Sheraton Harbor Island Wedding - Matt and Dawn Dean
Client: Matt and Dawn Dean
Venue: Sheraton Harbor Island – Bay Tower – Fairbanks Ballroom (A,B,C,D) – Garden Terrace (Ceremony) – Shutters Room (Cocktails)
Venue Address: 1380 Harbor Island Drive · San Diego, California 92101
Number of guests: Approximately 115
Services Provided: Wedding DJ and Master of Ceremonies, Basic Dance Floor Lighting, Venue Uplighting, Additional Wireless Speakers
Catering: Sheraton Harbor Island
Photography: Arago Photography (Rodrigo Mendez)
Florist: Barliz Florists
Cake: Flour Power
Videographer: Jensen Studios (Tom Jensen)
In May of 2011 I met Dawn Brenner and Matt Dean at Islands Restaurant to discuss their wedding. We had a good meeting and I gave them a lot of good ideas and listened to them to get a feel for their style as well. To be honest, they had some apprehension over my pricing, but I think after our meeting they realized that my value outweighs my pricing because three days later they booked their date!
As typical when I do weddings at Sheraton Harbor Island, they had their ceremony at the
Ceremony Prelude (Guest Seating): Vitamin String Quartet
Ceremony Processional (Parents Seating): Bach – Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring
Ceremony Processional (Bridesmaids): Pachebel – Canon in D
Ceremony Processional (Bridal March): Here Comes The Bride Album – Bridal March
Ceremony Recessional: U2 – Beautiful Day (Dennis J Ceremony Remix)
After ceremony was over, guests were escorted outside of the venue to the Shutters Room for cocktail hour. In the cocktail room I had a separate wireless system set up since the room is well over 100′ from the main system. It worked perfectly and guests enjoyed cocktail songs until we were ready to open the ballroom doors and usher them inside.
Cocktail Songs: Hidden Beach
When photos were finished, we opened the ballroom doors and inviting guests into the room using the wireless system. I had my system set up in the center of the room against the wall, and had also set up 8 uplights along the edges of the room. It looked great, if I do say myself. As you can see, my system was clean and professional as usual.
A few minutes later we began the Grand Entrance. The Grand Entrance was a lot of fun, and the parents even participated in the introductions.
Grand Entrance (Wedding Party): Black Eyed Peas – I Gotta Feeling (Instrumental)
Grand Entrance (Bride and Groom): Ja’net DuBois & Oren Waters - Movin’ On Up (Jeffersons Theme Song)
Immediately after Grand Entrance, we started their first dance.
First Dance: Bob Dylan – Never Say Goodbye
After their First Dance, Dawn’s father gave a blessing toast.
We then started dinner. After dinner, we began toasts.
We then started Dawn’s dance with her father.
Father Daughter Dance: Tim McGraw – My Little Girl
Mother Son Dance: Louis Armstrong – What A Wonderful World
And then some open dancing!
We took a break after a bit and did the cake cutting.
Cake Cutting Song: Beatles – In My Life / When I’m 64
And then got that dance floor going again. It was a crazy dance floor and I spent a lot of time mixing and less taking photos.
For the last dance, they chose to have all couples join them on the dance floor. I’m not sure why, but I don’t have a photo of this.
Last Dance: Van Morrison – Crazy Love
After the reception was over I made sure to get a photo with the happy newlyweds. Compliment of the night was from Matt: “Man, you’re an awesome DJ!”. Well, I’m hoping my talent is the thing that is getting me awesome clients like Matt and Dawn Dean!
Congratulations to the Deans and their families, and best wishes for many happy years to come!
Addendum:
Matt posted a review on Yelp and Bridal Insider (direct links are on those two keywords). I’ve pasted a copy of it below, verbatim. Thanks, Matt!
When I first met Dennis I was very impressed by his professionalism and knowledge of music. I knew I was going to book him as soon as the meeting was over. After my wife and I discussed it, I called him shortly after and booked him for our wedding. I know we made a great decision, most of the other DJ’s that I looked into just didn’t have that same personality or musical drive.
I am sure we weren’t the easiest couple to work with as my taste in music doesn’t translate very well on the dance floor. In fact, when I was filling out the paper work we mostly included the important songs of First dance, Father Daughter, and Mother son, everything else was left blank. He kept asking me what kind of music I would want to be played and I simply told him its up to him. I was a bit nervous that I didn’t give him much direction in what we wanted played, however, when we were at the ceremony as well as the reception everything was great. I was very impressed by the music and to see people that normally don’t dance on the dance floor, dancing the night away(some weren’t even drinking!). I am not a big dancer and neither are my friends but that didn’t matter the music was so good you just had to groove to it.
If you’re looking for a DJ for your wedding, Birthday, or any other type of get together, I would highly recommend Dennis. He can really read a crowd and will know what to play to please any and all crowds no matter how diverse their musical tastes are. I know that our wedding day wouldn’t and couldn’t have been as special if we didn’t decide to hire Dennis as our DJ. I haven’t really spoken with him since that day…….but Dennis,……….Thank You Very Much for everything that you have done. Your an amazing DJ and have a great passion for what you do. I really cannot thank you enough.
BEST DJ EVER!
