What a great weekend! 

     I had met with William and Ciara on more than one occasion as we prepared for what was to be the very first wedding held at the brand new Flint Hills Discovery Center, in Manhattan Kansas. Their personalities were both so fun and energetic, and I couldn't wait for today to arrive as we had a lot of "twists" incorporated into their celebration. 

     As the day arrived,  we began by taking a dose of what mother nature often times dishes out to us in the Midwest: - Kansas wind and the impending threat of rain. As we began setting up the sound system for the ceremony, the wedding party arrived for an expedited photo session with Heather and her husband from "Spitting Images Photography" before guests began arriving. William had not yet seen Ciara in her dress, and in the interest of time, they chose to do a "reveal" prior to the ceremony. 
     
     As incredible as this facility looked both inside and out, it was all overshadowed by this absolutely beautiful bride as she approached William, with his back turned, who had not yet seen her. Shortly after the pre wedding photos concluded, guests began arriving, and the skies began to look even more ominous. We stuck it out, and the ceremony went off as planned, although we had to eliminate the microphones due to the wind. The ceremony matched William & Ciara's personalities perfectly. They had written their own vows, and in those moments, they injected laughter, love and a few tears. After a fun "high-five" followed by a passionate kiss, these two officially began the rest of their lives together. 

     The guests had arrived and the stage was set. It was time for the grand entrance. This facility has a very unique layout, including a 3 story open foyer/atrium with railing on both upper floors and we had chosen to use every aspect of that to our advantage as we introduced the wedding party into the room. 

     As the guests gathered on the ground floor, we introduced the wedding party in fun fashion, all appearing over the rail from different floors before making their way downstairs. The guests attention was all turned to the upper floors as they anxiously awaited the arrival of William and Ciara, but there was a twist. As the chorus of "Love in an Elevator" rang out, the distinct "ding" of the elevator cued the guests to turn around to find William & Ciara enter the celebration in unique fashion. 

     William & Ciara proceeded to the cake table to cut their cake. Another personal element was injected into the cake cutting.  William proudly serves our country in the Army, rather than cut their cake with the standard cake knife, it was done with his sword! Not many cake cutting photos will have that element  look back on!

     Onto the toasts: After a fun toast from one of the groomsman, one of William's family members delivered a very heartfelt toast that William thought to be the final toast. However, there was one more. You see, one of William's groomsman wasn't able to be a part of the celebration today, his brother Joey. The two of them are very close, but Joey too serves our country and was deployed to the other side of the world. Without William knowing, we had arranged for Joey to be able to be a part of this once in a lifetime occasion with his brother. After a short introduction, Joey was patched into our sound system, and delivered a live toast to his brother and his new bride, all the way from southeast Asia. 

     The entire day captured William & Ciara's personalities and was filled with fun, laughter and dancing. Ciara & William, I wish you both the best as you begin this journey in your lives together, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for you. Thank you both for trusting me with one of the most important days in your lives together, and I was truly honored to be a part of such a fun and special celebration! 

     This weekend, I had the pleasure of working with Chris & Amber Elder at Hidden Lakes Golf and Country Club in Derby Kansas. The day began with the threat of rain, but the threat remained just that. As a matter of fact, it turned out to be a beautiful, cool, sunny Kansas day, with a little bit of the wind that we are known for. 

     Chris & Amber had a fantastic outdoor ceremony complete with bits and pieces of their personalities sprinkled in here and there, and overall was a picture perfect reminder of the fun couple that they are. Amber made her way down the aisle, escorted by her father to "I Loved Her First" by Heartland. She looked absolutely stunning, and you could tell that Chris was blown away seeing her in her dress for the first time. 

     Following the ceremony, and a few photos, we worked out a fun grand entrance for the wedding party to enter the reception, followed by Chris & Amber's first dance together. After dinner, toasts & the cake cutting, Amber shared a dance with her father, followed by Chris dancing with his mother. After that, it was time to get the party started!

     We covered literally 5 generations of music over the course of the dance, and ended the night on a fun note as Chris & Amber were elegantly chauffeured away in a stretch Hummer. Overall, it was a great night and these two were truly a blast to work with!

I LOVE my job!!

     Have you ever been to a wedding where you really didn't enjoy yourself? Overall, you felt really disconnected from everyone in the room, there was no direction, and you were flat out bored?

     You're certainly not alone, as that happens each and every weekend in cities all across the country. When searching for their wedding entertainment, most couples are going through that process for the first time, and quite frankly do not know what to look for, what questions to ask, or even where to begin. 

     This brings them to the default question: "How much do you charge?" Now if you were buying a loaf of bread, or a gallon of milk, that would be a valid question, and a great place to start, right? Why is that? Because the two things that I listed above are for the most part,  simple commodities. 

     Look at it this way, imagine that you and your fiance are headed out to the movie theater to catch a movie. You visit the concession stand, and make your way to your seat. As the curtain goes up, and the movie begins, this particular film never really captures your attention, as a matter of fact, you are completely disinterested! You begin to ask yourselves: "Do we want to waste the next hour and a half of our lives and sit through this, or do we want to leave?" 

     On the flip side of that coin, put yourself in that very same situation, except for the fact that the movie is phenomenal! From beginning to end, it captures your attention, and you feel like you are a part of the movie. You connect with the characters, you laugh with them, sometimes even cry with them. In short, you are emotionally connected with the movie, so much so that you did not even want to get up to use the restroom, in fear of missing something. Even though this movie may have been 3 hours long, you were simply not ready for it to end. 

     Weddings are very similar in that regard, as you can actually get the same types of feelings and reaction from your guests. Either they're engaged in every moment, and enjoying it from beginning to end, or on the other end of the spectrum, it could be like the first movie that I mentioned above, one where they are looking at their watches, wondering when the best time to slip out would be. 

     In order for your wedding to be the captivating, engaging, and incredible event that you deserve, you have to have a great supporting cast, which in this case, equates to who you choose to guide and direct you through the evening. Do you want a DJ who will simply play music, yet take no involvement in the direction of your wedding? Do you want someone attempting to guide and direct you through your evening who quite simply is not qualified to do so? It's kind of like a movie with really bad acting! Even though the premise of the movie was great, the delivery was really bad, and they weren't able to convey the thought and emotion intended, leaving a lot to be desired. 

My question to you is: As you are planning your wedding, which "movie" do you want your guests to see?

For more information, please feel free to contact me via e-mail, or on my website. 

     Those of you getting married in the future, and are searching for your DJ/Entertainer or even your photographer, how do you begin your screening process? Most will ask one and only one question: "How much do you charge?" but what do you really learn by asking that question? (other than a number!)

     There are so many options available to you when choosing the service providers for your wedding day, and I can assure you that with a lot of the service providers out there, it IS an apples to apples comparison. The key phrase in that last statement is "A lot". Notice that I didn't say "all", and there is a big reason for that. 

     Many of you may not realize it, but there is a BIG difference between the levels of wedding service providers out there, and they key thing that creates the large divide is a very important word in just about any other walk of life: "Education". Now I'm not talking a High School Diploma, or even a College Degree, but let's look at that for a moment. When you go to see your family doctor, you know from the fact that he is a doctor, that he has completed all necessary requirements in order for him to become a doctor right? The same can be said for many career fields out there. 

     My question is, when factoring in that same logic towards your wedding day, why not hold your chosen service provider to those same standards? I mean after all, your selecting someone to work with on what will theoretically be the first (and only) time that you're ever going to do something in your life. Let me put it to you another way. If you knew that you were only going to be able to buy one car in your lifetime, and that you'd have that car forever, would you buy a Ford Festiva? (sorry if I offended any of Ford Festiva owners reading this!) Or a different scenario, if you were only going to be able to eat at one restaurant one time, and you were never able to eat at another restaurant again for the rest of your life, would you really pick Burger King?

     My point being, as you begin your wedding planning, approach the day for what it is, a once in a lifetime moment for you. Hold your service providers to the same standards that you hold many other people in your life to (i.e. the family doctor mentioned above, the general manager at your place of employment, etc.) Find out where your service provider received their training and education, and that they make continuing education a priority with their business. Just because someone has the tools, does not make them qualified, much less a professional. I have a fairly impressive set of tools, but simply owning those tools does not make me a carpenter! (Far from it I might add)

     You may not realize it, but there are many ways for your service providers to receive continuing education on a regular basis. In my field, I am a member of the American Disc Jockey Association, they host an annual entertainment seminar/convention yearly The Las Vegas DJ Show, something that I attend on a regular basis. There is also Mobile Beat DJ Show that I've attended every year for several years. Expanding upon that, there are shows for all wedding service providers that cover a variety of fields from Photography, Event Planning, Entertainment, Decor and more, such as the Wedding MBA, you get the point, right?

     The bottom line is, you should definitely do your research and make sure that who you are choosing quite frankly is qualified to even be there. For more information, you can contact me on my website, or by clicking here. 

Thanks for stopping by, and til next time!