2012 is shaping up to be a really good year so far for me. I actually wound up having major knee surgery in early January and have recovered nicely since then. I was real excited when I DJ’d my first 2012 wedding on March 17th for Kathleen and J.J. They had their ceremony and reception at the Channel Club, and what a beautiful day it was for them. I remember telling them that the sunsets are gorgeous, and they took the time to get the perfect photo for their wedding album. They were a super nice couple who loved music, so they were really pleased with how their day went.
Alison and Brian – March 23, 2012
This was a night to remember at The English Manor, not only for myself but for Alison and Brian. I don’t think their dance floor was empty the whole night. It is so awesome when I get a crowd that loves to dance, even if I’m trying not to dance them. THEY DANCED TO ANYTHING I PLAYED, from Runaround Sue to Party Rock. I had this one couple come up to me shortly after dinner and said, “We’ve attended a lot of weddings over the past year and we usually leave right after dinner to get back home and relieve our babysitter.” I said, “Well, you’re still here.” They said, “We don’t want to leave. We just got off the phone with our babysitter and told her not to expect us till late.” I was so taken back by that compliment. To know that I am the one making people stay because they are having the time of their life makes me feel unbelievable. As far as Alison and Brian, they were overjoyed on how their reception went and couldn’t thank me enough. They ended their night with 2 songs – Bohemian Rhapsody into The Time of My Life from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack. I’ve never ended with Bohemian Rhapsody before, and I gotta tell ya, these people sang their hearts out!!! I thanked Alison and Brian for having the kind of guests they did. Great Wedding!!
Alex and Kay – April 21, 2012
(singing) Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me (singing). Yes………I DJ’d on my birthday and loved it. When you’re 38 and don’t want anything except music and a great party, Alex and Kay’s wedding was the place to be. They had their ceremony and reception at The Water’s Edge in Sea Bright. Once, again it was a beautiful day, and I love it when the weather cooperates for a bride and groom. Alex and Kay were laid back and left the music selection pretty much up to me. I won’t forget the Best Man’s speech, in which he had a hilarious video he showed to Alex and Kay. After the toasts were done, everything was pretty much left up to me to find the right tunes to get people up on the dance floor. The guests just poured on the dance floor all night and dance it away. They ended the night with one of my favorite artists, Michael Buble’s – “Save the Last Dance”. After that, Alex came right up to me and shook my hand, and a couple days later I received an email expressing their thanks again.
As I said before, the 2012 wedding season is shaping up to be a great year. I’m excited to meet my future brides and grooms. The weddings I talked about above were only just a few of the ones that I have DJ’d. So long for now, I’ll be back with more. God Bless!!
I had the opportunity to work a wedding on St. Patricks day and what a party it was. The bride and groom, Tara and Robert, and their families are all Irish so it was double the celebration. From beginning to end people danced, sang, laughed, and partied. You could just feel the love in the room. Their reception was at the
Basking Ridge Country Club, where I’ve worked plenty of times before, and I love it there. The staff is so much fun and it looked like they fit right in with the crowd.
Tara loves music and it was the most important thing to her on her big day. We talked for months about her idea’s and music. She was able to pick out every song and left it up to me to put it all together in sets throughout the night. Every song she picked out worked and was perfect so obviously she knows her family and friends musical tastes very well. There were also a few surprises that night and if you know the Irish, they went all out with Irish Jig dancers, bagpipers, and even a marching band(WHAT!!!). Once again a successful night and hope to work a wedding every St. Patricks Day.
It’s not often that you find someone who is looking forward to working on his or her birthday. But I was really excited this past March 23rd! That’s right, I worked on my birthday for a super cool couple. All their plans went smoothly plus they had an 80 degree day in March. Just a beautiful day and a great party.
I remember speaking with Katy on the phone when she was first inquiring about our service. She was so pumped because she had just booked at The Crystal Point and reserved their “Winter Wonderland Package”. We work with The Crystal Point a lot and our Two Person Package is actually included in their Winter Wonderland Package so Katy and Alex wanted to come to an Elite Private Show to select their DJ. After they attended a show they pulled me aside to chat and they were extremely impressed with the entire staff. While chatting Katy actually said, ”We wish you were open on our date” but I knew right away why I wasn’t.
I thought to myself ”You will be at the Crystal Point, just around the corner from home, Katy and Alex are going to be a blast to work with, you have your own wedding coming up to pay for, plus you are gonna be 32, you are already old”. So I turned to them and told them I was blocked off for a personal day, but I would gladly open myself up for their wedding. Katy was super pumped, but when she found out I was working on my birthday for her wedding she was wowed. I reassured her I would definitely be there and we would have a blast.
Fast forward to the night of the wedding, specifically the last hour of the party. It was a good party all night long but what happened next floored me. Now it’s rare that I am even speechless, but when Katy and one of her bridesmaids grabbed the microphone and got everyone in the room to sing “Happy Birthday” I was wowed. It was a great moment I will never forget.
Katy doing some quick photos before intros
The night started out with their ceremony in the Lobby of the beautiful Newark Club. After Michael & Dawn kissed each other to seal the deal, they came down the aisle as husband and wife with nothing but smiles.
When everyone finished their cocktails and the great food during their cocktail hour, all the guest’s headed towards the elevators to go up to the 22nd floor for the start of the introductions. As the parents and bridal party lined up outside of the ballroom, the energy and excitement in the air was so overwhelming. After both sets of parents and the bridal party entered the room, I had all of the guest’s rise up from their seats. Next the bridal party lit their sparklers getting ready for the bride and groom to enter the room for the first time as husband and wife.
Now before their wedding we sat down at our pre-wedding review, Mike wanted a specific intro and was wondering if I could do such a thing. Well according to Mike I did more then just do that request, I blew it out of the water, because he was so impressed he could not stop talking about the intro all night long. Now hearing that from a groom once makes a DJ feel good inside, but hearing it all night long just reminded me why I love doing what I do for my brides and grooms. That was the highlight of my night. Click the link to hear the Intro -
http://snd.sc/xV6Aa4Its now that time of the night for the cake cutting and feeding. Well let me tell you this, it has been a long time since I have seen an all out food fight and it almost happened that night and I swear I thought Dawn was going to pick up her whole cake and dump it onto Mike’s head after he smashed his piece in her face.
Now to end this blog of one amazing night. I would like to say to Mike & Dawn, I had a great time at your wedding reception and I am so honored to have met you both and to be a part of you’re special day. I wish you all the happiness as you enter this next chapter together.
Thanks from the bottom of my heart.
Aimee & Rashard are a fantastic couple. I met with them about a month ago and since then we have worked closely together, collaborating on their music list and the style of their wedding. They also capitalized on a winter special we ran and got our photo booth at some great savings. The photo booth was a huge hit of the night!
The PNC Reception Center's atrium is a beautiful place for a wedding ceremony
Since Aimee and Rashard were getting married onsite at the PNC Reception Center they hired us for the whole evening. We provided ceremony music, a great jazz infused mix for cocktail hour and then of course the party music and lighting to ignite their celebration. I particularly love being a part of a couple’s ceremony because, let’s face it, that is the most important moment of the day and when they get married in a church or temple I don’t have the opportunity to witness it. Aimee and Rashard had personalized their wedding vows and hearing them really made me love this couple all the more.
Aimee had asked me to make an edit of Beyonce’s version of “Ave Maria” to walk down the aisle to. I did that and sent it to her to practice. She timed things out perfectly so just as her and her dad got to the top of the aisle Beyonce was finishing the song. As they used to say on The A Team. “I love it when a plan comes together.”
Speaking of edits I had also made one for Aimee and Rashard’s introduction into the reception. Aimee’s a Bon Jovi fan and she wanted his song “Raise Your Hands” for when I brought her and her new husband in. I chopped that song up and rebuilt it so just as I was saying their names the chorus kicked in. I’d also had all the guests gather round the dance floor (rather than just stand at their tables) and this was truly a highlight of the night. With all their family and friends so close, Aimee and Rashard had me do two songs upfront. Their wedding song was Billie Holiday’s version of “Come Rain or Come Shine” and then we invited everyone to join in for Michael Franti’s 2008 hit “Say Hey (I Love You).” It’s always been my experience when you start a party off right it sets the tone for a great evening and this certainly did.
With a package that including our uplighting we rocked the party and made the room look awesome as well.
Rashard is from New
The uplighting and intelligent lights on the towers look so awesome
Orleans and he’d given me the names of a coupla real good Rebirth Brass Band songs. We sprinkled these in throughout the night and also handed out Mardi Gras beads to add a little Cajun flair to the reception.
It was a great evening for all and I wish Aimee & Rashard a lifetime of health and happiness!
We wrapped up our first quarter showcasing season last night with our very own Private Show at The Sheraton in Eatontown. We also did something we’ve never done before in the 22 year history of Elite Entertainment: We gave one lucky bride an amazing, Elite Wedding. The winner would receive not just a free DJ from Elite Entertainment but also a lighting package, a Photo Booth, Photography services from our sister company Elite Digital Images and videography services from our sister company Elite Video Productions. This totaled over $7000.00 in free services for one lucky bride.
Our showcase was tight. We’ve been performing pretty steadily since the beginning of the year, 16 bridal shows in all since our first one on January 8th. We had a packed dance floor for much of the interactive segment and every DJ who had mic time really shined. In fact, the most consistent feedback we received from brides and grooms in attendance was something to the effect of: “we can’t decide who we want because you guys are all great!”
So then came the moment we were all waiting for. We picked the winner of our biggest giveaway ever. And as luck (or maybe fate) would have it, the winner was a lovely young woman named Nina whose fiance is serving in the Army in Afghanistan. We couldn’t have been happier that she was the winner and we can’t wait for their July 2013 wedding.
Nina, our Lucky Winner took home over $7,000 in free services from us!
Nina's fiance is serving overseas so she posed here with our very own Marine - John Ruggiero
Congratulations Nina!
I had the great pleasure of entertaining for Allison and Rob on their wedding day. They selected a great venue in Addison Park and we added some elegance and ambience to the
room with uplighting. The day went off for them without a hitch!
They had a wonderful ceremony at Gethsamene Lutheran Church in Keyport and Allison got ready at the Oyster Point Hotel in Red Bank. The entire day was captured by Elite Digital Images, and the dynamic duo of Lynn and Carrie rocked it out. Their photos are beautiful, and I cannot wait to see their final album once it is designed!
Once they got to Addison Park, the party was on! A great cocktail hour followed by intros and the bride and groom’s first dance. Allison’s dance with her dad and Rob’s with his mom were both great heart felt moments. Jay, Rob’s best man, and Ali, Allison’s Maid of Honor, gave two AWESOME speeches that the crowd gave standing ovations.
As soon as I opened the dance floor I knew this event wasn’t going to be work. The entire crowd of just over 100 guests danced like Lionel Richie says, “All Night Long“. I hit the dance floor with everything… Beatles… Bon Jovi… LMFAO… Pitbull… Journey… Aretha Franklin and they couldn’t get enough. Plus our bride and groom had some slow song dedications that took me back to middle school.
