Who Wants To Play Dress Up?

When planning your event – whether it be a wedding or birthday or picnic, I always think it’s fun to throw in a bit of a change-up.  Have a theme.  Over the years, I’ve learned that costumes are not just for Halloween.  They can definitely change the mood.  There are the obvious themes based around holidays (Halloween, Mardi Gras, St. Patty’s Day, Cinco de Mayo—Christmas in July is great!).  The following are some ideas to roll around in your head.

Black and White Theme—ask your guests to dress ONLY in black and white (combined, or all black or all white).  There always will be a few guests who have to sneak in their individuality by adding an accent of color here and there.  Doesn’t matter.  It’s a great effect – and besides, black is slimming.

Costume Theme—I love deejaying weddings that have a costume theme.  Watching the mother of the groom dressed as the Wicked Witch of the West?  Priceless.

Hawaiian Shirt Theme—tell your guests they must come in Hawaiian shirts.  (There are some nasty looking ones out there, but that’s the fun of it.  You could even have a prize for ugliest shirt!)  This is great during the middle of winter to take everyone’s minds off the cold and ice.  There are some great tiki torches that are solar powered.  Charge them up during the day and then light up the event area at night.  The music selection is endless – Hawaiian, Reggae, BUFFETT!

Casablanca Theme—we recently deejayed a wedding like this.  The bride went all out in trying to decorate the banquet room so that looked like Rick’s (tall bushy plants, candle light, balloons—and yes they danced to “As Time Goes By” by Dooley Wilson). 

Rat Pack Night—bring back the days of Frank, Dean and Sammy.  Bobby Darin (my fav).  Picture Las Vegas circa 1963ish.  Men were dapper and the ladies were stylish. 

There’s so much that can be done.  Just because you’re an adult doesn’t mean you can’t go out and play now and then, right? 

A Little Hump Day Humor

The Harlem Shake - Peanuts Style

Location, Location, Location

A current client said to me that her day was based upon family, music and food.  In that order.  (I personally like that music comes before food.)  Yes, picking your event site is important.  You want a place that is attractive to the eye, that has a staff that can handle whatever is thrown at them, and has food that won’t force your guests into making a side-trip to Mickey D’s on the way home.  The following are banquet facilities John and I have worked at in the last few years where, I think, prospective clients should take a peek.  Unfortunately, I can’t help with prices.  You’re on your own with that.  [Please note: I have a thing for “character.”  Hence my recommendations.]

Poconos Area

*** Stroudsmoor Inn—this place has it all.  Location, location, location.  They have multiple reception areas and, if you want a ceremony on site, they have that as well.  The staff is top notch, and the food?  To die for.  (It helps, of course, to mention that Funtastic Sound is on their “Preferred Vendor” list.)  http://www.stroudsmoor.com/WeddingInner.cfm?itemCategory=40417&siteid=425&priorId=0&banner=s

Poconos Manor—again, they have various reception rooms and an area for an outside ceremony.  This is an OLD Poconos Golf resort.  Think Dirty Dancing.  http://www.poconomanor.com/weddings

Shawnee Inn—the main banquet room is huge, and there is a great little reception room in the lower level.  One of the neatest things we ever did was to be the deejays for a ceremony on premises in the Shawnee Playhouse—right before Christmas—in the middle of a snow storm.  Absolutely magical.  The staff is great.  http://www.shawneeinn.com/weddings/default-en.html

Lehigh Valley

The Lehigh Valley has a wide variety of places to have your wedding (or party).  As I mentioned above, I love out of the ordinary.  So, my first mention has to be:

Allentown Brew Works—yes, the location can be scary.  It’s downtown Allentown.  BUT I LOVE the reception site.  Upper level of the Brew Works.  Your guests take an elevator to the top floor and enter a room that is surrounded by windows and beautiful hardwood floors.  http://www.thebrewworks.com/banquets-weddings-private-events/

Saucon Valley Acres—extremely rustic (dark woods), with locations for an outside ceremony.  This place is magical (to me, anyway).  (Check out the home page to our website.  The bride and groom posted there had a costume-themed wedding at this location.)   http://www.svacres.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=61&Itemid=79

Hotel Bethlehem—a deejay’s nightmare!  LOL  (Or at least it was at one time.)  The location puts this apart from the others.  The hotel is located in historic Bethlehem.  Think Colonial and cobblestones.  (And, if your guests  want some action after the party, they are only a hop, skip and carriage ride from the Sands Casino.)  http://www.bethlehemweddings.com/

Honorable Mention:  The Barrister’s Club, http://www.thebarristersclub.com/BALLROOM.html

Berks County

Bear Creek Mountain Resort—this is between Lehigh and Berks Counties.  To honestly appreciate this location the best?  Plan your event for late October through April.  Snow.  It’s all about the snow.  Your main banquet hall has one wall that is nothing but glass overlooking the skiers and the mountain.  Amazing.  http://www.bcmountainresort.com/events-bear-creek. 

Stokesay Castle—It’s a castle.  In Berks County.  I’m a King Arthur and the Round Table geek.  Need I say more.  http://stokesay.net/

Inn  at Bally Spring Farm—I wish I could post a website link.  I think it is down.  (I understand they recently re-opened.)  Again, rustic and beautiful.  (Is there a theme here?) 

Philly-ish

The Water Wheel—Down near Doylestown. This place has historic value.  (Read the info on the website). There is a beautiful place for outside ceremonies.  And a creek.  It has a creek that has frogs.  That may not mean much to you, but as far as I’m concerned, it was part of its charm.  http://www.thewaterwheelrestaurant.com/banquet.htm

Joseph Ambler Inn—By now you must have realized, if you haven’t before, I LOVE atmosphere.  If you want a place to have an outside ceremony and cocktails, this is a great place.   http://www.josephamblerinn.com/weddings.htm

 

So, that’s it.  There are hundreds and hundreds of party and reception sites.  Everyone has their favorites.  I tried to give you a list of some of the places John and I have worked that are a bit out of the ordinary—for one reason or another (mostly atrmosphere).

I am hoping that some of my previous clients will add to this list, or make comments adding to or subtracting from my comments above.

Relay For Life 4th Annual Dance - PSA

Relay for Life of Exeter (Dragonflies) will be holding their 4th Annual Dance. Luau Theme on Saturday, April 13, 2013.  Doors open a 7:00 p.m.  Funtastic Sound will be DJ'ing the event (again) this year. Snacks, soda & beer will be provided. Cash Bar available. Take a chance at winning one of the Door Prizes or bidding at the AUCTION . Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the door.  Call (484)824-5004 for tickets (and directions).  Come join us for an evening of fun for a great cause.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow? How it effects your party.

Yes, it’s pretty.  Yes, we all dream of a white Christmas.  Yes, a lot of people enjoy frolicking in it.  But for a deejay, it can be a total nightmare.

 With times the way they are (what with global warming, freakish weather patterns, etc.) booking parties anytime between the end of October through mid-April can be a source of much agita [N.B. for those of you unfamiliar with the Italian term, it means heartburn or distress.]  We deejays promise the client we will be there for him/her/them.  We have the deposit in hand.  We have the car/van/truck packed and we’re ready to entertain.  Then it happens.

IT SNOWS!!!  or IT SLEETS!!!  or there is FREEZING RAIN AND ICE!!!  Hellfire and Damnation!

Now, as a deejay, unless you have a dogsled, you may start to sweat profusely and get the beginnings of a migraine.  You take another look at your timetable and try to figure out how much earlier you should leave to get to the event location—taking into account, of course, for how quickly the snow is accumulating outside your door.

You arrive at the party.  Phew!  The party starts on time and you smile and joke and do your job – make sure everyone is having fun and enjoying themselves.  Are you having fun?  Hell no!  There are niggling little thoughts constantly in the back of your head … like “How am I going to get home from here?” or “Wonder if the roads have been treated?” or “Why didn’t I buy that dogsled when I had the opportunity?”   But do the guests know what is going on in that sometimes overly-neurotic brain of yours?  Nope.  Because, as the saying goes, “Don’t let them see you sweat.”

You may or may not be aware that PA and NJ were hit by a rather nasty nuisance of a winter storm yesterday.  Absolutely lovely to behold.  You know, that pretty fairy snow?  The stuff that sparkles as it lands?  It started in PA around 1:00.  Last evening John and I had the pleasure of deejaying a 40^th birthday party in Clinton, NJ.  It had an 8:00 start time and was to run to midnight.  We smiled.  We danced.  We (well, I) schmoozed.  [N.B.  John says to mention he schmoozed, as well.]  And we worried.  A LOT.

So - just remember party planners – your deejays really do everything they can to be there for you.  But, if you happen to book a deejay and it snows?  Just ignore the glaze in his/her eyes.  He/she is dreaming about a Laughing Husky Yukon Flyer.  (Now, I wonder where I put that link to their website.) 

Stories - I Have Stories!

Being a deejay is almost like being a hidden camera.  You get to see things that most of the guests have no idea are going on in the background.  There are happy things, sad things, things that make you scratch your head.  And all you can do, basically, is sit and watch and keep the music going.  Let me give you some examples:

I was deejaying a very upscale wedding at a country club.  Everything was picture perfect.  However, weddings can be a strange dichotomy – bringing together two families.  But, sometimes you can also have one or both parents remarried (on both sides).  That makes a LOT of families coming together (and a lot of egos).  In this instance the father of the bride had recently married a woman just slightly older than his daughter.  A striking woman.  A head turner (I believe that term is still used?)  During the evening we had been requested to start a limbo line.  Most of the guests were partaking in this activity and having a great time.  Then I started noticing that a HUGE majority of the men were now standing in front of me, facing the limbo-ers coming under the pole AND THEY HAD BIG GRINS ON THEIR FACES.  Why could this be, I wondered?  I watched for a while and then found my answer.  Every time Dad’s new wife would approach the pole, she’d raise her cocktail dress higher.  And higher.  And higher.  She wasn’t wearing any underwear.  None.  Zippo.  Nada.  Good times. 

There was the time where our bride and groom did not want to cut the cake until after dinner (which is typical in most places).  Everyone was close to finishing their meals, and I decided to check with the banquet manager to make sure her staff would be ready to cut the cake.  Then I noticed there was no cake.  I wandered around.  I mean, how hard is it to lose a cake?  A big white one?  I meandered into the kitchen and found three kitchen staff members standing around it.  They were slicing it to serve it to he guests.  I brought to their attention that the bride and groom need to make the first slices.  Without saying a word, these women started fitting the cake back together - like a jigsaw puzzle – then using their fingers to smear the icing around the cut marks.  They brought the cake back out to the dining room and made sure to position the defaced portion of the cake into the corner.  No one was the wiser. 

Being the host of the party is an important one.  You want to make sure your guests are having a good time, and you want to make sure YOU are having a good time, as well.  John and I have always felt it important that, as the host, you should make sure your guests have a say in the music being played.  They feel a part of the festivities that way.  Yes, it is your day, but you need to think about them, also.  So… we end up with an event where our client wanted funk.  5 HOURS OF FUNK.  Now, you have to realize, I am a child of the 70s.  I love disco.  I love funk.  But 5 hours of non-stop funk?  We were funked out.  Two grandmothers approached us to play something else.  We tried.  We really did.  Half way through “Brown-eyed Girl” (their request, mind you), the hostess came over and told us we weren’t playing funk.  She wanted more funk.  *deep sigh*  All I can tell you was that on the way home, the only way I could come up with “de-funking” was to make John play some Barry Manilow on the car stereo.  (What, you think I’d make him listen to Lawrence Welk?)

So ends story time for today, kiddies.  Have fun out there.  And don’t overdo the funk! 

Videographers - A Thing Of The Past?

Well, are they?  I know throughout the 90s EVERYONE had a videographer for their wedding.  (I'm still being forced to watch my sister's when I visit her - and that was from 1990!) 

At the time, one of the big selling points of booking a videographer was that with photos you could see your Aunt Dot or Uncle Bob.  In videos you could watch them move and speak and dance.  As a young newlywed it may not really matter - but down the road as these loved ones would pass on (and you became older), you could play back the tape (or DVD) and truly remember them.

I can honestly say that in the past 3 years of deejaying weddings, I have seen hide nor hair of any videographers plying their trade. 

Are people just trying to cut costs?

Is it a locale thing?  (Do they still have videographers in larger metropolitan areas?)

Have people with android phones taken over? 

Have they just become extinct and unnecessary?

Over the years I worked with many who were great at what they did.  It was their chance to be artistic.  Leave behind a little piece of themselves in each "production."

I'd be curious to hear other readers' thoughts on this.  Did you have a videographer?  Why or why not?  Are you planning on using a videographer?