When the folks at Culinary Concepts took over at The Independence Seaport Museum, they created Events at I.S.M., which is part of their new niche division called Event Venue Management. The aim of the new venture is to assist venues with their marketing and branding, while making the process of finding and choosing venues more seamless, streamlined and for the most part, a lot less overwhelming.

Cutting Edge Entertainment and Culinary Concepts had already worked together at a number of venues in the Philadelphia area, so when Events at I.S.M. was first launched, we got the call to be the preferred partner, providing DJ services whenever needed at the Seaport Museum’s event facility, along with a handful of other vendor partners handpicked by the Events at I.S.M. team, all in the spirit of making the process of planning an event easier for the client.

When, on October 6, 2009 Events at I.S.M. announced their “Love Of A Lifetime” wedding giveaway – where a lucky couple would win almost ninety thousand dollars worth of wedding services (basically a free wedding) – Cutting Edge was called upon to provide the DJ.  Initially we were provided a date, but aside from that we had to wait for the outcome of the contest to take the next step.

In February fifteenth of 2010, the winning couple (Matt and Faye) were announced on Fox 29’s “Good Day Philadelphia“, and the planning was underway.

Now, when you take a wedding reception and you pimp it out with a great caterer, an exciting venue, a fantastic wedding coordinator and an awesome band (yes, they’re having a band AND a DJ), the role of the DJ becomes somewhat marginalized, so at most the DJ will be playing dinner music and making a few announcements, and although we might do a dance set or two, the majority of the dance time will likely be left to the band.  Ultimately Leila – the wedding coordinator from Eclatante Event Design – will be pulling the whole thing together, and has been leading the charge in both working with Matt and Faye as well as blogging about each step in the process.

After a few nudges from Kelly-Ayn McKay at Events at I.S.M. I decided to reach out to Faye to arrange a meeting.  Don’t get me wrong, they were friendly nudges, as Kelly-Ayn reads our blog regularly, and hinted to me that Leila had already put up quite a few posts regarding the progress, while Matt and Faye have been diligently posting blogs on Philly.com as well.

So what’s left for a marginalized DJ to blog about? Well, what a DJ does best… something fun.

I phoned Kevin York – the “official”  Love of a Lifetime (LOL)  photographer (and a good friend) – and together we devised a plan.  I then called Faye back and together we made the arrangements.  We met for dinner, had some sushi and discussed some wedding plans, and then did something that both Kevin and I knew would make for a great blog post, while at the same time fulfilling a future brides dream.  “I’ve always fancied myself a rocking lead guitarist” is what Faye said, and with the help of Matt, Kevin and Rock Band, I was able to come as close as I could to making that dream come true.

If our meeting was any indication of what the wedding is going to be like, I’m certain it’s going to be a whole lot of fun.

As a final thought, I’d just like to give big props and thanks to photographer Kevin York.  Throughout this entire Love of a Lifetime wedding planning process, I’ve watched Kevin pulled this way and that, always on the ready with camera in hand for so many of the vendors involved, and always coming through with amazing photos.  Thanks Kev!

-Craig

Be sure to check out Kevin’s blog for more images!

Photos by Kevin York - www.kevinyorkphotography.com

www.cuttingedgedjs.com

Sean Gallo is an illustrator, and his contributions to the Cutting Edge Entertainment blog have been invaluable. Sean also happens to have been my friend since the second grade. Friends like Sean come in very handy when I’ve finished writing a blog post and don’t have a cool photo to put with it. Friends like Sean become especially invaluable when they can tolerate the frantic “I need an illustration of (insert whatever), and I need it in a hurry!”

And as things typically go, they aren’t the standard variety of illustrations, they’re always something random with a bit of a twist.

This one was the first I asked of him, and as expected he came through with flying colors. “I need an octopus holding drumsticks in its tentacles, and I need it by tomorrow” was my first request of him. I needed it for a blog entitled ‘Don’t Hate On The Octopus,’ and Sean’s illustration well exceeded my expectations. I call it ‘Ringo The Octopus.’

This next illustration was not only Sean’s creation, but his concept as well.  I had needed something that would encapsulate a DJ thinking, and Sean shot off the idea of a brain with headphones.  I loved it, and this time the deadline was a few hours, to which he chided me for my unreasonable demands while still delivering this great drawing before the end of the day.  He later came back to spruce it up a bit, and you can see the new and improved version on his blog.

I am excited (and grateful) to be able to incorporate his original and creative artwork into our blog, and look forward to featuring more of his illustrations in the future.  Check out Sean’s blog to see more of his amazing work.

Thanks Sean!

-Craig Sumsky

Sean Gallo Designs – http://seangallodesigns.wordpress.com/

I mainly photograph weddings but I am always in ‘photographer mode.’ When I walk around, I look for different locations that could be used at some point in the future with one of my brides (or models), I look how the light hits people around me (after all, photography is writing with light).

Case in point. The following picture was taken inside a garage. I once parked at this location and when I saw the lines and architecture I said to myself that one day, when I would have a bride around this area, I would stop by and use it.

Ansel Adams once said: “You don’t take a photograph, you make it”.  Sometimes that means that all I have to do is to capture the beautiful moment that unfolds in front of me:

… other times it means that I might need to give you some directions and put you in the best light:

All the while having fun with it.

A photographer friend of mine that I highly admire told me: “You don’t have to be the best; You just have to be better than last week”.

That is what I’ve been doing for the past six years.

Muchas gracias Sr. Craig (in an Antonio Banderas accent),

-Valentin




As far as photographers go, Valentin (or Mr. V as I call him) is top notch.  His stylized work and creative use of light brought a new flare to our blog in the latter part of 2009, and we look forward to Mr. V and his photography being a big part of the Cutting Edge Entertainment blog in the future. Thank you Mr. V, for all of your contributions.

-Craig Sumsky

Please be sure to check out Valentin’s work at his site and blog
www.jean-valentin.com

Become a fan of Jean Valentin Photography on facebook
www.facebook.com/JeanValentinPhotography

Follow Jean Valentin Photography on twitter
http://twitter.com/jeanvalentin

Ever since I wrote my blog ‘Untying The Knot’ my email inbox has been bombarded with people (brides and vendors alike) not only thanking me for bringing that situation to light, but with similar stories and dozens of links to what I will call ‘wedding injustices’ for lack of better term.  On Saturday morning I received one that I just couldn’t resist sharing as it was quite likely some of the worst wedding planning advice ever posted to the internet.

The blog, titled ‘The Big Wedding Money-Wasters’ was posted to Yahoo blogs in the Food section, and seemingly featured as well.  The authors were two women – Rita Mauceri and Elicia Rubin – who call themselves ‘Entertaining and Style Experts’ but judging from their blog, nothing could be further from the truth. Apparently they also author books, which after reading this blog I would suggest brides steer clear of wasting their money on because if their books are anything like their blog, they are likely filled with equally worthless advice.

Here is a link to their blog, which advocates planning a cross between a hillbilly hoedown and welfare-state wedding.

http://food.yahoo.com/blog/foxyfestivities/19773/the-big-wedding-money-wasters/#post

Now let me dissect the wealth of bad advice…

The Dress
By suggesting spending $300.00 on your wedding dress they are in fact suggesting that your wedding dress be reduced to what many girls spend on prom dresses.  I don’t even think a bride would consider this ‘advice’ in the first place, so no need to waste time on the foolish suggestion.  Brides, this is your magical day that you have dreamed of all your life…Nuff said.

Band (and DJ)
The prices they list for a band or a DJ are quite unrealistic on the low end (that is being kind) and they go on to suggest either having a friend DJ for you or using an iPod in combination with renting a sound system.
Please don’t believe for a second that a random friend or an automated IPod could replace a band or DJ with experience at reading a crowd, the iPod being the worse of both options.  So when people aren’t dancing because the auto-play iPod isn’t playing the correct sequence of songs are your guests expected to shuffle through songs making wild guesses?  Just go to YouTube and search ‘iPod DJ’ to see a plethora of horror stories regarding this option.

Cake
As they say, cupcakes can be nice… but remember, the ‘Etsy’ featured cupcakes were likely made by a bakery and the photo taken by a professional photographer hence making them look so good.  Do yourself a favor, don’t bake Betty Crocker cupcakes in your kitchen and bring them to your wedding.  By cutting the cost of a wedding cake or bakery presentation you aren’t cutting enough money to compromise the look of your wedding cake and reduce it to the look of something you bought at a bake sale.

Photographers
I was married once, and my former mother-in-law did just what this blog suggests… went with the lowest low-budget photographer available.  What we got was low-budget photographs.  Bad lighting, bad angles, bad pictures.  If the photographic memories of your wedding day are of little to no importance to you, just ask an art school student or better yet a guest with a camera to take those important photos and hope you get something worth framing.  A camera in the hands of someone with little to no experience is no different than you or I trying to paint a masterpiece on canvas with oil paints… trust me, you wouldn’t want to hang it on the wall.

Flowers & Food
I don’t suggest picking your own flowers or skimping on the food… It just sounds ‘ghetto’ to me.  A cocktail type party or a reception with stations can be nice, but to say that a professional caterer makes ‘rubbery chicken’ is just propaganda to scare you away from doing things the right way.  As for making your own flower arrangements, good luck with that… florists are called florists for a reason.

In a nutshell, these two women tout themselves as ‘professionals’ yet their advice would suggest that using professionals on your wedding day isn’t the best course of action.  Look up the word ‘hypocrite’ and you may just find a link to their blog. Remember that, before you consider buying their ‘professional’ book or seeking their ‘professional’ advice.

Or perhaps they are trying to start a new trend called ‘Ghetto Chic.’

Let’s face it… I’m not sure if it’s a certain social responsibility or just an unspoken expectation, but if you are going to have a reception at all and your plan is to serve store-bought cupcakes and play your favorite tunes on your IPod to entertain your invited guests, does that somehow absolve your invited guests from giving you gifts, or for that matter skimping by giving you the bare minimum from your bridal registry?  One spoon or one plate perhaps?  If you’re going to throw a reception, do it the right way… otherwise you might as well just elope.

I’m surprised they didn’t suggest a CZ over a diamond for the engagement ring.  Maybe that’s in in the book, or they’re saving it for a future blog.

-Craig

www.cuttingedgedjs.com

So Cutting Edge Entertainment has finally added a blog. Yeah, yeah, I know, not very ‘Cutting Edge’ to start blogging in 2007 when the rest of the world has been doing it for… well, for a long time. Regardless, here I am on a Monday afternoon in December just experimenting with my new toy. I am really looking forward to utilizing this as a tool to better communicate with the folks coming to visit our website, and I hope to get feedback as well. This is a new medium (to me) and I’m just getting my feet wet… so please be merciful.

Who am I? Who is this ‘me’ I keep referring to? Well I’m glad you asked! My name is Craig Sumsky, and I am the primary owner of the company. I’m in the office almost every day of the week and always willing to take time to answer any clients questions. You can certainly call, or even email me at Craig@cuttingedgedjs.com and pick my brain about your upcoming event.

I also wanted to thank Denis Sinelnikov from Media Components for helping me to develop the framework for the new site. In addition to the new blog, the landing page and wedding page are also both new. You can still navigate through the old wedding page by clicking on parties and following the side bar menu on the left, but we found that as our wedding inquiries were increasing exponentially that we had to streamline things a bit for the work surfers (the girls (and guys) who surf the net while at work). Slowly, over time, the site will continue to evolve.

So how am I doing so far with this blogging thing?

Well anyhow… (That’s kind of like a cyber-sigh), thank you again for checking out the blog. If you have read this far please drop a comment and say hello, as I have no idea who is reading this. Please check back often as I intend to update regularly.

Warm Regards,

Craig