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 bouquet toss to Single Ladies (Beyonce) and a garter 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!

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