Lomas Santa Fe Solana Beach Wedding DJ – Pearce and Danielle Tucker

Client: Pearce and Danielle Tucker
Venue: Lomas Santa Fe Country Club
Venue Address: 1505 Lomas Santa Fe Drive, Solana Beach, CA 92075

Number of guests: 200+
Services Provided: Wedding DJ and Master of Ceremonies, Enhanced Dance Floor Lighting, Monogram Gobo Lighting, Event Uplighting, Underlighting

On-site Coordinator: Michelle and David from Lomas Santa Fe Country Club
Photobooth: Mobile Photobooth (Francisco)
Officiant: Ceremonies by Bethel
Photography: Aaron Willcox Photography
Florist: Posy Peddler
Bakery: Flour Power

Here’s an interesting origins tale. I received a call from a preschool called, “La Jolla Children’s Learning Lab.” They needed someone to DJ an after-school dance for their school. We negotiated rates and I DJ’d the event. I really had no idea what to expect going in, so I started off playing some more ‘listening music’ and gradually moved into dance tunes when people started dancing. There were a lot of dance and game activities that they asked me to emcee, and I had a good time getting everyone active and energetic!

Before I even got home from the event that night, an email was waiting for me, which I’ll only show an excerpt of.

“My name is Danielle and we just met at the Preschool where you were DJing. I think you did a great job of playing music that really got people involved and dancing and I was wondering if you could send me a little more information on your services for weddings.”

Wow, talk about a quick inquiry! We made arrangements to meet and discussed the details of their wedding. It was nice to not really have to try to demonstrate knowledge of music because Danielle had already watched me perform and Pearce of course trusted Danielle. So, we just worked on ideas for the finer details, and then parted ways. They booked, and we didn’t meet again until a few weeks before their big day.

Pearce and Danielle wanted a monogram gobo projected on the dance floor so I sent them a few catalogs of my trusted vendors and they chose a nice style, which looked like this before putting their names into it:

Ceremony

On the day of their wedding, I arrived at Lomas Santa Fe and set up my equipment. The staff on-hand was extremely helpful. I would like to especially thank David, the banquet captain, for his efforts in helping me with reception room setup. They really do a lot to make the vendors feel welcome at Lomas Santa Fe.

Typically ceremonies at Lomas Santa Fe are held on the putting green, but Danielle and Pearce’s was at the first hole. This made for a fun series of events including the wedding party and bride being introduced as they rode golf carts which stopped at the beginning of the altar walkway.

Wedding party introduction:

Bride’s march:

Ceremonies By Bethel:

A handfasting ceremony! I love these fun touches, and the handfasting ceremony especially.  When they pulled their hands free, the bindings formed a knot symbolizing their commitment entwined.

Ceremony music:

Seating (Prelude): Vitamin & Tallywood String Quartet
Parents Seating: Pachebel – Canon in D
Bridal Party Entrance: Jason Mraz – I’m Yours
Bride Entrance: Israel Kamakawiwo’ole – Somewhere Over The Rainbow
Recessional: Chris Brown – Forever

Reception Setup

As mentioned above, Pearce and Danielle’s monogram was placed on the dance floor. Their particular one was set to rotate slowly creating a really nice effect.

I did underlighting on their tables to create a beautiful underglow effect. Note that this is only recommended with LED uplighting. I’m using some of the newest state-of-the-art uplighting with 4x the brightness of standard uplights, and they really do a great job with underlighting as you can see here.

Being hockey fans, their cake topper definitely was branded to their personality.

Events

A welcome toast was given by the father of the bride, Dave.

First dance: Alan Jackson – Like Red On A Rose

Toasts:

Father Daughter Dance: Frank Sinatra – The Way You Look Tonight

Mother Son Dance: Louis Armstrong – What A Wonderful World

Dancing

To begin our open dancing, Danielle herself got on the mic, dedicated a song to two couples who were having their anniversaries on their same date, and invited all couples to join them for a slow dance.

Dual anniversary tribute dance: Alan Jackson – Remember When

And then they danced…

…and danced…

And kept on dancing!

Post-Reception

We had a great night full of events and dancing. I did sets of 90s, 80s, 70s, and some top40 as well. I honestly didn’t find the top40 going as well as the 90s and early 2000s throwbacks though!

A post-reception photo of the happy newlyweds with myself:

Congratulations to Pearce and Danielle Tucker, and thanks for trusting in The Creative Music DJ to provide the entertainment and event management for your special day!

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!

Admiral Kidd Wedding – Lili and Gabriel Apgar

Client: Lili and Gabriel Apgar

Venue: Admiral Kidd Catering & Conference Center – Harbor Lounge Room and Patio
Venue Address: 33050 Acoustic Ave Ste 300, San Diego, CA 92136
Venue Coordinator: Tess Hall
Number of guests: 130

Services: Wedding DJ and Master of Ceremonies, Dance Floor Lighting, Event Uplighting

Catering: Admiral Kidd
Photography/Videography: Stephina Photography (Stephanie Cutler & Tina Noel)
Wedding Coordinator: Epiphany Events (Melissa Abeyta)
Florist: San Diego Wholesale Flowers & Bouquets
Linens: A&C Linen Rentals
Hair and Makeup: Glam Dolls Hair & Makeup Artistry

In October of 2010 Lilián Rosas (now Apgar) contacted me via email to discuss her wedding. I met with her and her fiancee, Gabriel Apgar, at Coffee Bean in Mission Valley, and discussed creative ideas and concepts that would fit well into the wedding. It was a good meeting, and a few days later, they emailed to let me know the contract and check were in the mail.

On the day of their reception, I arrived at Admiral Kidd and set up my equipment and lighting inside, between the dance floor and bar, and my ceremony system outside.

I’ve done quite a few weddings at Admiral Kidd so setup was easy and smooth. Their primary color was a soft blue, as you can see by the linens from A&C Linen Rentals and floral by San Diego Wholesale Flowers & Bouquets, and the uplighting complemented this perfectly.

Prelude: Vitamin String
Processional (Parents Seating): Robert Ziegler, Tony Hymas, Patrick Doyle (Sense & Sensibility Soundtrack) – Grant Me An Interview
Processional (Bridesmaids Entrance): Bach – Air On The G String
Processional (Bridal March): Pachebel – Canon in D
Recessional: U2 – A Beautiful Day (DJ Dennis J Ceremony Remix)

They had their cocktail hour on the front patio as is typical for this venue.

Cocktail Hour: ballads, soft rock, “Mariachi Serenade” A Walk in the Clouds Soundtrack ,“Bizarre Love Triangle” New Order, “More Than Words” Extreme, “Eres” Café Tacvba

During their cocktail hour, I took some pictures of the cake with the spotlighting on, to show you what a difference the cake spotlight can make.

Grand Entrance (Wedding Party): Black Eyed Peas – I Gotta Feeling
Grand Entrance (Bride and Groom): Frank Sinatra – Fly Me To The Moon

Immediately after their Grand Entrance, and another enthusiastic round of applause, we started dinner. After dinner, we began toasts, starting with an enthusiastic Maid Of Honor.

And they thanked their guests for coming…

Immediately after toasts, I invited Lili and Gabe onto the dance floor for their first dance.

First Dance: Lady Antebellum – When You Got A Good Thing

Grandfather Granddaughter Dance: Maná – “Bendita La Luz” (Bachata version)

Mother Son Dance: Ben E. King – Stand By Me

We also did an anniversary dance, per the couple’s request. The winning couple ended up being Lili’s grandparents who had been married 52 years!

We then opened the dance floor up! Here’s a good pic of the guests and the groom getting his groove on!

After a bit of dancing, we took a break and began the cake cutting.

Cake Cutting Song: Michael Bublé – How Sweet It Is

To keep the celebration going and give the caterers an opportunity to cut the cake, we began the tosses. Sorry, there no pics. I was too busy managing the events! Maybe I will get some from Stephina Photography later…

Bouquet Toss: Cyndi Lauper – Girls Just Want to Have Fun

Garter Toss: Jimi Hendrix – Foxy Lady

We then went back into open dancing. It was amazing… just when we thought the dance floor was struggling, I hit them with some spanish cumbias and got it really going. I then transitioned to some non-typical 90s throwbacks, and the dance floor just took off and stayed full for the rest of the night!

As a bonus (for me!) of the night, the coordinator, Melissa Abeyta of Epiphany Events, was impressed enough to take the following picture and post it to Facebook with the caption, “You want this DJ to DJ your wedding!”. (Sorry, Melissa. I shameless stole your photo!)

And Stephina Photography posted a great photo of me on Facebook as well.

For last dance, we planned to have a good slow song to wind it down, but there was a bit of an issue with the hotel shuttle. The shuttle had mixed up their date and consequently never arrived. I heard from the bride that later they refunded our deposit and offered services free for a night. Unfortunately this meant the groom was left dealing with the problem so we ended up just keeping the music fast and fun until the end.

After the reception was over, I was able to get my post-reception snapshot.

Congratulations to Lili and Gabe and their families, and thanks for giving me the opportunity to be a part of your special night!