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!

San Diego Wedding (Priv Residence) – Wedding of Corey and Jennifer Currier

Venue: <Private Residence>
Venue Address: <withheld>
Number of guests: 130+
Services Provided: Wedding DJ and Master of Ceremonies, Dance Floor Lighting, External Wireless Speakers

Catering: Ranch Catering
Photography: Amy Wilson Photography
Photobooth: Rob Young

In February of 2010 Corey Currier and Jennifer Leslie contacted me to discuss the opportunity to DJ their wedding. We met at a coffee shop and discussed details. While showing them some options such as dance floor lighting and monograms, I ended up showing them a monogram picture from Billy and Amber Winter’s wedding and they recognized the photo! Corey told me his friends were at their wedding and said they had an amazing time, so that was pretty much the best referral I could have gotten, right? A few days after we met, they booked the date.

In order to supply music outside, they added my wireless speaker package. This is an addon package in which I use wireless signal to supply the same sound inside to the main sound system as well as outside to wireless speakers. It provides an elegant atmosphere because announcements can be heard from anywhere, and music stays the same as people move from the patio to the banquet room. Since their cocktail hour was on the back porch, it was pretty much a necessity if music was to be provided in a classy fashion.

On the day of their reception, I arrived at the venue and set up my main equipment, then set up the wireless speaker system outside. With an outdoor venue such as this, and their purchase of my enhanced dancefloor lighting, I put together quite a lighting tree. Here is a picture of the main system and the light tree.

Cocktail Hour: Songs by The Album Leaf, The Outer Banks, The American Dollar, Explosions In The Sky, The Beatles, Interpol

Notable mention during the cocktail hour– There was a Candy Table full of delicious treats. I personally ate way too many yogurt covered pretzels…

Grand Entrance song: Billy Squire – The Stroke

Right after their grand entrance, and another enthusiastic round of applause, I instructed the guests to be seated and we began a buffet dinner.

Following dinner and the making of their rounds, we began toasts. I had to interact quite a bit during toasts so there’s no pictures from them, however I did get a picture of the special thanks delivered by the bride and groom.

Following the toasts we began formal dances. Note the white dots swirling around the floor? That’s part of the Enhanced Dance Floor Lighting package which contains separate lights for slow dances as well as open dancing time.

First dance: Paramore – The Only Exception

Mother Daughter Dance: Moody Blues – Nights in White Satin

Mother Son Dance: Smashing Pumpkins – Landslide

Open dancing was a lot of fun, the first set was a lot of older disco and some rock.

Cake Cutting: Led Zeppelin – Whole Lotta Love

Cake cutting was so much fun! Corey and Jennifer are so playful. They obviously both had plans on a very messy cake cutting experience, and at one point there was a showdown with each daring the other person to make a move! haha. Here’s a pic of that classic moment.

After the cake cutting, we began the tosses.

Garter Toss: Waka Flocka – No Hands

Bouquet Toss: Rihanna – Only Girl In The World

After tosses we went back into open dancing. Corey, Jennifer, and many of their close friends have an affinity for nu-disco house. The end of the night I got the privilege to throw down a 40+ minute set of current and classic nu-disco tunes, starting with one of their favorite artists, Chromeo. I love being able to do non-wedding-type sets so I actually recorded it to review later. If I get enough requests, I may post the set for streaming and download. It went over really well, the dance floor stayed occupied and everyone really seemed to enjoy it.

For their last song, they kept it nu-disco/indie…

Last Dance: Feist – My Moon My Man (Boyz Noize Classic Mix)

After such a fun and highly successful night, there was no way I was leaving without getting a photo with the newlyweds.

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

MCRD – Wedding of Karina and Jose Hernandez

Client: Karina (Cervantes) and Jose Hernandez

Venue: Marine Corp Recruit Depot (MCRD) – Bayview Room
Venue Address: West Washington Street, San Diego, CA. 92140
Number of guests: 130
Services Provided: Wedding DJ and Master of Ceremonies, Dance Floor Lighting, Event Uplighting (12 lights), External Wireless Speakers

Catering: Bayview Restaurant
Photography: AVW Photography (Amy Wilson)
Venue Coordinator: Susan
Florist: Angels U Flowers
Cake: Edelweiss Bakery

In July of 2010 Karina and Jose contacted me to discuss the opportunity to DJ their wedding at MCRD. We met at a coffee shop and talked about their wedding ideas and how I could accommodate them. They were particularly interested in uplighting and table underlighting, as you’ll see later. We had a great meeting and I could really feel that we communicated well with each other and there was a mutual excitement. I was correct, because the very next day Karina emailed me and said they wanted to book me.

Jose and Karina planned to have their cocktail hour outside on the Bayview Patio. The doors to the Bayview Room were to remain closed until it was time for Grand Entrance. In order to supply music outside, they added my wireless speaker package. This is an addon package in which I use wireless signal to supply the same sound inside to the main soundsystem as well as outside to wireless speakers. It provides an elegant atmosphere because announcements can be heard from anywhere, and music stays the same as people move from the patio to the banquet room.

On the day of their reception, I arrived at the venue and set up my equipment inside, then set up the wireless speaker system outside. For cocktail, they requested R&B and island music. Since R&B can be distracting during a time of much conversation, I went with an assortment of Hidden Beach tracks (90s hip-hop remade by jazz musicians) for the first half of the cocktail hour, then switched to some cocktail-appropriate reggae/island music for the second half. Jose came over during the Hidden Beach part and commented that his guests were really going to like it (he was inside the Bayview Room resting for a bit, which their guests were outside). Here’s a picture of the external wireless speakers.

Jose and Karina ordered 12 purple uplights, to be used on the walls and under the cake table and head table. With some clever manipulation, I was able to get a pretty cool effect from the combination of lights I used.

Head table lighting:

Cake table underlighting and walls:

Everything together:

Grand Entrance song: I Gotta Feeling – Black Eyed Peas

Right after their grand entrance, and another enthusiastic round of applause, I instructed the guests to be seated and we began a buffet dinner.

Following dinner and the making of their rounds, we began toasts, then proceeded into their first dance.

First dance: Edwin Mccain – I’ll Be

Father Daughter Dance: Heartland – I Loved Her First

Mother Son Dance: Boyz II Men – A Song For Mama

Cake Cutting: Candyman – Christina Aguilera

Garter Toss: Tone Loc – Wild Thing

Bouquet Toss: Single Ladies – Beyonce

And open dancing was happening tonight! Being a hispanic wedding, there were lots of requests for spanish music, mostly cumbias. I really got some good practice mixing cumbias tonight. Other than spanish music, the most dancing seemed to occur when I did a throwback 80s set. I got a lot of comments after the reception from guests about how they liked the 80s choices and one guest was excited about a Selena set I put together. He said he was from Texas and the music really took him back to some happy memories.

For their last song, Jose and Karina chose Sister Sledge – We Are Family.

Afterwards, I instructed the guests to form an ‘exit tunnel’ for the bride and groom to do their Grand Exit.

And off they went to begin the next chapter of their life!

But not before I caught up with them for a post-reception snapshot!

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