: 1) to celebrate a once-in-a-lifetime moment with Mr. and Mrs. Voss 2) to party, and party hard!!

Ashly with Olivier Events did a great job creating the room setup– you have to check out the photos! She helped Jeremy & Elizabeth create some details that really made the wedding pop. One of my favorites was choosing a Norwegian Brand of water, Voss, to serve guests. I had to find out if Jeremy was associated with the company (same name)…. but it was just a [really cool] coincidence.

When you click the link below to see the photos, hijacked from Kelly’s blog, and the video, be sure to pay attention on how much the uplighting changes the room ambiance.

Speaking of Kelly, he was the MC for the event whilst I DJed and took care of the lighting. As always, he did an amazing job customizing every part of the reception. I will brag here, I rocked the house! I can’t lie there– I left the wedding pumped up and energized even after helping break down 42 cans of uplighting. That’s a LOT of cable! Cypresswoods is an easy load-in/load-out… not to mention their food is exquisite and service is out of this world!

By the way, just to throw in a shameless plug (no punintended) on how energy efficiency: the outside setup had 12 cans of uplighting and our BOSE system setup to handle the 200+ guests as well as our console (computer, mixer, CD player, peripherals, etc) and everything ran on ONE outlet! This is a huge advantage to anyone who’s doing a wedding outdoors where power is limited OR where the hotel charges and arm & a leg for power.

Highlights of the evening:

• The uplighting!
• Tri-location setup: cocktail, dinner, and dance floor all in different sections.
• Very elaborate decorations
• Hip-Hop was the preferred genre here, but everyone of all ages got down to it!
• Old Time Rock & Roll is still the ultimate party starter song!

Package chosen:

• Entertainment Coordinator
• Color-Changing Uplights
• Static Uplights with custom colors
• Compact Dinner Sound System

Now click below for photos and video!!!

Check out the beautiful room without uplighting…

…. Now we plug in the switch and …

…to quote the Kool-Aid man, “OH YEAH!”

Elizabeth and Jeremy’s 1st Dance

James is delivering a well-written toast.

Showing off our LED uplighitng, it looks even better in the video!

Ann deserves the award for one of the coolest parents in a wedding!!

Can you believe this is a TENT?!?!

The happy, (and worn out), couple!! Congrats guys!!

And now, a YouTube video!

James & Alisha created the perfect wedding today! They chose Lake Buena Vista Watersports’s Paradise Cove, which in itself is a beautiful venue…. but we got the opportunity to transform it. Using the in-house swags, we used lights carefully aimed at various sections to color the entire reception area with an Aqua blue (one of their wedding colors) while the swag behind the head table was lit up in their secondary color (pastel pink).

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!

Have I told you guys how much I love Lake Ashton? Well in case I haven’t– you’ll hear all about it again!

Kristen came to us wanting an elegant lighting package; she was very worried that the lights would make her reception look like a nightclub. After she saw the D’elegance lighting setup, she knew that would never be the problem. The lights were set up so discreetly, you could barely see them until they were turned on!

They chose their uplights to be solid white, to keep the contrast at a minimum and have the centerpieces pop out a little bit more.

To make a long story short, this crowd knew how to party… they danced the entire time.. even as they were walking out for the grand exit!

As usual, were did the ceremony as well for Lake Ashton. Aside from the music, we coordinated the entire thing, so Kristen and Bobby were able to enjoy their own special day.

You have to click below to check out some awesome photos from the wedding, provided by the best photographer known to weddings: KC Enterprises. I’ll post their blog up, soon!

Package chosen:

• Entertainment Coordinator
• Ceremony System
• Static Uplights: White
• D’Elegance Lights: Custom

The ballroom, notice how you can barely see the speakers and the light show on either side of the stage.

The lights in action!

Cupid Shuffle!

My wife, Monica, and the photographer, Jenny, from KC Enterprises photography!

And alas, an AWESOME video!

I absolutely love Lake Ashton… the food and service are stellar. It’s even better when you have AMAZING weather and the bride and groom are the best people to work with. Yup… this wedding went VERY well.

Christine and Blake wanted to have a good time… whether people danced or not wasn’t their main concern as much as it was making sure that everyone left with a smile on their face.

My wife and I enjoyed setting up, there was a member of Lake Ashton practicing for the talent show… he blessed us with his talents on the piano playing songs from Van Halen’s “Jump” to Queen to Disney… for the first time ever, I asked for a request!

The emotion flowed through Lake Ashton during the ceremony, Christine and her father, Davis, were so excited that they shared tears of joy before David escorted his little girl down the aisle.

The reception was  a blast! The photographer, Sofia (http://www.PhotographyBySofia.com), was a lot of fun to work with and I hope to be sharing some of her photos here soon! Christine and Blake worked really hard to plan their special day to make sure their guests felt special, too… and I think they achieved that goal!

The uplighting was awesome… we designed it to change colors throughout the evening…. during dinner, they alternated between their wedding colors.
Check out some great iPhone photos as well as a cool YouTube video. The lighting setup was elegant (no trussing, no ugly tripods, but it flooded the room with color… even the uplighting changed color according to mood!)…. YouTube doesn’t do a great job of keeping the video as bright as it was originally, so click the HQ to see a better quality video.

Package chosen:

Entertainment Coordinator

Colorchanging Uplighting

Light Columns

Dance Under the Stars

D’Elegance Lighting

Ceremony System/Coordination

McKesson chose Tigertown (Detroit Tiger’s training stadium) in Lakeland, FL…. the only problem is that it’s an empty, metal hangar. How the heck can you beautify this place?

With the right vendors. That’s how.  

Enter Joette of Party People (http://partypeople.homestead.com) with her AMAZING balloon sculptures. Instead of boring you with text, I have supplied plenty of photos and video!

Our next step in transforming the hangar was lighting. They didn’t opt for uplighting, except in the Balloon Tunnel and entrance room. 

We used a two-column setup with LEDs that flooded the room with blue (it was a Winter Wonderland theme) with moving head lights that projected snowflakes on the dance floor.

The balloon arch surrounding the floor absorbed the lights and was bursting with color!

Enjoy some great pics and video below!

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Here’s Joette next to her giant balloon arch!

White trussing. While most DJs may use metallic trussing, we prefer white as it is more elegant. 

The left wall of the balloon tunnel.

Here’s the arch! No flash used, this is our LEDs at work!

You can see our dual-totem setup!

Here’s the arch, glowing in color!

The entrance room. Joette provided LED Christmas lights and rope light around the room while we supplied blue uplights.

SNOWFLAKES!

More white trussing.

Karen and Neville Williams. When they chose a DJ for this party, we were the obvious choice… after all, we did their wedding three years ago!!!

Here’s me. I’m blurry, lol.

This is my light tech, Derek, doing my job while I’m taking photos.

This little guy here is the life of the party. He was dancing and clapping to every song!

McKesson gave away some awesome gifts… but people had to run up to get them! This guaranteed hilarity! 

Paula, Edyta, Derek, Myself, Karen, and Neville. The three ladies in the photo are responsible for making the party happen!

We pulled the van RIGHT UP TO THE STAGE! It was a flush fit, too! How awesome is that. We loaded up in a matter of minutes!

Enjoy some great video footage below!

Steve & Deb Carey chose the Entertainment Coordinator package for one reason: Convenience.

Convenience of meeting at THEIR location and not our office.
Convenience of having my cell phone # 24/7.
Convenience of knowing whatever they need I can make it happen one way or another.
Convenience of leaving the most important day of their lives to professional that make it happen.

Steve & Deb are GREAT couple who wanted to skip some of the wedding “fluff” and just party with their friends and loved ones. They chose the Imperial Swan in Lakeland, Florida, and as usual I was ecstatic to work there.

The playlist was awesome, I wish I had saved it… almost an hour of 80s rock… it was so much fun watching everyone dance to Bon Jovi, Guns n Roses, and Aerosmith…then suddenly to Baby Got Back. This was truly an eclectic group.

One problem I had… I wear slippery dress shoes.. and there was a stage. Right in the middle of the reception I fell off the stage (walked off, really) as I was about to show them how to do the Mississippi Slide. It’s weird seeing everyone waiting to know you’re OK before they bust out laughing.

This was everyone, too.. all the guests… my assistant, the photographer, and staff. It’s all good though, minus the BIG bruise on my leg.

Enjoy some iPhone pics below, I will post some photos Monday given to us from KC Enterprises Photography @ www.polkphoto.com (my favorite photographers, they did my wedding!)

Package chosen:

Entertainment Coordinator
Uplights (purple)
LED FloodsAnimated Centerpiece
Starfield
2 Mic Ceremony System

Grand Intro Song:Peter Gabriel – In Your Eyes
First Dance:Beatles – In My Life
Dinner Music: 60s & 70s (upbeat)

Obscure song of the night: 10cc – Things We Do For Love (woo-hoo, love this song!)

LEDs flood the entire room. It’s hard to see, but the table was lit up a deep purple as well.

This is Jenny, our photographer.

This is Lil’ Kyle. He’s blurry.

Jennerz again.

First dance.

Couples join in for first dance.

Dance, puppets, dance!

Starfield, again!

Kyle, Deb, Steve, myself. We’re worn out!

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?  :)

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What can I say about this wedding? I was BORN to do these… Stephen is from Puerto Rico and Monique is from Jamaica.

How many guests? 250+!

The wedding started amazingly, with guests dancing during the intro! Everythin was perfect– we went overtime, of course. I got to play some amazing reggae, soca, and calypso hits that I haven’t played in a while, as well as classic goodies and the best merengue and salsa you can imagine!

Some great hits of the night:

Tiney Winey, Dollar Wine, Follow Da Leader, Signal Di Plane, Baile del Beeper, Mississippi Slide, Double Dutch Bus, Fresh (Kool and the Gang), Parliament’s Flashlight.

Some cool things they had: Rum Cake, a Coffee “bar”, and Marble Slab ice cream “buffet”

Unfortunately their cake never showed up, however Publix Supermarket created a beautiful cake last minute!

This was at the Polo Grill in Lakewood Ranch, Florida. I bought a basic lighting backage, uplights, and monogram. The pictures and video do no justice on how big (and bright) the monogram was.

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

Room with uplighting around.. again, the pics do no justice.

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Setup

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Marble Slab ice cream buffet.

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THE PARTY!!

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Monica (my wife and coordinator), Monique (Bride), Stephen (Groom), and myself.

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Vlog!

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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!!

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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.

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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.

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