Non Traditional Wedding Ceremony Officiant Todd BovairTo all Same Sex Wedding Planners & Theme Wedding Enthusiasts : Finding a Non-traditional, Same Sex, or Theme Wedding Officiant for your Ceremony can be a difficult one, but now in Albany, NY there is a new option…
If you are planning your wedding now and have some great ideas for a non traditional ceremony, you may find that some wedding officiants will not provide services for everything. There are certain types of weddings that do not follow tradition and also go against the ideas professed by many religions.
Same-sex weddings and theme weddings, by definition, often do not go along with certain theologies and time-honored traditions that most traditional wedding reverends/ministers hold true to their hearts. Therefore, many reverends will not take on non-traditional ceremonies. Short of bringing in a judge, what can you do?
I recently married another top local wedding Disc Jockey, DJ Maria. In a full-fledged pirate theme wedding. You see, we had to break the norm and shoot for a non-traditional theme, because we didn’t want our special day wedding to mirror what we end up doing with 90% of our own customers.
To make our reception different was easy, but for the ceremony, we really had to do some thinking. In the end, we hired in a fully-licensed/practicing Wedding official reverend, Todd Bovair, who specializes in non-traditional and theme weddings. He was just the man to work our ceremony in a complete pirate character.
He did a splendid job with the pirate voice and also created an original, personalized and customized ceremony script perfectly catering to our every request. It is impossible to explain how well things turned out. Written words simply can not really do what the man who simply refers to himself as “The Rev” offers to the Albany area, for theme weddings and non-traditional ceremonies. Here is a YouTube video clip to so you can see what he can do for you. His character starts at the of 6 minute mark.
I give him a complete five stars out of five stars, and never give such a high rating unless the wedding professional is, in fact, total perfect!!! You can call Todd for your wedding ceremony at at 518-283-8250.
While Colbie Caillat retains her signature sound that fans have come to love on like “Bubbly” and “Falling For You,” there is one refreshing difference on this great new wedding “first dance” option.
“I Do” has that tinny acoustic guitar/ukelele sound which, in a resurgence, is becoming popular of late in many tracks. For “I Do” this trendy instrument-choice coffee house-like sound works perfectly and adds an additional layer of fun to a great track. This simple light sound has brought about recent success for songs like Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours,” and their duet “Lucky“, as well as the Bruno Mars hit “Lazy Song,” “Hey Soul Sister” by Train, and Travie McCoy’s collaboration with Bruno Mars on the hit track “Billionaire.”
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.
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!)
Maria DJ wore a beautiful traditional dress so that the night still felt like a wedding, and not just a crazy pirate party.
Ahoy party people! “The Prince of Passion” DJ Kenny Casanova is here, with my very OWN wedding report on the real royal bash of the year… “The DJ Kenny Casanova & Maria DJ Pirate Wedding Extravaganza.”
A PIRATE WEDDING CAN BE AWESOME
In case you are keeping score, I practiced what I preach. I always say, “If you have the guts, always go with a theme for your wedding. Theme weddings make for a better time! ” Many traditional weddings are real fun, but all have the same flavor to them in the end; a fancy bridal dress and a whole lot of monkey suits.
Being wedding DJs that attend a few weddings a week, Maria DJ and I had to do something different for our own reception so it would stay in our minds forever, and not blend into the many memories of our clients’ passed special days. The question at hand was, “What do two wedding DJs do when they get married to each other?” We, therefore, decided to answer with having a theme wedding ourselves, so OUR special day would be memorable.
My wife randomly chose PIRATE, from a blog I wrote a few years back and the outcome was awesome!
A lot of local people from Albany, Troy and Schenectady and land lubbers from around the world browse my blog here at TheDJservice.com/blog for great planning ideas and wedding tips based on all the succesful weddings I have have been a part of. “Sharing is Caring,” is my motto, but this time it is ironic that I am sharing some fun things from MY actual wedding.
THEME WEDDING IDEAS
Special Mystery Guest Groomsman & Emcee, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan
OUR CELEBRITY EMCEE – Always jazz things up with a surprize! We wanted the most pirate-like celebrity we could think of to be the replacement voice of my own.
Therefore, with a little deliberation, we picked Glens Falls native and former WWE United States Heavyweight Wrestling Champion, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan! He became the special “mystery groomsman” and then the special guest emcee. Hoooo! We agreed in the end that he was great!!!
Everyone loved him, he fit the bill perfectly, and was better than any other extra we could have thrown in there. People from another wedding even came in to meet and greet the WWE Hall-of-Famer.
Pirate Wedding Treasure Chest Centerpieces
CENTERPIECES – Our beautiful centerpieces were pirate treasure chests, but not like you would think. We loaded ours with mardi gras beads, gold coins and large crystal gems. In the centerpiece department, we did not skimp out on the contents at all. We did not use any cartoony-like, plastic happy meal-like prize inserts, which would have been easy to do. Our philosophy on making this celebration a success was to decorate for “a fancy pirate wedding.”
We tried our best to make everything look as legitimate and as real as possible, so the reception didn’t look like a kid’s pirate birthday. Using Broadway play quality costumes and high cost quality decorations made everything look and feel all-the-more classy …or at least as classy as a pirate shindig can be!
FLAGS – Cloth is a definite must. None of this plastic or paper table cloth nonsense. We adorn the hall in full pirate regalia. We posted 17 different “jolly roger” pirate flags up in each window-bay of Hebert’s of Birch Hill’s large reception hall. (With each flag hand-chosen to be slightly different, the attention to fine detail made things more interesting to the eye. It was interesting to see the little variations of each traditional pirate flag than to quickly browse over the same print over and over again of the same skull & crossbones. There are actually many different pirate flags out there, and if you look online, you can find full real 3 x 5 foot flags for $5-$10 a piece, that may not be all that weather-sound, but perfect for the short-term; an indoor reception like ours.
FOOD – In the true spirit of a pirate, we had a feast. We had buffet style thick carved prime rib, lobster penne, and chicken marsella.
CAKES – Arrrghhh! Yes matey! We had two cakes; one custom pirate wedding tower by yummy local wedding cake favorite Coccadotts, and a surprizingly scrumptious groom’s cake by my own sister that was peanut butter frosting, peanut butter cake and topped with crushed reeses everything! (My favorite!)
I actually fed a piece of this to my best man, the same as you feed one to your bride, in full pie-face tradition.
PHOTO MAGNET PHOTO-SHOOT – Ever see this yet? For party-favors, a photography service comes in with a green screen magnet shoot so that people could bring home high quality magnets to put on their refridgerators of the night. The magnets are a great way to remember the fun had with all their friends. These magnetic keepsakes are great for a pirate wedding theme because our photographer (Holmes Photo Imaging) changed the background on demand to match the guests costumes and our theme. And, the super sharp full color quality was also unbelievable! This extra fun option was again provided by Holmes Photography in the Albany, NY area.
STAY TUNED – There will be much more to come soon, on how to actually plan a great pirate wedding, once we go through the pictures. In case you might want to walk the plank yourself at your own wedding, here are some of our guests pictures to hold you over, as the professional shots by Manny at Affordable Photography are not quite done yet.
