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!

It was a perfect early summer evening which was awesome for Keith and Melissa since they had planned an outdoor ceremony, lakeside at The Mill in Spring Lake.  Everything went off perfectly and after their first kiss as a newly married couple, they got to walk down the aisle together to the song they had selected: “I Do” by Colbie Caillat.

After an awesome cocktail hour we brought the bridal party in with some high energy songs.  I’d worked closely with Keith and Melissa and knew they wanted introductions to be dramatic.  Parents came out to Guns n Roses’ “Sweet Child O’ Mine” the bridal party to Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” and then Keith and Melissa to GnR’s “Welcome to the Jungle.”  Their family and friends cheered and applauded loudly and matched the energy of this music perfectly.

Keith and Melissa danced their first dance as husband and wife to Bon Jovi’s “Thank You For Loving Me.” Whenever I play that song I remember the time I saw Bon Jovi play at the old Tradewinds in Sea Bright (which is now townhouses) and he introduced that song by saying he and his wife Dorothea had seen the movie “Meet Joe Black” in which Brad Pitt’s character says “Thank you for loving me.”  He went home inspired by that line and wrote the song.  I thought about that as Melissa and Keith danced to their wedding song: a Brad Pitt line in a movie inspired Jon Bon Jovi to write a song and now here is this beautiful couple beginning their married life together dancing to it.  Weird how life works.

Melissa and Keith pulled out all the stops for their reception.  They included our plasma package, our up-lighting and our intelligent lighting.  These add-ons turn an already awesome celebration up to the “off the charts” level.  And this party certainly was.  Other than a break for dinner and then of course their cake cutting ceremony, The Mill’s dance floor was packed all night.  Right up until the closing song: The Black Eyed Peas “I’ve Had the Time of My Life.”

I’m always very pleased when I get positive feedback from my brides and grooms.  Whether they send me an email, write on Elite’s Facebook page, give me a Wedding Wire review, or even send me an old school hand written Thank You note.  So you can only imagine how great I felt when I received this in the mail:

Congratulations Melissa and Keith!