October 2010 Weddings

So I am finally catching up with my posts on the blog!  This time we are looking back at October 2010.  I had a busy month with two high school dances and two weddings.

Both high school events were for Grand Ledge High School.  Above is a picture at their winter banquet.

Sarah and Will’s wedding was at the beginning of the month and held down in St. Joseph at the Vineland Center.

We played some classic songs for them including artists like AC/DC, Def Leppard, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rick Springfield, Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley.  Some of their relatives had a dance for B-52′s “Rock Lobster”

Ariane and Scott’s wedding was later in the month.  It was held at the Bridgewater Place in downtown Grand Rapids.  It was a really nice venue.

They had really good crowd that really never left the dance floor.  Here’s the evidence!

Congrats guys!  Thanks for great wedding!

Looking back at September Weddings

September was a busy month for weddings!  In total I had six for September.  The last three were really fun for the couples, their family and friends and me.

I had a Friday wedding for Andrea and Jose at the Goei Center.  This is one of best venue’s in Grand Rapids.  Definitely worth the look.

http://www.thegoeicenter.com/

The next day I had a wedding for Katie and George at the Crown Plaza.  They had some new music selections for me for their special dances including their first dance by Heidi Newfield titled “Johnny & June.”

Katie & George were a great couple to work with and they and their family made the night a great success!

The following weekend I did a wedding for Alex and Lee at the Wave Room.

I loved their music selection for the night.  They put a strong emphasis on the 90s!  It was a riot!

Thanks everyone for some great weddings!

Early September Wedding

Had another great wedding back in September.  Karen and Nate had their wedding at Above & Beyond’s venue out at Norton Shores.  Besides for a nice venue, Above & Beyond provides some amazing food!

http://www.above-beyond.com/

Karen and Nate were a really fun couple.  They had some great songs selected for their dances.  For their first dance they had “The Luckiest” by Ben Folds

The bridal party was the first group on the dance floor and they stayed there all night!   We did slow down for a couple slow dances though.

Thanks Karen and Nate for having me DJ!

Labor Day Weekend Weddings!

Labor Day weekend was a great weekend, besides for being my birthday, I had two wonderful weddings.

Friday night was Kelsey and Drew’s wedding reception out at Windmill Island in Holland.  When it seemed like the weather would get the guests down, good company, good food and good music would help them out!

Windmill Island also had excellent tent that helped keep the conditions perfect for all the guests inside.

http://www.cityofholland.com/Brix?pageID=718

Kelsey and Drew had a fun choice for their first dance with Dave Matthew’s “You and I”

With music tastes varying from oldies, classic rock to some folk rock we were able to keep guests dancing all night.  This was a really good group of family and friends!

Saturday’s wedding I got to travel out to the Norton Shores area to one of Above and Beyond’s venues.

Above and Beyond makes some amazing food.  They actually did the catering for Friday’s wedding too.  I have never had a bad experience with them!  Highly recommended!

http://www.above-beyond.com/

Even though the weather wasn’t perfect for Kate and Zach’s wedding they still were able to sneak out of the reception for a couple quick pictures.

I didn’t get any pictures of it but Kate and Zach had a sweet swing dance prepared for their first dance.  Once we got the music playing we had a full dance floor!

The wedding party definitely enjoyed the evening!

I must have done a good job with the music again because I kept people there dancing till the last song!

Thanks Kate and Zach for the great evening!

August 21st at the Henry Ford Museum

Talk about a venue!  Art and Stephanie had their wedding at the Henry Ford Museum!  The museum was open for all the guests.  Just check out where they ate dinner!

If you think that is cool check out where I was set up for DJing!

We had a great time with some great music chosen by the bride and groom.

Art and Stephanie chose some great photographers.   There were easy to work with and did an amazing job!  Really stellar work.  I know they got a couple pictures of me  on their site.  I got to find them and get them posted.   Check out their site to see some of their amazing work.

http://www.gauperphoto.com/

Here’s a link to the Henry Ford for more information on their venue for weddings.

http://www.thehenryford.org/privateevents/weddings/weddings.aspx

“Girl, Let’s Just Get Married!”

Last Friday I DJed a really fun wedding for Todd and Lindsey!  They had their reception at the Grand Rapids Cultural Center at St. Nicholas.  This was my second wedding reception at the cultural center and I think it is a great venue.  There are some great pictures up at their website.

http://www.grculturalcenter.com/

Todd and Lindsey had their catering and bar services provided by Martha’s Vineyard.  The service was great and food was excellent.  It was served family style and there was definitely plenty to go around.  I worked with Kate from Martha’s Vineyard and she was pleasure to work with.  For more info on Martha’s Vineyard click through the link below.

http://www.marthasvineyardgr.com/catering/main.aspx

One of the photographers for the evening was a familiar face.  We went to high school together, so it was fun catching up!  From everything I saw at the reception, Ashley Photography did some superb work.  I am looking forward to seeing some photos up on their website!

http://www.ashleyphotographymichigan.com/

Now on to what I did that evening!  Todd and Lindsey had prepared a list of songs for each of the wedding party to be introduced.  My favorite of all the songs was actually the bride and groom’s song which is where I got this week’s post’s title from.  This Jagged Edge song is probably my favorite 90′s hip hop song.  We definitely broke my rule and played it again during the night after I used it for their introduction.

Todd and Lindsey used Keith Urban, Steven Curtis Chapman and Mark Schultz for some of their special dances.  The whole wedding party prepared a choreographed dance to mix of 90s dance and top 40s songs as their bridal party dance.  Then the bride planned a special treat for the groom.  She surprised him by having a mascot from his alma mater’s basketball team which he played on.  All the guests got a real kick out of this.  By the smile on the groom’s face, he really enjoyed this too.

Both Todd and Lindsey are coaches within the area, so they invited some of each team to come to the wedding.  When you add the bride and grooms friends and family, we always had a packed dance floor.  It was funny that evening because there were so many requests from friends and family who said this specific song had a connection between them and the bride or groom.  I love how music can become a reminder of a connection between a person and another person or event.

What amazed me about this wedding is that the bride and groom could never get a second alone when off the dance floor.  They had so many friends and family coming up and giving them hugs and exchanging stories.  Another thing to add to the character of Todd and Lindsey is that there were the last people to leave the wedding reception besides myself and the reception staff.

Thanks Todd and Lindsey for the wonderful wedding!

Scott and Hilary’s Reception

Scott and Hilary’s wedding reception was a great time for all of their family and friends.  It was held at Aquinas College’s Donnelly Center.  With well run management by the event coordinator Andrea, the service and food was excellent.

http://www.aquinas.edu/conference/index.html

During dinner we relaxed with Colbie Caillat, Norah Jones and Michael Buble.  Scott and Hilary had their first dance to Bryan Adam’s “When you love someone.”  They did a unique thing I haven’t seen before and that was they danced with their In-Laws.   Scott danced with Hilary’s mom and Hilary danced with Scott’s Dad, to Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight.”

To get things started after the special dances, the bride and groom had a really successful dollar dance.

Music for the dancing part of the evening was a lot of fun.  Following the direction of classic oldies to top 40′s later in the evening, I was able to follow the flow of the dance floor and keep people dancing till 11:45.  When I had to stop playing, I had a group of people shouting, “One more song!”

The highlight of Scott and Hilary’s wedding reception for me was most definitely the “Dance Off.”  The bride and groom thought it would be a great idea to get the wedding party to challenge each other to a dance competition to no other than Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.”

Derek Zoolander and Hansel would be proud!

Great Double Wedding Weekend

I had two great weddings the weekend of July 23rd and 24th.  My Friday wedding was at the beautiful Thousand Oaks Golf Club in Grand Rapids.

http://www.thousandoaksgolf.com

Mitchell and Brittney’s families did such a amazing decorating the reception.

Mitch and Brittney’s first dance was to Andrew Garcia’s “Forever.”  The father of the bride surprised the bride with a slide show that played during on their dance.

A great highlight from the dance was when I played Brittney’s special request “Stand Out” from Goofy Movie.  The guests going nuts is just proof again that every wedding is its own unique event.

What also made this reception great was working with Nancy and Valerie from RSVP Events.  They are very organized and helped made the ceremony and reception and everything in between go smoothly.  It is always a pleasure working with them!

http://www.events-by-rsvp.com/

Saturday’s wedding was down in Kalamazoo at the gorgeous Kalamazoo Country Club.

Ashley & Kyle’s wedding reception had so many personal touches to it.  Kyle and his best man did the introductions of the wedding party.  Both the father of the bride and groom have toasts.  The bride’s grandfather also gave an emotional prayer before dinner.  Ashley and Kyle also prepared a special dance for their first dance.

Ashley & Kyle had a great group of friends and family that kept the dance floor fill all night!

http://www.kalamazoocountryclub.com/

Wedding On A Lake

July 17th I DJed another ceremony and reception.  Andrea and Phillip had their wedding in Delton at their family  cottage on Wall Lake.  It was a beautiful ceremony.  She walked down the aisle to David Gray’s “January Rain”

It was a great place for pictures obviously!

The ceremony was on the lake side of cottage and the reception was on the other.  They had a great setup for everything!

Andrea and Phillip had a great wedding planner Amanda Lowry.  She was such a hard worker and made everything perfect!  Check out her blog!

http://rememberthisevents.blogspot.com/

Music was great!  Counting Crows and Dave Matthews during dinner.  Andrea and Phillip’s first dance was to John Legend’s “Refuge.”  They danced with their parents to Paul Simon and Elton John.  Then we kicked it up a bit.  They had a eclectic mix of  80s pop and recent top 40s!  This was most definitely a dancing crowd.  Like you can see below, they enjoyed the slow songs too.

Holiday Weekend Wedding

This Fourth of July weekend I DJed a wedding ceremony and reception.  It was for a lovely couple Ashley & Chris.  Their ceremony was held at Spring Lake Presbyterian Church on Main St. in Spring Lake.  It had a great personal touch; they

www.slpc.org

The reception was held at the Trillium Banquet and Conference Center also in Spring Lake.  It was a great venue for weddings.

Ashley & Chris had a classic song as their first dance, Elvis’ “I Can’t Help Falling In Love.”  My favorite song choice however was their song for garter removal and toss.  They used Quincy Jones’ “Soul Bossa Nova” otherwise know as the theme from Austin Powers!

www.trilliumbanquetandconferencecenter.com