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!

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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)

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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:

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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

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!

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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.

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Here is a notecard that I received from Kailey and Ryan after their reception.

Rhiannon (named after a song by Fleetwood Mac) and Mike were truly a fun couple to work with.  For the sake simplicity, and the fact that it’s 2am, I’ll let you get to know them by reading part of their introduction script:

Rhiannon and Mike met three years and seven months ago, after Rhiannon’s mom got them talking on the phone.  A pediatric resident at Children’s in Dallas – Rhiannon secretly longs for a place amongst the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.  In her spare time – she enjoys spending time on Facebook, holding down the couch cushions and – well, Facebook.  Her obscure talents?  grabbing things with her “Monkey Toes”.

Mike is employed by the Dallas Police Department, but if he had things his way – would be Dog the bounty hunter from cables A&E channel.  He’s highly skilled at shooting his gun, cleaning his gun, and removing his gun from the holster [Mike will demo].    Mike was voted by his lovely bride as “Most likely to leave the laundry in the dryer for two weeks before folding it”.  He knows how to sew on a button.  One particularly amusing story about Mike involves telling a gay joke in front of the senior officers at his place of work.  One was a gay woman.  She was not amused.

Ah – and “what is an introduction script” you might ask?  Well, in this case, Rhiannon and Mike wanted to share some amusing things about one another, as well as a bit about how they met, with their guests.  So – through some interviewing and email barrages, we gathered enough info to write up something that would astound and amuse not only the guests, but the newlyweds as well (since they didn’t know what bits & pieces I was going to use).

Not only were they introduced with this sort of material, but each member of the wedding party as well.  One hopes to design Barbie dresses.  One has a fear of condiments.  One has his own concoction titled “John Boy’s Krunk Juice”.  You get the idea.

(The chain around the groom’s neck in the following photo was provided by the photographer, by the way.  Mike and his groomsmen had a bit of fun with that!)

The weather was absolutely beautiful, as was the Johnson Color Garden at the Dallas Arboretum where they shared their vows.  Afterwards, the guests were invite to the terrace of Rosine Hall for cocktails, then inside for dining and dancing.

Rhiannon wanted to incorporate The Newlywed Game into the dinner portion of the reception.  This is just a fun way, again, of helping the guests to get to know the bride and groom better and see them react to each other in a fun environment.

The Slideshow

The Team

Venue: Michelle Lemay-Patten with the Dallas Arboretum

Photographers: Bella Pictures

Catering: Gils’ Elegant Catering

The Ceremony Music

Seating of the Grandparents & Parents: “Angel”, Jack Johnson

Wedding Party Processional: “Lovely Tonight”, Joshua Radin

Bride’s Procession: “The Luckiest”, Ben Folds

Recessional: “Stolen”, Dashboard Confessional (Specialty Sound Edit)

The Reception Music

Bride & Groom Introductions:  “Bittersweet Symphony”, The Verve

First Dance: “Bless the Broken Road”, Rascal Flatts

Parent Dance (combined): “Landslide”, Fleetwood Mac