Incredible Cakes

Okay, check this out. These cakes are amazing! This is world-renowned Cake Chef Omar Addihaoui from Kuwait. He makes some outrageous cakes for events up to 1000 people. Here are some of my favorites. Let me know which one is you favorite!

Allied Arts Guild

Last night I had the pleasure of being the guest auctioneer for a wonderful event called "Tally Ho" at the Allied Arts Guild in Menlo Park. All proceeds benefited Lucille Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. It was a wonderful event with great food and wine, and it was a pleasure to volunteer my services.
Allied Arts Guild is a very cool property that provides an inspiring environment for working artists, beautiful gardens and shops for visitors, and support for critically ill children at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital. It is also available for private events and weddings. (Coincidentally, I DJ'd a wedding reception there last year!) Check out their website HERE. They are celebrating their 80th Anniversary. It is a beautiful place and all profits go to the hospital. How cool!

Hot Hot Hot

You can never tell about the weather in the Bay Area. Most of the time, the weather is close to perfect. Saturday however was a different story. It was HOT at The Ranch Golf Club in San Jose yesterday for Ian and Joanna's wedding! I could tell the people were very relieved to come inside after the ceremony to cool off for dinner and dancing. Fortunately, they still had energy for some fun! Photos from Jeff Warren at Vince Tarry Photography.They requested a wide variety of music including great songs from: The Temptations, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, The Four Tops, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Maroon 5, Tupac, and Beyonce. Here are the songs they chose for their special dances:

First Dance: "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz
Father-Daughter/Groom-Mom: "Kind & Generous" - Natalie Merchant
Farewell Dance: "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" by Lauryn Hill

Here is a great shot of a traditional Jewish Dance called "The Hora". It is always so much fun to watch because practically everyone in the room gets involved and they always have a great time.

Wende and Cubie

Now that was a party! Wende and Cubie only had 88 people at their wedding reception at the Monterey Peninsula Country Club last night, but it felt like 200 because of the energy. Yes, they were ready to party. Here is a fun picture of the Groom, Cubie, having a great time on the dance floor with his groomsmen, his Dad, and the rest of the guests.

First Dance: "You Are The Sunshine of My Life" - Stevie Wonder
Father-Daughter Dance: "What a Wonderful World" - Israel "Iz"

Groom-Mother Dance: "Circle of Life" - Elton JohnIn an awesome sponteaneous moment towards the end of the reception, some of the guests decided it would be a great idea to lift Wende and Cubie up over their heads. It was so much fun to watch. I love when my clients get wild and crazy! That's what parties are all about!

A Spanish Wedding

I just returned from 18 days in Spain and had the pleasure of attending the wedding of my girlfriend's Brother, Óscar and his fiancée Marta. It was a beautiful (and hot) day in L' Scala ( a cool little pueblo 90 minutes north of Barcelona). We all thought about jumping in the Mediterranean Sea many times since the wedding was at a resort right on the water, but we knew that soggy suits and weddings wouldn't mix. Here is a photo of us in the hotel room before the wedding. Silvi bought me a cool tie for my birthday that matched her dress. She is so sweet!
We had such a great time and I was very surprised at how much music in English is played on the radio stations over there. (And at Weddings too!) It was also interesting to see the differences between weddings over there and those here in the Bay Area. One big difference is that the officiant and the witness sign the marriage license right in the middle of the actual ceremony. I have never seen that before here. They also like to throw rice and rose petals directly after the rings as shown below.Man, those Spanish people love to eat! There were over 15 different appetizers that lasted over 90 minutes and we stuffed our faces. The food was incredible. I thought maybe it was just an appetizer-only reception until they informed us that we needed to head to the dining room because the main meal was ready to be served. We wobbled inside to find our reserved seats.

The one odd thing that I noticed is that the DJ did not say one single word during the entire reception or interact with the guests. Nothing! That was a little odd to me since the Master of Ceremonies role is so important here. I requested some of Silvi's favorite songs and she was a happy-camper as we danced to "Mambo #5" and "Suavemente".

What a great night. But it did not end there! 7 hours after the ceremony, it was announced that we would all be going to another location to start the second celebration organized by some of their friends. What?!? Another party? Wow! I was also told not to worry because there would be plenty of food available. Unbelievable. What a wonderful wedding and vacation. I can't wait to go back again. (Although next time I will eat less)