Working with Kim & Kevin was great fun. My favorite part of the evening was watching them dance, it was as if there was no one else around when they looked at each other.

Kim and Kevin love dance music, and we spent lots of time planning the perfect music mix for their reception. Being a DJ, I love people who are interested in picking music that is special to them and their guests.

Kim & Kevin wanted to have their guests dance to the more traditional version of the Dollar Dance which is done to a polka…

Once they danced with the newlyweds, all of the guests surrounded Kim so that Kevin had to bust his way into this new bride.

Once we finished with all the formal festivities, the party really went crazy!

The newlyweds are off to Hawaii for their honeymoon, so they had brought a big box full of Hawaiian leis to for all the guests to wear. So fun! I had a great time getting to know Kim & Kevin to help make their reception wonderful and unique.  What a great way to start 2010!

Venue: Pittsburgh Airport Marriott, Moon Township, PA
Cake: Spoonful Sugar confections by April
Photography: Josh Mariana Photography

As many of you know from reading my blog, I’m a HUGE fan of the extra details a bride and groom include on their wedding day to make it even more unique and special. While most weddings and receptions are full of special traditions, I find that the customized elements are what people remember and talk about most. While this can add extra work to the planning and organizing of the day, the results can be spectacular. I can honestly say, I have never met anyone more up to this task then Christina Ciavarra & Tim Weir. I had the honor of being a part of a very customized and elegant reception this past Saturday at the Pittsburgh Airport Marriott.

Christina & Tim took full advantage of the opportunity to create a day that their friends and family will be talking about for years to come. They had a logo created using their last initial and used it in various ways throughout the venue. Christina even made her own cake topper out of crystals, and the staff at the Marriott hung a special light to add extra sparkle.

From the first time we met, Christina & Tim knew they wanted a slideshow to play at the reception during cocktail hour. We decided it would be ideal to play both in the entry to the ballroom on a flat panel monitor AND projected on the big screen provided by the Marriott. I LOVE creating these montages for my clients. The guests always surround and watch them over and over.

I love the sign they placed at the front of the picture table… it said “Happily Ever After, all because two people fell in love”

Christina and Tim allowed me a lot of freedom to develop a playlist that would match their style and the vibe they wanted sustained throughout the reception. I was able to create a hip, stylish collection of modern, swing, and country music that worked perfectly for cocktail and dinner. Once the dance floor opened, people were dancing to music from every genre possible. There was so much energy in the room, I could have played all night long.

Dinner featured various food stations scattered across the room. My favorite had to be the Mashed Potato Martini Bar. Talk about unique!

Other custom elements Christina & Tim included was a giant photo booth, and having their logo shining down on the dance floor. LOVE THIS!

Christina’s 83 year old grandmother was a dancing machine all night long!

What’s this? Could it be the incomparable Heather of WeddingsbyHeather? Oh yes, she took a break from working her tail off to dance to “Dancing Queen”. Special thanks to her partner and hubby Craig… working with them makes my entire job ‘easy peasy’

Christina and Tim were a ton of fun to work with, and getting to know them so well really helped me to determine what they were looking for without them having to spend a lot of time trying to spell everything out for me. While Christina & Tim added a lot of flair to their reception, they were able to stay focused on the important elements of the day… friends, family and their love for each other. The rest was icing on the cake (or bacon bits on the martini glass of mashed potatoes?)

Seriously, knowing how detail oriented Christina & Tim were about their day makes me excited that they chose me to play a port of what was an exceptional, and extaordinarily fun evening.

Venue: Pittsburgh Airport Marriott
Photography: Heather Lahtinen
Do you like the video montage above? Download a full resolution copy here.

This past Saturday was the wedding of Kelly Smith & James Faddis at the Airport Marriott Hotel. Kelly and James came up from Maryland to have their Wedding here in Pittsburgh, and they worked extra hard to make sure every detail of their big day was absolutely perfect.

Kelly & James had some wonderful ideas for the music of the evening and even made lots of music choices for the cocktail hour and the dinner music. As you can see by their song list, it made for an awesome mix mostly from the 80′s & 90′s. It was fun watching Kelly sing along all during dinner.

Click here to see the playlist from the reception

The Marriott displays custom lighting on the dance floor, such a great touch!

Kelly & James had three wonderful toasts by members of the bridal party, but I’ll have to say that one of the best men, Ricky, gave a really funny toast really help set a relaxed and fun tone for the rest of the evening.

I was instructed to play YMCA for James’s father, and man did it pay off… that man sure can dance!

I had met Kelly a little over a year ago while I was setting up for another wedding at the Marriott. She was there finalizing the arrangements and came to check out the room I was setup in. I can’t say how happy I am that our meeting then led to such a great time at her and James’s reception. Thank you for letting me part of your extraordinary day!

Venue: Marriott Airport Pittsburgh
Photographer: Jenni S Photography
Photographer: Nicholas Critelli Photography
Videographer: Steve Thompson