June has been a really good month for Madison’s Best DJ and the crew.
So here is what my schedule looked like the week of June 13:

Wedding, Saturday, June 13 for Jeff & Marissa Schloesser.
Wedding, Sunday, June 14 for Maria & Greg Anilao.
Wedding Tuesday, June 16 for Mikaela and Anthony Figueroa.
Wedding Show, Wednesday, June 17 in West Madison.
Wedding, Saturday, June 20 for John & Kate Vasudevan.

That was just me and none of our other staff.  We also booked everyone out for the past few Saturdays too.  So I’ll just talk about me, I’m selfish….

So what is the best way to tell you about my busy week in the “usual way”? Let’s do a quick summary for each event, talk about some of the vendors and hit the highlights.

Jeff & Marissa Schloesser – Saturday
Large wedding at the Comfort Suites in Johnson Creek, Wisconsin.  I arrived early as I wanted to ensure we had our Montage Equipment set-up in time while also preparing to record all speeches and ensure a quality wedding reception video. (Early = Usually about 3 hours before the first guest)

It was quite apparent that their guests had a great time as we had a few referral calls the Monday after the wedding reception.

Vendors:
Heidi Lee Photography – Jason
Comfort Suites, Johnson Creek – Kim Mungen
DJ Magic Entertainment – Matt Long

Maria & Greg Anilao – Sunday
Andrew and I left early around 12 pm Sunday. This was a super special day for Greg and Maria.  Their facility, Parkway Banquets, is nicely located near Lake Long in Ingleside, Illinois.  Plus it is highly recognized by many national wedding publications such as The Knot dot com and Wedding Channel dot com.

Our first order of business that day was to assist providing ceremony music, wireless microphones and audio recording services for their wedding ceremony.  Our banquet manager, Jerry, was handling almost all of the coordination activities.  We were happy to work with Jerry that way but also recognized that this was highly out of the ordinary. Bottom line though is that we are highly flexible and able to adapt to various ways of business.

Greg and Maria’s wedding had a few special needs and was quite culturally diverse. Fifty percent of our wedding guests were of Mexican heritage while the other 50% were of Philippine backgrounds.  Plus, Maria, who had an unfortunate disability, was deaf.  One of the ways we accommodated everyone was to not only provide our emceeing by microphone but we also had a person who knew sign language and was able to speak both Philippine and Spanish. Through all of these unique additions and special accommodations it did not stop everyone from having a great time.  It was great to see everyone using all of their senses that evening.

Did you know we not only played Salsa, Meringue and other South American music but we also played a lot of Philippine music.  I can honestly say that we are probably the most flexible entertainment company you will have the pleasure to work with in planning and following-through in a wedding.  Don’t believe me, check out our references! Click here.

Vendors:
- Parkway Banquets – Jerry
+ Sharrett Studios – Tammy Sharrett
+ DJ Magic Enterprises, Inc. – Andrew Accola

Mikaela & Anthony Figueroa – Tuesday
A Tuesday wedding occurred at the beautiful Monona Terrace in Madison, Wisconsin.  Being that it was a Tuesday, we did not let that stop us from providing the absolute best customer services in Southern Wisconsin!

Let me tell you a little about our bride and groom.  Mikaela comes from Wisconsin and within the last few years fell madly in love with Anthony.  Anthony’s family came all the way from New York.  Many people of Puerto Rican decent came from the Bronx to help celebrate.  It was great to see the two sides, who were of completely different backgrounds come together.

We kept everyone on the floor the whole evening.  One of the custom services that we were able to offer Mikaela and Anthony was our custom recording services.  When Mikaela initially contacted us she wanted to take 20 songs from totally different genres but with similar lyrics and sounds and mix them together. Check our her customer service survey, we exceeded her expectations.  Are you interested in doing something like this?  Let us know, we have the whole compilation on Audio and we also made the extra effort to record the event so you can see us in action.

Vendors:
+ Monona Terrace – Sales Manager: Edit Lonkay
+ Images by Joe – Joe DeGroot
+ DJ Magic Enterprises, Inc. – Andrew Accola

Madison Summer Wedding Show – Wednesday
So at this point you are probably thinking we are running out of gas.  Nope, we filled up last night and we found a good deal on East Washing Avenue near Blockbuster. Anyways, this show went really well to the point that we have set-up several meetings and have reserved a handful of new customers.

Below is a link to a picture of our ice sculpture that we made for showing at our booth.  By the way, we do Ice Sculptures too.

Awesome Wedding Ice Sculpture Picture Link

John & Kate Vasudevan – Saturday
Classic scenery for a wedding in a good way is what we had at Madison’s Masonic Center near beautiful downtown.  Our bride and groom were originally from Wisconsin and had worked with us planning their wedding all the way from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Definitely call me if you are reading this and are from out of state wondering how the dynamics might work.  I would be happy to direct you to John and Kate for their opinion on our awesome experiences together.

The evening started upstairs at the Masonic Center for a Cocktail hour.  Although a bit warm that day, it did not stop their guests from getting to know each other and preparing for a fun celebration downstairs in our main reception hall.  Our cocktail hour music consisted of great artists like Harry Belafonte, Ella Fitzgerald, Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw, Frank Sinatra, Nat “King” Cole and Tommy Dorsey. Timeless music!

Once our cocktail hour was over, I led our guests to our wonderfully air conditioned reception hall (and if you were there you would also agree that it was wonderfully cool and a nice change).  All in all, our speeches and dinner went well. Dancing started and we kept everyone on the dance floor all evening.  Our groom, John, commented that he noticed we played their must play list and he was worried because some of the songs he listed he advised he was not sure if his crowd was dance to all night.  No worries, that’s our specialty in knowing when to play the right song at the right time and reading crowds.  It’s priceless!  Anyone can go our and purchase the equipment but do they have the skills to motivate your guests? May be worth the money to pay for the Best Service in Madison – DJ Magic Entertainment!

Check out John and Kate’s customer survey.

For this wedding, we decided to provide some added value to our customers and decided to do Audio Recording while also bringing our HD Video Camera for recording. The product turned out great and really was not that much additional effort in addition to what we are regularly doing. Especially considering that we had two professionals at the helm, me – Matt and Andrew. The video turned out nice after I spent an additional 10 hours of editing. Want to see it? Give me a call to set-up an appointment. I have also included a quick edit of Sam and Andrea’s arrival: (sorry for the small screen format – it runs faster this way)

Besides some add on products that Sam and Andrea wanted, one specific one we brought and set-up for them was from our sister company, Solid Ice Displays. We helped deliver two Ice Sculptures that were made as Swans and when we put the two together the middle made a heart. Andrea did a nice job by procuring rose petals that matched her wedding colors nicely. The reception facility then surrounded the centerpieces in the cocktail room with lots of tasty hors d’oeuvres.

Did I mention we did a live “Cool Video Presentation Display“? YES and Andrea’s mom, Nola, mentioned that it was her favorite part of the reception. About one month before when we sat down with Sam and Andrea, they mentioned they had wanted this presentation so we made arrangements for the photos to be forwarded to me. From that point, I added many edits to the photos along with adding some special effects and synced the show. If you decide that you want this type of presentation, it is important to try to start in the planning process for this in advance. Not only will it give you less stress but it will also provide for a better presentation. I would highly recommend having us bring our giant movie screen and HD DLP Projection unit that we can integrate with our 5,000 watt system. Believe it or not, I have been to places (as an attendee) where the hotel provides this equipment and it either does not work or the sound is awful. Trust me, we put a lot of time into these presentations. Want to see one? Contact me and we can set-up a meeting.

One of the programming items I liked from this past weekends wedding was that Sam and Andrea chose to have their wedding party introduced, then the Cool Video Presentation Display be played and then have their grand entrance. The one major advantage I saw by completing the video right away was that it helped the event flow smoother and enabled their guests to be ready to dance once they were done with their dinner instead of having to wait to get up and be active after dinner.

All in all, it was a pleasure working with Lisa at Forrest Hills Country Club. Her 18 years experience was demonstrated by the leadership and friendliness of her staff. If you are having a larger wedding reception and believe your party will not fit at Anderson Gardens, your next best option might be to take a look at Forest Hills Country Club if you can find yourself a member to sponsor your event.

Notable Vendors:
+ Joe Jann Photography —> Joe and Beth Jann were fun to work with and we both have been in business for many years.
+ Forest Hills Country Club (FHCC) —> Lisa Morrison works hard to make everyone feel at home at FHCC. Let her 18 years experience wow you!
+ Solid Ice Displays —> Custom Ice Sculptures delivered all over from Illinois to Iowa to Wisconsin. They are a custom shop and can sculpt just about anything.
+ DJ Magic Enterprises —> Custom entertainment for your needs. Have an idea? Let us know and we will exceed your expectations one at a time. Get a quote now!

Lori and Danny planned their wedding and reception at this facility and if one is planning a wedding in Rockford, by far, Anderson Garden’s should be at the top of any lists. They easily can accommodate a small to medium sized wedding while comfortably serving everyone very well. Even vendors! From our initial contact with Julie Pastore at Anderson Garden’s to discuss the Event Time Line, I could easily tell they were easy to work with to plan an event. To support this further, I was shown around the property and their staff served a healthy and tasty reception meal to all the guests. Anderson Gardens stands out in my mind as a top facility in Rockford.

Take a look at some photographs I took before all the guests arrived in the Japanese Gardens area:

(We are currently fixing our blog to upload the photos – Stay Tuned!)

Some of the other vendors we had the opportunity to work with include:
+ Kara Schultz of Karatography (Kara is willing to travel just about anywhere!)
+ Pastor Don Lyons – Don is the founder of Faith Center church in Rockford and also helped start 88.3 FM.
+ Julie Pastore of Anderson Gardens – Julie is professional and friendly. She will provide you the best
service possible while exceeding your expectations.
+ Andrew Aacola & Matt Long of DJ Magic Enterprises – “Hire the Best & Forget the Rest!”

Thursday morning started out with a 45 minute trailer loading session.  Not only were we bringing down our entertainment equipment, but we would also be packing the Photo Montage gear, Ice Sculpture gear, Cameras, and Video Camera.  Once loaded, we were on the road and delivering our Claddagh Ring Ice Sculpture to a good friend, John Hayes of Cafe 20 in Marengo, Illinois, who graciously allowed us to store our sculpture overnight in his walk in freezer. (Thanks John!)  He really came through for us as our facility in Rockford, The Radisson Hotel & Banquet Center, did not have a walk in freezer.  Can you believe that?

One unique thing we did to make Brynn and Andrew’s wedding weekend special was we created a Photo Montage.  This was no ordinary montage though; I ended up using four separate programs to edit our pictures and add our music effects.  Did you know most well prepared photo montages can take up to 10-20 hours of time, while we only charge $150 for that service?  What a deal!

We decided to show the montage at Kiki B’s in Rockford, Illinois during the rehearsal dinner.  This is somewhat more intimate and does not take away from the time at the wedding reception.  Have you ever been to a wedding, eaten dinner and then had to watch a montage?  If the montage is not scheduled at the right time, it can adversely affect the guests’ moods by adding too much time sitting when in actuality those guests are ready to dance.  For this reason among others, we decided to show the montage at the rehearsal dinner.  It was great!

On the day of the wedding, I had no worries as our DJ, Dan “The Man” Beard, was in charge of this wedding.  I met him early in the morning to set-up the reception site and then I promptly drove to St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rockford for the wedding.  Everyone played a role in the wedding: my wife was the Matron of Honor and I was in charge of watching JJ, my mother-in-law’s three year old.  The bride’s mother (kind of like Mother Teresa to some) adopted three children a few years ago and already had raised 5 kids.  Yes, a total of 8 lives blessed by this woman!  JJ did very well for a three year old.  We ended up in the balcony of the church and I was able to record Brynn’s brother Greg singing Ave Maria.  See the video below (and see if you can hear JJ try to sing along).  Being that this was an Irish wedding, JJ and I were pleasantly surprised with the cool sounds and were lucky to have a first row seat to see Greg sing and listen to the bag piper in the balcony.

Before, during and after the ceremony, Dan Royer of Dan Royer Photography, did a great job coordinating all of the family members. All in all, the reception flowed perfectly.  So well that our ending time changed from 8 pm to 11:30 pm.  Yes, everyone stuck around and enjoyed themselves greatly.  Below, I also posted a picture that my brother-in-law’s girlfriend, Hillary of Dallas, Texas, graciously shared with me, showing everyone literally ‘getting down’ and having a great evening.

Vendors:
Banquet Hall: Radisson, Rockford, IL
Music: DJ Magic Enterprises, Incorporated
Ice Sculpture: Solid Ice Displays
Photography: Dan Royer Photography