Kyle Wherrity

Some people in the office have a more behind the scenes role. Kyle is one of those people. He manages and handles all the music and the technical aspects of all the video content. For the music, Kyle’s responsibilities are to make sure every event has the right music. And that is no easy task. On a typical day we have a lot of events. And with all those events comes a ridiculous amount of music that needs to be acquired and organized. Each of our DJs owes much of their success to Kyle. When they get to their jobs, they know that they have all the music they need and that it is the right version.

He is also responsible for our video content creation, DVD creation and DVD editing. When we need new graphics for our corporate A/V events or when our clients need a particular montage edited to exact standards, he is the man who gets it done for us.

Kyle also has a great interest in Polictics. His dream is to have an internship at the White House. He has been trying for the last year or so to make the dream a reality. We hope that this year it will happen!

Kyle makes the back end of our business successful. He is also one of our DJs. So if you happen to meet with him, make sure to talk to him about his other interests in our company.

Jason

Jessica's Wedding

On December 12th, 2009 I was able to participate in my sister Jessica’s wedding. It was quite an experience, as I was able to see a reception from another perspective. Now, I’m not going to lie, Jessica had the ability to get pretty much anything she wanted from our company and we were able to show off a lot of the things that we can do. But being on the other side, educated me a lot on how a guest sees our service and productions. I was able to see how our team worked with my family, the professionals she choose and the wedding party. As expected, I was so very impressed!

So here is what we did that I think should be mentioned:

Draping- Jessica wanted to drape out the dance floor. As you know from previous posts, this really creates a lounge feel for the dance floor. When we do this, it tends to make for a much more unique dancing experience. We love doing this and with the intelligent lighting we did, it really creates a visual experience.

Intelligent lighting-Not to many couples go with this option, but we think you should really consider doing this. The lighting was actually hung in the ceiling around the dance floor (we can do this at your venue with a slight twist) so that the entire dance floor was covered with light. Most DJs or lighting companies put the lights over the DJ or band. We don’t think that works to well. With the intelligent lighting, we control everything from the color, design and movements. Kurt did a great job programming and running our lighting rig.

Up lighting and pin spotting-Jessica wanted a darker amber for the up lighting and a pin spot on the cake.

Monograms-We normally do them on the dance floor, but we thought it would be even more interesting to put it on outside at the entrance to the property.

Plasma screens-Actually they are LCD screens, but this produced the most dramatic moments of the night. Let me explain. When we first came in the room, the screens had their monogram on them. Then during dinner, we created an awesome slide show of both the couple, family and friends. It was a great way to get people to peak into their life.

Then when it was time for the parent dances, we added another little twist. As she danced with my dad, pictures of the two of them faded up in the background. Then, during the middle of the choreographed dance that they spent so much time working on (3 months of lessons) we did a live feed of the dance floor so all the guests could see. WOW! It was incredible. People all through the room could see exactly what was happening on the dance floor. Thanks to Steve Newbert at AOV productions, his wireless transmission made it possible. Kyle, our TD (technical director), was switching the video to make it look awesome.

The last piece that made the night was the slide show. Kevin York was our photography and we have worked with Kevin in the past with this. We kinda turned Kevin on to this presentation. But around 10pm, both the couple and their guests were able to watch a 5 minute presentation of the actual pictures that were taken that day. Two 46 inch screens allowed everybody to see the great pictures that Kevin had taken. That was such a great thing for them to see. Instant gratification!

It was a great day and I was a very proud brother. Jessica and Ryan will have a great life together. Hopefully some of this video and these pictures will generate some interest for you into thinking about adding any of these options on, especially the LCD screens.

I also want to give a huge thanks to Erin Proud at Proud to Plan for all the hard work that she did. My sister met her at one of our open houses and said she had to have her. Our family isn't the easiest bunch to work with and she made sure that everything was perfect. It also let me have fun and not have anything to worry about. If you haven't thought about a planner...think again. Thanks Erin!

Jason

Danielle's Bat Mitzvah

I broke into the special event industry as a dancer for a mitzvah company back in 97’. Every weekend I was performing at different venues, meeting tons of people, and helping families throw great parties. As I got older I found my love for being a true DJ who blends songs, and selects the right music in the right order to allow guests to have a great time. While spinning at weddings every weekend, it’s very different from my dancing/performing days. It’s easy to forget my roots and how I got started in this industry. Mitzvahs were the first type of events I was exposed to and were my love for the first part of my career. While I’m very busy with weddings I still try and do a few mitzvahs a year to change the pace. Currently I select a few families a year that want me to make their son or daughter’s mitzvah a hit and I’ll perform for them.

This past weekend I had the pleasure to work with the Butler family and help make Danielle’s Bat Mitzvah a time for her and her friends to remember for the rest of their lives. They selected the beautiful Colonial Golf &Tennis Club in Harrisburg as their venue, and the very talented Heidi Welshans as their photographer. Below are some of the amazing pictures she had captured throughout the party.

Danielle is a wonderful person who loves her family and friends. Let me say how easy it was to work with her and her family. From the minute I met Danielle I knew she was ready to have a great time with her friends. As soon as the guests arrived to the club they were on the dance floor. For a daytime event this mitzvah lived up to its expectations. With the help of Danielle’s parents, Beth and Paul selected a great lighting design to help set the atmosphere. Using pink uplighting to give the effect of a nighttime event, as well as wanting the music to be upbeat, their ideas helped set the tone for day.

Between the dance contests, the games, and the interaction with the children and the adults I was very pleased to have had the opportunity to be a part of Danielle’s special day. Even her little sister Mikki was jamming on the dance floor all night. Thanks again to the Butler family for putting together a great team of vendors with Synergetic, Heidi Welshans, and the Colonial Golf & Tennis club, to help Danielle celebrate of her accomplishment.

Casting call for engaged couples...

I was talking to a friend of mine on the west coast and she works for a casting company. She wanted me to post something about her upcoming casting call. If you are interested, give her a call. Tell her Jason sent you!

" We are looking for fun, multi-cultural, outrageous, over the top families who are related to an engaged couple getting married this summer 2010. Picture "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" but all ethnicities - we want to show the real tri-state area and give a taste of a different kind of wedding .... we've seen tons of wedding shows, but none with REAL diversity and a new perspective!
Each episode will feature ONE COUPLE and their planning process for the wedding and their big, fun family will play a role too...
We are casting this show in record time and so if you have any family members, friends, neighbors, coworkers etc that are ENGAGED and want to be featured in their own episode that will CELEBRATE their love, culture, family and wedding, then they should contact me IMMEDIATELY.
My associate and I will be in New Jersey and Philadelphia in the next 2 weeks - we will be holding exclusive on camera interviews with the lucky couples. We would greatly appreciate any of your help getting the word out through your network!
Let me know if you have anyone in your network that would be great or if anyone you know would be interested. Feel free to pass on my information! Also the website for this show is currently up and running, please check it out: http://theweddingthefamily.com/
Thank you and hope to hear from you soon,
Loryn White
240.441.3512 c.323.203.0078"

Good Luck!

Jason

Education

Throughout the year, we feel that it is pretty important to continually get educated in the fields that we work in. One of the things we do throughout the year is go to conferences. It’s a great way to keep up to date with what’s going on, talk with different people throughout the country and take classes on new technology. We also are part of local organizations in the Philadelphia area such as National Association of Caterers (NACE), International Special Event Society (ISES), Perfect Wedding Guild and Society of Wedding Planners (SWP). These organizations also help with us staying in touch with the industry.

These conferences and organizations should be something that most companies make time for. If you are our client or are thinking about contracting us, it is important to know that we actively take steps to make our company stronger for you and your events.

Over the years, we have been asked to speak at some of these conferences and meetings. This past week, I was asked to speak at the Mobile Beat DJ convention on lighting design. With the lighting work we have done and the reputation we have in the industry, the producers wanted us to speak to DJ’s about how to get into lighting, as well as educate them on what some best practices are. It was a great experience and hopefully I will be asked to speak again next year.

We enjoy getting to give back some of the things we have learned and help others become successful. Giving back is something that we feel is vital to making our industry more professional.

Jason

Closed due to the snow

Our office will be closed Wednesday and Thursday due to the snow. We hope you are all keeping warm and staying safe!

So what is a GOBO anyway?

People always get this one confused. I have heard it called all kinds of things, but most commonly people confuse it with BOGO (Buy One Get One, I think that was a shoe store promotion).

A GOBO is the word that people in the event production field use for the piece of metal that something can be cut into. Your companies logo, your monogram or a particular pattern (breakup) is what is cut into that metal gobo. GOBO is short for “Go Between”. It is the piece of metal that gets inserted into a lighting fixture between the bulb and the lens.

Gobo’s can be two different types, metal or glass. Metal gobo’s are the most popular. They are cheaper and have certain limits. Glass gobo’s are more expensive, but offer you a lot more resolution.

A metal gobo is perfect for standard projection that doesn’t have to be too fancy. A wedding monogram, a company logo or a break up pattern.

However, if you have a very detailed company logo, or want very high resolution images, you may want to use a glass gobo. Glass gives you very high detailed images that produce exactly what you want. We can help you decide what the best option for you is.

Jason