Alexandra & John’s 6-22-13 wedding…..with swords !!

Alexandra & John, who are both fencers, had their wedding and reception at The Museum Of Art in Raleigh.  The new west wing of the Museum is beautiful and a great place for guests to visit while at the reception.  I even saw Nick Cave’s suit made of buttons.  The floral arrangements added to the beauty made by The Watered Garden. Ha ha !! So weird.

As guests arrived to the cocktail hour, food was ready and I was playing a mix of classic and soft rock.  Alexandra & John had the wedding party enter to “Let’s Get It Started” by Black Eyed Peas and everyone in the wedding party entered with a fencing sword and made an arch for them to walk under and go into their first dance of Adam Sandler’s “Grow Old With You”.  It was so great !!  Ali danced with her Father to “My Girl” and John danced with his Mother to “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd.  I love that song for a Mother/Son dance !  After a welcome by Ali’s Uncle Lyndon and a blessing by Reverend Mark Blanton, the food stations reopened and the wedding party got a chance to eat.  There were so many great places for photographers Sara & Kirbi from White Wall Photography to snap pics.

After dinner, the toasts by The Best Man Jordan, John’s Father John sr. and several others gave way to the cake cutting with a Bride & Groom fencing on top made by Cinda’s Creative Cakes and I played “I’m A Believer” by Smash Mouth.  There was also a huge “Candy Bar” opened the whole night. The dance floor opened to some beach music and Motown and guests old and young filled the floor.

After 45 minutes or so, we stopped the action to do a bouquet toss to “Just A Girl” by No Doubt and garter toss to “Legs” by ZZ Top then back to dancing.  One of the highlights of the night for me was seeing John and his buddies singing and playing air guitar to Dio’s “Rainbow In The Dark” right before their last song of “Ho Hey” by The Lumineers and their Bubble exit.  What a fun reception and I’m so glad no one got stabbed ! ha ha…

Alyssa & Keith Vail’s 6-16-13 wedding on Father’s Day

Alyssa and Keith had so much fun at their reception at luxurious 5 star Hotel The Umstead in Cary.  Every time I looked at them they had a huge grin on their face!  They had their cocktail hour before the ceremony and what a great idea.  It was 90 degrees out so it helped cool everyone off before the ceremony began.  After the ceremony guests were invited into the ballroom by Kelley Ann Ward from The Umstead.  She is always so amazing to work with as is Jose and the rest of the staff there.  The room looked beautiful with help from Lyn at Fresh Affairs.

I had standards playing while the guests entered the room and I lined up the wedding party with Kelley Ann.  They entered to “I Do’ by Colbie Caillat and made their way to the dance floor for their first dance to “ Stuck On You” by singer Meiko.  After a welcome by Alyssa’s parents Roy & Cherie, the 3 course dinner started with appetizers, salad and entrée’s.  During dinner I had a mix of standards and soft rock playing.

Photographers Cara Galati and Jonathan Kazmierczak from F8 studios were with me all night long to catch every smile and dance.  After dinner Alyssa danced with her Father to “Father & Daughter” by Paul Simon and  Keith escorted him Mother to the floor for their dance to “All To You” by DJ Keo. They wanted to open the floor with a song for all the Fathers and their families so I picked “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag” by James Brown and it couldn’t have been a better opening song. 

After a short oldies and Motown set, it was time for the fun Sweet Memories cake with ducks on top.  I asked Alyssa why there were ducks on top and she said “because I like ducks”..LOL.. so funny.

The floor opened back up to some 70’s and 80’s then onto more current top 40.  I saw Alyssa and Keith singing along to every song.  What a great couple.  The night ended with their last song of “Still The One” by Orleans and it must be some family dance thing.  The whole family was in a huge circle singing and dancing to that song.  I was so happy to spent Fathers Day with Alyssa and Keith and their friends and families!

Tracy & Colin’s June 15th artsy wedding at CAM

Tracy and Colin had their ceremony and reception both at Raleigh’s CAM (Contemporary Art Museum) located in the warehouse district downtown.  The ceremony was held outside in the front of the building.  Tracy didn’t want the typical classical music played while guests arrived, so I suggested “trip-hop” which is a mix of hip-hop and electronic.  I saw several phones “shazaming” songs so I know guests were enjoying the unique music mix.  The wedding party and parents walked down the isle to a Vitamin Sting Quartet cover of “Hallelujah” originally done by Paramore, Tracy entered to an instrumental of “Lucky” by Kris Farrow and their recessional was to an edit I did of “Pursuit Of Happiness (Steve Aoki remix)” by Kid Cudi.

After the ceremony, guests were invited inside the museum for the cocktail hour by the minister Lindsey Williams.  I wanted the music to reflect what Tracy likes to listen to normally, so the cocktail hour was “Indie Dance”.  Think of Passion Pit, Daft Punk & MGMT.  The catering staff loved hearing something other than the typical jazz played and it fit the feel of CAM perfectly.  It was finally time to announce the 20 person wedding party as well as Tracy & Colin.  They danced into the room to an instrumental of “Party Rock Anthem” and instantly went into their first dance of “I Swear” by All 4 One.  Photographers Carolyn Scott and Geoff Brown were there to catch the hilarious antics of the wedding party.

Wedding planner Jamie Howell from The Brides Corner came all the way from Virginia Beach to help Tracy with the planning and she did an amazing job as usual.  Floral arrangements by The English Garden and the Sugarland cake helped make the wedding reception perfect.

After the dinner with jazz standards playing and toasts by Tracy’s Father Jeff, the Best Man and Matron Of Honor, it was time for Tracy to dance with her Father to “Forever Young” by Rod Stewart and Colin to dance with his Mother to “Sunrise, Sunset” from Fiddler On The Roof even though he’s so Irish that he dreams of a shamrock tattoo on his bottom according to the best man.

The dance floor opened and packed instantly.  Of course, the bar being on the dance floor helped a ton with that!  I played a short oldies and Motown set, then onto some 80’s and Latin and ended the last hour with all current club music. The night ended with Old Crow Medicine Show’s “Wagon Wheel” and everyone was singing along. It was such a fun reception and I was thrilled to be able to play for Tracy and Colin, their friends and families!


all photos courtesy of Carolyn Scott Photography

Victoria & John’s June 14th rehearsal dinner

Victoria & John hired me to provide music for their rehearsal dinner after party at Raleigh’s Carolina Country Club Pool Cottage.  The club is over 100 years old and is location inside the beltline and is minutes from downtown.

John had what has to be one of the most unique groom’s cakes I have ever seen.  The base was the GOP elephant with a Nationals baseball at the end of it’s trunk.  The elephant also has logos from Denison and Syracuse colleges with an Indiana cutout all done by Cinda’s Cakes and they did an excellent job as always!

Guests arrived at the pool cottage and the cocktail hour music was a mix of classic rock, country, motown and some 90’s college rock.  Guests were singing along and heads were bopping.  Their floral arrangements were done by Kelly Odom who always does an amazing job and photographer Craig Carpenter from Luster Studios was there to catch every crazy minute.

Victoria & John got there a little while after the guests and were received to hollers and screams!  You could tell their college friends were thrilled to all be back together again.

Dancing started to beach and Motown and the older guests as well as their friends from college made their way to the dance floor.  For the next couple hours I played everything with a large portion going to 80’s and 90’s.  All Victoria’s girlfriends made a huge circle and sang along to the last 30 minutes.  They had a blast!!

I was so happy to be party of this party and start off their wedding weekend.  Congratulations Victoria & John and Happy Anniversary to their friends Jake and Brandi that were celebrating their 1 year anniversary with them that weekend and yes, I did play Looking Glass’s “Brandy” for them..twice J

Whitney & Pasquale’s 6-8-13 wedding Italiano

I couldn’t have been more honored to DJ Whitney and Pasquale’s wedding at the beautiful Revolution Mills in Greensboro.  I have known them since Whitney worked for A Southern Soiree and when they attended a wedding I DJ’d in Mississippi for Cara & Clif Shirley I got to know Pasquale better.  It was a reunion of sorts having photographer Shane Snider with me again.

For the cocktail hour, they had live music by the Julia Price Jazz Quartet.  Cocktails were both inside and outside and the band could be heard everywhere.  The wedding party arrived and I announced them into the room to “One More Time” by Daft Punk and Whitney & Pasquale had their first dance to “Do You Feel Me” by Anthony Hamilton, Whitney danced with her Father to “Unforgettable” by Natalie & Nat King Cole as they sang it to each other and Pasquale danced to an Italian song “A Te” by Jovanotti since his family and ½ of the guests were from Italy.  After a blessing by Whitney’s Father, Michael Robertson, it was time for the 6 course served meal to start.

I knew that dinner was going to be very long so I decided to get people up and dancing in between courses and what a great group!  After salads, I went to beach and Motown and the floor filled.  Even the Italians that don’t speak English were out there learning to shag.  Whitney’s parents are big dancers and love to shag!  It was great to have a packed floor going from “The Tarentella” to “I Gotta Feeling”, “Suavemente” and “Balada” by Gusttavo Lima without loosing anyone from the floor. There young groomsman and his friends even gave a dance routine to “Suit & Tie” by Justin Timberlake that had everyone cheering !

After a couple toasts by The Maid of Honor and the Best Man, it was time for the cake cutting, bouquet and garter toss and they made their exit after their last song of “Shout”.  While they were leaving for the sparkler exit I played “Con Te Partiro (Time to say goodbye)” by Bocelli.  What a fun reception and I couldn’t be happier for Whitney and Pasquale !!!!

Youtube Video

all photos taken by and used by permission of Shane Snider Photography

Alexandria & Chris’s 6/1/13 wedding..with a dancing Caribou !

Alexandria & Chris had their wedding ceremony and reception all at The Brier Creek Country Club with help from wedding planner Sonja Leitzbach Herman from Cork & Vine Events and Shelly from the Country Club.

The cocktail hour was held in the Governors Lounge as well as outside for the 30 guests and I had a mix of standards playing while wearing one of my pair of Batman cufflinks per Alexandria’s request since all the groomsmen wore super hero shirts under their dress shirts.  They also had a photo booth by LOL Photo booth opened during the cocktail hour and reception out on the terrace with some great props.  Some that even made their way to the dance floor.

The doors to Palmer’s Cover room were opened for the guests to find their seats and the wedding party and Alexandria & Chris entered to “Good Feelin’” by Flo Rida and went directly into their first dance of the acoustic version of “You & Me” by Dave Matthews, Alex danced with her Uncle John to a couple minutes of “Tupelo Honey” by Van Morrison and Chris danced with his Mom to “Do I Make You Proud” by Taylor Hicks and, btw, yes he did make her proud!

 

The champagne toasts by The Maid Of Honor, Best Man, Matron Of Honor, Alex’s Aunt and Uncle and finally Chris’s Mom after dinner brought us to the cake cutting with cupcakes made by Gigi’s Cupcakes and a candy buffett filled with M&M’s, Reese’s Cups..you name it..

The floor opened for a short time to some Motown and then the guest of honor showed up... Cary-Boo The Caribou made his grand entrance and was on the floor doing “The Cha-Cha Slide” with everyone! Haha..so great… For there only being around 40 people at this wedding, the floor was packed all night.  There was a touching moment when I played “You Needed Me” by Anne Murray to celebrate Chris’s Parents 30^th anniversary on the 28^th.  That was their wedding song when they got married and I was thrilled to play it for them.

The reception ended with Alex’s cousin rapping over “Juicy” by Notorious B.I.G. and a sparkler exit from the front of the Country Club.  I’m sure photographer Joy Lyn got some great pics !