On June 12, 2010 I had the opportunity to be the disc jockey at Danielle and Chris’s wedding. The wedding reception was held at The Cock and Bull in Lahaska, Bucks County (Peddler’s Village).  Danielle and Chris expressed to me at my wrap-up meeting with them, that making certain that everybody was up dancing was extremely important to them, and I couldn’t have agreed more.   Why else would someone hire a DJ?  The reception of a wedding is a celebration of the marriage.   Once the ceremony is over, it is time to party.

Danielle and Chris were a laid back couple who were mostly interested in showing their friends and family a good time.  I was very happy to learn that they loved all sorts of different music styles and genres.  We played “Shout” (the good version by Otis Day and The Knights), which is one of Danielle’s  father’s favorite songs.  We were playing dance classics from the sixties all the way up to today.   The bride and groom, along with their guests were dancing non-stop.  At the end of the wedding, you could literally see people out of breath from all the partying, which means we did our job.

This wasn’t our first time at The Cock and Bull, and in fact we have another wedding there in just a couple of weeks. Lisa was our event coordinator for that day and did a phenomenal job.  Guests complimented the food, which I was lucky enough to eat and I would have to agree… Delicious!  I look forward to my next party at The Cock and Bull and working again with their truly amazing staff.  The photographer was Andrea Funkhouser, who was kind enough to provide us with these photos to go along with this blog post.  It was great working with her, and she did a great job capturing the special moments of the event.

Thank you to Danielle and Chris, I’m glad you had a good time, hope to see you again at future parties.

-Richie

Photos courtesy of Andrea Funkhouser – www.funkhouserphotography.com

The Cock and Bull

www.cuttingedgedjs.com

Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to meet a lot of brides and grooms “to be” at Cutting Edge Entertainment, and it’s always a great honor when they decide to hire us for such an important event in their lives. I – as a DJ -take the responsibility seriously, and strive to ensure them an amazing reception to start their life together. I’ve been with Cutting Edge Entertainment for fourteen years, and have taken on DJing events as my full time profession for almost three. Making parties the best that they can be is second nature to me now, and I work extremely hard to make sure everybody at the party is out there on the dance floor, having a great time. Whether I’m on the microphone or behind the mixer, I’m focused on the job at hand.

I had fun working with Heather and Al for their wedding on December 12th, 2009. They were a pleasure to work with, and I had a great time at their wedding. Now, since most of you reading don’t know Heather let me just sum her up in three words for you: Huge Disney Fan!! There were Disney characters for centerpieces on each table. The reception took place at the beautiful and historical Knowlton Mansion in Philadelphia, a great venue decorated beautifully for the holiday season. When we went over music we decided that we would slip in a few Disney and holiday tunes during both the cocktail and dinner hour. Eileen – the event manager from Conroy Catering – was really great to work with, and from beginning to end we were on the same page, and worked well as a team to make certain the reception ran smoothly. The entire catering staff worked extremely hard, and you can tell that everyone there enjoyed their delicious meal and had a good time. I also got a chance to work with Photography by Dell. A very fun guy to be around, and very kind to let me post pictures from the wedding on our blog.  Of course now the bride and groom are on their honeymoon in sunny Florida, and hopefully they will get the chance to read this – as sort of a thank you – for having been given the opportunity to be a part of their wedding day. It truly was a honor and I wish you both the best!!

-Richie
Cutting Edge Entertainment

Photography by Dell – www.photographybydell.com

Knowlton Mansion – www.conroycatering.com

To err is human, to forgive divine
~ Alexander Pope

One of the blogs I like to read/follow is OneWed.com’s ‘Savvy Scoop‘. As an owner of a DJ entertainment company in the event business, as well as a blogger myself, it’s important to follow other related blogs and publications to keep up on trends in my industry. A few days ago, I discovered a blog post on the Savvy Scoop that had some (I repeat, “some”) misinformation regarding the wedding DJ’s role and significance at a wedding reception.

Yesterday, I began to craft a response in the form of a blog post to OneWed regarding that specific article. I had already spoken with Chris from The Man Registry (the author of the article in question) who had assured me that it had not been intended to come off that way. Yet still the article stood.

Last night I published my response (click here), and within an hour the blog post on Savvy Scoop had been taken down, and I received a message that Troy – the C.E.O. of OneWed.com – had called, and would very much like to speak with me in regard to the situation. I must say, I was very surprised. I phoned him back but we weren’t able to reconnect again until this morning.

First let me say that Troy is a business person that cares, and more importantly that listens. We spoke and great length, and to summarize in a nutshell he said that my response to his article enabled to see things from the perspective of the DJ (something Chris had said less than 24 hours earlier). Once he re-read the article, he saw how that one sentence was not accurate, and therefore he removed it.

So score one for the DJ right? Unfortunately, no.

I asked Troy to re-post the blog, and to simply strike the sentence in question and provide an annotation that he and I both agreed would be more accurate. He agreed.

Here is a link to the re-posted article
http://www.onewed.com/blog/savvy-scoop/2009/12/02/man-registry-groom%E2%80%99s-contribution-wedding-music

The article itself was pretty good, but the line I had had the issue with really minimized the DJs role at a wedding reception.  An iPod at a wedding reception can in fact play music, but a DJ – or at least a good one – does much more than just make announcements as the offending sentence alluded.

Troy didn’t have to hear me out, and he certainly didn’t need to acquiesce.  He listened, we talked, and I honestly feel that he – as well as the author – did not intend to misinform their readers.  After speaking with Troy I have a new found respect for his website, his blog and his brand.  I believe he truly cares, and his willingness to react by taking down the article and then to reach out to me shows me he is a person of character and empathy.

It takes a very big person to admit a mistake.  I applaud you Troy for your understanding and willingness to publicly correct your mistake.  If your website is any reflection of your character, I predict you will have great success.

Thank you for listening Troy,

-Craig
Cutting Edge Entertainment

www.OneWed.com

‘DJ Brain’ illustration by Sean Gallo Designs

On September nineteenth, Cutting Edge Entertainment had the honor of providing the DJ entertainment at Sarah and George’s wedding reception.  The party was a great success and the guests danced and danced. As a matter of fact the dance floor was packed the entire afternoon, and the guests had a great time.  After the event  many of the guests complimented me on a job well done. Being so passionate about my work, it is always a great honor to get to share these special moments in people’s lives, and help to contribute to the success and fun had by all.

This was also my first chance to work at the Loft at the Sweet Water Country Club, a fantastic facility just south of Quakertown, Pennsylvania.  I really credit the bride and groom for picking such a beautiful and unique venue for their wedding.  The Loft’s manager Anthony and his staff worked extremely hard and everything went smoothly.  From the outdoor cocktail hour on the patio, to the amazing reception inside, they did a great job.  I also had the pleasure of working with photographers Erin and Nicole from New Leaf Photography who did an outstanding job, which only helps lend to the success of the event.

-Richie

The Loft at Sweet Water Country Club

New Leaf Photography

www.cuttingedgedjs.com

I just finished an interesting two-part article written by Elizabeth Oakes at Examiner.com titled “An iPod Wedding: Should I Or Shouldn’t I” (See article here – Part One and Part Two).

I must say I agree with much (but not all) of what she says, as I have had first hand experience helping out a few iPod brides, where in nine out of ten cases, the bride ended up hiring our DJ service.

Now don’t get me wrong, as I can certainly see the merit of an iPod being the music source at a wedding reception that is more of a cocktail party with fewer guests at a smaller facility, but at a larger reception I see obstacles which just cannot be overcome by an iPod.  What I hope to do in this article is to paint a bigger picture, without using scare tactics.

Scenario One: A bride calls me and explains that her wedding is three weeks away.  She and her groom have put together a play list on their iPod, but just realized they hadn’t thought of how they would amplify it so that their one hundred and fifty plus guests could hear the music, as well as a microphone so their best man could make the necessary announcements.  I gave her our price to rent such a system, including drop off, set up, break down and pick up, and she then asked how much it would be to just hire a DJ with all of that included… the difference was nominal.  She then asked what it would cost for her to buy the same equipment, and I explained that the powered speakers (powerful enough to handle that size crowd), speaker poles and decent cordless microphone would run her in the ballpark of $2,000.00, but she quickly nixed that idea, not just for cost but because she didn’t want to deal with shopping for sound equipment much less the set-up and break down.  She called the next day and hired a DJ.

Scenario Two: A bride calls me, and in this scenario decides to contract us to provide the amplification system for her iPod wedding.  Afterward, she phones me and asks what it would have cost for her to have just hired a DJ. My curiosity getting the best of me, I ask why and she goes on to explain that although the cocktail hour and dinner went well, when it came time for dancing she felt that she could have used a DJ to help play the right selections in a better order, and that she, the groom, and several of the bridal party ended up fielding requests and having to play DJ, and that she would have preferred just enjoying the evening.  She then went on to say that the best man, who had agreed to make the needed announcements and essentially play ‘MC’ for the night got a little inappropriate after he had had several drinks.  When I told her what a DJ would have cost, she was quiet at first, and then said she should have just spent the extra money.

Scenario Three: A bride and groom have a small dinner party at a restaurant and have no expectations for dancing as there isn’t a dance floor.  The facility has a house system that allows them to hook in their iPod and play music through the ceiling speakers.  No fuss, no cost, everyone wins.

There are certainly many more scenario possibilities, as these are just three that stand out in my mind.  Like any other decision regarding your wedding I think this just requires careful thought and consideration.   In regards to Ms. Oakes reference to DJs struggling to compete with iPods and technology, we certainly haven’t felt that pinch at Cutting Edge Entertainment, and nor have any of the other DJs I speak to.  What I fail to grasp is the hype of the iPod.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my iPod, but I don’t see how it differs from a bride and groom choosing CDs they burned themselves for a wedding four years ago, or cassette tapes they made themselves for a wedding ten to fifteen years ago.  In each case it amounts to a ‘do it yourself’ music program, which has its pros and cons no matter what the technology.

-Craig

www.cuttingedgedjs.com