Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina – McKay Wedding

Client: Colin and Michele McKay
Venue: Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina – Bay Tower – Catalina Ballroom and Terrace
Venue Address: 1380 Harbor Island Drive, San Diego California, 92101

Number of guests: approximately 130
Services Provided: Wedding DJ and Master of Ceremonies, Event Uplighting (8 lights), Enhanced Dance Floor Lighting, Monogram Lighting, Wedding Video Montage

Wedding Coordination: Stephanie
Photography: SoCalSunshine Productions
Caterer: Sheraton Hotel

Wow, we had ourselves quite a time this weekend! But before I get ahead of myself, let’s backtrack a bit…

Colin and Michele contacted me in February to inquire about wedding services. Coincidentally, this was right after I had just booked another wedding at the Sheraton with Adam and Kela Karlsgodt! We met at a nice brewery restaurant and discussed details. They were particularly interested in my lighting expertise, and my ability to design a monogram personally, using whatever styles and designs that a couple can invent in their minds! Our initial meeting was very productive. Soon after, they contacted me and booked their date. A few months after they contacted me and asked if we could meet again. Since their wedding package was quite extensive it made sense to me. We met a second time and worked out most of the details, even taking the time to let them sample music personally while we sat together. At the end of our second meeting, I could tell we were both comfortable with each other, and it felt good.

Colin and Michele chose Sheraton San Diego’s Garden Terrace for their ceremony and the Catalina Ballroom for their reception location.

Like the last time that I worked at the Sheraton, I placed the speakers behind the guests and taped the wires down almost invisibly. The speakers you see in the front of this picture are not mine, they belong to the Sheraton.

During the ceremony, Michele carried on conversations with the officiant, and was found laughing several times, and making others laugh at other times. That pretty much set the mood for the night. I think everyone had the same thought– With a ceremony as entertaining as that, this night was going to be something else!

This is priceless!

Once the ceremony was over, the guests were shown to the Catalina Ballroom. Three sides of this fourth-story room have windows on them. The center windowed wall goes out onto a large outdoor patio. Their wedding colors were purple and silver, so they chose to include the uplighting package and I complemented the room with 8 purple uplights. Eight seems to be the magical number when I provide my services at the Sheraton!

I proudly displayed their custom-made wedding monogram on the wall above the bridal party table… which looked brilliant as it went through the sheer curtains they used.

Here’s a first for me. I took video of the room, and then made still shots to create a panoramic image for you to really see how the room looked. Click on the picture below to see it in more detail.

Introductions were incredible entertaining as well. When I went out into the hallway to line up the bridal party and instruct them on how to enter, it was obvious that this was not the group that wanted to do a simple classic entrance. So, I gave them cues to head to the dance floor, do a fun little dance, then step to the edge and form a circle around the dance floor in anticipation of the bride and groom. The bridal party was introduced to Living On A Prayer (Bon Jovi) and the bride and group came out dancing to Panama (Van Halen). Each pair of the introduced bridal party did their own little dance/routine as they hit the dance floor. And yes, I got it on film! Here’s a little collage I made of the McKay’s introductions.

After introductions, the father of the bride gave a welcome speech.

After the toast, salad was served while guests enjoyed a dinner playlist mixed with rat pack, swing, ballroom, classic rock, adult contemporary, and even some newer songs that work well for dinner playlists.

Following salad, toasts began, and then we started the video montage. I have two pictures here. One is of the video being shown in a decently lit room. I include this one so you can see just how powerful the projector I use is. Even in a nicely lit room, the whites are white, and the picture is bright and vibrant. The projector retails for $4000, and it will outperform any typical home projector or even the projectors used in corporate offices.

Oh and I also used a new wireless transmission to get the sound to the main speakers. No wires were needed, nothing to trip over or have to tape down to keep guests from tripping!

Following dinner and toasts, Colin and Michele had their first dance. They danced to All We Ever Find (Tim McGraw).

Colin and Michele's First Dance

Followed by parent dances:

Father/Daughter Dance: Hole Hearted (Extreme)
Mother/Son Dance: My Wish (Rascal Flatts)

And then it was time for open dancing! And these guests loved to dance! Unfortunately, my video camera had just about run out of power so I saved it for the end. But to give you an idea of how well the night went, here’s a picture of the dance floor about 15 minutes before the end of the night (ABOUT 12:15 AM!)

The McKays purchased my enhanced dance floor lighting package as well. This looked surprisingly well with the uplighting.

Cake cutting was done to Pour Some Sugar On Me (Def Leppard), and then we did a garter toss to Single Ladies (Beyonce) and a bouquet toss to Legs (ZZ Top).

Since it is my job to pay attention to details and keep in mind ideas to make the night memorable, I caught on to the fact that Colin and Michele had been together a long while (seven years). As such, I surprised them with a little activity called the Shoe Game which tests their knowledge of one another, and it went over really well. All the guests seemed to enjoy it as much as they did!

The end of the night we surprised guests with a few sing-alongs that Colin and Michele had planned for the remaining guests:

Second to last song: Total Eclipse of the Heart (Dan Band)

Last song: I’m On A Boat! (The Lonely Island)

After these, the guests were yelling “encore” and “one more song” so after checking with the hotel staff to make sure it was OK, I gave them one more song– The Way You Move (Outkast).

They yelled one more song again after that, but I wanted to be respectful of the hotel staff (it was 12:40AM, after all!) so I shut down.

Since guests were mingling about afterwards, I took the opportunity to get a picture with Colin and Michele.

I asked Michele what she thought and her response was, “Dude this party was all you! You realize that right? You totally killed it”! She then stated (complete with hand gestures) that they expected this much (hand raised decently high) but I gave them THIS much (hand raised as high as possible). I replied that although I have a decent part in it, it is a combination of their family and guests, the vendors, and the venue that made up their wonderful experience. She argued the point, but really… although I like to believe I’m good at what I do… I couldn’t do it without all of them and their guests, and other quality wedding vendors! And I wouldn’t continue to do it and be successful at it if there weren’t more “Colins” and “Micheles” with wonderful family and friends who make me feel good about what I do, and understand that if you take the time to invest in me, I will take the time and invest in you!

Congratulations to Colin and Michele and their families, and thanks to both for inviting me to help plan and execute a wonderfully special night!

The Wood House at Woodland Park in San Marcos – Evan and Natasha’s Wedding

Client: Susan Dewindt on behalf of Evan Dewindt
Venue: The Historic Wood House at Woodland Park
Venue Address: 1148 Rock Springs Rd., San Marcos, CA, 92079
Number of guests: 115
Services Provided: DJ and Master of Ceremonies, Dance Floor Lighting, Video Montage, Wedding Ceremony

Wedding Coordination: Opal Martin of Allie’s Party Equipment Rental
Photography: Sage Taylor Photography
Catering: Allie’s Party Equipment Rental

Earlier this year Susan Dewindt contacted me for her son’s wedding. We met at the wedding venue to discuss details, and worked out the details. The Wood House is a historic building located at the top of Woodland Park in San Marcos, directly below the public pool area. I wish I could supply more information than that about this venue, but the history of it seems to be rather secret, and I haven’t found a single website that elaborates on it.

The Historic Wood House in San Marcos

We sat down at the venue to discuss additional enhancements for the wedding (we are a full-service entertainment company, after all) and Susan decided to add the video montage package after viewing some of the recent slideshows that I have created for clients.

The ceremony was a lot of fun. Natasha and Evan were not looking for a traditional ceremony with traditional music, and to make sure that happened they spent time with their bridal party choreographing a bridal party introduction routine to Black Eyed Peas’ “Alive”. Although my camera wasn’t in a good spot to get some of the details, I did manage to get a decent amount of the routine on video. Enjoy!

The reception area at the Wood House is nice and large and guests enjoyed great appetizers from Allie’s Party Rentals while I played a customized playlist well-tailored for this particular crowd. Song choices included Reasons to Love You by Meiko and You Look Wonderful by Slightly Stoopid. As you can tell, this wasn’t your ordinary cocktail playlist. It was many of the couple’s requests, complemented by similar songs with similar themes. Truly a challenge, with a rewarding outcome.

Since this was an outdoor wedding and it was a bit sunny and hot, precautions had to be taken to protect my equipment (and me!) from the elements, all the while keeping the clean and professional set up I’m known for.

My view…

The wedding started a bit late so we had to adjust the timing of events to compensate. Luckily , I was not alone with the planning. I had the help of their day-of coordinator, Opal Martin, to work with. It’s always nice to work with a competent and friendly coordinator. Together, we were able to mitigate some of the scheduling issues and make everything work well. When we needed some extra time, I threw in the “Shoe Game” to entertain the party, and it went over really well. We also did the “Anniversary Dance” since there were a lot of married couples in the guest list. The winning couple had been together for 60 years!!!

Dances:

First dance – Can’t Help Falling In Love (UB40)
Father/Daughter – I Loved Her First (Heartland)
Mother/Son – Beautiful Boy (Celine Dion)

After the sun set, we were able to project the slideshow. I used my DaLite projector screen, which is 7′ wide and 7+’ tall. The projection was beautiful. My projector is extremely bright and as such doesn’t let me take pictures of the projection well, but here’s a shot of the set up and the guests and bride and groom enjoying the montage.

For open dancing, I was given a rather eclectic playlist of the bridal party’s favorite songs, largely centered around electronic dance music (EDM). I really enjoyed my set because it was definitely out of the typical wedding genre. I actually enjoyed it so much that I ended up hitting ‘record’ on my system, and after tossing some ‘drops’ in it, I’m posting it here for all readers to listen to and even download if they wish.

Creative Music DJs – July Live Wedding Clip

The reception ended with a fast dance, and the mother of the bride actually requested an encore song which I obliged with, and then the mother of the groom came up and wanted ANOTHER encore song. This group of guests just did not want to stop dancing!

After the reception, guests gathered around for a group picture, which I became a part of as well. It was pretty dark so I had to do some editing to make everyone visible.

And I just LOVE the happy expressions of both Natasha and Evan in this one.

Congratulations to Natasha and Evan, thanks for having me along for the celebration, and best wishes for continued years of happiness. You both have known each other since second grade, and you answered most of the questions the same during the Shoe Game. I’d say this one is going to last!

After the big day, I contacted Susan, the mother of the groom, who posted a review on InsiderPages (http://www.insiderpages.com/b/15250648840/creative-music-djs-san-diego) which says this:

“Dennis did such an incredible job at my son’s wedding. Even with some very last minute changes minutes before the wedding started, Dennis was able to pull it off. He is great with the crowd and kept everyone dancing up to the very end!”

Marriott Mission Valley – Cristina and Gerardo Rangel Wedding (Cabrillo 1 & 2 combined)

Client: Cristina and Gerardo Rangel
Venue: Marriott Mission Valley – Cabrillo Room
Venue Address: 8757 Rio San Diego Drive, San Diego, California 92108
Number of guests: 130
Services Provided: Wedding DJ and Master of Ceremonies, Dance floor lighting, Uplighting (8 lights)
Photography: Frank Papini Studios
Banquet Captain: Claudia

Cristina and Gerardo (“G”) were referred to me when the DJ that they had won a free wedding reception with was booked. Cristina contacted me and we decided to meet at their house to discuss details. While sitting with them, I found out that they were really into freestyle, and I got excited. For those that know me, I have always loved 80’s freestyle, as is evident by one of my lastest mixes which I’m now posting here for free download:

DJ Dennis J – Back In The Day We Called This Pop (12″ vinyl-only freestyle mix)

Since both Cristina and Gerardo are mexican, they wanted around 50% spanish music, and the rest 80s rock, freestyle, pop, with some top 40 included as well.

Arriving at the Marriott, I found the hotel staff to be extremely accommodating. From helping me navigate the narrow parking lot lanes, to finding me a place to park after I had unloaded, the staff was very helpful and it was appreciated. I got in, and set up quickly. Cristina and I had discussed with the Marriott that we didn’t want to use the table layout they are used to (DJ in the corner, sweethearts table in the other corner). Cristina was actually really adamant about this. “No one puts my DJ in the corner!” she stated firmly. Gotta love it when your client gets your back, right? So the final layout had me on the side wall, right next to the sweethearts table which was on a raised platform.

The Cabrillo room had four pillars in the center of the room, and these usually end up being the four corners of the dance floor. They lend themselves well to uplighting, and the Rangels were wise in opting to add uplighting to their package, because it completely enhanced the look of their reception, as you can see here. I put two uplights per pillar, making for 8 uplights total.

Cocktails were held outside, and towards the end of the cocktail hour, we invited guests into the main reception room. The introduction was done to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” and included a Marine Corp Sabre Arch ceremony which the couple passed under as they reached the dance floor.

For dinner, we started with Mariachi music, and after a good playlist of that, moved into 50’s oldies. It was a good combination for this particular guestlist, and several times I overheard guests singing along to songs such as Angel Baby by Rosie & The Originals.

Toasts went well, as well as their first dance. Instead of parent dances, I performed a new twist on a old classic– We began a money dance, but the beginning of the money dance was an announcement of parents while bringing them to the floor to dance before the other guests got their turn. It worked really well, and so did the money dance! The lines were so long that I ended up coaching the MOH and BM to shorten the duration between cut-ins, and we still went through 7 songs!

After the honeymoon/money dance, we did an Anniversary dance to Banda Limon’s “Y Sigues Siendo Tu” (A spanish version of Shania Twain’s “Still the One”). The winning couple had been married for 40 years! That’s quite an accomplishment, and we gave them an extra round of applause for this.

Cake cutting was next, using Sade’s “Your Love Is King” for music accompaniment. We then began the bouquet toss, but “Mexican style”! I invited all single ladies to the floor, but before the bouquet toss, we did a special version of “La Vibora De La Mar” done to Rednex’s “Cotton-eyed Joe”, led by the Maid Of Honor. After that, we did the bouquet toss, and then began the garter toss. With the same enthusiasm, the Best Man led the “La Vibora De La Mar” before the garter tosses. Although I didn’t manage to get pictures of the female La Vibora De La Mar , I caught a few of the men.

The male La Vibora ended with the groom being hoisted into the air and crowd surfed across the single men. What can I say? This was one enthusiastic and fun bunch of guests and family!

After tosses were complete, I began open dancing with some bandas and then some cumbias, and eventually some salsa. The dance floor was quickly filled, and guests danced to all forms of spanish music. After a bit of spanish music, I transitioned into some 80’s american music, and the rest of the night was a combination of spanish and american hits. The groom’s favorite band is Red Hot Chili Peppers, so during the middle of the night I transitioned into a mashup of “Give It Away Now” and Mim’s “This Is Why I’m Hot”. G instantly saw the connection and gave me a big smile showing he appreciated the consideration. That one event pretty much summed up the energy and excitement of the whole night. Smiles everywhere you looked, so much dancing that at the end of the night my speaker cables were stuck under the dance floor (seriously!), and just a really fun celebration.

After the reception was over, the guests gathered in the middle of the dance floor for a group picture. I thought I was going to a casual observer but started hearing everyone saying “Get Dennis in here!” and “We need Dennis in this picture!” so I became part of the last fun pictures of the reception!

Afterwards, the bride and groom posed with me for a post-reception picture.

So in summary, this was one fun celebration! G has informed me that I am now a permanent part of his life, and I’m sure I’ll see Christina and him again. Thanks to both of them for inviting me to participate in their night of celebration, and thanks to all the guests and family for making me feel so welcome and appreciated.

Oh and as an additional note, I had a chance to talk to Claudia, the Event Captain for the night. She took several of my business cards, and said she would be happy to recommend me to others. So, I may be back at the Marriott in Mission Valley soon!

More from Creative Music DJs

• Hard Rock Hotel Wedding – Roxana and Jeff Brown
• Tom Ham’s Lighthouse – Asaro Wedding
• Admiral Kidd Club Wedding – Shannon and Jason Fouts
• Coronado Candelas Wedding – Ruby and Antonio
• San Diego Botanical Gardens – Allen Wedding

Creative Music DJs Recommend

• There is no vaccine for fear, and it’s contagious  (Mile High Mamas)
• A bear, hail and other camping calamities  (Mile High Mamas)
• African music, Marriott points, Steve Jobs and Avs musings  (All Things Colorado Avalanche)

Point Loma Naval Sub Base (NSB) – Oceanview Room (NSB) – Vicky and Aaron Smith Wedding

Client: Vicky and Aaron Smith
Venue: Admiral Kidd Club – Oceanview Room (Naval Sub Base in Point Loma)
Venue Address: 140 Sylvester Rd, San Diego, CA 92106, US (NSB)
Number of guests: 170
Services Provided:  Wedding DJ and Master of Ceremonies, Wedding Ceremony, Dance floor lighting
Photography: Corbin Kell Photography
Videography: Eagle Lion Video

Ahh the familiar sights and sounds of the Ocean View Room on the Point Loma Sub Base. I actually really like this venue. It’s remote, very festive, and the staff are great. Therefore, when Vicky and Aaron Smith booked me for their wedding at the NSB, I was pleased.

For their ceremony, they chose to have traditional classical seating music, and the traditional Bridal March, Wagner Lohengrin’s “Bridal Chorus”.

Since there was a large amount of guests, the cocktail and dinner were held outside on the deck. Tables were laid out evenly, with the head table being by the gazebo.

Now here’s the kicker– They opted not to have their dance floor outside, as is typically done at the Point Loma Naval Sub Base. Instead they put their dance floor inside, and placed my station inside as well. Different, but I welcome a challenge so I made the best of it.

As usual, I kept my setup very clean and professional.

Events went well, here’s a picture of the first dance and the father/daughter dance.

As a highlight of the evening, I coordinated a special latin dance called “La Vibora Del Mar” (The Sea Snake). It’s a fun dance where the bride and groom stand on chairs facing each other with their arms raised and connected, and guests form a ’snake’ and dance around them, going in and out of the tunnel created by the bride and groom. It went over well, and they seemed to really enjoy it. Thanks to Charlie Bradley for the helpful words and advice on how to properly execute this traditional dance.

[View with PicLens]

Dancing was plentiful and constant, with the majority of the requests being old school hip-hop. The guests had fun, and many gave compliments to me and the bride and groom.

Afterwards, the bride and groom posed with me for a post-reception picture.

Thanks to Aaron and Vicky for inviting me to participate in their amazing wedding ceremony and reception, and thanks to all guests for making the night a unique enjoyable experience. One can never forget the Sea Snake!

More from Creative Music DJs

• Hard Rock Hotel Wedding – Roxana and Jeff Brown
• Sub Base Point Loma- Kathleen and Dominic Carr Weddin
• Tom Ham’s Lighthouse – Asaro Wedding
• Admiral Kidd Club Wedding – Shannon and Jason Fouts
• San Diego Botanical Gardens – Allen Wedding

Creative Music DJs Recommend

• Wedding at Admiral Kidd Naval Base in San Diego  (Fritz Harmon Photography)
• Wedding at Humphrey's and Point Loma Navy Base  (Fritz Harmon Photography)
• What’s good about Wedding Photography today? | Photo creative 365  (photocreative365)

Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina – Karlsgodt Wedding

Client: Adam and Kela Karlsgodt
Venue: Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina – Bay Tower – Bel Aire Ballroom
Venue Address: 1380 Harbor Island Drive, San Diego California, 92101

Number of guests: approximately 110
Services Provided: Wedding DJ and Master of Ceremonies, Event Uplighting (8 lights), Enhanced Dance Floor Lighting

Wedding Coordination: Daphne
Photography: Dave & Sherry Gillespie
Caterer: Kimberly Miller

Adam and Kela contacted me in February to inquire about wedding services. After a productive meeting, we kept in touch for a bit. They wanted someone who could really mix, so I offered to get them VIP at one of the clubs I was performing at at the time. I invited them to come see me at Onyx, and they accepted (though never showed…). Nevertheless they contacted me and decided to book me for their wedding.

Adam and Kela chose the Bel Aire Ballroom at Sheraton San Diego as their reception location. One side of the room is composed of windows overlooking the ocean, and provide an amazing view to complement an event. Their wedding colors were red and black and silver, so they chose to include the uplighting package and I complemented the room with 8 red uplights.

Red Uplighting at the Sheraton Harbor Island

The ceremony was held at the Garden Terrace. The request was to arrange speakers to ensure that no wires or speakers would get into the pictures. To work with that, I placed the speakers behind the guests, and taped the wires down almost invisibly.

Sheraton Harbor Island Garden Terrace Wedding Ceremony

Although I’d love to show you lots of pictures, things went off schedule (the guitarist for the ceremony was stuck upstairs retuning his guitar after his son decided to tweak the strings!) and although my efforts to recoordinate were successful, it resulted in very little time for pictures! However, I did get a few pictures…

Here’s their candy table. Lots of candy here! I took home about 20 pumpkin cookies myself…

Sheraton Harbor Island Candy Table

A picture of some of the guests on the dance floor.

Bride and Groom and their guests danced all night long

And another…

Karlsgodt's Guests dancing

The bride and groom and their guests danced all night long. At the end of the night there were still at least 40 people remaining! Here’s a picture of the dance before the last dance. Look at how many guests remained all night!

Sheraton Harbor Island Guests remained until the end

At the end of the night the guests didn’t want to stop. They even started chanting ‘encore!’. Kela had talked to me a few days ago and asked if it was possible to get extra hours and I assured her that I would stay as long as they needed. However, when I went and asked her if I should continue (keep in mind the reception had been going for 6 hours and it was midnight!) she said she would love to but her feet were sore from dancing all night! Haha.

After the reception ended I took a moment to get a picture with the bride and groom.

DJ Dennis J with Adam and Kela Karlsgodt

Congratulations to both Adam and Kela Karlsgodt, the Karlsgodt and Miner families, and thanks to both for allowing me to be a part of their wonderful celebration!

More from Creative Music DJs

• Hard Rock Hotel Wedding – Roxana and Jeff Brown
• San Diego Botanical Gardens – Allen Wedding
• Tom Ham’s Lighthouse – Asaro Wedding
• My Latest Wedding Disaster Aversion Story
• Coronado Candelas Wedding – Ruby and Antonio

Creative Music DJs Recommend

• Mueller will be in Avs lineup tonight  (All Things Colorado Avalanche)
• dnL vs 7up  (Brainfuel)
• Remembering my Hometown of San Manuel Arizona  (Tomas Carrillo)

Tom Ham’s Lighthouse Wedding – Willie and Johanna Asaro

Client: Willie and Johanna Asaro
Venue: Tom Ham’s Lighthouse – California Room
Venue Address: 2150 Harbor Island Drive, San Diego, CA 92101-1084
Number of guests: approximately 218
Services Provided: Wedding DJ and Master of Ceremonies, Event Uplighting (10 lights), Video Montage, Enhanced Dance Floor Lighting

Wedding Coordination: Nanette Jimenez
Photography: Xavier Bailey
Videography: NR3 Video Productions

William (Willie) and Johanna Asaro contacted me around the end of last year to discuss their wedding. We met and talked about ideas that they both had, and by the end of the meeting we both had an ideal vision of what wil his has to be one of the most eventful weddings I have done in a long time. However, they had some meetings with other DJs planned, so they didn’t sign up right away (hey, it happens!).  A week later, I received an email from Willie to the effect of “We knew almost instantly that you were THE GUY to host our wedding, and we would be very happy to hire for the evening of our wedding. (May 1st, 2010 – Just as a reminder ) We really appreciate your time, knowledge, and interest in our wedding and are looking forward to working with you!” It was an exciting e-mail, because Willie and Johanna are a very energetic and electric couple, and I knew their wedding was going to be incredible.

Willie and Johanna chose the California Room at Tom Ham’s Lighthouse as their reception location. Two sides of the room are composed of windows overlooking the ocean, and provide an amazing view to complement an event.The California Room is 3000 square feet, and is stated to hold up to 600 people. In reality, it was pretty packed and we had a little over 200.

Tom Ham's Lighthouse Wedding Guests

The reception began well. The ceremony had ended much earlier than planned, so guests had been milling in for a while. Introductions were done to “Black Eyed Peas – I Gotta Feeling”, and while the bridesmaids helped Johanna get her train removed for their first dance, I let the song continue to play and then invited everyone to enthusiastically sing the last verse together. There’s something about 200 people smiling, clapping, and all singing BEP loudly that just set the mood instantly to “party”!

For the first dance, a live number was sung. The song was called, “Then”, and was sung by Rick Ryan while being accompanied on guitar by the best man and brother of the groom, Charlie Asaro. It was a beautiful and inspiring song, and I believe it was written just for the Asaros. It was captured on video by an incredibly talented duo of Norma and John, more commonly known as NR3 Video Productions, while the photographer, Xavier Bailey, captured some amazing photographs as well.

Willie decided he wanted to do the video montage about 2/3 of the way through dinner, with the original plan to continue rounds while it was playing. Anyone want to guess how well that plan went? Not well! The wedding montage was a record-breaking 25 minutes(!) and once people were enjoying it, the round-making pretty much halted. That’s what happens when you have an amazing video for your guests to watch though, right? The video was an overwhelming success, and luckily I was able to capture a few seconds of guests as well as the bride and groom enjoying it.

At the end of the dinner, NR3 and Xavier got into position and we began toasts, followed by parent dances, a honeymoon dance, and bouquet/garter tosses.  We then opened the dance floor for some dancing. But, we had another surprise in store for everyone… Tom Ham’s actually allowed the use of fog! Using a special hazer, I started spreading a light level of haze over the dance floor and soon it was like “Club Asaro” in there! Maybe that’s one of the reasons why so many guests were still present at the end of the night, but I like to think it had something to do with my mixes and song selection as well.

Cake cutting went well. The cake was huge, and included a unique touch in the form of a cake-topper. Instead of figures of a bride and groom, it was a hot air balloon. This topper symbolized the location where Willie proposed to Johanna– while they were getting onto a hot air balloon! Originally we planned to display the montage after the cake cutting, to provide an atmosphere for guests to enjoy cake. Since the video had already been shown, I improvised and took the bride and groom through a journey of the Shoe Game. Which Willie won, I may add, if for no other reason than the fact that Johanna got caught cheating twice! haha

The rest of the night was full of open dancing with song selections consisting of several of Willie and Johanna’s favorites, a set of 90’s hip-hop, 80’s rock and alternative, and of course today’s chart-topping hits! I was a bit busy mixing so I didn’t get to get video of most of it, but towards the end I captured two clips, one of everyone doing a train (notice there’s not a single chair occupied!) and another of the bride and groom and friends dancing their hearts out to their introduction song. The video captures the energy pretty well, wouldn’t you say?

The night ended with a last dance song to Abba – The Winner Takes It All.

Last Dance at Tom Ham's Lighthouse

Afterwards, Willie and Johanna stuck around and said goodbye to their guests. Willie came over and thanked me for my service, and mentioned that he would “recommend me to anyone, any time”. I took the opportunity to get a post-event picture with them and Johanna’s mother, Nanette Jimenez.

DJ Dennis J with Willie and Johanna Asaro

DJ Dennis J with Johanna's mother, Nanette Jimenez

Congratulations to Willie and Johanna Asaro, and thanks once again for inviting me to be a part of their special night!

More from Creative Music DJs

• Hard Rock Hotel Wedding – Roxana and Jeff Brown
• Admiral Kidd Club Wedding – Shannon and Jason Fouts
• San Diego Botanical Gardens – Allen Wedding
• My Latest Wedding Disaster Aversion Story
• Coronado Candelas Wedding – Ruby and Antonio

Creative Music DJs Recommend

• Kevin Gausman’s thoughts post-MLB draft  (All Things Colorado Preps)
• There is no vaccine for fear, and it’s contagious  (Mile High Mamas)
• SXSW 2008: Julio Enriquez’s journal  (Reverb)

Liberty Station Birthday Party – Rita and Rosalie

Client: Jim Fitzpatrick
Venue: Liberty Station – Luce Court
Venue Address: 2640 Historic Decatur Road
Number of guests: 100
Services Provided: DJ and Master of Ceremonies, Dance Floor Lighting, Video Montage

A few months ago I was contacted by Jim Fitzpatrick to perform at his wife, Rita,(and her twin sister, Rosalie)’s 50th birthday party. Jim and Rita first saw me perform in Liberty Station at the Spirits At Liberty Station fundraiser in October 2009. According to Rita, after they saw me there, they both said to each other, “we have to hire this guy when we have a party!” Of course, all of this was unknown to me until just recently…

Jim and I met at his office downtown and worked out the details. They wanted dance floor lighting (“light it up like a CLUB!” was their request), and also opted for the video montage package. I coached Jim a bit about the type of pictures he should include in the montage, and gave advise about creating it. Jim hit a few snags along the way while creating his montage, and we were on the phone frequently towards the days before the event making sure he had all the details correct. At one point, I even invited Jim over to our house for a consultation and to preview the montage on the actual projector we were using for his event. Needless to say, by the day of the event, Jim was completely confident that the montage was going to go over perfectly.

Jim and Rita selected Liberty Station for their venue, convenient for me since I had obviously worked at the venue before! They set up a tent in Luce Court, directly behind the NTC Promenade main entrance. The entire event was coordinated by Christine Ong, from Encore Events.

Tress Balch, from Happy’s Sushi, catered the party with a total of three stations. One was a sushi bar…

Sushi Bar

and two were hot food stations consisting of delicious items such as appetizers, shishkabobs and fried shrimp.

One of the hot bars

Appetizers and Hot Food

Bar service was provided by Jamie from Event Beverage Solutions. I’ll definitely recommend her in the future because she was extremely personable and friendly. She came over and offered me refills when she saw that I couldn’t leave my booth! Afterwards, when we were cleaning up she also complimented me on the mix, which was nice.

Liquor Bar

For this event, I chose to debut my new Cerwin Vega speaker set, which fit the decor well and provided more than ample sound. As you can see, it looks good. The tops are stylish and thin, yet contain two 8″ woofers each tuned to a different frequency range.

Cerwin Vega Speaker Setup

For cocktails and dinner, Jim left the music selection to me, so I started with some smooth jazz, moved into some ‘rat pack’ 20s-40s, and then transitioned into some easy listening and contemporary music such as Jason Mraz and Beach Boys. Since it was a birthday party, song selections were themed around celebration and wonderful lives.

Before dancing began, we started the video montage. The projector lit up the screen flawlessly, and Jim even remarked to me during the display, saying, “that’s an amazing projector you have.” I always try to explain to clients beforehand that our projector is not the ‘norm’ but it really has to be seen to fully understand what that means. We use an extremely high ‘lumens’ projector so that the whites remain white even over long distances and in low lighting (most projectors are made to be used in very dark settings, and cannot display whites correctly when there is lighting in the room). I took the occasion to get some video of the guests enjoying the video. I think that this video capture will help show you more about how the montage went over than the actual montage itself!

Here’s a shot of everyone enjoying the video montage.

Guests Enjoying the Video Montage

And here’s a short video showing guests enjoying the montage.

<video coming soon>

Now, when Jim and I had met, he had informed me that his wife was 50, but a “young 50″. So, I was thinking 70’s and 80’s would be the night’s big hits. However, before the dancing began, Rosalie came over and asked me if I could start with “Boom Boom Pow” since it was her son Wyatt’s favorite song. When it came time for dancing we started with Black Eyed Peas, then Jim came over and told me to ‘rock this place like a high school gym’.

The set definitely ebbed and flowed. I went through many genres: Uptempo club, 80’s Pop, 70’s Disco, 80’s Funk, Latin (Salsa, Merengue), 90’s Hip-Hop, Current Top40. Guests danced all night long, and the hosts felt that the night was going so well that they didn’t want to interrupt it for the cake event, so they just silently cut cake and gave it out subtly!

And that gesture in itself was the ultimate verification that the night was enjoyed by everyone!

A picture of Jim and his wife, Rita.

Jim and Rita Fitzpatrick

A picture of me with the birthday girls, Rita and Rosalie.

Rita Fitzpatrick and her sister Rosalie

A picture of the host and client, Jim Fitzpatrick, after a job well done!

Jim Fitzpatrick and DJ Dennis J, post-event

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Holiday Inn Carlsbad by the Sea Wedding – Christopher and Lisa Siegfried

Client: Christopher and Lisa Siegfried
Venue: Holiday Inn Carlsbad by the Sea- Large Gazebo and Lanai room
Venue Address: 850 Palomar Airport Rd. Carlsbad, CA 92011
Number of guests: 100
Services Provided: Wedding DJ and Master of Ceremonies, Wedding Ceremony

This has to be one of the most eventful weddings I have done in a long time. If you have ever wondered just how well an experienced professional DJ can avert disaster at a wedding (even more so than the incident at Admiral Kidds Club when the cloud cover rolled in), well, here’s your chance to find out! Although these experiences are frustrating as they are occuring, they make for great stories later, and really help to hone the problem-solving skills every professional wedding DJ should have.

I arrived at Holiday Inn by the Sea in Carlsbad about two hours before the ceremony start time. Setup went really well in the Lanai reception room. The wedding colors were pink and purple, which I had verified with Christopher and Lisa beforehand. To complement their color scheme, I brought along my limited edition collectors edition vinyl. There were only 1500 of these pressed worldwide.

The Cover of Diplo's Limited Edition Pink Serato Vinyl

Although I had never opened the vinyl, I knew it was pink and were hoping it would complement the pink that was being used. When I opened it we found a pleasant surprise– not only was the vinyl the right shade of pink, but the center record label was purple! I couldn’t have planned it better if I tried. See for yourself. Doesn’t it look great?

San Diego DJ Style Vinyl Matching Wedding Linen Colors

A closer look at the Diplo Vinyl setup with Rane TTM-57SL

The ceremony site presented me with some issues. After setting up everything, I went to do the sound check, and to my dismay I couldn’t get my system to power up! There was only one outlet in the ceremony site vicinity, and it was located behind the large gazebo. After switching out a few cables and getting nowhere, I got a hold of the front desk and asked for assistance. At first the janitor wasn’t sure that the problem was on their end, but after I went to my truck and got a PAR light, plugged it into the socket and showed him that there was no power, he was convinced that the power was not working. To rectify things he ran a power cable from a different location and I was able to get power up and going. The ceremony started a little behind schedule, but by shortening the seating time the guests hardly noticed. The ceremony was beautiful and enjoyed by all.

As any professional DJ knows to do, I went around to the other vendors and made sure the timeline I had printed out was agreed to by all. The caterer had an issue though– she had been told everything was pre-prepared but in reality all the cold appetizers were not. As such, the planned timeline of serving cold appetizers for cocktail took a bit to start. I went over to the bride and groom (who were just finishing taking pictures) an informed them of the situation. I then asked them if they wanted to postpone Introductions until the food had been out for a bit, or just get introduced and then join guests with the appetizer portion. They opted for the latter.

Now comes the biggest snag of the evening– The guest count. Tables had been set for the number of expected guests but more showed up than planned. There were so many extra that all tables were full, even the table that had been set up for the bride and groom!

Thinking fast, one of the groomsman and myself grabbed a table from outside and brought it in. We had some of the other guests go grab us matching linens and were able to make it look part of the original scheme. However, the table was huge! It was obviously way too big for just two people to sit at without looking out of place, so I came up with another idea. I went around to each member of the bridal party and explained the situation, and suggested that they help remedy the problem by coming to sit at the table also. The suggestion went over well and soon we had the table full of the wedding party, sans bride and groom of course!

Back outside I went, giving a brief explanation to the newlyweds about what we had done. Additionally, I told them that the new table was only about 6 feet from the door and it would be weird for them to walk in and stop at their seats. Instead, I suggested that they walk in, turn and walk left, stopping in the center of the edge of the dance floor. There, they should stop, let their guests applaud a bit more, and then have a seat at their table. They accepted this idea with growing trust, and the introductions commenced flawlessly. I’m sure most of the guests had no idea there was ever even a problem, which is the way it should be!

The rest of the reception went well. The bride and groom performed a ballroom dance to their first dance which the guests enjoyed. Four songs into open dancing, I played Sway, and the bride and groom performed another practiced waltz. They were amazing to watch, and I made sure the guests gave them not one but TWO enthusiastic rounds of applause for it.

Guests danced throughout the entire reception, and many had enjoyed some of the unique things I do enough to come up and request a business card. After the last dance, I had them form an exit tunnel and we sent the new couple on their way to enjoy their new life. To my surprise, after the send off, guests came back inside and asked if I was going to continue spinning because they were having fun dancing to the mix. I gave them a few more songs and then set up my iPhone with one of my many mixes available on Beezo.net and let them enjoy some cleverly mixed tunes while they broke down all the chairs and tables and I packed up my equipment.

All in all it was a wonderfully successful wedding, and a great example of why it is imperative that one should hire an experienced professional DJ if they want to ensure that their wedding goes well even if complications arise! Of course, performing disaster control left me with little time to take pictures, so unfortunately I can’t show more pictures of the reception at this time. However, the photographer (Brianne Atkinson) was great and she promised to supply me with some pictures from her work soon.

Congratulations to Christopher and Lisa Siegfried, and thanks for inviting us to participate on your special day!

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• San Diego Botanical Gardens – Allen Wedding
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San Diego Fundraiser for Haiti

Client: Katey Fisher on behalf of Dr. Carolle Jean-Murat
Venue Type: Retreat
Venue Address: 10039 Fuerte Dr, San Diego, CA
Number of guests: 100+

Services Provided: Video equipment, supply, delivery, and set up/breakdown.

Creative Music DJs is now an “Angel of Haiti”.

To do this, we worked with Katey Fisher, an event coordinator in San Diego, to assist a prominent activist in her efforts to raise money to help those in Haiti that were affected by the recent disaster.

Dr. Carolle Jean-Murat is a Haitian Doctor who lives here in San Diego at her retreat. She has two non-profit organizations 1. Angels for Haiti and 2. Health Through Communications Foundation. She has built a school, a hospital and a park in Haiti and has also offered free medical care to several thrid world countries. This woman is amazing!

On January 23, 2010, Dr. Jean-Murat held a fundraiser at her San Diego retreat. For this fundraiser she had developed a slideshow showing some of the benefits that had been provided to Haiti via fundraising. She enlisted our help to supply equipment to project this slideshow for all guests to enjoy.

The fundraiser helped to raise close to $2000.00 to help with the Doctor’s cause, and we’re happy to have helped with this effort. The event was a success, and gained the coverage and attention of local news stations KSWB and KGTV 10News.

Video Equipment Supplied for Haiti Fundraiser

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• Onyx Room – Saturday January 9, 2010

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Winter Formal Dance – Julian Charter High School (JCS)

Client: Jenn Sheehey
Venue Type: Banquet Facility
Venue Address: 35245 Briggs Rd, Murrieta, CA 92563
Number of guests: 100+
Services Provided: Dance (mostly top-40) music, energetic emceeing, premium dance floor lighting, fog machine, laser lighting, wired microphone

Julian Charter High School held their Winter Formal dance at Monteleone Meadows. Creative Music DJs was contracted to provide the entertainment.
For those that do not know the location of Monteleone Meadows, let me tell you, it’s not easy to find even in daylight! The road, Briggs Road, is under construction, and if you get on the wrong part of it, you can get really lost! After driving around a bit, I found a way around the hill and made it to the school.

The staff of Monteleone Meadows are very pleasant and helpful. The manager, Gaby Wempe, was especially helpful at the end of the night and helped carry some equipment to the trailer for me.

The kids were very excited to dance! JCS had requested fog and premium lighting, so we went with an assorted display of Vue IIIs, a Tri-Pearl, Scorpion 56RG, and a Galaxian laser.

The floor was packed all night, despite the fact that there were casino tables in the same room! HS kids are excellent at letting DJs know when they enjoy a song, and this group was no exception. There were plenty of ‘wooooo’s, ‘yeeeeeeah’s, and ‘yaaaay’s to go around.

I had received a song request list before the event, so I didn’t expect that many requests, but there were still several. The song of the night was, “Circus” by Britney Spears. I think I had at least 8 requests alone for it. Then again, it could have been one or two people sending their friends one at a time to re-request the song until it was played. Yes, we’re actually on to those tricks, don’t think you’re being slick! Here’s a couple of pictures from the night:

After the dance, I talked with Mrs. Sheehey while tearing down equipment about feedback from the night. She stated, (I’m quoting) “You just blew away any DJ these kids have ever seen. I’m pretty sure everyone is going to want you for Prom in April.” She also mentioned that the ASB staff had made me a thank-you card but she had left it behind. I thanked her for the opportunity and then we posed together for a picture.

There’s no doubt that this school dance was a success, and I’m so glad for the opportunity to have made JCS’s Winter Formal a memorable and enjoyable experience!

Congratulations to the winners of the night:

Drawing for free night stay with free dinner and spa treatment at Pala Casino: Emily Warren

Freshman class Prince and Princess: Matt Smith and Alexis Umathem

Sophomore class Prince and Princess: Alex Morgan and Shellen Glahn

Junior class Prince and Princess: Austin Lewis and Amanda Difilipo

Senior King and Queen: Josiah Herrera and Hanna Johnson

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