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

Reception planning usually starts with choosing the right venue. Throughout Western Pennsylvania there are literally thousands of places where you can choose to celebrate, socialize and party the night away. As with most wedding details, it’s SO important to choose a place that represents who you are as a couple. Recently I performed at the reception of Erin McTeague and Matt Hungerman at the PPG Aquarium, located at the Pittsburgh Zoo.

The aquarium creates a unique atmosphere for the reception that is far from typical. During cocktail hour guests were able to enjoy their appetizers while having full access to the exhibits. The guests were then seated on the lower level for dinner and dancing. The staff at the Aquarium is top notch and really helped keeping everything on track throughout the evening.

Erin & Matt put great care in selecting the music for the entire reception. The music was varied, but perfectly reflected their taste and style.

Once again I had the pleasure of working with one and only Weddings By Heather. Immediately after the formal introductions, All the guests posed for a picture on the dance floor while Heather was up on the second floor balcony. What a tremendous keepsake!

The aquarium offers a very special setting for an intimate reception. There was a surprisingly nice amount of room for dancing once it was time to open the dance floor. Erin & Matt’s guests were extremely friendly and warm. Everyone had a great time dancing, singing and being a bit silly!

Matt’s friend even took the mic to sing The Jackson 5′s “ABC”!

Finding the right location for your reception can be crucial to the success of your wedding. Erin & Matt chose the venue that worked perfectly for them on every level. The guests had a rare opportunity to spend so much time in a different and fun environment while getting to celebrate with the newlyweds. Erin & Matt spent a lot of time on the dance floor and enjoying every moment of their big day, I was certainly thrilled to work with them to create a reception that was so special!

Venue: Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium
Photography: Weddings By Heather
Do you like the video montage above? Download a full resolution copy here.

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 Saturday I had the pleasure of DJing a wedding with the extremely talented Heather Lahtinen of Weddings By Heather. I was about to write a long winded post about Heather’s passion, quality, personality and overall awesomeness… but you know what they say about 1,000 words and a picture.

So instead, check out Heather’s amazing photos and then hire her IMMEDIATELY for your wedding.