Each year, The Knot holds a party in Dallas for all the wedding vendors in our market. This year’s party was planned by my good friend, Dana Carroll of Social by Dana Carroll.  She and Shana Thomas of The Urban Blossom really went above and beyond with the Cirque theme.  And, of course, a cool event like this needs a cool venue – The W / Victory hotel in Dallas.  I hadn’t been to The W in a while, but it looks like I’ll be back:

Good Morning Tommy!

Thank you! Your skills last night really contributed to the success of our event and everyone was really pleased with the overall outcome.

Do you mind if I add you to our preferred social catering vendor list? Your professionalism and style is much appreciated and I would like to work with you again soon on another event!

Warm Regards,

Trish | Catering Sales Manager | The W Dallas – Victory

Unfortunately, I don’t have many photos to share.  I was quite busy once the event got going between DJ’ing and visiting with people who came up.  It was amazing!

I absolutely LOVE City Club of Fort Worth.  For many reasons.  Firstly, I’ve been one of their preferred vendors for quite a long time.  And, because of that, it’s that feeling of going home for Thanksgiving every time I’m there.  (Not the “Oh, no, I have to eat Aunt May’s jello mold” – but the “I’m coming home to family” feeling. )
The staff there are wonderful, and truly amazing at their work.

So I was thrilled to hear that they were putting together the Best in Bridal show this year, and asked me to be a part – both as an exhibitor, and to DJ the Fashion Show.

It was very chic and trendy – they had LCD TVs in every room of the show, with a moderated Twitter feed taking place.  They would make a comment, or ask a question, and the brides and vendors could answer the question or make further comments.  How cool is that?

Here are a few pics from the show.  Many, many thanks to City Club management (Amy, Heather, Sara, Peggie) and the staff (Duncan, Jose, Estella, Ramesh), and all the many contributing vendors that made this One Amazing Bridal Event!

(Click on an image to view my comments)

Shezad left me a very sweet message, following their wedding on June 28th. Take a listen!

Shezed_message

“Broadway Meets Backyard Barbecue” – that’s how Natalie and Andy described to me their dream reception, and what a reception it was!  Natalie and Any both live in New York, and I had a great time planning their reception.  We had a couple of meetings, a couple of phonecalls, and many conversations over Facebook!  Natalie is a dancer on the New York Jets Flight Crew- Andy does something in the corporate world.  (I mean, can he seriously compete with Natalie?)

It was a beautiful reception, complete with a purple wall washes and a custom-designed GOBO on the dance floor.

 

Here, Natalie and a few of her girlfriends bust out the Texas Tech fight song.

Enjoy the photos:

The Team:

Venue: Katherine Majeed-Ali, Marriott Legacy North Dallas (Plano)
Photographer: Stacy Reeves
Check out her blog pics for Natalie and Andy.

The Music:

Cocktail Music: Jazz Instrumentals
First Dance: “Sea of Love”, Cat Power
Cake Cutting: “Sugar, Sugar”, The Archies
Stepdad / Daughter Dance: “My Girl”, The Temptations
Mother / Son Dance: “My Wish”, Rascal Flatts
Dance Floor Opener: “Old Time Rock & Roll”, Bob Seger
Garter Toss: “I Make Him Feel Good”, Bernadette Peters and “Tops Drop”, Fat Pat
(Garter was tossed on a NY Jets football, signed by Nick Mangold and Kris Jenkins)
Bouquet Toss: “Girls, Girls, Girls”, Motley Crue
Last Slow Song: “At Last”, Etta James
Exit Song: “(Turn Out the Lights) The Party’s Over”, Willie Nelson

Totally Useless Information:

Number of Speakers: 10 (four mains, four zones in ballroom, two in lobby)
Number of LED Uplights: 16
Length of Speaker Cable: 355
Color of Gaff Tape: Brown

I had such a good time with Pam and Onel this past weekend.  Her mom, pamm (yes – that’s lowercase with to m’s) is owner of Bridal Blooms & Creations in Dallas, a  good friend, and co-conspirator on the board for June Weddings with me.  I can honestly say that that is the first wedding where the bride and her mom have the same name, so I called Pam (that’s capital P, one m) “Junior” all through the planning process.

Anyway – they had such a fun crowd and a wedding party bent on making this a fabulously fun reception.  The Grand Ballroom had alot of rustic charm to it, which added to the Rustic Chic theme of the evening.

This is our debut event for table lighting – pamm (the mom) called me on Friday morning and asked if we could pinspot the table centerpieces.  Well, at the time, we didn’t own the equipment but a few stops later and an investment into some lighting gear, and we got it all set up and ready to go in time for the festivities!

Enjoy the photos!

Rick and Kelly were really a fun couple to work with, and incorporated several fun and creative ideas into their reception.

For starters, the tables were named after some of their favorite places – complete with a photo and paragraph explaining why that locale was important to them.

Secondly – they loved the spotlight!  Rick busted out in a rendition of “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’”, Top Gun Style.  During their first dance, they had a group of guests (which I jokingly referred to as the “Pointer Sisters”), singing along on the sidelines.

The wedding party couldn’t help but dance – no matter where they were.  I had a blast!

The Team:

The Venue: Sky Creek Ranch
Photograph: Scott Young Photography
Cakes: Opulent Cakes

The Music:

First Dance: “Then”, Brad Paisley
Dinner Music: Adult contemporary, Christian Adult Contemporary (Jeremy Camp, etc)
Cake Cutting: “Recipe for Love”, Harry Connick, Jr.
Father / Daughter Dance: “I Loved Her First”, Heartland
Mother / Son Dance: “Do I Make You Proud”, Taylor Hicks
First Open Dance: “Better Together”, Jack Johnson
Bouquet Toss: “Single Ladies”, Beyonce and “I Know What Boys Like”, The Waitresses
Last Slow Song: “You Had Me at Hello”, Kenny Chesney
Last Song: “Send Me On My Way”, Rusted Root

Well, I’ve been a bit frustrated with this whole blog thing. Seems I couldn’t get the posts to look “just so”. As it turns out, I needed to updated my theme, which works, but totally lost my colors and some formatting options. I’ll be out of town for a few days, but plan to get it “pretty” again as soon as possible. In the meantime, I’ve got a few posts to add.

Oh – and I’ve also switched to using Flickr to host my photo albums, since it looks quite a bit nicer than using the blog for all the photos from each event. So, I’ll be posting some hilights on the blog, and using Flickr for the rest.

Here’s a notecard I received from Michael and Kara following their reception at the Southlake Hilton on May 2nd.

I can recall at a NACE meeting last year, at the Stoneleigh Hotel in Dallas, when Shezad Manjee (a friend and associate in the wedding industry) first told me “Tommy, I’ve met a girl”.  After we chatted for a bit, I remember coming home and telling my wife that Shezad may have found the one.
What a blessing it was to get a call a few months later, as Shezad asked if I would be the DJ / MC for his reception.  What an honor!  Of course, I said yes!

I truly love being a part of the wedding industry, I also love ethnic weddings because they are usually full of some wonderfully different traditions than what most people get to experience.  And – I am thrilled to be part of a reception when the couple are so dear to me.

The reception was held at the Southlake Hilton, and began about 1pm.  It was fantastic.  Enough words – see for yourself!

The Team

Wedding Planner:  Staci Freeman, Stardust Celebrations
Floral: Garden Gate Floral Design
Linens: M&M Special Events
Lighting:  Dave von Blohn, Absolute Lighting
Photography: Luke Edmonson, Edmonson Photography
Videography: Hakim Sons Films
Cakes: Fancy Cakes by Lauren

Totally Useless Info:

Number of speakers:  12 (10 in the ballroom because the dancefloor was in the center of the room, two for the buffet in the foyer)
Length of speaker cable: 350′

This is truly one of the most beautiful outside weddings that I’ve been a part of.  The ceremony was adjacent to the Camp House near the waterfall, with the guests seated on the lawn overlooking White Rock Lake.  The decor was stunning and very “spring-ish”, with lots of oranges and natural decor.