The Crosby Wedding – Brandon and Stephanie Hammermeister

Before I begin the recap of this wedding, have any of my readers heard of Wedding Wars? For those not familiar, it was a show on VH1 where 11 couples competed ‘Survivor-style’ for the ‘Ultimate Wedding’ (a $100,000 wedding with a $25,000 nest-egg). Each contest during the show had a prize of it’s own, from a complete set of outfits for the entire wedding party, to a $10,000 gift registry.

Brandon Hammermeister and Stephanie Houghton were one of the couples chosen to compete on Wedding Wars. They did an amazing job, but that was probably part of their downfall. They are both very athletic and in the beginning of the show they won several episode contests:

Episode #2 – The guys had to throw bouquets over their heads to the women, who had to catch as many as they could and get them to a finish line. But that’s kind of where the rules ended. It was a knock-down drag-out fight to get those bouquets across the finish line. Stephanie and Brandon won the prize of $5000 worth of floral arrangements.

Episode #3 – Each couple had a three-tier cake placed in front on them, and the first couple to eat the entire cake won the challenge. Sounds easy, right? Well, here’s the catch. The first layer was frosting over … blue cheese! The second layer was frosting over … pigs feet (yes, nails and such too). And if that wasn’t enough the third and largest layer was frosting over … dog food! If you have to watch one episode of Wedding Wars, I recommend it is this episode! Each couple started diving into the cake, and several didn’t make it past the first layer before vomiting and giving up. So how did Brandon and Stephanie win? They proved they are not only athletic, they are also ingenious! Instead of tackling the layers one by one, they made a smart decision and mashed all the layers together, creating a glob of disgusting stuff, but a glob without any one strong flavor! This allowed them to eat the cake slowly but effectively and they won. Their prize was a cake package worth $2500.

They made it to Episode #5, where they were cast off the island by elimination vote. The general consensus is that the other contestants realized how strong of a couple they were and that they stood a good chance of winning if allowed to remain.

Lucky for me, they didn’t make it to Episode #7 where they could have won a DJ for their wedding! Also lucky for me that Stephanie and Brandon chose to have their wedding at The Crosby Club at Rancho Santa Fe, a gorgeous venue that looks like this from the outside.

Wedding Ceremony

Wedding Lighting

The elegant look of The Crosby was enhanced even further by the use of uplighting, a cake pinspot, and a giant monogram to cover the curtain where they made their grand entrance.

Note the cake topper used on their cake. If you watched any of the episodes of Wedding Wars, you’ll recognize the topper as the same one used for the elimination rounds!

And here’s a classy shot Jared Bauman got of the cake topper ‘watching’ the guests.

The size of the monogram required precise projector placement, but I made sure to cover all of the stand to give the most classy event look possible.

Wedding Reception

Cocktail hour was held in the center of the building, which on The Crosby’s website is called, “Private Dining Room”.

Cocktail Hour

Dining

Once cocktails were over, I invited guests into the ballroom began the Grand Entrance. Brandon and Stephanie used the curtain to create a theatrical entrance. As I announced each group of the wedding party, they came bursting out of the curtains to thunderous applause. It was a great way to set the mood for the rest of the night. Sorry, no photos yet, but hopefully soon!

Immediately after the Grand Entrance, we went into dinner.

First Dance

When dinner was drawing to a close, Stephanie and Brandon started their First Dance.

Wedding Toasts

For the toast beverage, a distinguished guest of theirs that couldn’t appear in person donated a gigantic bottle of quality champagne for use during toasts. I announced this to the guests, and then the catering staff made a big show of opening the bottle for guests to enjoy. Stephanie and Brandon left me to my own devices for this presentation, so as the bottle was being popped, I chose to play Ron Brows – Pop Champagne. It seemed to be a good choice since the guests started singing along with the chorus as the champagne was being opened.

Brandon and Stephanie then gave a short speech and thanked their family and guests.

Father Daughter Dance

For their dances, I’d like to demonstrate an interesting effect I used that I can incorporate when a client has a white dance floor. If you’re willing to get a white dance floor for your event, I can make your dance floor appear to change colors under your feet!

Mother Son Dance

After formal dances were over, we opened the dance floor up for everyone!

Wedding Dancing

After a bit of dancing we took a break for some more formal activities.

Wedding Cake

Garter Toss

Bouquet Toss

Wedding Dancing Part II

Post-Reception

After another wonderful wedding reception, I got a photo with the newlyweds, Brandon and Stephanie Hammermeister.

Congratulations to Brandon and Stephanie and their families, and thanks for choosing The Creative Music DJ for your special day!

Additional Photos

Here’s some additional photos that are worth showing.

Wedding Wars winner and runner-up couples Joseph & Elsie, and Rich & Marina were guests at the Hammermeister’s wedding. From what I understand they’ve all become really good friends since the show. How cool is that, right? Here’s a photo of me with Joseph and Rich.

Jared also managed to get a cool shot of me behind the turntables.

As an afternote, I really like The Crosby Estates at Rancho Santa Fe. If anyone has any influence on getting me onto their preferred vendor list, please contact me!

Coronado Community Center Wedding of Kellan and Charlene

This was day 2 of a two-day series of weddings I had at one of my favorite venues, Coronado Community Center, which Kellan and Charlene chose as their wedding reception venue. As I’ve mentioned, I’m a preferred vendor of Coronado Community Center and it is one of my favorite spots to work at, but this is the first time I’ve actually had a wedding there on Saturday and Sunday on the same weekend!

Kellen and Charlene chose to use live musicians for their ceremony and cocktail hour, so my part in their special day began once cocktail hour was over.

Wedding Reception

As usual, I set up my DJ equipment without any metal showing, as I believe should be the standard for DJs at any classy event.

When the cocktail hour was finished, I invited their guests into the Nautilus ballroom. Kellan and Charlene chose to do a bride and groom only Grand Entrance, using AC/DC and having me start their introductions after the intro portion, approximate 40 seconds into the song. Sorry, no pic. I was too busy emceeing this portion.

Wedding Lighting

Kellan and Charlene ordered my monogram package, but instead of projecting it on the dance floor, they chose to place it on the rear wall. To accomplish this, I placed the monogram against the side wall and aimed it toward the rear. I know that the look of everything I own can affect an event, so I even go as far as to cover the monogram stand and tripod feet with fabric to ensure the look of a classy event.

My monogram projector is also top-of-the-line and even from short distances it makes large monograms rather easily, as you can see here.

Kellan and Charlene ordered my uplighting package and part of that service is to match a clients’ wedding colors to their uplights. Before their big day, Charlene had sent me a swatch of her ‘blush’ shade, and I sent back the following photo.

As you can see my state-of-the-art uplights allow me to surpass the abilities of older uplights, and I can actually dial in almost any color to enhance the look of an event in the most classy method!

The resulting look of their room was this.

Kellan and Charlene also took advantage of my underlighting specialization which resulted in some very cool underlit tables.

They also took advantage of cake table underlighting and cake pinspotting services. For those considering pinspotting, it really can make a difference with the look of your cake! Although it only makes a minor difference when the lights are up…

It makes all the difference when you dim the lights for dinner and even more during open dancing!

For dinner, I played a good mix of country music, such as Brad Paisley feat. Carrie Underwood – Remind Me and Billy Currington – Good Directions.

Once the guests were done enjoying a delicious meal by Creative Catering, we began wedding toasts.

Wedding Toasts

First Dance

Once toasts were complete, I invited Kellan and Charlene out onto the dance floor for their first dance.

Father Daughter Dance

Mother Son Dance

Father Daughter Dance (second)

After formal dances were over, we opened the dance floor up for everyone!

Wedding Dancing

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After a bit of dancing we took a break for some more formal activities.

Wedding Cake

There were a lot of guests and I felt it was more important to let them get a view of the cake cutting than myself, but I did manage to get one shot.

Garter Toss

The garter toss was quite entertaining. The guests decided that Kellan needed a handicap and so they bound his hands before letting him retrieve the garter.

Bouquet Toss

(no pic, sorry!)

Wedding Dancing Part II

We then opened the dance floor back up for another round of fun dancing.

Last Slow Dance

Post-Reception

After another wonderful wedding reception, I got a photo with Kellan and Charlene.

Congratulations to Kellan and Charlene and their families, and thanks for choosing The Creative Music DJ for your special day!

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!