“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:

[Show as slideshow]

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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

Jamie and Chris met in Las Vegas at the Hard Rock Hotel Bar.  They struck up a conversation and ended up closing down the bar.  Chris lives in California, and Jamie was in Fort Worth at the time.  They enjoyed their conversation so much, that it wasn’t long before Jamie paid him a visit and eventually moved to California to be with her beaux.

The reception was a wonderful mix of guests from all over the US – California, Oklahoma, Washington, and New York to name a few.  They really had a great time.  During dinner, we navigated into some fun songs like “That’s Amore” by Dean Martin and “PIano Man” by Billy Joel, which had the air of a piano bar because all the guests were singing and swaying to the music.

The ceremony was held just outside the Yellow Rose ballroom at the Gaylord Texan Resort, with cocktails just around the corner in a semi-secluded area of the hotel.

Here are a few select photos.  Scroll to the bottom of this post for the slideshow.

Here’s their gobo on the side wall during the cake cutting.

Jamie & Chris – having a “moment”

Our fab coordinator for the evening – Shanna Marko!
(Photographer Steve Cooley is looking on)

It was a great mix of both young and “not so young” on the dance floor.

Here we see Chris’ brother, Sean making his move.
Tori Timberlake Mitzel (top center,
former Catering Director at the Marriott Solana)
was in the wedding party.

Some funky group circly huggy thing to “Sweet Home Alabama”

Just pretend that, in place of our Matron of Honor, Jenny -
you are looking at Chris, the groom. He was busy directing guests to
the after-party at the Glass Cactus.

The Team

Venue: Jeff Worthington, The Gaylord Texan Resort
Coordinaor: Shanna Marko, The Organized Event
Photographers: Steve and Kim Cooley, Carpe Vita Photography
Videographer: Some dude named Daniel

The Music

First Dance: “Cross My Heart”, George Strait
Father / Daughter Dance: “Butterfly Kisses”, Bob Carlisle
Mother / Son Dance: “Simple Man”, Lynyrd Skynyrd
Cake Cutting: “When I’m 64″, The Beatles
Bouquet / Garter Toss: We skipped these at Jamie’s request – she was having too much fun to “spoil the vibe”
Last Slow Song: “I Need You”, Tim McGraw & Faith Hill
Last Dance: “Last Dance”, Donna Summer

Totally Useless Technical Info:

Introduction style: Bio’s of each wedding party member, introduced in couples with fun music for each couple.
Speakers: 10 (two mains, two subs, two zones in the ballroom; four in the cocktail area)
Speaker Cable: 375 feet
DMX Cable: 275 feet
LED Uplights: six
Monster KHAOS drinks consumed: one (I learned my lesson last time)

The Slideshow

It’s not everyday that your niece gets married.  As a matter of fact, for me, that will only happen twice in my lifetime (two nieces, just in case you weren’t sure!)  [Note to the nieces - it had BETTER happen only once for each of you! LOL]

So, we decided to pull out all the stops and make this the bestest, most memorablest, fantasticest reception she could ever want.

Her name is Amanda, by the way.  Total blonde – I could tell you all kinds of  blonde moments, but my server only has so many gigs of space available.

Amanda – “Wow, that place is really busy”

David – “Um -that’s a CAR LOT”

’nuff said.

Not that there really was a definite theme, but 1) the cake had a Cinderella design, 2) the First Dance was “So Close” from the Enchanted soundtrack, and 3) the Father / Daughter dance was “Cinderella” by Steven Curtis Chapman.

So, for the dance floor gobo, I used a font called “The King and Queen” and pulled in some graphic elements from the Enchanted movie website.  Personally, I thought it was quite cool.

The Gobo.  Cool, huh?

The groom’s dad.  Yes – those are cheese sticks in his nose.

The wedding party during the introductions.  Chrissy (foreground) learned to watch what she said in my office.  Her intro included her describing herself at one of the meetings… “I’m a shorts and T-Shirt kind of girl.  I hunt.  I fish. I cuss WAY too much.  And I can probably drink most anyone you know under the table”

Welcome – Check.  Toast – Check.  Father / Daughter Dance – Check.  Ted (Amanda’s Dad) can finally relax…

And I actually got to dance with my wife!

The cutest Ring Bearer and Flower Girl you’ll ever see.  (Yes, those are my kids!)

The fun photography team (Julie, right) and her mom.  Look at that amazing lighting.  (I was holding the flash).

The Send-off.  We love you, Amanda and David!

The Music

First Dance: “So Close”, Jon McLaughlin (Enchanted Soundtrack)
Father / Daughter Dance: “Cinderella”, Steven Curtis Chapman
Mother / Son Dance: “The Wonder of You”, Elvis Presley
Bouquet Toss: “Maneater”, Nelly Furtado
Garter Toss: “Womanizer”, Britney Spears
Last Dance: “Umbrella”, Rihanna

The Team

Venue: Kristin Woods, Trophy Club Country Club
Photographer: Julie Altaizoun, Juliana Studios
Videogrpaher: Daniel Threet
Florist & Cake: Ruth, Bouquets of Elegance
Wedding Coordinator: Ted Evans, Father of the Bride 

Totally Useless Technical Info

Speakers: seven (two subs, two mains, one in buffet area, two in the bar)
Speaker Cable: 225 ft
Extension Cords: 345 ft
DMX Cable: 355ft
LED Uplights: 11
Monster KHAOS Energy drinks consumed: two.  I’ll never do that again.  I was up until 5:30am.

Cakes dropped by the friend who promised to make a surprise groom’s cake: One.
(David’s birthday is on Halloween, so Amanda’s friend was going to make a “Haunted House” cake as a gag.  She dropped it, but did deliver a chocolate groom’s cake with dipped strawberries.  She gets an “A” for effort)

All Images

Okay – so I’m still learning all this blog stuff.  I just found out that I can add a slideshow – so here it is.  This is all the images I have available from their reception…

Today is (well – was) the last Wednesday of the month, which means the Fort Worth Professional Wedding Guild luncheon.  Since I’m on the board for this group, I got to be a table moderator for the first ever speed networking round table thingy that took place today.

Basically, the board came up with eight different topics of discussion, and each table had five minutes to discuss the topic – then everyone had to move to a different table.

The topic of my table was (cue dramatic music) “Trends in the Wedding Industry”

Since this blog is regularly looked at by millions of wedding-type people (or, at least two at the time of this writing!), I thought I’d list some of the trends that were discussed

Colors:

1. Chocolate anything with freaky accent colors – green, tiffany blue, chartreuse, orange, etc.
2. “Whatever colors Target has in the towel section are the new up-and-coming colors”  [Editor's note: I didn't know that Target had so much influence!]

Cakes, etc:

1. Look for grooms cakes decorated like Tuxedos.  [I don't make the news - I just report it]
2. Alternative dessert ideas such as themed “bars” (tables with different types and flavors of whatever) – including candies (Hershey kisses, Hot Tamales, etc) or different flavors of popcorn.

Drinks:

1. Signature drinks remain a hot item
2. Champagne bars, including different types / flavors of Champagne and add-ins, such as berries, etc.
3. Champagne pop – small (individual) bottles with black straws in them.  “Very fun and cool” we were told.

Green (eco-friendly):
Alot of couples are choosing to help the environment by “Going Green”.  Areas include:

1. Organic foods
2. Organic photo albums
3. Less floral, more decor lighting (especially eco-friendly LED lighting)

Clothing trends

One person noted that the strapless gowns are dropping out of sight (no pun intended – well, okay – so it was) and more ladies are going with a strap variety.

Photography:

1. Some brides are trading boudoir photography for the traditional bridal portraits.  (I wouldn’t recommend displaying one of these at the wedding ceremony!)
2. Trash-the-dress is still quite popular.
3. Some are choosing to do signature books instead of signature boards.  Rather than have the guests sign the matt around a large engagement photo, how about choosing small engagement books that have blank pages for signing.  [Editor's note - my wife and I have a Signature board that hangs in our entry and we love it.  The argument against it is "where do I hang it".  My suggestion - how about a series of smaller prints that can be placed throughout the house? A signature book would just get shelved like a guest book, I would think.]

Social:

1. More and more couples are creating their own websites, with helpful information for out-of-town guests, short bio’s of the wedding party, stories about how they met or the engagement, and photos of course!
2. Some hotels are starting to offer these sites for the couple, with the added perk of allowing guests to reserve rooms online and so on.
3. Blogging.  ’nuff said
4. Adding video content as well as photos to the couple’s website.
5. Couples today are very web-savvy.  If you (as a vendor) are not on the web, forget about it!

Music:

1. Wedding Parties are on the rise – small, intimate pre-parties (like the bachelor / bachelorette party) a few weeks before the nuptials involving a very small group, usually just the Wedding Party.
2. “Rock Your Wedding” style dances for the first dance / parent dances, etc.
3. Couples trying to incorporate step-parents into the parent dances.

Overall:

1. The word of the day is un-traditional.  Couples want a ceremony and reception that is highly personalized and engaging for the guests.
2. Brides today want more information; they are smarter shoppers, more educated.
3. Couples want vendors that are willing to help them with their wedding planning by being available for questions, and to offer suggestions and advice.
4. Couples are booking closer to their wedding date, rather than 12-18 months in advance.
5. While brides are still willing to pay for a first-class wedding day, they want to be confident that they are getting all they can for their dollar.
6. Incorporating close friends more into the ceremony.
7. Destination weddings with a big reception are on the rise.
8. Couples are speding the time to make their wedding day more of a production; more entertaining.
9. Some vendors offer small, intimate networking functions for their clients which incorporate a food tasting, wine tasting, and an opportunity to meet their preferred vendors.

Decor:

1. LED Uplighting is extremely popular; it’s something that most guests have never seen.
2. Unique table decorations are “in” – including wrought iron, crystals, topiaries, ribbons, etc.  Each table somewhat unique in the theme.
3. Fabric and textures are seen more and more (especially coupled with the LED lighting)
4. LED-lit centerpiece vases that have a cool “glow.

Heather and Phu had a beautiful wedding ceremony and reception at The Empire Room in Dallas this past Friday night. The ceremony was conducted by a friend and lasted all of about ten minutes!

As always, we provided full sound coverage of the L-shaped ballroom, plus the bar located at the other end of the building, including the ceremony as well.

Enough of the small talk – here are the photos:

The Ceremony Setup

Place Cards – Texas Style (Dublin Dr. Peppers with name and table)
The New Mr. & Mrs. Nguyen – First Dance

The ballroom looked great with some LED uplighting on the curtains.

The Cake
I didn’t get a slice this time

The Ballroom “Dressed in Blue”

Heather and her girls gettin’ down

The bouquet toss
Song: “Wishin’ and Hopin’” by Ani Difranco

Hands up “In the Ayer”

Heather and Phu

Everyone had a great time!

The Team
Location: Laura, The Empire Room, Dallas
Photographer: Jim Miller, Jimmages
Caterer: Gil’s Elegant Catering

The Music
Wedding Recessional: “Friday, I’m in Love”, The Cure
First Dance: “The Nearness of You”, Norah Jones
Cake Cutting: “Stand By Me”, Ben E. King
Parent Dance (combined): “What a Wonderful World”, Louis Armstrong
Bouquet Toss: “Wishin’ & Hopin’”, Ani Difranco
Garter Toss: “I Wanna Love You”, Akon & Snoop Dogg
Exit Song: “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, Izzy
Random “Hit” of the Night: “Kung Fu Fighting”, Carl Douglas

Technical Facts No One Cares About:
Speakers: 10
LED Uplights: 12
Speaker Cable: 365 feet
XLR (Data) Cable: 375 feet