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Lindsey and Brett (Edgeworth Club Reception)

I believe I’m honestly having more fun performing at weddings this year than ever before. I am so fortunate to meet such wonderfully warm and inviting people and get to play an important part of the biggest day of their lives. I recently had the pleasure to perform at the reception of Lindsey Stuetelberg & Brett Kelly at the Edgeworth Club in Sewickley. The amount of wonderful people I met this day is completely overwhelming to me. Everyone from the families of the Bride & Groom to the other vendors were completely top notch and came together to make this a spectacular occasion.

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The reception began with music from the Pittsburgh String Quartet. I love the sound of a great quartet and having them play as the guests arrived really added a great sense of elegance.

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After the quartet finished playing Lindsey & Brett had also hired Mark Pipas to play and sing music during both the remainder of cocktail hour and dinner. Mark is an fantastic vocalist/keyboard player who performs standards from Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and many more. It was fun watching the guests sing along while he played, he helped transition the mood to a fun filled celebration.

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Since there was a lot of live entertainment featured at the reception, I wasn’t required to play as much music during cocktail hour and dinner, just enough to fill in at the right moments. Lindsey & Brett were most concerned with making their guests happy and let the music playlist develop as the night went on. Guests were able to come and make requests from a variety of genres and everyone enjoyed making special requests.

 

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I had the honor of dealing a lot with Lindsey’s mother, Belinda, for a bit of the wedding planning since the Bride & Groom don’t live in the Pittsburgh area. She did an amazing job pulling everything together and I was thrilled to get to meet her on the big day. Since they were pulling things together from across the country they hired a truly amazing wedding planner. I’ve worked with many planners in the past and no one has every impressed me as much as Katherine Shaw from Trends to Traditions. There were so many special elements to the reception and she helped pull everything together and help make my job very easy! Katherine’s desire to keep things on track is clear from the first moment you meet her, she kept a cool head no matter what needed done, it was a joy to have her be a part of the day.

I have to also mention that the Edgeworth Club in Sewickly is a great location with a wonderful staff. I was told the while it is a private club, it is available for anyone to reserve for a wedding reception and I can definitely recommend it. The attention to detail that Jason Ciccone and his staff provided was spot on.

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Lindsey & Brett are an adorable couple and were wonderful to work with for every detail of their special day. At the end of the reception it was so cute to see how pleased they were after spending the day with so many of their friends and family. They were also very excited to be on their way to Jamaica for their honeymoon!

Both the Stuetelberg & Kelly families were so friendly and complimentary to me throughout the reception that I wanted to a moment here to thank them again for everything! I’m extremely pleased to have helped to provide such sweet and giving people a fantastic reception.

Beth and Michael (Twelve Oaks Mansion Reception)

Best Wedding of the YEAR! Ok, first wedding of the year… but really, playing the wedding of Beth Makarevich & Michael Van Gelder is going to be a tough act to follow. Beth & Mike live in Washington DC, and have spent a great deal of time traveling the world, but chose to have their wedding here to be close to family and friends.

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The wedding reception was held at the Twelve Oaks Mansion in Mars, PA. This is a relatively new wedding venue in Western Pennsylvania, but the event staff and coordinator, Bethany Santa, did an amazing job making a perfect evening for everyone. Beth & Mike took advantage of the photo montage service I offer, and the video was able to play beautifully on the 3 large LCD monitors that the venue offered in the cocktail area.

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Beth and Michael have a great passion for music and seemed to really enjoy customizing the music for every aspect of the reception. This makes it fun for everyone, including me. Their cocktail hour contained a unique mix of French styled music and dinner music included requests that guests were able to suggest when completing their RSVP cards (such a clever idea!)

A big trend lately is for people to come up with special names for the guests tables. Beth & Mike’s take on this trend was to have each table feature a unique name that was part of a special story about the themselves. One side featured the “title” of the place or event. The reverse side told the story. This really gave each table a unique tale about the couple that they may have never heard before (yet another clever idea!).

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One of the biggest challenges for newlyweds is making time at the reception to visit with friends and family, but to also have time to get the dance floor to enjoy themselves and celebrate. Beth & Mike might have danced more than any couple I’ve seen in a long time. It was great to see how much they enjoyed dancing to the songs they had chosen. They clearly knew what their friends would enjoy hearing… the night ended much too soon!

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The New Mr & Mrs Van Gelder are off to celebrate their union in France… after so much dancing and celebration I’m sure their going need the R&R. I was thrilled to play a part of such a extraordinary reception.

Mandy and David (Moon Holiday Inn)

I honestly hate it when the wedding season ends. I’m so lucky to spend week after week going to great parties and being part of people’s most special day. I think it’s why it’s taken me so long to wrap up this last post from my last wedding of 2008. The Saturday before Christmas I had the wonderful opportunity to play for the reception of Mandy Muntean & David Kondik at the Holiday Inn in Moon Township. It was a fantastic way to end the year, Mandy and David were really easy going and planned a day that was a great time for everyone.

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There’s always a question when you have a wedding so close to the holidays of whether to acknowledge the season or to incorporate it into your big day. I was thrilled that Mandy and David found ways to include some beautiful elements of the Christmas Season while still keeping things very elegant. They also decided to use Christmas music for cocktail hour and dinner which kept the atmosphere festive and fun.

The snowflake ice sculpture on the cookie table was huge!

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I had been the disc jockey at Mandy’s sister Amy’s wedding a little over 2 years ago. It was GREAT to be able to see the Muntean family again. They love to party and celebrate!

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I always tell people that if the bride and groom dance, EVERYONE will dance. Mandy and David spent LOTS of time on the dance floor and really helped to keep their guests in the party spirit through the night.

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David and Mandy were amazingly attentive all evening. It was clear all night how important it was for them to spend time with all their guests and made sure that everyone had a great time. I’m sad to see the wedding season close but I was glad to end the year at such a fantastic reception.

Darla and Matthew (Circuit Center & Ballroom)

The wedding season is starting to wind down for 2008, which makes me kind of sad. I feel so blessed to be a part of so many wonderful celebrations. Last Saturday I played what turned out to be an extra special day for me when I played at the reception of Darla Lewandowski and Matthew Abel at the Circuit Center & Ballroom in Pittsburgh.

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Darla and Matthew chose some great songs for their special evening, but also gave me some room to include a variety of songs throughout the night for all the guests to enjoy. You know it’s a nice mix of music when people compliment the dinner music!

The Circuit Center is a beautiful and large venue that was divided in half for the cocktail hour. This created a nice lounge type area for the guests to enjoy themselves before the entire room became opened for dinner. The high ceilings in the room make it feel extra spacious.

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During dinner, Darla and Matthew asked their guests to sing them a love song instead of clinking glasses to make them kiss. I thought the poem they put on each table was a cute way to let the guests know!

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I discovered the day of the wedding that many years ago, I worked with Matthew’s mother at Pittburgh’s public access TV station. They had even been at MY wedding, and it was so great to see Carol and her husband Peter again. It goes to show that sometimes things happen for a reason, it made the day extra special that I was able to be a part of their big celebration.

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I met another, much newer couple that night too. (that’s all I can say about that)

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Darla had been referred to me from another DJ who was unavailable to play at her reception, so I have to say thanks Jodi of Accents Unlimited. I can’t say enough how glad I was to perform at Darla and Matthew’s wedding. It was wonderful getting to know them and their families. At the end of the night it was clear to everyone that they been part of an absolutely perfect day!

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Kelly & James (Airport Marriott Reception)

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.

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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!

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