Dave Barry On Grooms

From my June 10th Dave Barry calendar:

“Don’t tell me that the groom can help with the wedding plans.  Please.  The groom is useless.  Statistically speaking, something like 92 percent of all grooms are male.  If you let males plan weddings you are going to end up with Skee Ball at the reception.  No, the groom dropped out of the picture minutes after he proposed.  For all the bride knows, he has been kidnapped by aliens.  It does not matter.  The bride must pluge grimly ahead, making decision after decision, day after stressful day, night after sleepless night, until she has, at most, two remaining marbles.” – Dave Barry

Funny, but not exactly true.  (Well, maybe the Skee-Ball part – can you imagine how much the guys would LOVE that?)  I can’t speak for other vendors, but we’re pretty lucky – most of our grooms are very much interested in helping to put together a fun and exciting wedding and they love helping with the planning for this part of it, at least.   Our only issue is sometimes trying to get grooms to understand that this isn’t just about music, but about the entire feel of the day.  Once they get that, they have a blast with planning.

Maybe we should add a portable Skee-Ball game?

Dave Barry On Brides

One of my favorite humorists is Dave Barry.  He writes often of weddings and always cracks me up.  From my Dave Barry calendar on April 24th:

“With spring upon us, you may find yourself near a woman in the throes of planning a wedding; if so, you need to recognize that she is under severe pressure, and above all you need to do exactly as she says.  If she wants you to wrap yourself in toilet paper, or purchase and wear a bridesmaid’s dress that makes you look like a walking Barcalounger, JUST DO IT.  You should do it even if you are the groom. – Dave Barry

I couldn’t agree more. 

Traci & Brett’s “Musical” Wedding Reception

Traci & Brett Misquez were married on Saturday, April 17^th at the beautiful Newcastle Wedding Gardens on a spectacularly beautiful day.

Traci’s background as a musical performer, as well as her time spent working for Sacramento’s Music Circus led her to create a unique and fun wedding reception, themed around musicals.

Traci’s follow up comment on our evaluation included, “Thank You!  We’re so glad Randy was available and could give us so much attention.  He “got” me.  It was defintely customize and had great flow.”

I did “get her” and I got Brett as well, as evidenced by her comment, “Brett thanks you for making “Today” shorter.”  Like many grooms, Brett didn’t want as much spotlight on his dancing, so we created a shorter mix of their first dance song.  Yes, we listen, and we get it!

The prelude to the ceremony included music from Phantom, Grease, A Chorus Line, Evita, Wicked, The Sound Of Music and Fiddler On The Roof.

More musicals were incorporated during the buffet release, as each table was given the name of a musical, and as they heard a song from that musical, the guests at that table headed for the buffet.  South Pacific, Oklahoma, Hello Dolly, Rent, Annie…

Traci’s sister, Kelly, brought the house down during the Love Story, when she showed us the “bomb” effect she did when Traci “bombed” in trying to flirt with Brett at their first meeting.  Show biz runs in the blood.

Traci & Brett added the LED uplighting, and right on cue, when the Love Story began, the entire room lit up for the first time, using their purple wedding color.

After the Love Story, great toasts by Best Man Bryan, Matron of Honor Jamie and Kelly kept everyone riveted as we moved towards Brett & Traci’s first dance.

But when the dancing started, it was all dance time!  From Michael Jackson to Journey, from Billy Joel to Black Eyed Peas, from Elvis to Flo Rida, their guests danced till closing.

Introduction of wedding party music:

Traveling Man

Brown Eyed Girl

L.A. Law

One Hot Mama

Pretty Woman/I Feel Pretty

1,2,3

Sexyback

We Are Family

I Love My Sister

Red Red Wine

My Sister, My Friend

Introduction of Mr. & Mrs. Brett & Traci Misquez

Don’t Stop Believin’

Cake Cutting

I’m Yours – Jason Mraz

First Dance

Today – Joshua Radin (specially edited short version)

Parents Dance

My Wish – Rascal Flatts

Anniversary Dance

Have I Told You Lately – Van Morrison

(Special acknowledgement to Brett’s grandparents, Julian & Evelyn Misquez, married 60 years and family friends Manuel & Lucille Peters, married 58 years!)

Garter

You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling (sung by all the men at the reception!)

Last Dance

Save The Last Dance For Me – Michael Buble

Farewell music

So Long, Farewell – The Sound Of Music

It’s Not Background Music

The term background music has always made me crazy.  It implies that it’s unimportant, a thing to be glossed over, like the music playing faintly but softly in an elevator.  In fact, “background music” can be critical to the success of your wedding.

Instead of “background music,” let’s think in terms of “soundtrack music.”  If I were to blindfold you and sit you in front of a movie screen, within the first few seconds of hearing the music, you’d know what kind of movie it is, and what your visceral reaction should be.  Comedy   Romance   Suspense   Action   Horror   Think of your wedding as a movie which needs a soundtrack and choose your music carefully, for each part of your wedding. 

Although some music is played softly,some is played at mid-volume and some at dance volume, all of it serves a purpose, a means to an end.  When you plan your wedding, don’t relegate your music to “background,” unless you’re having it in an elevator.

New Father-Daughter Song

A new father daughter song is here from Edwin McCain.  It’s called Walk With You.  The song, sung from the perspective of a dad to a daughter, is a powerful song written specifically for weddings and can be used as a father daughter dance song or for those who want something less traditional for the ceremony, a great song to walk down the aisle with your dad, especially if you’re at a facility with a long walk, like Sun City Lincoln Hills (Orchard Creek) , Vino Con Brio, Valley Hi Country Club or Forest House Lodge, As always, we’ll keep you updated on the latest and greatest new ideas for your wedding!

We Chose Christopher Kight Photographers

When planning my own wedding, I had a big advantage over most brides and grooms.  I had already been in the wedding business for a few years, so I knew most of the other vendors pretty well.  I didn’t have to worry about getting any bad vendors, because I knew who they were.  I had only to choose from the good ones.  For my photographer, I quickly narrowed the list to just a few, and then my fiancé and I quickly chose Christopher Kight.

Now Chris won’t like me saying this, but I didn’t choose him because of his artistic skills as a photographer.  Truth be told, all good photography looks pretty much the same to me. 

My wife can tell the difference, because she has an eye for such things, but for me, if I look at a photo and their heads aren’t cut off and their eyes aren’t red, that’s a good shot.

I chose Chris because from the very first time I worked with him, I realized that he “gets it.”  He understands that a wedding day isn’t a photo shoot which gets interrupted by a wedding, but rather a wedding day at which photos will be taken.  He is an artist, something of a renaissance man, but he’s not so full of himself that he thinks the day is about him.  His goal has always been to capture the events and the emotions of the day, as they occur.  Studio work should be done in a studio, and he has a great studio for that, but at the wedding and reception, he wants couples to enjoy their day.

He’s fast.  I mean, really, really fast.  It may not seem like much, but saving a few seconds on each photo, multiplied by hundreds of photos means getting to spend those valuable minutes with friends and family.

He’s funny.  He takes his job very seriously, but he doesn’t take himself so seriously.  He makes me laugh and he makes others laugh and feel at ease, important for getting fun, natural images throughout the day.

Oh, and by the way, he’s an excellent photographer.  Some of the area’s best photographers trained under Chris.  He’s taught wedding photography as a college course and has mentored countless photographers in his 20+ years in business.

But he never loses his sense of fun, and that’s what caused me to hire him.  I knew I wanted, more than anything else, for my wedding to be fun and that meant having only fun people there.  I’m sure there are plenty of photographers who are as good as him technically, but I wanted someone fun.

Remember this:  On your wedding day, you will spend more time with your photographer than anyone else.  You must like him.  No, you must LOVE him.  (Or her!)  In those most personal moments, you need someone who “gets it.”  Chris “gets it.”

Chris and I have become great friends over the years.  We play golf together every week, and even though I trounce him mercilessly every week, he never gets mad or surly.  Oh sure, every now and then he runs me over with a golf cart or hits me with a golf ball, but he’s always smiling when he does these things.

He has great packages, great prices, great photos, great staff and customer service and the photographers who work for him are always outstanding as well.  He gets my highest rating!