Lomas Santa Fe Country Club Wedding – Angelina and Jeff Stordahl

Client: Angelina and Jeff Stordahl
Venue: Lomas Santa Fe Country Club
Venue Address: 1505 Lomas Santa Fe Drive, Solana Beach, CA 92075

Number of guests: 218+
Services Provided: Wedding DJ and Master of Ceremonies, Enhanced Dance Floor Lighting, Wedding Video Montage

On-site Coordinator: Michelle from Lomas Santa Fe Country Club
Day-of Coordinator: Vali Nemetz
Officiant: Matt Warner
Photography: Jackie Wonders Photography
Videography: Curtis Nemetz Productions (Travis Avila / Nick Bower)

This wedding was the second of two I had in a weekend, and contained so many unique touches which I just have to share with you all.

Angelina Duran and Jeff Stordahl contacted me in March to see if I could DJ their wedding. We talked about their budget, and based on what they had allotted I was able to put together a package which we were both confortable with. They had chosen Lomas Santa Fe Country Club as their wedding venue and wanted someone who knew the venue. We met in-person and after the meeting I felt pretty good about our conversation. Apparently so did they because the day after our meeting they e-mail and said they were ready to book me for their wedding!

A few weeks before the wedding one of the groomsmen, Curtis Nemetz, e-mailed me to ask about assisting with some ideas he had. At the time these were ‘top secret’ but now that the event is over I can divulge the details. Basically Curtis planned to do his toast to the bride and groom as a rap performance(!) and wanted to ask about microphone details and provide me with the instrumental track he was going to be rapping over. We talked a bit back and forth via email, and got all the details worked out.

A week or so after working out the details with Curtis, I met with Angelina and Jeff for my usual wedding worksheet review and finalization meeting. In this meeting, Angelina played some songs she liked and was considering using for her ceremony and reception. I showed her alternate versions and helped them with every song of the ceremony and many of the reception. We even discussed a song they wanted to use for their recessional (MGMT – Kids) but were hesitant about because of the slow buildup. I offered to remix it for them removing the slow buildup and instead having a short drumroll build-up with a ’slam’ directly into the high-energy part of the song. They accepted the offer.

When I arrived at Lomas Santa Fe Country Club, I was greeted by the helpful and friendly staff. Due to the non-standard setup I use for weddings (turntables and such), we had previously arranged to have the room a little different than normal, and they worked with me to make sure everything worked well for me as I in turn worked to make sure that the set up would not inconvenience the venue staff/catering in any way. The set up actually took a while because they were over capacity (seems to be a recurring theme at my weddings!) and it was difficult to get equipment into the room and then to the proper location. Ceremony took place down a long set of stairs while led out to the grass area, which also took a bit of work to get equipment to. Luckily I knew this venue and had arrived early so that I would have enough time to complete set up and sound checks. I also must give a special thanks to Michelle, the venue coordinator who worked with me all night long. She was amazing! It is rare to find a coordinator that is so helpful, willing to work with you and compromise on details in order to make sure everything runs smooth. She not only has her client’s best interests in mind, but also the vendors. I look forward to working with her again.
The ceremony was beautiful. The guest count was large, and so was the amount of people in the wedding party! There were 9 bridesmaids and 9 groomsmen altogether, as you can see here.

Ceremony music:

Seating (Prelude): Traditional classical string music
Parents and Bridesmaids: Vitamin String Quartet – Coldplay’s “Yellow”
Processional: Pachebel – Canon in D
Sand Ceremony & Communion (Interlude): Jon Foreman – Your Love Is Strong
Recessional: MGMT – Kids (DJ Dennis J processional remix)

The remixed version of MGMT – “Kids” really did the trick. The energy was high, people really seemed to like it, and the bride and groom looked incredibly happy as they walked back from the altar.

The reception started well with a nice relaxing playlist of “rat pack” tunes. For the Grand Entrance, the wedding party entered to an instrumental version of Debbie Deb – When I Hear Music. Both Michelle and Vali helped me with this. With their assistance it was much easier to manage the events and make sure everything ran smooth. When it came time to announce the Bride and Groom, I mixed in the regular version of the same song and as they hit the dance floor the lyrics started playing. The wedding party had a blast dancing to the introduction song, and this pretty much set the tone of the night… celebrate!

First dance came next, and it was beautiful though I was busy coordinating so I was unable to get a picture of it. I’ve contacted the photographer and will post a picture of it if I receive one from her. Jeff and Angelina danced to Elvis – Can’t Help Falling In Love.
During the end of dinner, I set up my projector and screen and played a beautiful slideshow that had been created by Curtis Nemetz Productions.

Toasts began a little behind schedule but that’s not unusual. Due to the size of the room and the amount of people, we didn’t have the toasters stand in front of the bride and groom as is customary, instead they gave the toasts from their seats, which worked well in this case.

After standard toasts, I announced another special performance from a young girl named Alexia “Lexie” Jones (Angelina’s niece, I believe). We hooked her piano keyboard up to my soundsystem and she played a rendition for Angelina and Jeff with amazing skill which received generous applause. I am hoping to get a picture of her performance as well, for now all I have is a set up picture of her equipment…

Jeff and Angelina are very close to their families, so there were more than the usual amount of ‘parent dances’.

Father/Daughter dance (Tom) – “You are so Beautiful To Me” (Joe Cocker)

Grandfather/Granddaughter dance (Richard) – “We’ve only just Begun” (Carpenters)

Mother/Son dance(Janice) – “My Wish” (Rascal Flatts)

After parent dances it was time for the special toast. I handed Curtis Nemetz the mic, got behind the turntables, and well… you’ll just have to watch for yourself!

The end of Curtis’ rap triggered incredible applause, and the groomsmen all stayed on the floor ready to dance. So, I announced open dancing and started a good set of dance music. There was no problem getting these guests to dance, and my set flowed from disco to funk to current 40s, and surprisingly ending with 70’s funk because of the amount and types of guests still remaining at the end of the reception. Usually I count the guests remaining, but it was actually impossible this time. By the time I counted one side of the room half those people were now on the other side, or on the dance floor, or someplace else that made counting impossible! Here’s a picture towards the end of the night. Notice how many people are still there?

Everyone was having so much fun that Jeff asked me to go for an extra hour which I was all too happy to do.

When it was time to shut down, guests were yelling “one more song!” and one or two actually yelled, “ten more songs!”. However, Jeff and Ang were ready to go! I thanked the guests and family for coming and then directed their guests to follow them outside and see them off while I started tearing down.

Before I got into the equipment breakdown I did manage to get a good photo with Jeff and Angelina.

Congratulations to Jeff, Angelina and the families, and thanks to both of them for choosing me to take along with them on their special night!

E l Cortez – Barbolla Wedding

Client: Andrew and Carmen Barbolla
Venue: El Cortez – Don Room
Venue Address: 702 Ash Street, Suite A, San Diego, CA 92101

Number of guests: approximately 150
Services Provided: Wedding DJ and Master of Ceremonies, Enhanced Dance Floor Lighting, Wedding Video Montage

Wedding Coordination: Kelly Hath

This was the first of two weddings I had this week.

Carmen Mosley and Andrew Barbolla contacted me in May to inquire about wedding services. They were getting married at El Cortez, and wanted someone who could DJ and MC, knew their genres of music (70s disco & 80s funk, as well as current hits and some latin). Carmen was out of town but arranged a phone meeting with her fiancee. After talking with him, they decided to book with me.

Months later, Carmen returned to San Diego and arranged to meet in-person. At that time she learned about my wedding video montage creation service and decided to add it on to their package. For those that are not aware, I provide a service where clients can give me up to 100 pictures and I will create their montage for them, using professional video editing software to create eye-catching montages complete with custom transitions, including effects such as ken burns and book zoom. At the wedding I will then project the created montage using high-powered projectors and large projector screens.

When I arrived at El Cortez, the band that was scheduled to play had already taken up their spot. I set up my system next to theirs, and placed my speakers on either side of the stairs. Because of the shape of the room (octagonal, and rather round), bass has to be kept minimal or else you get an echo effect that ruins the sound. I set my subwoofer on “1″ and it seemed to work great.

Since I use vinyl, many times I like to ask my clients what their wedding colors are and try to match their decor with a similar shade of vinyl. They told me that their main color was purple so I brought my purple vinyl. What they didn’t mention was that their secondary color was a brownish orange. How fateful it was that the labels to my purple vinyls were almost the exact same shade! I couldn’t have planned it any better if I had tried. Check it out!

For ceremony, Carmen and Andrew went with a string quartet.

Seating Music: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3
Processional Bridal Party Music: Three Divertimenti
Bride’s Processional Music: Pachelbel’s Canon in D
Recessional Music: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

After ceremony, guests went outside to enjoy a cocktail hour while I played some light listening music for anyone who might venture inside.

Introductions went well, as Carmen and Andrew chose to only have themselves introduced as “Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Barbolla”.

Dinner began, and afterwards we started toasts. This is when the rest of the bridal party was introduced. Toasts were done in the following order.

Best Man: Dennis Kavanagh
Matron of Honor: Vivian Boos
Father of Bride: Jerome Mosley
Mother of Groom: Diane Barbolla
Bridesmaid: Danielle Egan

After toasts, we began dances. Instead of using my camera, I let my video recorder run and recorded the dances. Here’s some frames from the video I captured.

First Dance Music: Adele – Make You Feel My Love

Father/Daughter Music: Frank Sinatra – The Way You Look Tonight

Mother/Son Music: Toby Lightman – Better 

 Halfway through the dance, the groom switched to dancing with his grandmother, and the Best Man graciously took over dancing with his mom.

..

After the dances it was time for open dancing, and this was a good dance group. They shuffled their feet to 70’s, 80’s, even some 50’s.

After about 45 minutes, it was time for their friend’s band to play. They were known as Bedford Grove, and had a blues/folk sound to them. They played for about 45 mins, and then turned the dance floor back over to me. They were actually really cool people, and when they weren’t playing they were on the dance floor getting their groove on. One of two of them even made some requests, and I was able to get one of their requests into my set.

I started my second set, but with a twist. The bride and groom had arranged a “crazy half hour” in which I brought a pre-planned bag of props to the dance floor, dumped them all out, and told guests to grab whatever they wanted because we were about to do a bunch of follow-along songs in the next “crazy half hour”. The guests loved it, and it was fun to watch them dance wearing masks, hats, and other assorted apparel. I mixed songs like a madman, weaving through all the classics (cheesy and non-cheesy), and watching the dancefloor with amusement. After the crazy half hour was up, I transitioned into some good dance music and kept the floor going with guests who were even more enthusiastic than the first set. So enthusiastic, in fact, that when it came time for cake cutting, bouquet toss, and garter toss, they asked if they could just do the cake cutting and then skip the rest so they could dance more. I had no problem honoring that request.

I actually have video of the dancing, including the “crazy half hour”. I will post it up as soon as I go through it.

Cake cutting was done to a combination of Rathergood’s “Cake” and Eileen Barton’s “If I knew you were coming (I’d have baked a cake)”.

Open dancing commenced and they danced right up til the very end, after which Carmen and Andrew were happy to pose with me for a post-reception picture. I love the fact that she still has on her mask from the crazy half hour! As a matter of fact, she never took it off during the whole time after that half hour. I think she even has it on in her cake cutting photos, but I haven’t received any to verify that yet!

Morgan Run – Hanssen Wedding

Client: Laura [maiden name: Healey] and Greg Hanssen
Venue: Morgan Run – French Country Ballroom and Morgan Patio
Venue Address: 5690 Cancha de Golf, Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92091

Number of guests: approximately 112
Services Provided: Wedding DJ and Master of Ceremonies, Enhanced Dance Floor Lighting, Wedding Video Montage, Additional Wireless Speaker System

Wedding Coordination: Creative Music DJs
Photography: Katie Carney Photography
Caterer: Morgan Run

Teresa Healey contacted me in February to inquire about wedding services. I responded, and a few days later Laura sent me an e-mail. The inquiry was actually for her wedding, and her sister was helping find the right DJ. What I found most interesting about Laura’s response is that along with asking me if I was still available, she had already gone ahead and filled out a decent portion of my wedding planning worksheet! Then and there I knew that this was going to be a good fit, since I like order and detail, and this showed both!

Laura doesn’t live in San Diego any more, though this is her ‘home’. Because of this, a physical meeting was not possible until much later, but we met over the phone and determine that we were a good fit for each other. They booked, and then Laura contacted me in June to meet in person and go over finer details. It was at this time I learned that due to the capacity of the room vs. the number of guests (they were over capacity) they were going to have the dance floor outside. In cases like this, I recommend my additional wireless speaker option, which allows me to transmit the same sound from my main speaker to a second set of speaker far away, all wirelessly. Since my main system was going to be outside, yet dinner, toasts and cake cutting were going to be inside, it really just made sense to have it. Laura agreed and we added the option to her package. Oh also, she had a special request on her worksheet– No hip-hop or rap. Later I found out why. Their families were very Christian! No problem, I welcomed the challenge.

On the day of Laura and Greg’s wedding, I arrived early and set up outside and inside.

The Hanssens’ placeholders were cork and their belly bar centerpieces were clear, so I went with the clear Serato ScratchLive vinyl to complement it.

The wireless speaker system worked great. Announcements were heard loud and clean, including bridal party and the bride and groom. In this shot, you can see toasts being done, and to the right a speaker receiving a wireless signal. Keep in mind that my main system is beyond the far wall that you can see, and past the patio!

Announcements went well. The bridal party was announced in the following order:

Teresa Healey / Jason Langley
Zeynep Eroglu / Zack Crafton
Lei Liew / John Searby
Marie Paschal / Jack Hanssen
Megan Tocci / Mark Hanssen
Jade Nguyen/Tom Gabriel
Lisa Fiegenschue / Joe Fiegenschue
Charlie Tarone

After dinner, toasts, and cake cutting, guests moved outside where the rest of the activities took place.

First dance (Can’t Help Falling In Love – Elvis Presley)

Father/Daughter Dance – Butterfly Kisses (Bob Carlisle)

Mother/Son Dance – What A Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong)

Afterwards we did a bit of open dancing, then an Anniversary dance. The winning couple (Laura’s grandparents) have been married for 55 years! In tribute of this accomplishment we did another slow dance to the same song they danced to on their wedding night: La Vie En Rose (Louis Armstrong)

Afterwards, we went back to open dancing and everyone danced the night away. During the last dance, I took a picture of the remaining guests, as I like to use the amount to gauge my success. To my surprise, I’m able to count over 70 people in this picture! How’s that for a good night?

Afterwards, I took the opportunity to get a picture with Laura and Greg.

Congratulations to Laura and Greg and their families, and thanks to both for selecting me to help them plan and coordinate their special night!

Addendum: I received an email from Laura about a week and a half after their wedding:

Hi Dennis,

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!

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

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• A bear, hail and other camping calamities  (Mile High Mamas)
• African music, Marriott points, Steve Jobs and Avs musings  (All Things Colorado Avalanche)

San Diego Botanical Gardens – Melanie and Tim’s Wedding

Client: Melanie (maiden name: Lehman) and Tim Allen
Venue: San Diego Botanic Gardens – The Walled Garden (ceremony) and The Victorian Gazebo (reception)
Venue Address: 230 Quail Gardens Drive
Number of guests: 75
Services Provided: DJ and Master of Ceremonies, Dance Floor Lighting, Video Montage, Wedding Ceremony

Wedding Coordination: Creative Music DJs (hey, it happens.)
Photography: Rachel Wattson Photography
Catering: Sombreros Catering

In January of this year I was contracted by Melanie and Tim to provide services for their wedding. They had reviewed my blog and were ready to sign up at our first meeting, which was nice. After viewing some example slideshows that I have created for clients, they decided to add that to their package as well.

Melanie and Tim selected the San Diego Botanic Gardens for their venue. The Botanic Gardens is in Encinitas and covers around 35 acres. In those acres, there’s several great spots for weddings, and they went with the gazebo area. Both are very picturesque.

The ceremony was beautiful. Melanie and I had met a few weeks beforehand to finalize wedding details, and she opted the ‘tearjerker’ ceremony package. This is a package which comes with a customized version of the processional song. It’s a package designed to induce tears of joy for all attendees, especially the parents.

The bridesmaids entered to Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours”, and Melanie walked down the aisle to Matisyahu’s “One Day”.

DJ Dennis J at The Walled Garden

Dinner was catered by Sombrero’s Mexican Catering, and was delicious. Afterwards, the bride and groom danced to Jason Michael Carroll’s “Living Our Love Song”.

For the father/daughter dance, Melanie’s dad had something special planned which him and I had secretly worked out the details about. As I started the dance, I played a ‘filler track’ while her dad passed out pamphlets explaining to all guests where Melanie’s nickname “Hood” came from (she was really into a Sam the Sham song when she was younger…). Melanie had no idea what was being passed out as she waited on the dance floor for her dad to join her for the dance. Her dad made his way to the dance floor, and proceeded to start to dance with his daughter. As the dance began, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a red hood with horns, and I quickly switched to the real dance song he had chosen, “Lil’ Red Riding Hood” by Sam the Sham and The Pharoahs!

For the mother/son dance, Tim and his mother danced to “Fishin’ in the Dark” by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. I don’t have a picture of this yet, maybe soon?

After the parent dances, we had a bit of open dancing, and gave it a chance to get dark. Once the sun had gone down, we paused dancing for a bit to present the video montage for everyone to enjoy. For this event, I went with my DJ Screen lycra projector screen. Being that we were outside, this screen works well and also looks pretty unique and impressive.

Tim and Melanie enjoying their custom-created wedding video montage

Following the montage, we did bouquet and garter tosses.

Garter Toss at San Diego Botanic Gardens

Afterwards, we went back to dancing and the dance floor stayed full until the end of the night.

The night was a huge success, full of customization and surprises. Afterwards, Melanie and Tim stuck around and said goodbye to their guests. Tim came over and thanked me for my service, and stated, “You were worth every penny!” which was a nice compliment. I took the opportunity to get a picture with him and his new wife.

DJ Dennis J with the bride and groom at Botanic Gardens

Bouquet Toss at San Diego Botanic Gardens

Congratulations to Tim and Melanie Allen, and thanks to them once again for inviting me to be a part of their special night. And also a special thanks to Rachel Wattson for providing me with many of the excellent pictures that were used in this writeup!

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• Hard Rock Hotel Wedding – Roxana and Jeff Brown
• Tom Ham’s Lighthouse – Asaro Wedding
• Coronado Candelas Wedding – Ruby and Antonio
• Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina – Karlsgodt Wedding
• My Latest Wedding Disaster Aversion Story

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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!

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• 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

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Levyland Estates Wedding – Christopher (DJ Ruckuss) and Mary Lou Lomibao

Client: Willie and Johanna Asaro
Venue: Levyland Estates – Main House
Venue Address: 2401 Mountian View Drive, Carlsbad, CA
Number of guests: approximately 108
Services Provided: Wedding DJ and Master of Ceremonies, Enhanced Dance Floor Lighting

Wedding Coordination: Crystal Roode from The Occasion Events
Photography: Gabrielle Fox

Christopher (DJ Ruckuss) contacted me to discuss their wedding. He is a club DJ from Vegas who recently moved to the OC area. Being a club DJ, he wanted a DJ that could match talent in the clubs yet conduct events like a true wedding DJ. We talked for a bit and discussed details. He had a very good idea of what music he wanted, and a strong desire to get his guests dancing using club-techniques.

I was pretty excited about this wedding because the theme was music, and well, I LOVE MUSIC!

Christopher and Mary Lou chose the Levyland Estates as their reception location. The Levyland estates is a large venue that can only be rented for a 6 day period, but provides everything that one needs for a wedding and reception.

Levyland Estates

The reception began well. The ceremony had ended much earlier than planned, so guests came in while I was setting up, but it wasn’t a big deal. Introductions were done to “Michael Jackson – PYT (Pretty Young Thing)”. For the first dance, they chose, “Amel Larrieux – Make me whole”.

Chris and Mary Lou's First Dance

Since we also did the Santee Street Fair this day, I didn’t have our camera, so the only pictures I got were from my iPhone, but hopefully they’re still enjoyable.

Here’s some pictures of the cake and decorations, with the ‘Music’ theme.

Turntable cake.

DJ Turntable Wedding Cake

Dinner menu, in the form of a CD playlist.

Dinner menu, CD playlist style

For wedding favors, Chris made 50 copies of a special wedding mix and placed them all over the tables. I’m not sure who had a cassette deck to listen to one though. I know I got rid of my last one a long time ago!

A real mixtape

CDs were labeled with instructions for guests such as guestbook signing.

CDs prompted guests to perform functions such as guestbook signing

Another DJ-themed cake.

Another DJ cake

Needless to say, dancing happened. It was a lot of fun because I got to really go all out club-style and showcase a talent of club and wedding fusion. It was kind of funny because guests came up to Chris and told him “good music tonight” to which he replied “hey, it was all Dennis”.

After the reception, I took my usual opportunity to get a pose with the happy bride and groom.

DJ Dennis J with Chris and Mary Lou Lomibao

Congratulations to Chris and Mary Lou Lomibao, and thanks once again for inviting me to be a part of their special night!

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

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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

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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!

More from Creative Music DJs

• Hard Rock Hotel Wedding – Roxana and Jeff Brown
• Admiral Kidd Club Wedding – Shannon and Jason Fouts
• Coronado Candelas Wedding – Ruby and Antonio
• San Diego Botanical Gardens – Allen Wedding
• Linda Vista – Disco Party Video and Pics

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