Category: Featured

WEDDING REVIEW: BROWN’S REVOLUTION HALL
by Kenny Casanova

Recently, I had the pleasure of providing my wedding services as the disc jockey for a fun group at Browns Brewing Co .  I just thought it would be nice to share that Brown’s Revolution Hall is a nice  option for bride’s & grooms in the area who want an all-in-one venue to host both the ceremony and the reception on their special day.

For those of you Collar City residents of the historic Troy, New York area, many may know well what I am referring to when I mention, “My wife loves the Cherry Razz.”  Brown’s micro brewery produces a sweet Cherry Raspberry beverage, served complete with a cherry in the bottom; a definite must-have chick drink native to the area. However, to the passive Brown’s fan, here is something that not quite everyone knows about; Browns Brewery also provides a great wedding service throughout the year.

LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION:  “Revolution Hall,” Brown’s private party venue is located to the right of what most of Troy knows as Brown’s Brewery 417 River Street in Troy. This private function venue is an area closed off to the public, but is often made known by hosting musical acts. Many Capital Region favorite bands like Hair Of The Dog and The Refrigerators, have played under the Brown’s banner in this very location. And because of the stage and open floor layout, this venue can be the perfect alternative option for a wedding.

VENUE LAYOUT INFORMATION: The venue layout has great potential. Brown’s Revolution Hall has its own private bar with Brown’s on tap, its own kitchen, its own bathroom, a separate entrance/exit, a stage for entertainment. A wedding ceremony (like the one I attended) can easily take place in the stage part of the hall.

After the ceremony is over, Brown’s staff will just usher your guests over to the private bar for cocktail hour. During this festive cocktail consumption time, the layout used for the ceremony will be transformed into an elegant area for reception dining. There is even a balcony for additional reception seating.

FOOD SELECTION: Brown’s dinner selections are actually very good. They are not only known for their beer. They have everything from high end cuts of meat, to pretzels. My suggestion to those of you planning a wedding at Brown’s, however, is to focus on a few really good entree selections.

Because Browns is very flexible and easy to work with, they do have lower-end entrees available. However, cheaper food selections may not be your best option for a dream wedding… cheap food is still just that, low end. If budget is a huge concern, Brown’s will work with you. But my suggestion,  is to spend the extra little bit and get their good stuff, and leave an impression!  Your guests are worth the extra sawbucks, right?

Here is a link to their catering menu:  CATERING MENU

If you are planning your wedding now in the Tri-city area, give these guys a shout. Brown’s Revolution Hall is a good alternative venue option for your medium-sized wedding.

…And if you want a DJ with experience working this location, give us a call at 518-506-3305. We can also give you some more information about Browns!

FUN SAME SEX WEDDING AT WASHINGTONVILLE, NY

Over the weekend, I was the DJ at a venue called FEAST at Round Hill in Washingtonville, NY. It’s not a point we typically service, but the couple in this same-sex wedding were really cool and I wanted to do the gig for them. (Honestly, even if you are not as cool as they are, you can get me to go anywhere, if you really try.)

ALL IN ONE WEDDING LOCATION – FEAST at Round Hill is a great place to get married; it has ample parking, a nice ceremony site, outside & inside bars for the cocktail hour, fountains for great photo-opps and a really neat reception hall.

The video above shows the couple, Bridget & Jessica, engaging in their first official dance of the night. You can see a shot of our DJ booth with our purple uplights creating the mood.

FOOD – FEAST at Round Hill’s reception area is a classy place with a nice little stage for a sweetheart table or large bridal party head table. On this occasion, the hall had a sweetheart table along with a full candy buffet package on display for party favors. The display was one of the best I have seen, complete with shelving holding large tilted candy store-type” glass containers to house the treats in.

The meal was great too!

All in all, if you are looking in the Poughkeepsie or Newburgh, NY area for a place to hole your special day, I would highly recommend checking out this venue.

Here are a few pictures from my iPhone of the wedding…

Wedding Guestbook Ideas from Schenectady DJ

No idea what to do for a guestbook at your wedding? Why not go for the sampler platter?!

Here are some pictures from a wedding I did at The Stockade Inn in Schenectady NY.

They did a great job decorating. I particularly liked their guestbook area, where they took three ideas off my site and blended them together. The did a wishing tree, a record signing and also a traditional guest book.

INDIAN LADDER BARN

CLICK TO THE LEFT AND TAKE OUR VIRTUAL TOUR FROM DJ KENNY CASANOVA OF A GREAT WEDDING BARN OPTION PERFECT FOR A RUSTIC WEDDING

Only about 15 minutes from Albany, NY this could be the perfect wedding barn option for you.

They have fields and fields of beautiful green for your ceremony, a great rustic barn for the reception, and even livestock down the path for endless photo options! Kenny got to play music, and also play with the goats. Now what more could you ask! But seriously it is elegant and rustic at the same time and really worth looking into. Watch the video above to see the layout in our virtual tour form.

This wedding site option is highly recommended for the rustic wedding seeker. Also, check out our pictures from on location below:

One fun addition to your wedding celebration in recent years is including a Slideshow for all your guests. These can really be a great success when done properly and can add a great bit of mood to the atmosphere you may want to set. However, if done incorrectly, they can fall short.

TOP 10 IDEA LIST ON – HOW TO CREATE A SUCCESSFUL WEDDING SLIDESHOW FOR YOUR RECEPTION

The Wedding Slideshow is one of our popular DJ packages. It has become something many couples want to add, but don’t really know how. Having been the disc jockey in countless weddings in the Albany & Saratoga Springs NY region, I have seen quite a bit of good ones and also, some really bad ones. Here is a list I have put together to help clients understand what they should think about when considering a wedding slideshow.

TOP 10 THINGS TO THINK ABOUT WHEN CREATING YOUR WEDDING SLIDESHOW

1) PRESENTATION – Do we want the slideshow to be a featured activity as an event with a start and finish, or rather a backdrop decoration on a continuous loop?

2) PICTURE COUNT –  Usually around 75-100 pictures is great for an event slideshow where your guests are instructed to watch a music video-like powerpoint presentation of pictures.

If you have a lot of pictures, it is best to make your wedding slideshow a continuous loop as a decoration in the background. Having your guests watch a 10-15 minute presentation as an event is too long and they will lose interest before the end of the slideshow.

3) MUSIC SELECTION OR NOT – Featured activity should be announced as an event and works best when set to music packaging it like a music video, with maybe one or two songs. (More than three songs begins to feel too long and your audience may lose interest.)

4) WHEN TO PLAY SLIDESHOW – “What time of the night should we show it?” Wedding Slideshows played as an event tend to work better during dinner while people are still eating, as to not take away from dancing time. If you are running a continuous looping slideshow as a decorative backdrop, usually cocktail hour is a good time to run it – and maybe into dinner – shutting it off during the dancing segment of the celebration.

5) ADDING SOUNDS – It is best to “keep it simple.” Adding crazy sounds or many little pieces of tracks to your slideshow is distracting to your audience and takes away from the visual on the screen.

6) EFFECTS – Avoid distractions. Powerpoint is loaded with them and it is easy to fall into using different ones everywhere. However, multiple effects like odd slide transitions become annoying to your audience quickly.

7) PICTURE SELECTION – It is best to try and have roughly the same number of slides for both the bride and groom. Using a sequential order is also a good idea, using the oldest pictures first, building up to the most recent. Then finally, having a number of pictures of the bride and groom together at the end, is best.

A slideshow can also be effective for couples who have had a destination wedding, or an elopement and want to now share the pictures of the actually ceremony to those at the reception that were unable to attend the vow exchange.

8) PICTURE TIMING – Usually around 4 seconds (give or take) is the best period of time to use between slide transitions. If you have a really large amount of pictures, you can cut off a half a second or so to help make it move a little faster.

9) SPEAKERS – Many people I have seen have opted to go with using their little computer speakers for the event-type slideshow. This is usually, as far as I can gather, usually because they want to exactly sync up pictures with the a particular line or something in music. However, I still believe it is best to keep it simple and just select a song or two and have your DJ play the song selections – and let the pictures do their thing.

10) PREPARATION – Many people try and get by with Microsoft running a slideshow automatically, however this is not a good idea. Using a program like Powerpoint PPT or even Google presentation is better. Using software that is designed to create a slideshow better lets you select the order in which you want the pictures to appear, as well as the time the picture remains on the screen.

TOP 10 LIST FOR BEST WEDDING VENUES IN SARATOGA SPRINGS BY LOCAL DJ

Here is a top 10 list for our very favorite halls in the Saratoga, NY area. We figure, who better than to tell you like it is than a non-biased non-employee who has worked the ins-and-outs of this territory like our disc jockeys. Each has a little information and contact info so that you can check it out to see if it is right for your wedding or special event,

1) Museum of Dance 

99 S Broadway in Saratoga Springs, NY  – This is my absolute favorite venue. Elegant. Has a separate area for cocktail, a nice area outside for the ceremony and most importantly ALLOWS YOU TO BOOK ANY CATERER YOU WANT!  Outside catering means control and SAVINGS POTENTIAL!   (518) 584-2225  Website

2) Inn at Saratoga

231 Broadway Street in Saratoga, New York – This is one of my favorite venues for a small wedding. Great outdoor location with a tent for the ceremony and a nice dinning area for about 75-100.  (518)583-1890 Website

3) Saratoga Wilton Elks 

1 Elks Lane – Saratoga Springs, NY Another one of my personal favorites with awesome patio for the ceremony and nice area for the reception.   (518) 584-2585 Website

4) Clifton Park Elks

695 Macelroy Road – Ballston Lake NY 12019. Best kept secret. Multiple locations for ceremony and indoor/outdoor reception options. Website

5) The Edison Club 891 Riverview Road in Rexford NY  – Super nice with multiple areas to pick from. Two locations for outside ceremonies, two cocktail areas, and a reception hall with a stage for your entertainment services DJ/band. (518) 399-2393 Website 

6) Longfellows 500 Union Ave, Saratoga Springs, NY. This has a great indoor facility for ceremony with a coy fish waterfall. The food is out of this world! (518)587-0108   Website

7) The Saratoga Hilton 534 Broadway of Saratoga Springs, NY – You will agree that it is a great location right on the strip to have your wedding ceremony. Nice big reception hall rooms with partitions so that you can select the perfect size for your perfect night. (518) 693-1004 Website

8) Gideon Putnam Resort and Spa 24 Gideon Putnam Road in Saratoga Springs, NY.  This is for, of course, the super high-end wedding location seeker with a very nice observatory fancy glass pane window reception hall.  (518) 226-4700 Website

9) The Lodge on Echo Lake  175 Hudson Street in Warrensburg, NY –  A tille further up from Saratoga for the person who wants a more secluded wedding. It is a very nature-based nice location with waterfront ceremony capability and reception hall with a very large dance floor. (518) 623-5599 Website

10) Hall Of Springs 108 Ave of The Pines in Saratoga Springs, NY – Perfect location by SPAC for large elegant weddings. Many large columns and can seat 300 guests or more. (518) 583-3003 Website