I love my clients.  I love the fact that they LOVE to plan, and want to involve me in ways to make their day truly memorable.  As my DJ business has grown over the years I’ve developed a real passion to help people make their day unique.  I had a chance to do some really fun and innovative things at the reception of Paige Honeywell and William Kress.  The reception was held at J. Verno Studios in Pittsburgh, PA.

First a word about the venue – stunning.  J. Verno opens his studio for many types of events.  Having your reception at the actual photographers’ studio really opens the door for some amazing opportunities.  They offer a fantastic photo booth where Paige and Bill provided lots of fun costumes for their guests to pose in.  This was a HUGE hit with everyone!

Paige and Bill provided me with a great set list to use throughout the evening.  I love it when my guests introduce me to new music!

Paige works as a school teacher, so she was certain to provide goody bags for all of the younger guests.  SO smart!

I always tell people that I’m thrilled to play a part of anything they have planned, even stuff that is new to me.  Paige provided me an awesome list of questions to use in “The Newlywed Shoe Game”.  It was such a success I just had to share it here.

After all the special activities, it was time to open the floor for some dancing!

I was so excited to get to see Darla and Matthew Abel at the reception, I was the DJ at their wedding back in 2008. They were awesome enough to suggest me to Paige and Bill.

Paige and Bill met at Kennywood, and looking back I think they gave their guests a bit of an beautiful and elegant theme park reception.  There were games, prizes, photo ops, wonderful food mixed with great friends and family.  I loved being part of something so well planned and unique to these two fantastic people.

Venue and Photography: J. Verno Studios, Pittsburgh, PA

Family, or perhaps in this case I should say la famiglia, is one of my favorite parts about DJing at weddings.  The wedding celebration is an opportunity for every relative to do their best to create the perfect day for the bride and groom.  Last night I saw a wonderful example of  the importance of la famiglia at the reception of Heather Wojtowicz and Nicky Papa held at the LeMont overlooking downtown Pittsburgh, PA.

During cocktail hour the flower girls were dancing to the Italian music – too cute for words!

When I first met Heather and Nicky it was clear how much they loved music.  We had a great time coming up with songs to use throughout the reception.  They wanted to make sure everyone had a good time so they told to play anything necessary to keep their friends and family dancing.

Instead of wedding cake, guests were treated to a dessert of tiramisu.  A great twist on an old tradition.

Once the dance floor was open, it was packed with family and friends of all ages!

Heather and Nicky knew the words to every song I played.  I loved watching them both sing along to some old school rap songs.

All of Heather and Nicky’s relatives were so much fun, they made everyone feel like part of la famiglia.  After a wonderfully perfect evening surrounded by their loved ones, the newlyweds are now ready for their Bahamas honeymoon. Congratulations to everyone!

Venue: LeMont, Pittsburgh
Photography: Bellissima Photography
Wedding Coordinator: Ambassador Events

I always encourage my clients to find ways to make their wedding unique to their personalities and tastes.  I’m always thrilled when a couple takes the opportunity to share a bit of themselves with their friends and families.  I love to DJ at weddings that are different each week, and this past weekend I was SO excited to play at the amazingly unique wedding of Erin McPherson and Adrian Pasricha at the Hilton Garden Inn in Southpointe, PA

Erin and Adrian held their nuptials at the Hilton Garden Inn. It was a beautiful and unique ceremony blending their two families, customs, and traditions together.

The music for the entire day was spectacular!  An amazing variety of Pop, Rap, Indian, Latin.  There was also room for some 80′s and 90′s hits as well.  Erin and Adrian put great care into providing me guidance for the songs they knew their guests would love.  Their hard work paid off with a fantastic playlist that I’m sure I’ll be encouraging future couples to review for unique and special song ideas.

Erin & Adrian’s first dance was very sweet and beautiful.

Once it was time to get the party started, the dance floor was immediately packed.  Erin was beaming all evening long.

Adrian and his sister Nicole are both great dancers, no matter what the style of music.

Things got really wild during the set of Indian music – it was truly spectacular!

Erin and Adrian were on the dance floor all the way until 2AM!  I’m sure the after party was a huge smash too!

Evenings like this are the reason any body ever becomes a DJ.  I really do consider it a privilege to help so many people dance, sing and celebrate.  Erin and Adrian are now off to Italy for their honeymoon.  I can’t thank them enough for asking me to help make their day as unique and wonderful as they are.

Venue: Carnegie Museum Music Hall, Pittsburgh, PA
Photography: Studio Bash
Videography: DMB Videography
Cake: Cakes By Tammy
Day Of Wedding Coordinator: Great Expectations Events

The music was a great mix of classical, swing, oldies and dance songs. Laura and Greg also allowed their guests to make requests to keep everything fun and exciting.

I can’t say enough about how the spectacular museum makes for a beautiful and elegant evening.

Laura always has the most amazing smile. Simply fabulous.

All of the guests were very fun and friendly. Everyone had a wonderful evening visiting and dancing.

Laura and Greg are off on a well deserved trip to the Bahamas. It was great to get the chance to get to know them and their wonderful families. This is the type of people that makes me love what I do.

Venue: Carnegie Museum Music Hall, Pittsburgh, PA
Photography: MD Photography
Videography: Micahgrace Photography and Video

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

If you’re having problems playing this video, try turning off the HD option.

If you jump to the videos page, you can see the photo montages I prepare after every reception.

The view of the city is spectacular.  The entire wall is made of windows that showcase Pittsburgh perfectly.  (In honor of breast cancer awareness month the water in the fountain was dyed pink!)

I always love coming here since it was in the LeMont’s restaurant that I proposed to my wife.  When I play here it always brings back great memories.

Kelly and John were so much fun to work with, they had a such a wonderful passion for music and dancing.  They even led a giant train that wound all through the LeMont.

Kelly and her friends took over my microphone to sing!  Everyone was having a blast!

The thing I remember most about Kelly and John will always be how obvious it was that they loved each other.  When they looked at each other it was as if there was no one else around, it was beautiful.
Venue: LeMont, Pittburgh

As you can tell from the images, Bella Sera is a beautiful location that transports everyone to Italy with it’s strong Tuscan influence.

Ann and Narium were fun to work with and had guests come from all over to celebrate their special day.  The wedding lasted long into the night and everyone had an amazing time enjoying this beautiful and unique venue.

Venue: Bella Sera by Grecco

Tara Zurowski and Jason Hoover held their reception at the Grand Concourse located at Station Square in Pittsburgh.   I had worked with Tara and Jason with what ended up being an entire day long celebration of their wedding vows at various locations.  The Grand Concourse was a wonderful location for the first half of their wedding reception.

Tara and Jason entered the reception down the beautiful staircase and immediately launched into their bridal and parent dances.

The Grand Concourse created the prefect as atmosphere for their elegant and relaxed afternoon reception.  It truly created wonderful spots for the photographer to grab some stunning images.

After the meal, the guests all headed over to Tara’s family’s house for a more casual celebration that lasted long into the night with lots of dancing and fun.  Special thanks to Heather of Weddings By Heather for providing these fantastic photos from the reception.

Venue: Grand Concourse at Station Square
Photography: Weddings By Heather

Ashley & Zach spend their time living in various parts of the country, but chose to hold their reception at the beautiful and elegant Concordia Club.  This was the last wedding to be held at the club, since it was recently sold to the University of Pittsburgh.  It was a fabulous celebration to serve as the final event for this venue.  Ashley’s family and friends all pitched in to help with all of the amazing decorations throughout the club.  There were a lot of special touches everywhere that really personalized the venue.

Ashley and Zach gave me the most fun and upbeat song list I’ve ever seen.  Songs from every genre were included so that all the guests had the opportunity to dance to their favorites.  Zach even came out and did N’Sync’s “Bye Bye Bye” dance routine!  It was awesome.

There were Terrible Towels everywhere!  The bridal party were each given towels that were embroidered with their initials.

One of my favorite moments of the evening was before Zach removed Ashley’s garter.  They had the best time dancing around the chair to Usher’s “My Way”.  It was so clear to see how connected these two are and how much fun they have being together.

Ashley is a fantastic singer.  Everyone was thrilled when she took the mic and sang with Zach!

Although I hadn’t met Ashley or Zach before the wedding, it was great working both of them online and on the telephone.  They are so friendly and fun that I knew from the first time I talked with Ashley this was going to be an amazing evening.  Even though they did most of the planning from outside of Pittsburgh, they had no problems creating a wonderful celebration that their friends and family will never forget.

Venue: Concordia Club, Pittsburgh, PA
Photography: Elliot Crammer Photography

Download a copy of the video montage here