To say that Nicole and Shawn’s wedding was tailor made to be blogged about wouldn’t really be doing it justice. On top of it being at such an amazing banquet facility, Addison PArk in Aberdeen, and of them just being an awesome couple who were both very down to earth and easy to work with, they had a couple of little things they wanted to do that were a little different which only added to what was already poised to be an amazing celebration. Let us start from the beginning, shall we?
When going over their introductions, they informed me that Shawn’s grandfather William, or “Pop” as they affectionately called him, was to be escorted by “Harry & Lloyd”. That 
was it. No last names or any other info. Now I consider myself to be quite good at math, but in this instance I was unable to put 2 and 2 together. I go out to line everyone up for the introductions and standing before me are “Harry & Lloyd”…or two people dressed in the tuxes that Harry & Lloyd word to the fundraiser in the movie Dumb & Dumber. Best part was that earlier in the night I saw someone from a distance wearing a full-on orange tux and was a little taken aback by the loudness of his attire. Again, 2 + 2 was like advanced calculus to me at this point.
Once we started the introductions, the crowd was so into every little thing. Each member or couple of the bridal party had their own entrance music. Just to show how awesome this night was, Nicole’s parents came into “Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO and Shawn’s parents, not to be outdone, came into “Bring Em’ Out” by T.I. We kept the energy going for the bridal party by using such songs as the “Jock Jams Remix“, “Shots“, “All I Do Is Win“, and “Sandstorm“. But there were two bridal party couples that stood out above the rest. As a wrestling fan growing up, I was a huge fan of Hulk Hogan. And as the millennium dawned, wrestling’s biggest superstar was “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. Austin was known for his beer drinking. So when I introduced groomsman Billy & bridesmaid Kate to Austin’s old entrance music, the walked in, tossed each other a beer, clanged them together, and proceeding to CHUG right on the dance floor!! Fast forward to the maid of honor Karyn and best man Will. They came in to Hulk Hogan’s old theme music “Real American“, Will carrying a large American flag and Karyn wearing shirt reading GILKAMANIA on it (Shawn’s last name is Gilkison). And now we get to Nicole & Shawn’s entrance…
They had mentioned when they went to Rutgers games, Shawn’s alma mater, the crowd would have towels to wave around to help urge on the players. Well before their intro, they had asked me to have everyone grab their dinner napkins and wave them around and really just get everyone has hyped as possible. I felt like I was Eli Manning at a Giants game with all of these towels waving around and helping pump up myself and the happy couple. The energy when they entered to an edit they had made of Zombie Nation was off the charts!!! To add to that, Shawn was carrying a replica sword from the movie Braveheart…oh, and did I mention the groomsmen, groom and happy fathers of the bride and groom wore kilts? It was epic!
From there the party was smooth sailing and the dance floor was jamming all night long. Nicole & Shawn wanted a lot of newer music but one of the special things they had me do was play a special block of music from the 90s. I sometimes forget how awesome some of the club music from the 90s was. Some of their choices included “Come Baby Come” by K7, “This Is Your Night” by Amber, “What Is Love” by Haddaway, and “Another Night” by Real McCoy. To close out their lil 90s block party, I threw in one of my personal faves: “Rhythm Is A Dancer” by Snap. We closed out the night by playing “Shout” by the Isley Brothers and having everyone jumping (literally) all over the dance floor.
I have been so blessed and fortunate to have worked with some amazing couples through the years. Nicole & Shawn were an absolute joy to work with and I use the term “work” very loosely. By the time the wedding was over, I felt like I was just able to help my friends throw the party of their lives, and there really isn’t a better feeling than that!
The wedding date was Friday, September 21st and the location was the amazing Channel Club in Monmouth Beach. But this reception had a special feel to it and that’s because I had the great honor of performing for Elite’s own Stefanie & Peter Zanetti. That day was extra special for Stefanie & Peter because it was the 8th anniversary of the day they
We had a beautiful ceremony right outside and couldn’t have asked for better weather. From there we brought the party inside and I had the pleasure of splitting my duties for the night with John Ruggiero and the night went off without a hitch. We also got to work with Lynn Monaco & Carrie Roberts of Elite Digital Images while Chris Monaco of Elite Video Productions fame was there to capture the night on video. With some of the Elite crew in the house, we knew it’d be a great time. One of the highlights was when the beautiful bride decided to take her hand on the 1s and 2s and jump behind the DJ table. All in all it was a great night for everyone and on behalf of the entire Elite staff, we want to once again congratulate Stefanie & Peter and their adorable son Jacob on officially becoming a family!!!
