Remarkable Evening @ The Intercontinential

On May 16th, I had the pleasure of working at the Intercontinental Hotel for my first time and with a wonderful couple Matt & Melissa. Matt & Melissa have an awesome story of how destiny brought them together. Matt happened to be at a bar with a bachelor party and Melissa was at the same place seeing friends, and as fate has it, they created a wonderful relationship. God truly made them for each other.
The Rooftop Ballroom was elegantly set for a wonderful evening of dinner & dancing, and the staff was professionally dressed and briefed before the guests arrived. Matt & Melissa treated their family & guests to a expertly prepared three course meal. Our evening did have some surprises. Melissa's father was celebrating a birthday on the same day. Melissa also surprised Matt with a groom's cake made to look like Bob Dylan and some other of Matt's favorite artists. The couple started their evening with a classic, "At Last" by Etta James. As the evening progressed, the guests made my job look effortless, there was one problem, too many guests dancing and not enough dance floor. That's right, the guests were dancing on both sides of the dance floor and not even noticing it.
To conclude, I appreciated the opportunity to work with Melissa & Matt, The Intercontinental along with Matt & Melissa are truly a Class Act.

My Road Trip

This past weekend, I took my family out to western Kansas to see some of our old college friends and see the sights. Saturday afternoon I noticed a wedding reception was being set-up by the staff. Now I'm snooping around like the CIA. I proceed to speak with the event coordinator and ask "Did the emcee/dj contact you prior to the event?" I got a look that still hurts my eyes. "Did the emcee/dj send you a copy of the reception planner?" She asks "what are you talking about & why?". I'm sure you see where I am going with this. I explained who I was, where I'm from & the level of service we offer our clients. If I lived in that area, she told me I would be booked year around, Friday & Saturday nights.
I admit, I'm a telephone book junkie. I look at the DJ's and entertainment companies, and called 1 in particular that has a "5Star rating" in the phone book. He told me he got this from "some friends that said he was really good". OK ??
We receive several calls daily requesting information for our services. The most frequent statement we hear lately is "well, what would it cost for 4hrs instead of 6?" Let me ask the general question: Do you really want your dj/emcee stomping thru your dinner,cake cutting or toast to set-up gear? If a company is guoting you 4hrs, a red flag should come-up. This should mean this individual is looking for the quick buck, and doesn't have the experience to manage a quality reception. As I was on my road trip, I witnessed this dj setting-up his gear while the guests were having dinner. Classy right? As he was finishing, he reached in his truck, grabbed his shirt & tie, and got dressed between the head table & dance floor.
As our Saturday evening in Western Kansas progressed, my wife & friends kept looking noticing how "figitty" I was, I have to admit, I wanted to get back to that reception and show the dj how to make his reception and Encore event.
p.s. I brought the phone book home.

David & Payal Ebeltoft 03/14/09

I was in for memorable experience with this event from the beginning. David & Payal live in Brooklyn, New York and did not make it to Kansas City very often. We did all of our planning for their reception through email and over the phone. David is a project manager and he managed this part of their wedding very well. Payal’s extended family and many friends are from India. The theme of the decorations and food reflected her Indian heritage. David & Payal wanted a few Indian songs spread through out the night so that both families would have a great time. I have been involved in other events where I had played this music so I had some idea of what was needed. Just like here in the U.S. India has all different kinds of music. I knew what I liked and what I thought would work, but I was not yet sure what they would like. I was fortunate enough to get a little guidance from Payal’s brother Pretesh and a gentleman from England (who I feel terrible I do not remember his name). What was nice was they helped me feel more comfortable about the choices I had made. The songs I chose for the cocktail & dinner music sounded great, but I did not know if the language in the songs was appropriate. So I was lucky to get a little help from a few ladies in Payal’s family. As I was setting up I would play a song and the ladies would give me a thumbs up if it was good or down if it was bad. The mix of Indian and American music went over well. They enjoyed it all and danced all night.

There are so many things about this event I want to share, but I will try to bring this to a close. The reception was at The Hobbs Building which is a great place to have an event. I love the look, the feel and the age of the building it has real character. Denise is the location and catering manager she runs a tight ship and things looked outstanding. The food by Feasts of Fancy was excellent you would have thought it was brought straight from India.
I will end this with a request David had made for a Greek song Sirtaki by Andre’ Rieu From the movie Zorba the Greek. The wedding guests loved it and you would have sworn we were at a Greek celebration. They quickly raised David above their shoulders and danced around with him held high. Next thing you know they had Payal up in the air and danced around the floor as the floor it’s self bounced, no jumped up and down. I thought they were going to bring the place to the ground with this crazy fun. I tried to take a picture with my cell phone. It was terrible quality especially compared to the beautiful photos taken by Ryan Hill at Versluis Photography .
When couples bring great friends and family together no matter where they are from. The love fills the room and you can’t help but have fun. Thank you David and Payal for allowing me to be a part of your celebration.

Shawnee Mission West Prom 04/25/09

Brad and I had the opportunity to be a part of the Shawnee Mission West High School prom and had an excellent time. The Union Station was decorated by All Seasons. All Seasons started with two huge Giraffes with their heads coming together to make an arch as you entered the Sprint Hall. They went on from there with lighting gobos on the walls and on the dividing curtains that separated the tables from the dance floor of other animals it was great. The sound we put together was perfect for that room (Union Station is a very very impressive venue and very very hard to control sound in) and everyone danced all night. We had to ask them to leave the floor when the night had ended. It was fun to see the King and Queen announced and how exciting it was for the winners. The dancing was a blast. We had students dancing on the King and Queen stage, on our stage and on the subs having a great time. We are looking forward to next year and hope to make it even better for the class of 2010.
Here are a few pictures I took with my little camera not great quality but you get the idea.