I was at The Castaway in Burbank, California last night. Awesome Entertainment  is recommended by some of the Castaway crew and I have to say that working with their banquet managers and event staff is always a pleasure. They are courteous, flexible and accommodating which makes directing the wedding... a breeze!

I could not capture the whole night on video since I had a busy schedule for Meaghan and Bryan's wedding last night (06-14-2009). Jeff and I handled their wedding ceremony which included Carrie Underwood's "Ever Ever After" from the Disney movie: "Enchanted" for the couple's recessional. It worked very well.

The cocktail and dinner hour consisted of Michael Buble, Norah Jones, Sinatra, Ella/Louis with additional soft contemporary songs sprinkled in.

For dancing, the newlyweds wanted mainly Top 40 and some "Old School" classics but were open to requests BUT did NOT want any "hokey music" so when a relative asked the bride if the DJ could play the "Macarena"... she said: "No!"

Surprisingly, the bride, Meaghan, did ask me to play the"YMCA" so someone really special must have wanted it!

Requests ranged from Big N Rich and Michael Jackson to AC-DC and Lady Gaga. Grandma asked for "The Twist" for the older generation and well, who can refuse grandma?

Here's a quickly edited "music montage" of what I managed to capture during dancing. Most of it is the "late night" top 40 stuff:



My goal is to follow musical direction carefully and part of the reason I still love what I do is because each event is unique. Communication, planning and observation are three of the keys to a successful event.

I had Jeff mingle with the "shy side" of the room where he received some excellent information for motivating them to come to the dance floor. He also visited with some of the groomsmen outside and they were "battling" as MJ so he brought them inside for a "dance off" that the couple absolutely loved! I wish the video was a bit brighter but we shot it on my home DV-Cam...  REMEMBER: we are not videographers!

See Jeff on video at the Awesome Entertainment Blog.

Here is a still photo from Terry Chan Photography. They were EASY to work with and had photos to us super fast: