Tag Archive: Dominic Sestito

Weddings 101 By Dominic Sestito Issue # 1

Written on July 17, 2012 by in Dominic Sestito - Blog, Elite Blog, Featured
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In addition to my weekly blogs I have decided to also publish a monthly blog to help brides and grooms who are in the planning process. So wish me luck and feel free to ask me to blog about a certain topics, it would be my pleasure… in the words of The Joker ” and here we go…” 

In early stages of planning a wedding most brides and grooms get swept up in the excitement. Shortly after that most couples start looking for help because they have never planned a wedding before. I have put together a few things to help you.

First a great thing to do is to search your banquet hall or halls you are interested on YouTube. Lots of wedding professionals including Elite do Vlogs from there events. This give you a chance to see banquet halls during an actually events.

Use websites like Weddingwire & The Knot to your advantage. You will find other couples on there that are planning or have already planned their wedding. “Quality Wedding Entertainment! The Difference And Why!” is a great blog about what couples had to say about their wedding entertainment after the big day was over. Please take a look at it, you will be surprised by some of the statistics.

We are now in the age of technology and all your wedding professionals should have their own website. We have actually taking it a step further and now provide Online Planning and Web Conferencing to all Elite clients.

These are just a few things that can help you out. It’s always good to set appointments to see vendors work or see them at a live showcase. Visit their office, meet the staff, and build a rapport with them. You are going to spend the biggest day of you life with your these people, so make sure they are friendly, experienced, reputable, and reliable.

Elite has been in business for 20+ years. Our DJ’s, Photographer’s, and Videographer’s are constantly raising the bar when it comes to customer service, quality, and talent. We are here to help from start to finish so please feel free to reach out to us with any questions.

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Kelly & Anthony 5/12/12 @ English Manor

Written on June 1, 2012 by in Dominic Sestito - Blog, Featured
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Here at Elite we love every bride and groom that we get to work with. But if you ask any of our entertainers on staff they will tell you that you just click with some brides and grooms better than others. On May 12th, I had the great privilege of entertaining for the guests of Kelly and Anthony at the English Manor and they were just one of those couples where we clicked very, very well from the start.

Getting to work with the staff at the English Manor, as well as Lynn and Carrie from Elite Digital Images, is awesome in itself. But when you have a bride and groom that give you six requests and say “Throw a great party!”, you know you’re in for a good time. When I have a couple that just wants to party it takes a lot of the pressure off the day for me as a DJ, because I know that all they truly care about is their guests having a great time at the reception.
Once we were set up at the English Manor, I sought out my bride and groom to just say hello and let them know that we’re all set up and ready to go. On this day when I found Anthony and Kelly, Anthony pulled me aside in typical Italian fashion to settle the balance. Now of course I understand this, being Italian myself, even though I repeated to him over and over again that this could wait till ended the event. But he insisted on doing it right then and I just found it really funny.
This event was smooth all around and the guests wanted to dance and party. It really wasn’t like work for any of us. At the end of the event both Kelly and Anthony came up to me and expressed their gratitude for the job well done. What was important to me was that we had impressed them so much that Anthony literally took every single business card that I had on me that night to hand out to friends and family and anybody that he knew that would be getting married.
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Melissa & Kyle 5-11-12 @ Lakewood C.C.

Written on May 30, 2012 by in Dominic Sestito - Blog, Featured

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Melissa and Kyle’s wedding day was beautiful, and they started off the right way by hiring professionals to work their reception. At the Lakewood Country Club, we had the great pleasure working with Melissa and Flo. They hired Elite Images to take photos of the day, Lynn and Eric did an awesome job. Myself and Chuck provided the soundtrack for the day and Chris and Jenna worked the photo booth and had the guest going in and taking great pictures all day.

We started by providing music for their ceremony outside under a beautiful gazebo. The weather was perfect and, because I was there so early, I had an opportunity to see Melissa before she got ready. So she went from a T-shirt and jeans to into her beautiful wedding dress. It was very cool to see.After the ceremony, the guests funneled their way into cocktail hour where they enjoyed some great cocktails and hors d’oeuvres.

After that, we moved all the guess into the ballroom for high-energy bridal party introductions, first dance, parents dances, toasts, and also the blessing.

The best man, who was also the twin brother of the groom, gave a dynamite speech that left the crowd stitches. After that the guests enjoyed their first course and it was onto the party time! Although this was only a crowd of 60 people they partied like a crowd of 200- loud, rowdy, and all-night long. It was a great party from start to finish.

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Katy & Alex 3/23/12 @ Crystal Point

Written on April 2, 2012 by in Dominic Sestito - Blog, Featured

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

 

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Stephanie & John 3-3-12 @ The Waters Edge in Sea Bright

Written on March 6, 2012 by in Dominic Sestito - Blog, Featured
The Water’s Edge rocked this past Saturday. Stephanie and John only had 100 people at the party, but there was 100 people on the dance floor all night. The day started out great with a smooth ceremony taking place in the main ballroom of the Waters Edge. Stephanie came down the aisle to the traditional “Here Comes The Bride” but as they were pronounced husband and wife John and Stephanie had us play “I Wanna Rock” by Twisted Sister. As soon as the opening vocal hit the place exploded into cheers!
Guests enjoyed an hour of cocktail and hors d’oeuvre’s downstairs and then returned to the main ball room for introductions. I began by introducing Stephanie’s grandparents at their table, followed by the parents of the bride and groom and the members of the bridal party. The room filled with cheers and laughter as each couple danced their way into the room and onto the dance floor. Finally we slowly faded out the music, I asked everyone to rise and as we pumped the music up again I introduced the brand new Mr & Mrs John Rose into a room of thunderous applause.
Once the party started it was easy! The team at Waters Edge did a great job, Jenelle Kappe captured the day, and we kept the floor moving with a great soundtrack.
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January 6th 2012 – Kate & Josh – Waterview Pavilion

Written on January 11, 2012 by in Dominic Sestito - Blog

Oh boy, first event of the new year! It’s funny how after working events for such a long time you can actually foresee things that are about to happen. I am sure that is the case in many professions after you have been there for 10+ years, but I bet the things I see are way more funny.

For example- I had the honor of entertaining for Kate and Josh on their wedding day. We get to the last hour of the party and our bride and groom are getting ready to cut the cake. Two quick slices, a few poses for the now gathered paparazzi of family members, and Josh very nicely feeds his new bride a piece of cake. The crowd claps, awes, and also offers a few boos!

While Josh interacts with the crowd, I watch Kate. She looks at Josh, looks down at the plate of cake, looks at Josh again (who is still taunting the crowd and isn’t paying any attention to Kate), and looks down at the plate again. Then without looking up, she SLAMS a full plate of cake right into Josh’s face! Classic, and I saw the entire event unfold.
Photos to come shortly!
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