Wedding - Opera House

The reception last night for Mary and Chris was crazy. No, really. CRAZY! I've never seen so many people stuffed into the Opera House in Los Gatos. I do several weddings there each year but usually for around 200 to 250 guests. And when Mary hired me last year, she told me they would be expecting 250. WRONG!! Add 40%! That's right! 350 People! Talk about a guest list exploding out of control.

75 of those guests were fellow alumni from Santa Clara University and they were ready to party. Heck, even the older folks were ready to party. And they did. They pulled out all of the classic dances last night...running man, cabbage patch, centipede, and whatever that dance was that Vanilla Ice did. Funny stuff.

First Dance: "I Could Not Ask For More" - Sara Evans
Bride-Grandfather Dance: "The Way You Look Tonight" - Frank Sinatra
Groom-Mother Dance: "What A Wonderful World" - Louis Armstrong
Farewell Dance: "How Sweet It Is" - James Taylor

Most Popular Fast Dance: "Sweet Home Alabama" - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Most Popular Slow Dance: "Wonderful Tonight" - Eric Clapton
Most ridiculous request from a guest that I didn't play: "Any song from Rapper E40". Yeah right! I DON'T THINK SO!!

I think I've done 35 wedding receptions so far this year and this one was definitely in the top 3. I would love to see the video.

Random Note: Chris and Mary had 26 people in their Bridal party including 7 super-cute flower girls.

Let's Do The Bird!

What a night indeed. The reception for Iliana and Gary was something to remember. That place was jumpin' all night! It could have easily went another 2 hours. They did not want to leave that place!

That place was Peninsula Golf & Country Club in San Mateo. 250 people gathered for this wild & crazy celebration. As guests arrived, they were treated to some beautiful live music from local guitarist Tomas Michaud. (http://www.worldmelodies.com/hire.html). After introducing the happy couple, they waved to their adoring fans from the balcony upstairs and then proceded down the staircase. I encouraged the guests to keep the applause going until they entered the room. The applause continued for over a minute and turned into a standing ovation. This was the first sign that this evening was going to be something special.

First Dance: "Have I Told You Lately" - Van Morrison
Father-Daughter Dance: "More" - Harry Connick Jr.
Farewell Dance: "A Kiss To Build A Dream On" - Louis Armstrong
Most Popular Slow Dance: "Let's Stay Together" - Al Green
Most Popular Fast Dance: "Super Freak" - Rick James

This was a wild night that included one woman who danced with her drink balanced on top of her head (no, it didn't fall off!) and 20 men in their 40's doing "The Bird". (that was sight to see!) Here is a pic. The Bride Iliana danced almost every song the entire evening. She told me back when she hired me that if anyone wanted to talk to her during the reception, they would have to come onto the dance floor to do so because she was not coming off. She was right! She was a dancing machine!