I Get a Kick Out Of You.

I was excited to find out that my clients Mark and Mimi were both into soccer. (I played for 25 years) Mimi played for the women's team at Stanford. Mark played for the Men's team. They met, played soccer, fell in love, played soccer, got married, and will be moving to New Zealand very soon. ( Where I am sure they will be playing soccer as well)Mark and Mimi are so sweet. One of the Maid's of Honor (Jennie) said during her toast that they are the perfect Hallmark Card. I agree. 150 guests celebrated with them at the Corinthian Event Center in downtown San Jose. The guests were not shy and requested a lot of songs which I was happy to play. Since they were a younger crowd, they preferred more current music for dancing. Photos by Brett Szemple.

Here are some of their special song requests:

Bridal Party Introduction: "Theme from Baywatch"
First Dance: "This Kind of Love" by Sister Hazel
Father-Daughter Dance: "Heavenly Day" by Patty Griffin
Groom-Mother Dance: "I'll Stand By You" by Jennifer Austin
Farewell Dance" "Magic" by Colbie Caillat

Side Note: Mark had a broken toe on his wedding day! (He broke it playing soccer, of course!) But you would have never known by how much he danced! He was a dancing machine!

The Floor Plan

Want more energy and fun at your reception? Put the DJ directly in front of the dance floor! It's that simple! I've done some weddings where they have put tables directly in front of me and my speakers, stuck me all the way in the corner, or even worse, behind a curtain! (see posting: I Can DJ Blind-folded) As a Master of Ceremonies, it is very important that I can see the majority of the people in the room to welcome them, gain their trust, and to engage them. That's part of the process of creating and building energy. (difficult to do if they can't even see me!)

I realize in some cases, it's just not possible to have the DJ in front of the dance floor due to the shape of the room or the number of tables. If you have to put tables in front of the DJ or his speakers, make sure the guests at those tables are younger. The last thing we all want is for grandpa's earpiece to explode. Have fun!

Erin and Stephen

What a great wedding reception for Erin and Stephen and 140 of their closest friends and family at the Palo Alto Hills Country Club. Erin was ready to dance and party since she just graduated from Stanford. It was so cool introducing them as Mr. Stephen and Doctor Erin Cook. There were many fun guests from Stanford University and UC Santa Barbara who were ready to party too. And they did!Erin and Stephen did a fake first dance with "Truly, Madly, Deeply" from Savage Garden. We had it planned out perfectly. After about a minute of the song, Stephen looked over to me and gave me the "thumbs down" sign so I cut-off the song. Then, I used my tremendous acting skills (lol) and went to the dance floor to ask him what the problem was. He said "This is what I get for letting Erin pick out the music". Everyone was laughing. I asked him if I should play something else. He said "PLEASE!". So, I went back and played the real first dance that they chose: "What I like About You" by The Romantics. It was upbeat and fun and the guests absolutely loved it!
What a fun night. Erin's Dad Rhett and Stephen's Brother Cameron made a couple of very entertaining toasts that had everyone smiling and laughing. And as you can see by the pictures, they had a great time dancing too. Here are some other special songs they chose:
Bridal Party Introductions: "Beautiful Day" by U2
Father-Daughter Dance: "You Had Me From Hello" by Kenny Chesney
Farewell Dance: "I've Had The Time of My Life" (From Dirty Dancing)

NO WAY!

This was someone's wedding cake. I AM SERIOUS! They said that it was a Texas-Family tradition (for their family) to have an Armadillo Cake like this in addition to the main cake. When I saw that cake, I stared at it for what must have been 20 minutes...in total dis-belief. I seriously thought that I was dreaming. In fact, I still don't believe it!
When they started cutting slices for the guests, the raspberry filling oozed out like blood so the cake actually looked more like road-kill. You should thank me for not posting a picture of that! What do you think? Would you have this cake at YOUR reception?

A Rock & Roll Wedding

When I arrived at Eric and Cindy's wedding reception to set-up, I noticed there was no guest book for people to sign on the table near the entrance. OH NO!! What happened? Did someone steal it? Were they just trying to conserve paper? Maybe someone forgot to bring it! Not quite! Eric and Cindy had the guests sign their electric guitar instead! (Eric plays guitar) What an awesome idea! Here is a picture.
Cindy and Eric certainly did many other non-traditional things on their big day which I just loved! Got a sweet tooth? Well, just step right up to their huge candy table and enjoy some M&M's, Snickers, Red Vine's, Skittles, Mike & Ike's, Tootsie Rolls, and a ton of other candy. YUMMY!
In front of each place setting on the dinner tables, there was a guitar pick attached to a card that read: "In Lieu of traditional favors, a donation has been made to "Rock For Kids" in your honor." What an awesome idea because most people don't know what to do with those favors anyway. (unless you can eat them) Rock for Kids is a non-profit organization that provides support, hope, and inspiration to under-served children and teens. Here is their website.
To continue with the rock theme, they asked me play " Welcome to The Jungle" by Guns and Roses during their introduction which I happily did. Here are their other special songs:

First Dance: "That's How Strong My Love Is" - Otis Redding
Groom-Mother Dance: "Unforgettable" - Nat King Cole

What a fun night. What a unique night. What a sweet night for a super-sweet couple! (pun intended)

Second Harvest Food Bank

It is always a great feeling to give back to the community. I am a Volunteer Team Leader at the Second Harvest Food Bank in San Jose and I volunteer there 2 to 3 times a month. I recently organized a volunteer session with some employees from radio station 94.5 KBAY. Here is a photo of us after we finished stuffing Bell Peppers into 800 Bags. It was a lot of fun and, of course, very rewarding.With the current economy, the Food Bank is suffering which is sad because the need now is greater than ever. If you can help financially, or by volunteering, please visit their website HERE for more information. They are an awesome organization almost completely run by volunteers. Thanks for your support!