Kabobs and Kimchi? NOT!

We are blessed to live in an area filled with wonderful people from all over the world. I think it's one of the coolest things about the Bay Area. I had the pleasure of experiencing that diversity last night at the Silver Creek Valley Country Club in San Jose.

150 guests gathered for Steve and Shiva's Wedding. Steve is Korean. Shiva is Persian. Typically, these two groups are very different at weddings. Persians tend to be more outgoing and very passionate about dancing while Koreans usually are a little more conservative. But last night, they were all on the same page. Party time!

The Bridal Party Introductions were the most energetic and fun I've seen all year. Strutting into the room to the beats of "SexyBack" from Justin Timberlake, the members of the Bridal Party showed personality, energy, and some great moves as they pumped up the entire room with energy. What's the best way to finish off an an incredible entrance? How about a back flip by the groom on the dance floor. Everyone went nuts!

.

First Dance: "When You Know" - Shawn Colvin"
Father-Daughter: "Unforgettable" - Nat King Cole
Farewell Dance: "Let's Get It On" - Marvin Gaye

Shiva and Steve are world travelers so it was only fitting that their tables were named after places they visited like Capri, Athens, Rome, Puerto Vallarta, Istanbul, along with a few others. They even had a picture of the two of them at each location. Very cool.

The Bride Shiva wins the award for the most excited Bride. Every time she sent me an e-mail during the planning process, it was filled with smiley faces and exclamation points. It was great to see such positivity and enthusiasm considering she was cramming to become an orthodontist the last couple of years while planning her wedding from out of state in Connecticut. She actually hired me for her wedding over 2 years ago!!

.

Shiva came up to me at the end of the night and gave me the biggest hug. (Even the Groom Steve hugged me!) They were both so sweet. Then Shiva said "You know the guests would have danced until 5am". I believed her. What a fun night.

The Best in Silicon Valley!

What a great day! Today, I was voted Best DJ in Silicon Valley by readers of the San Jose Mercury News. The results were printed in today's paper. How cool is that?

I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you very much to everyone who voted for me. I feel very honored.

I would also like to thank my Mother for making me possible. Lol

Duck Duck Goose!

As I was getting out of my car yesterday at The Villages Country Club in San Jose, 2 ducks buzzed right by my head and landed 20 feet from me. I watched them as they waddled by. Funny though, my next thought was...AFLAC!! Ahh, the power of advertising!

What a night for the lovebirds (ducks?) Lois and Brian. They met years ago while ballroom dancing and were eager to have a reception filled with lots of dancing. After hearing a few ballroom songs that the Bride and Groom requested, a young girl whispered in my ear "Do you have any "normal" music?" Lol.

.

Lois and Brian practiced their first dance for 8 weeks and it was perfectly choreographed. But in one of the funniest spontaneous moments I've seen this year, 3 guests grabbed the table numbers from their tables and held them up as if they were judges in a dance competition and were rating the Bride and Groom on their performance. The guests loved it. Great scores too!

Wedding - Kohl Mansion

As the guests were coming in, I noticed a pregnant woman. Then another. And another. Freaky! Did I show up to the wrong place? Was this a wedding or a Lamaze Class? And just when I thought all of the pregnant women in Silicon Valley were attending this particular wedding, here comes twin sister's who are BOTH pregnant! UNBELIEVABLE! All in all, I estimate 10% of the guests were pregnant.

130 people were in the house (mansion) for this super-fun celebration at the Kohl Mansion in Burlingame. Kelly and Craig converted the room where the dancing was into a cool, hip, lounge-type nightclub complete with comfy couches, end tables, light-boxes, palm trees, up-lighting, candles, and flowers. It was such a cool vibe and the guests absolutely loved it. Everyone was talking about it. Here are a couple of pics. Keep in mind this room was completely empty before the reception.

I think Kelly and Craig hold the world-record for the shortest wedding ceremony (not including those in Vegas)...6 minutes.

First Dance: "I'll Be" - Edwin McCain
Parent's Dance: "Kind & Generous" - Natalie Merchant
Farewell Dance: "At Last" - Etta James

This was a high-energy reception (my favorite type!) They ate. They drank. They cheered. They danced. I don't recall a time when I did not see Kelly and Craig on the dance floor. When I announced the last song of the night, some of the guests booed me! I LOVE IT! (This is the ultimate compliment because it means they did not want to leave)

A Side of Rice Please.

What a beautiful day for a wedding! Well, okay it rained. But I think any day is a great day for a wedding. The celebration reception for Erica and Brian this afternoon was held at Sharon Heights Country Club in Menlo Park. Before they hired me last year, I had never even heard of this place. (And I thought I knew everything! lol)

Erica and Brian loved the oldies and requested a lot of 50's, 60's, and swing music which was cool because there were a lot of older folks there too. They all enjoyed it.

The funniest moment of the afternoon was when Erica tossed out the bouquet. You can tell she was aiming for her sister off to the side when she threw it. But to everyone's surprise, an 8 year-old girl came running across the dance floor and grabbed it out the air with one hand just as Erica's sister was going to catch it. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. Everyone in the room was laughing hysterically, and of course, Erica's sister was in shock. Hey, that's the way it goes!

First Dance: "I Could Not Ask For More" - Sara Evans
Father-Daughter Dance: "Thank Heaven For Little Girls" - Perry Como
Groom-Mother Dance: "You're The Inspiration" - Chicago Celebrity Moment: Just as everyone was going out front to send the newlyweds off in style by pelting them with rice, someone yelled "Hey, It's Jerry Rice!" So everyone went over to the window to look. Yup, it was Mr. football stud Jerry Rice practicing chipping on to the green outside. Everyone took pictures with their cameras and camera phones as he practiced. The rest of the people went to the front to throw rice at the lovely couple. Hmm. Throw rice? Or watch Rice? Tough choice! Here is my amateur-paparazzi pic.

Wedding - Cinnabar Hills CC

Cinnabar Hills Country Club is one of those places that I love to DJ at in Silicon Valley. The room is nicely-sized with lots of windows looking out to the green and hills. The staff is great and the food is excellent. And bonus, they have a big dance floor.

Almost 200 guests were gathered there today for Alli and Kenny's reception. Alli and Kenny's musical tastes were total opposites which was pretty funny. Of course, this is not uncommon among couples. She loves Justin Timberlake and Jennifer Lopez and he is into AC/DC and Guns & Roses. Fortunately the guests loved everything... especially the disco and 70's. The parents even requested a few songs from their generation. Everyone was happy.First Dance: "What a Wonderful World" - Louis Armstrong
Father-Daughter Dance: "I Love Her First" - Heartland
Groom-Mother Dance: "For Once in My Life" - Tony Bennett and Stevie Wonder
Farewell Dance: "The Way You Look Tonight" - Frank Sinatra

Alli and Kenny are both so much fun and are huge Disney fans so it was no surprise that they had a Mickey Mouse & Minnie Caketop and table names like Buzz Light Year, Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, and my favorite...Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. I love it!

Alli told me last year when they hired me that their friends and family were wild and they were going to party. Uh, yeah, that would be correct! They partied! In fact, they did not want to stop. At the end of the reception, they had me announce that the party would continue at The V Bar at Hotel Valencia in Santana Row.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Happy Chinese New Year. Coincidentally, my wedding reception last night was at Dynasty Chinese Restaurant in Vallco Shopping Center in Cupertino. What are the chances? 250 guests were in attendance to celebrate Phillip and Jennifer's wedding. Phil and Jen live in Seattle so we did all of the planning by phone and e-mail. They had the traditional chinese style banquet and the dinner lasted 2.5 hours with 10 courses of food. Those who have never been to one of these get the suprise of their lives because they don't pace themselves with the food and are usually full by the third or forth course.

During the dinner, four unbelievably cute girls (the groom's nieces) dressed in beautiful Chinese dresses sang a very beautiful song for the newlyweds.

It was a very fun and entertaining night but they lost a lot of their dancing time due to the very looooooooooooooooooong dinner. Bummer!

Happy 2007!

Happy New Year! I wish you a wonderful year filled with joy, love, friendship, laughter, success, sweet kisses, and Betty Crocker Super Moist Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting. (well, okay, the last one I wish for myself...YUMMY!)

Silicon Valley Turkey Trot

Happy Thanksgiving! What a great day already! I volunteered with my nephew Jeffrey this morning at the 2nd Annual Applied Materials Silicon Valley Turkey Trot in downtown San Jose. This is a great 10k walk and run with proceeds benefitting the Second Harvest Food Bank. Over 3000 people turned out for this wonderful event. I was asked to help with the announcements at the main stage. I think I can handle that! How fun! I usually wear my tuxedo when I MC Events but they told me to dress very casual. Don't I look so stylish in my jeans and volunteer t-shirt? You bet!

The Second Harvest Food Bank (http://www.2ndharvest.net/) is my favorite local charity and I usually volunteer there 3 or 4 times a month. The Second Harvest Food Bank provides food for over 170,000 people every month! This is an amazing organization almost completely run by volunteers. Would you like to join me and volunteer? Each shift is only 2 to 3 hours! You can come in after work on Wednesdays from 6pm-8pm or Saturday mornings from 9am-noon. It's easy work and you can meet other kind people just like yourself. If so, give me a call or go to the website I linked above to sign up. I hope to see you there!

Now I am off to my Mom's house to eat. And after I eat, I will eat a little more! It's a good thing my health club is open tomorrow!

My Big Fat Italian Wedding

Last night, I was at The Stockton Golf & Country Club. As I was unloading my equipment, I saw Alex Spanos (the owner of the San Diego Chargers) getting out of his $400,000 car. I wouldn't have recognized him but one of the Club employee's happily pointed him out to me. He is a member there at the Country Club and lives in Stockton. Nice car. But for the same price, I CAN BUY A CONDO!

Let me also say that I NEVER go to Stockton for weddings. And when I say never, I mean never! (well, except for this one) But I've known the Bride Esther for many years and just couldn't pass up the chance of being the DJ at her reception. There were 250 Italians in one room for this grand celebration and I was pumped up!

For dinner, Chris and Ester wanted a very unique blend of background music including Italian, Reggae, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Smooth Jazz. After dinner, Chris and Ester walked around table to table to say hello to the guests and pass out the traditional Bomboniere Italian Wedding Favors. Their request list for dancing leaned heavily in favor of 70's music which is always fun. Ester's dad danced almost every song during the evening. He was so fun to watch because he was going around the room and grabbing people out of their chairs to dance with him. He must have had 25 different dance partners...my kind of guy!

RANDOM NOTE: The guests arrived ONE HOUR EARLY to the reception! I couldn't believe it! They hired me to DJ from 5pm-10pm but the guests started coming in at 4pm! You gotta be kidding me! It's a good thing that I was already there and set-up. I started playing some background music immediately so everything was fine. (I didn't charge them for the extra hour because they were so sweet!)

Wedding - Delmonte Building

This was one of those magical nights where I could have played sounds of people burping and the guests would have danced to it. What a great reception for Sean and Kelly! This was a special treat for me too since I DJ'd Kelly's sister's wedding 2 years ago at David's in Santa Clara. Tonight, their reception for 150 people was the Historic Delmonte Building in downtown Sunnyvale. What a blast!

This was a super-energetic crowd and super-fun too. I could tell at the beginning by their response to the Bridal Party Introductions that they were going to be a fun group.

First Dance: "Making Memories Of Us" - Keith Urban
Father-Daughter Dance: "I Loved Her First" - Heartland
Groom-Mother Dance: "I'll Remember" - Madonna
Cake Cutting Song: "Grow Old With You" - Adam Sandler
Garter Song: "Another One Bites The Dust" - Queen
Bouquet Song: "Wouldn't It Be Nice" - Beach Boys
Farewell Dance: "Hanging By A Moment" - Lifehouse
Not much else to say other than they had a great time and they will remember this night forever!

Wedding - Trader Vic's

John and Caron are amazing. They have more brains in their pinkies then I have in my head. They are both doctors and have devoted their lives to helping the less-fortunate. I got to know them during the planning process over the phone since they live in Minnesota. Caron looked absolutely beautiful and was smiling all night.

The guests last night came from Ecuador, Argentina, and China. It was a very fun, diverse crowd that really enjoyed dancing. First Dance: "Come Away With Me" - Norah Jones
Father-Daughter Dance: "Unforgettable" - Nat King Cole
Bridal Party Dance: "Crazy Love" - Ray Charles/Van Morrison
Farewell Dance: "What A Wonderful World" - Louis Armstrong

Random Note: The Wedding Favors were fortune cookies. Great idea!

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!

Wedding - SV Capital Club

Welcome to another edition of "Where was Rich last night?".

Where was I? I'm glad you asked! I was at The Silicon Valley Capital Club in San Jose. The Club is located on the 17th floor of the Fairmont Plaza in downtown San Jose. I've been there many times over the years. It is a place for smaller weddings of around 100 people. There were 120 there last night.

This week, my lovebirds were Shannon and John (Johnny)...a very fun couple. They hired me over a year ago for their wedding. I was the only one they interviewed since they saw me at another wedding where I rocked the house. Well, it really wasn't an interview. We got together for a cup of coffee and they gave me a check!

Last night was cool because 2 of my past clients were in attendance...Kathy and Travis Welch and Winter and Vincent Tracey. Here is a picture of the Bride and Groom with Travis and Kathy. Travis was in the bridal party and all of the guys were sporting black shirts and pink ties. Nice! Goosebump Moment: After they cut the cake and tossed the bouquet and garter, Shannon and Johnny came up to me and told me about Johnny's grandparents (Liz and Tony) who were in attendance. They wondered if we should say something about them since they were going to celebrate their 60th Wedding Anniversary in a few weeks. I said absolutely and I recommended to play a song for them as well. I always recommend acknowledging friends or family members who are celebrating a milestone event. It is very classy move. And come on...60 Years of marriage?? That is awesome! I got on the Microphone and thanked them for inspiring us with 60 years of marriage and played "Young at Heart" By Frank Sinatra. The guests gave them a standing ovation as they zipped over to the floor to dance. I had goosebumps on top of my goosebumps!! And just my luck, they knew the song and were singing along to it as the danced. Boy, I sure know how to pick 'em!

Introduction: "Let's get It Started" - Black Eyed Peas
First Dance: "You're The Inspiration" - Chicago
Father-Faughter Dance: "The Way You Look Tonight" - Rod Stewart
Groom-Mother Dance: "Child of Mine" - Carole King
Groom-Stepmother Dance: "Have I Told You Lately" - Rod Stewart
Farwell Dance: "Let's Get It On" - Marvyn Gaye
What a fun energetic crowd last night. They danced to a wide variety of music including Neil Diamond, The Bee Gees, Elvis, Kool & The Gang, and Usher. And here's something you don't see too often...a groom that likes to dance more than the bride!! Wow! You go Johnny!!

Random Note: This is the second time in 3 weeks that the Bride had a twin sister! Spooky!