Wow! What a crazy weekend, June 24-26th, 2011 turned out to be. We had a union party, three graduation parties, two bar gigs, three weddings and a school’s end party. Nuts!
Anyhow, out of all of them, I took what could be one of my new favorite wedding pictures of all times at Crystal Cove in Averill Park. The couple booked me to DJ and do pictures, so DJ Maria came to back me up during the shoots. (We make an awesome team!)
Many brides wish for a wedding outside in bright a bright ray of sunshine for their backdrop. Though many say that they don’t want it to rain on their wedding day, some people and cultures believe it is good luck.
Many people don’t know that as a wedding DJ, I also do photography.
DJ Kenny Casanova is also a Wedding Photographer in Albany, NY
From a photography point of view, rain at your wedding isn’t be ideal, but sunshine isn’t either. I actually very much like a bit of overcast clouding with a hint of rain approaching. Here are a few shots I have taken to help illustrate what I mean.
The first one is with the dock is from a wedding at Crystal Cove, just this past weekend.
This other shot is one of my personal favorites from my portfolio, a twelve our wedding celebration in Fonda from 2009. It was a blast, but this photo wasn’t taken later at night. It was between the ceremony and the reception. It actually rained a little during dinner, but nobody cared. It stopped soon after.
A chance of Rain ain’t bad.
The cute kid below, Logan, was the bride’s son from the Crystal Cove wedding. He caught me trying to get a candid of him taking candy from a bowl. His response turned out to be better than the original shot I had hoped for….
DJ Kenny Casanova got his start in the wrestling ring.It is a funny story. I actually have my entertainment roots as a pro wrestling ring announcer and also as a wrestler/personality. (The ring announcer voice I use is the same one Ithat has brought me to some really cool wedding intros as a wedding DJ, today.) Eventually, my fictional “karaoke wrestling character” morphed into a real-life DJ.
The whole wedding DJ thing came out of a wrestling storyline, believe it or not. As a “heel” (bad guy) pro wrestler named “Kenny Casanova,” I had to make the audience boo at all expenses. What I choose to do was take on the persona of a geeky guy who was anything but a ladies man. I wore loud and terribly mismatched clothing, tried my best to be un-hip, engaged in terrible dancing, and also sang bad karaoke as I walked down to the ring for my own ring entrance.
The karaoke was very original on the independent scene and I began to work it in everywhere I could. I have been featured in many editions of Pro Wrestling Illustrated and other international wrestling magazines.
The exposure eventually led people to want me to DJ karaoke parties for them. I learned the DJ trade and partnered up, originally with the tech soundboard operators at the wrestling shows. Then, I mastered the trade on my own, adding my own brand of humor and fun.
One particular gig that helped me make the transition is Villa Valenti Pub in Troy, NY. I have been there for eight years providing disc jockey entertainment every Friday night, as well as many Thursdays and Saturdays along the way in spurts. I have outlived all the employees, and at the same time, met a lot of great people who wanted to shine in the karaoke spotlight.
These same people are the ones who ended up wanting me to do a friend or relative’s wedding and have led me to rank #1 now on google for DJ’s in Troy NY, as well as Albany.
From TheDJService.com at (518) 506-3305, DJ Kenny Casanova is a highly sought-after DJ from Albany, NY. Here are some reviews and email addresses for references you can use from some of our recent bride & groom customers.
THIS DJ IS ON FIRE!!! “DJ Kenny was so great to work with!! Attentive, and helpful through the entire process! He was responsive whenever we reached out and very helpful in the song searching process. He played the best variety of music both oldies and modern to relate to us and our guests perfectly! Kenny was not only a great DJ, but also helped handle a crisis during the reception that could’ve turned catastrophic. A candle fell over and caught some flowers on fire during the toast — he put out a fire on our snack bar without drawing attention to the guests and keeping it contained and everyone safe!!! We are so glad Kenny was able to DJ our wedding!!!” — (Maria & James Welsh) Wedding at the Glens Sanders
EMERGENCY DJ SAVES THE DAY!!! “Our wedding reception almost turned into a disaster, but due to DJ Kenny Casanova, he saved our wedding reception!We originally booked and paid up front for a different entertainment company to provide DJ services for our wedding. On the day of our wedding, we arrived early to our reception, and was absolute horrified to discover we had no DJ, no music, nothing. We called the owner of the company and the subcontracted DJ several times, but both never answered nor responded. We had to scramble while our reception was already starting, to make several phone calls to various DJ companies to determine if we could get anyone to show up in a moment’s notice to come to our reception. Miraculous, we got a hold of DJ Kenny Casanova.
In about 20 minutes of him taking our call, he arrived to our reception READY TO GO! As I understand it, he was already scheduled for another job later that evening, but he knew what situation we were in, and came to our rescue. He set up his equipment, created a playlist on the spot, got our reception going with amazing intro for us. Shortly after that, one of his newer DJs that he trusted took over the night, so Kenny could still make it to his previously, already scheduled job – another wedding. He did great. I can’t thank Kenny Casanova enough for what he did for us!” — Jennifer, 10/1/16, Reception at PACC in Albany, NY
WEDDING ON A BOAT – “Kenny Casanova (with DJ Maria) made our wedding amazing! We got married on the Saint Sacrament steamboat in Lake George which posed some interesting challenges which he was able to solve with no issue (such as playing music for the ceremony on the third deck while the full DJ station was on the first deck). He announced us in like rockstars and controlled the timing of everything perfectly. He had the crowd dancing the whole time – old people, little kids, everyone was out there. We met ahead to go over what music we wanted and he hit it spot on. DJ Maria was out there dancing with anyone who needed a partner. They were great! The price was great! Thank you SO MUCH. We would totally recommend you to other couples (and we have). 🙂 – (Ray Lemay on Facebook)Wedding in Lake George NY
GREAT MUSIC – “Hi Kenny, I just wanted to send you an email letting you know how grateful I am that we picked you as our DJ at our wedding. A great DJ is one of the most important aspects of the wedding and you kept the party going at our wedding for almost seven hours. When I got back from taking wedding photos with my husband, a friend came up to me specifically to tell me that for the entire cocktail hour, the music had been awesome. You checked in when songs were could have ran too long (parent dances,) you played all of the songs we asked you to at the right times, and then you totally surprised us by throwing out glow sticks and getting the crowd amped up! I will give you a 5 star review on every website I can find. I was hoping for a good DJ and instead I got a great one! Thanks for making our wedding day great!” — Laura (lauramsilverman@gmail.com)
RESPONSIVE- “Kenny went above and beyond for anything we asked. He was even able to point me in the direction of his super helpful website/blog to get some great ideas for my ceremony music (which went off without a hitch). Our wedding was in NY but we live in VA so that was stressful enough, but this guy was responsive to every single e-mail/request/question I had within at least a day of me sending it, if not hours. He was receptive to everything we wanted, he came dressed for the occasion, always attentive to every detail, and just overall wonderful. I was skeptical as to how my wedding would flow, and he set my worries aside from the very get-go by providing the best flow…ever. As far as value is concerned: Best value. Seriously. For the service and peace of mind he provided me, I would have paid him double. So very affordable, and full of flexibility: Kenny did whatever we asked for him, I had to make a few last minute changes at the end for our entrances, and he was right on point. Also, DJ Maria came along with him to help. She was awesome. While he was working the microphone and stage, she was walking around, asking me if I needed anything and keeping things organized. We honestly have only great things to say about them, and my wedding day was hands down the best day of my life.” — Calie Magill (calie.magill@gmail.com)
PHOTOGRAPHY PACKAGE – “We just wanted to thank you for the excellent service you provided last night. We had so many comments on how great you were. You made the party! I would also like to thank the photographer you provided. We have a lot of great photos and he worked very well with the crowd. We will definitely be using your services again, everything was exactly what we wanted. Also if you ever need us for a recommendation we would be glad to offer. Absolutely use our email. Thanks! -Brad & Beth ” — (beth011887@yahoo.com)
The Perfect Wedding
ORGANIZED – “I just wanted to thank you again for the wonderful job you did, DJ’ing for Joe and Amanda’s wedding. From the dancing to the karaoke, everything went so smoothly, that we couldn’t be happier. I also want to thank you again for suggesting and then helping us to move the food tables so the line went smoother. You were very professional and understanding and made their day turn out the way they always dreamed it would, perfect. I will give you a good recommendation to anyone who asks.” — Kathy Sidusky, LPN (Kathy on Facebook)
EMCEE MIC WORK – “I really want to thank you and your amazing wife for all the great music and pictures from your DJ Cam Package!! You both were amazing and really made my wedding a great time!! Everyone raved that you kept the party going! Also please tell your wife that I’m extremely sorry a seashell flew out of my bouquet and knocked her in the head, lol! Seriously, you both were beyond fabulous!!! I couldn’t have asked for more! FYI I loved the ring announcement entrance!! Perfection!!! I will be recommending you to EVERYONE!!!” — Marrissa Manzer-Lachar. (rissa_m812@yahoo.com)
QUALITY – “We just wanted to let you know again what an awesome job you did at the wedding. The DJ plays such an important part and can make or break a reception. You absolutely made it!! Rob was right, you are very good at what you do and we were so happy that it turned out so wonderful. We appreciate all of your hard effort that lead to such a memorable night.” — Al & Sue Schulz for son Rob, The Groom. (rschulz@rochester.rr.com)
FUN & GAMES – DJ Kenny Casanova did a wonderful job at our wedding! Our ceremony and reception music were perfect! He played the songs we requested and added a lot of fun twists as an announcer for different games! He always returned my emails in a timely manner which always put my mind at ease when planning. We booked the photo booth and photography package and it was well worth it! Our pictures came out beautifully and we got them ALL in hand by the end of the night! Highly recommend! — Kendra, 8/25/17
“Kenny did a fantastic job at our wedding. We had an afternoon ceremony and an outdoor reception in Saratoga Springs. He kept the music lively and fun throughout the event. We didn’t have a lot of dancing because it was about 90 degrees out but when people decided they wanted to hit the dance floor he was ready for them. It was not the typical reception and he adapted to it nicely. Would recommend his services to any capital region bride or groom.” — Ashley, Wedding at Saratoga Winery
A WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER REVIEW – “Hello Kenny! Sam & I just wanted to thank you again for what a great job you did DJ’ing our wedding last Friday night! Everyone has been remarking about how great the music was and what a blast they had. Thank you! Please feel free to use us as a reference in the future. You’re The Best!” — Keira & Sam (hello@keiralemonisphotography.com)
THEME WEDDINGS – “DJ Kenny was great to work with! My husband and I hired him for our wedding, and DJ Maria was our music master for the evening. DJ Kenny was professional from the moment I met him, and he had music recommendations, a form to fill out for the event, people, and schedule for the music to keep the reception on track. DJ Maria was incredibly professional, fun, and with the added lights, the room seemed like a magical place. My husband and I are huge geeks, so we entered to Imperial Death March – and DJ Maria kept our geek going with little remixed tidbits of Star Wars throughout the night (R2D2 beep intro to music, etc). It was awesome and we were so excited to hear how custom that made our music sound! She also got the floor full, everyone up dancing the whole night, and even included some of our more indie music we requested. We literally were kicked off the dance floor at the end of the night, but it was so much fun we had at least 3 “last songs”! Besides that, the price can’t be beat. DJ Kenny keeps his prices competitive but he is the best in town, and I would recommend him for any event, especially a wedding!” – Wendy and Tom Schoenfeld, Florida
“Thank you for making our Halloween Theme Wedding exactly what we wanted it to be; fun! The music was perfect and we couldn’t have asked for more from you. Let us know without hesitation if anyone is looking for a reference.” — Pete & Michele Sefcik (sweetpetex@aol.com)
“Kenny provided DJ service for my wedding. He did a great job, played just the right mix of music, and kept the guests entertained. I got a lot of comments from our guests on how good the DJ was. Thanks for the great job Kenny and crew!” — Todd Bovair (hotbodtodd@aol.com)
Our DJ Pose Down Activity!
“DJ Casanova was spectacular! He really set the tone for our reception. He was professional, yet a lot of fun! He even saved the night! We had a slide show playing during dinner on the reception hall’s video system, and low and behold the sound didn’t work! It was so uncomfortable for a few seconds as the guests watched with no sound. DJ Casanova saved the day. He ran over, asked which song it was supposed to be set to, and within seconds it was playing right along! He even looped the song to fit the show and nobody was the wiser! I would HIGHLY recommend him again!” — Leah Stiles (leah.stiles@navy.mil)
“I just want to say thank you again, for doing such a fantastic job at my wedding this past weekend! Everyone had a great time…I am recommending you to anyone who needs a DJ!!” — Liz Flynn Manzi (scarlet_75@yahoo.com)
“Thanks so much for making our special day even more memorable. Everyone loved your music.” — Jackie Tremont (JTremont1@nycap.rr.com)
KEEPING IT FUN – “We found DJ Kenny on a fluke after our previous DJ had double-booked for our date and dropped us! When we were freaking out about this we decided to look around and find people in our area and came across DJ Kenny. Immediately after meeting him my husband and I both said to each other that the other DJ backing out was a blessing in disguise. DJ Kenny was absolutely fantastic and made our wedding AMAZING! …He was awesome with the music, intros, and keeping everyone moving. Several people came up to me commenting on how great he was and how they had never been to a wedding with so many people on the dance floor. We had wonderful vendors all around but DJ Kenny was by far the star among them all! — Jen (busacker.j@gmail.com)
“I can’t thank you enough for the great job you did at our wedding. It actually came off better than we had expected. The music selection couldn’t have been better. It was really just what we wanted; classy, subtle and enjoyable…. Being able to pull through last minute (in less than two weeks) was incredible. Thanks again! …especially on such short notice.” – Khaye & Dustin F. (7thanvil@gmail.com)
Waterford Banquet caters throughout the Capital District and surrounding communities, but handles weddings and special events at The Saratoga Elks.
As far as the food is concerned, Waterford Banquets offers some really good prices and some great wedding favorites on their menu options. I believe their Prime Rib, which I would classify as medium-sized cut of beef, is somewhere around $23 a head, which really isn’t bad! Check out their website above for the menus options – or click here.
The Saratoga Elks, conveniently located near Northway Exit 15, has a bright and modern look with great lighting. It features a bar and a suitable wooden dance floor. There is great access to hall with a nearby back door, making things easy for decoration purposes.
Lodge Facilities
250 plus guests banquet hall with spacious seating
Great bar/lounge area with seating for up to 100
Located in historic Saratoga Springs, near all activities
Patio and Gazebo area for beautiful ceremony
A decent-sized banquet room to fit 175 plus guests…
Overall, I would suggest that the hall is a great size; not too small and not too big. It seems ideal for weddings between 125-200 guests.
I would rate them about 8 stars out of 10, only subtracting a little for an unusable disco ball (people wanted me to turn it on as the DJ, but it didn’t work) and a few minor eye sores, like the Elks Logo sign in the banquet hall and what I believe was a bingo board on the wall covered by curtains.
(EDITOR NOTE: Since this blog in 2011, the disco ball is back in working order!)
Franklin Plaza of Troy, NY is located right across the street from Dinosaur BBQThe Franklin Plaza Banquet Hall is a great place to have a wedding, prom, or other high-end event demanding class.
I work as a DJ and often an event planner, so I am used to managing every detail of big events myself. If you choose to book the Franklin Plaza, hopefully you will agree that they do think about everything, as they did for the recent prom that I did there in June.
One thing I wanted to highlight now, is that they have their own in-house dance lights now at the Plaza. The hall manager, Greg Cushman, told me that they put their custom light show up only a few months ago, and spared no expense in components and installation. The LED lights with programmable DMX technology are a great extra bonus for booking the hall, with no charge to the customer and they are up high in the corners of the dance floor, out of sight.
I would give the place 4 and a half stars out of 5, subtracting only a half a star for the homeless guy that I think spit on my car in the parking lot, because I didn’t have time to listen to his sob story setting up. (If you see him, shoot me an email so I can knock the last two teeth out of his head.)
I am a wedding DJ and so is my wife. Here is the story about our very different wedding, and how we were able to have our ceremony outside, even after we were told it wouldn’t happen. This story is a testament to faith, never losing hope, good karma, and keeping around plenty of plastic coins…
“Too Bad There Are No Pirates On Venus”
I once read a classic award-winning piece by sci-fi writer Ray Bradbury called “All Summer in a Day.” The setting of this story is a futuristic space colony on the planet Venus, where the rain never stops. By the end, the reader is heartbroken for a young girl trapped in a closet, who missed the only day of sunshine the planet had seen in seven years.
Fast forward to the year 2011. The setting is the night of our wedding rehearsal at Birch Hill Catering Hall in Schodack, New York, on the planet Earth, where it had been raining without break for many weeks. The bridal party was there, helping us decorate, abuzz at the forecast predicting 75 degrees and sunny for our wedding day, tomorrow. However, despite the perfect timing, the event planner explained we would still be trapped inside for our ceremony.
Actually, she wasn’t really our planner. She was number two. The first event planner we were originally assigned to by the hall had taken another job last minute. It was her replacement, “Number Two,” who had to tell the teary-eyed bride that she had to have her outside dream ceremony, inside, during the first day of sunshine in months.
We walked around the grounds to look at all the potential sites for the ceremony, and Number Two was right. The grass was a mess. Mud and puddles are no friends of high heels and chair legs. Normally, we would have had access to a number of beautiful backdrops provided by nature at this location, but because of the wetness, the ground was not an option. But there was concrete…
At Birch Hill, there are two event rooms fit for wedding reception; one smaller room in the front with a large concrete patio outside and our huge room with a narrow patio outside. We couldn’t effectively use our room’s deck for an outdoor ceremony, because it was too narrow and right near the highway.
Just when we thought all hope was lost, Number Two offered us a moment of hope.
The planner took us back outside and showed us the front room’s patio. She suggested that we should just use that, because the party booked during our timeslot in the front room was not using it. “We can just put up a curtain by the window and everything should be fine,” she said.
Why the hell didn’t you just show us this before, I thought. The patio place was perfect and perhaps better than any of the other sites on their grounds!
We could picture it easily. It was still set up from a wedding that braved misty elements, a few days before. The area was surrounded in greenery, had a classy arch way for the vow exchange in the front, and nice white chairs all in rows. The trellis was even still decorated with fresh red roses.
We were ecstatic, that is, until, of course, Number Two came back and changed her mind. “Whoops, sorry about offering that. I didn’t have the power to do that.”
The power? But you are Number Two, I thought.
“The owner says that he doesn’t want us to use that patio because the ceremony still might distract the first communion party,” she explained.
That was understandable, seeing how we would be dressed, but offering something then retracting only made the bride more upset. Plus, they said they had drop curtains they could put up outside to hide us.
I shifted gears to defense mode. Who the hell is the owner?! I immediately wanted to power-bomb the invisible Wizard of Birch Hill, who was hiding somewhere behind his curtain.
I went back into the room to see some of bridal party was there helping us decorate for our theme wedding. Then I noticed the Birch Hill staff setting up rows of ugly tan chairs that made it look like a funeral wake was being prepared in the corner.
Maria looked depressed and sat on one of the seats, as if waiting to pay her respects to the deceased. Seeing Maria upset on the eve of her wedding was not cool in my book when there was an empty space that would work just well.
My friends knew I was ticked, and tried to talk me out of finding the owner.
I went and found the owner, anyhow.
I argued with him. “We didn’t pay $500 to have our on-site ceremony inside in what looks like a wake, when it’s going to be nice out and there is a place we can use.”
“My hands are tied,” he said. “I’m sorry, but I can’t let you use that site. It belongs to another party that time, whether they choose to use it or not.”
“But your planner said they can just put up divider curtains and that they have done it before.”
The owner didn’t budge.
We were trapped again in a closet on Venus.
The next day, I rode over with my groomsmen to the hall to do some last minute pirate decorating. Did somebody say pirates?
As I might have failed to mention before, we were having a big budget, realistic pirate theme wedding. We called it, “Ken & Maria’s Pirate Wedding Extravaganza.” The concept came out of the fact that, both being wedding DJs, we wanted our wedding to look different so we could remember it.
We had twenty pirate flags, a canon, a parrot, a boat, treasure chests everywhere loaded with massive crystal jewels, coins and beads, and even real swords. We did not use any cheesy cartoony decorations that you would see at a kid’s birthday party.
Everything looked so great that I figured it would be best to try not to worry about the ceremony which would only be 15-20 minutes of the day. I can’t lie though. I still wondered if there was a way for us to secure the patio that the hall initially offered to us for the ceremony.
We jumped back into decorating. None of the flags were up yet and the centerpieces were not completely finished. A delegated a few odd jobs and we got to work. My best man, or should I say, my First Mate, Marty “The Party,” helped me put the last minute touches on the head table’s treasure chest centerpiece when the flowers arrived.
“So, Marty. You are a successful lawyer,” I said.
“And?”
“What do you think about talking to someone in the other room about borrowing their patio?”
“You are still on that?” Marty laughed. “I’ll ask if you like.”
“Would you?”
“Sure. What do we have to lose?”
The two of us grabbed up our mechanical talking parrot and brought him out to the hallway.
As we set up our entrance way, we saw some little eyes in the front of the hall. In lieu of tuxedos, we had rented professional Broadway play pirate costumes with all the trimmings, so odd looks were appropriate. A few of the kids from the front room that had the cool deck had ventured out of their room for a peek. One of the kids whispered something to a friend, before they disappeared back to their party.
“I’ll go ask in a few minutes,” Marty laughed. “Let me finish this up.” Then he disappeared, too. He was in search of some more gemstones to place around our seating cards.
A minute later, the void was filled. Sweet Pete Waters, another one of my groomsmen, came out into the hall. I told him that the kids were amused at us and that maybe we could win them over. Before he could say anything, a few more of the first communion kids came running out the door. They looked even more excited to check out the “legendary pirates of Birch Hill hallway.”
“Look a different one now!”
Game on.
Sweet Pete Waters and Captain Casanova put on a funny pirate decorating show, in front of our room, throwing gold coins around and hamming it up. One brave first communion boy moved towards us for a better look, so I extended out a symbolic peace offering, in hopes that they may let us dock on their land. (Maybe I should have called it a “piece” offering; a piece of eight that is.
“Arghhhh, don’t be afraid boy. Here’s a gold coin for you, my scurvy dog friend.”
The kid grabbed it and ran.
Pete laughed and whispered. “So, are you going to bribe them with plastic money, now?”
I hadn’t thought of it that way, but, “why not?” As Marty had said, I had “nothing to lose.” In a karma frame of mind, if we were nice to the kids and maybe something nice will happen to us, in return, right? And in a barter mindset, we had a pirate gimmick that their party might really enjoy, and they had an extra patio our party might want to pirate. It was a win-win, either way.
After handing the young boy a fake gold coin from our seemingly endless decoration supply, I saw our outside ceremony materialize in my mind’s eye. I started thinking about how to ask for it. I knew I had to craft the request to use their patio in such a way that they would help us fight for us to use it.
Having planted a golden seed, I hung in the hall a minute to see the kids’ reactions instead of going back with Pete to decorate the big room, and diddled around with the seating cards. (The seating cards were just fine, mind you. My lack of supervision was an investment in achieving the outdoor ceremony that Maria had dreamed about since she was young.)
I pictured how beautiful my bride would be in her traditional wedding dress, outside among the trees and open air. You see, to keep up with the feel of a wedding, she was not going to be in pirate attire. She chose to still dress the part of a bride. She still wanted to walk the aisle and look like a beautiful princess. That way it still felt like a wedding and not just a big party with a bunch of pirates running around. Little did she know, while she was getting her hair and make up done with her bridesmaids, the outside dream was no longer out of the realm of possibility.
Then, a magical thing happened. The first communion girl’s father came running out with two of his children. “Hey mister pirate,” he said with a smile. “Can my daughter have a picture with you?”
I smiled and said, “Aye.” I took a few shots with kiddies and gave them a couple of fake diamonds.
“Thank you, Mister Pirate!” he said, rushing back to the party to show the others the picture he had just taken.
I rushed back into my room myself, and bustled up my motley crew. “Listen guys, I think we are going to get that ceremony after all. Follow my lead.”
Four of us, all in full pirate gear, marched back into the hallway. It was only moments before the same father came back out. “Hey Pirates, would you mind coming in and meeting the other kids for us?”
“Sure mate. It would be me pleasure,” I said in my best Jack Sparrow impersonation.
It was a riot. We all marched into the first communion party singing “Fifteen Men on a Deadman’s chest, just as we had practiced it a few hours ago for a camera in our limo on the way to the wedding hall.
The guests ate it up and cheered!
We all marched in singing a pirate song to pose with the kids.
Then, we posed with all of the kids like characters at Walt Disney World. We even had the first communion girl pose holding a sword in one of the shots.
We handed out a few more little goodies from out centerpiece treasure chests and everyone had a good laugh. Before leaving, we led them all together to sing along in chorus with us, “Yo, ho, ho, and a bottle of rum.”
We really did put on a great show.
“Congratulations on your first communion,” I said. “But we have to go get to decorating the ship for our own party, now.”
“Thanks soooo much guys!” the father said, as we began to leave. “What party are you here for? Is there like a vendor party in the back?”
Finally, my window of opportunity opened. I knew that I had to be careful how I responded, so my secret agenda didn’t come off like begging.
“No, no, matey. We are having a pirate theme wedding in the back. About to get married real soon to a real nice wench, I am.”
The father laughed hysterically. “Well congratulations to you, then! Perfect day for it too!”
Bingo, I thought.
“Aye. That it is, lad, that it is.” I paused. “Too bad we can’t have it outside though,” I said dropping the character a little for sympathy.
“Well, why not?”
I pointed out the window, conveniently where their room’s patio was. “The ground out there is too wet and there is no site available for us to have the ceremony where the chairs won’t sink in.”
The father paused for a second and I watched the invisible light bulb turn on above his head. “Hey, why don’t you use that space right out there?”
Dramatic pause.
“We would love to, but the hall won’t let us,” I replied.
“Why not?”
“That was the original plan, but the owner said it might distract you,” I said. “We understand.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. As much as we want it outside, we don’t want a bunch of pirates to take the spotlight away from your daughter at the same time.”
“No, it wouldn’t! They love you guys!” He said.
“Well, if you don’t mind…”
“I insist!” At that the man followed us out into the hall. “What can I do to help?”
“Maybe tell the planners upstairs?” I suggested.
“Done.” The man disappeared. I ran into the backroom and helped one of my crew hang up one of the last Jolly Roger flags.
Five minutes later, one of the waitresses ran in with a big smile. “Congratulations, you got your outside wedding!”
A few of the staff came in and quickly removed the chairs from the makeshift funeral parlor. They actually did a great job, rushing to make it happen, as we had less than a half hour before show time.
In the corner of our reception hall, I snatched up my DJ friend Jason, who just started setting up his DJ gear for the ceremony music.
I ran out the door with Jason, his brother and their friend all in pirate gear, as well. We rushed down the hall and around the front to get them situated with their ceremony DJ set up and to do some touch ups on the patio we had just pirated for our ceremony. (Jason’s brother actually did a great job getting the trellis into nice condition. Once they were set, I ran around the front to head back into the hall.)
The First Communion Party Loved the Pirates!
I stopped and posed for a few more pictures with the first communion partiers and thanked the father one more time. “You don’t know it, but that is one of the best wedding presents anyone could have given us.”
The father smiled, “no problem.” I shook his hand, feeling triumphant and a little guilty. He turned out to be a real good guy. “We are happy we could help.”
Hacksaw Jim Duggan Appeared to be The Mystery Guest Groomsman
At this point, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, the special emcee for our pirate reception came up the walkway, laughing at the scene of all the pirates. Not having a whole lot of time to really greet him, I posed for a picture with him and ran back to the front room to retrieve his costume and pirate flag from our other www.TheDJserivce.com family member, DJ/JD. (Having four wedding DJs in the house made things a heck of a lot cheaper for entertainment.)
“Now, you are one of us, too!” I said, returning and handing the gear over to the WWE Hall Of Fame wrestler.
“Oh, I love this hat,” Hacksaw said, putting it on and moving up off of the curb. In the distance and over his massive shoulder, I could see Maria’s limousine pulling up, so I moved out of sight.
Less than fifteen minutes later, we were all smiles. Our outside ceremony layout was a success.
Our friend Todd, was dressed in full pirate regalia, as well. He had been ordained online and wrote us the best pirate ceremony that anyone could ask for. He was about to perform a ceremony that no one would ever forget, in complete character.
The music hit. My groomsmen came down the aisle to a gothic battle song called, “Carmina O Fortuna” and just before it ended, I came up last with a great, “Arggg!!!” The crowd responded with the same war cry.
Soon after that, the music switched over to the traditional bridesmaid music, “Air of The G,” and was soon followed by The Mendelssohn Wedding March from Midsummer Night’s Dream, or what some call, “Here Comes The Bride.”
Maria looked beautiful in her gown, which was modern, but had a tinge of Victorian flavor to it. The thing that was even more beautiful was that she was all smiles. Her outdoor ceremony came together with only about 20 minutes, just before the guests had arrived.
I have since learned that Maria had no idea that her ceremony was to be outside until about ten minutes before they actually led her to walk down the aisle. She said she had to keep from crying.
We are very thankful that we were able to have the ceremony outside and were not trapped inside on such a beautiful day. After weeks and weeks of planning in the rain, everything came off perfectly and everything came off without a hitch.
As for that little girl locked in a closet in a space colony on the only day of sunshine in seven years, my heart goes out to her. All I can say is, “Too bad there are no pirates on Venus.”
