Pittsburgh Wedding DJ for Weddings and Receptions. Disc Jockey in Allegheny County

Friday, June 19, 2009

Emily and Michael (Pittsburgh Doubletree)

As many of you know, planning for a wedding and reception can be extremely difficult. The biggest piece of advice I can offer my clients is to do what comes naturally and to be true to yourself. When you plan a day that is truly a reflection of who you are, planning becomes much easier. I recently had the great pleasure of performing at the reception of Emily & Michael at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh. Emily & Mike knew exactly what they wanted for their big day and made the choices that best represented their tastes, the results were amazing.

Emily & Mike created an elegant and relaxed reception for around 45 of their closest family and friends. The intimacy of the room and the amount of guests really allowed everyone to have more personal time with the bride and groom. When planning for the wedding we had met at a local Starbucks, the music there became our inspiration for the cocktail hour and dinner.

Once everyone had time to visit, it was time to open the dance floor. Emily & Mike created such a vibe of happiness and joy that everyone in the room could feel their excitement.

Emily’s mother even came up and danced the twist with everyone.

Emily & Mike asked me to make a special announcement and dedication to their good friends, Emily & Nick who were recently engaged.

Emily & Mike’s first dance song was “The Way I Am” by Ingrid Michaelson. I can’t imagine a more appropriate song for them. They are so comfortable in their own skin and were completely genuine about their excitement for their wedding and reception. They chose not to spend time doing a lot of traditional parts of the reception, and instead focused on having fun with their guests.

Watching Emily & Mike’s reaction to their guests, the music and everything else at the reception, it was clear that everything had turned out exactly as they had planned. To me they serve as the perfect example of how to approach the decisions for a wedding. I’m thrilled that I had the chance to get to know them, and that I was able to play a part of making their day so special.

by EricTags: Pittsburgh

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Amber and Josh

It might sound obvious to say that weddings are the ultimate celebration for the families of the bride and groom. What’s not always obvious is HOW different families choose to celebrate. For some people the joy of the wedding focuses on the opportunity to visit and talk with family members and friends. Other families have a more active definition of what it means to celebrate. I say all this to preface my description of the wedding reception of Amber Rafferty and Josh Cooper. The reception was held at the Bessemer Croatian Club in Bessemer, PA – and was the HUGE PARTY type of a CELEBRATION.

I have know Amber & Josh for many years and I was very excited when they asked me to play a part in their special day. They came up with a great selection of artists for me to play during cocktail hour and dinner. They left a lot of freedom for their guests to make requests and for me to keep the dance floor full all night long.

Once the formal festivities were completed it became clear that this group of people were ready to celebrate like crazy and weren’t going to hold back.

Josh had mentioned to me a couple of times when planning the wedding that he wasn’t sure how much he’d be dancing, but he certainly came through and spent most of the evening on the dance floor!

My good friends Andy & Ashley were both in the bridal party and really helped keep the party going. (yes, that’s Ashley upside down!)

Amber and Josh were terrific to work with and I’m thrilled that they had the ultimate party for their reception. I’m sure everyone who attended their reception had an amazing time and had sore feet in the morning.

I always tell clients that their mood will set the tone of their reception and this was clearly the case with Amber and Josh. They were so excited to get to dance and party with their friends and family that everyone in attendance fed off their energy and created a spectacular evening!

by EricTags:

Monday, May 25, 2009

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

by EricTags:

Sunday, April 26, 2009

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.

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.

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!).

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!

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.

by EricTags:

Saturday, January 3, 2009

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

by EricTags:

Thursday, January 1, 2009

2008 Year in Review

by EricTags:

On the blog

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