From The Crystal Point Yacht Club to Disney World: The Fairytale Comes True for Erin and Paul

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon filled with sunshine down at the Jersey shore.  The gorgeous bride,  Erin, was ready for the day she had been dreaming about since she was a little girl.  The groom, Paul, who looks he could be Michael Buble’s brother, was ready for the day he’d been planning since his romantic proposal on the beach in Mexico.

If you don’t appreciate true love, romance or rainbows and butterflies, it’s a good thing you weren’t at the Crystal Point Yacht Club last week because Erin and Paul filled the day with everything that would keep the owners of  Kleenex and Kodak in business for a long time.

You can check out their Wedding Day Movie Trailer and Love Story from Creative Video Editing below.  The Trailer features highlights of the day that Michael and Michelle from CVE captured and transformed into a short film.  The Love Story is an in-depth featurette that was filmed prior to the wedding that lets every guest at the reception know how and why these two awesome families are celebrating life together in honor of Erin and Paul. We decided to show the feature about half way through the main course on our projection  screen as a “dinner and movie” presentation.  Judging by the collective “oohs”, “ahhs”, tears and laughter from the 250 guests, it was definitely one of the reception highlights.

One of my favorite parts of the video clips were the vow exchanges, these simple yet significant hallmark-worthy lines stood out…

Paul to Erin: …”when it’s just the two of us, I promise to always be able to share a laugh and to talk about anything and nothing”…

Erin to Paul: ...”you are my soul mate, my one true love and the best friend I ever had”…

The guests also enjoyed seeing both Erin and Paul’s parents dance to their wedding songs later in the evening.   As part of our design session protocol, we like to find out as much information that the guests of honor are willing to share in order to personalize the occasion and therefore create fun, sentimental and memorable moments.

Another reception highlight was seeing Paul and Erin dance to a special remix of  I Want You Back by the Jackson 5.  It was special because they heard it at a tavern on the Seaside Heights boardwalk called the Saw Mill a few years ago and loved it… but never heard it again.  With a little research and a little help from Facebook, I found out that a good friend, DJ Mike West,  produced a mash-up using I Want You Back and Bartender by T-Pain in his sets a few times back in the summer of 2008.  Mike was gracious enough to dig it up and e-mail it just in time for the reception.   Watching Paul and Erin bust a move to one of their favorite songs reminded me once again how much I love what I do…. - make people happy and help them celebrate life.

On the subject of happiness, where do newlyweds like Paul and Erin go for their honeymoon after having one of the best days of their life? Disneyworld! Of course.

Special thanks to Janine Mincieli from the Crystal Point for her hospitality and professionalism.    This was our first time working at the venue so she took the time to accommodate our request to do a full site survey and review the production agenda details with Erin and Paul present.   Our goal is to confirm all of the event logistics like; the equipment load in, power supply, menu timing and special feature execution in the weeks prior to the reception so everyone is on the same page the day of and everything runs smoothly. Janine, a 17 year veteran, has the same intentions when she works with her clients and vendors so we made a great team.  I’m looking forward to the next MMP Entertainment & Crystal Point collaboration.

Special mention also goes out to Chris from Marconi Photography.  He was kind enough to share some of his artistry for this entry.  Chris was showing a bunch of great shots from his laptop on the seating chart table throughout the reception… these were a few of my favorites;

Erin and Paul share their thoughts about working with Marcello from Marcello on Vimeo.

Jani Makes a Sound Connection for Joe and Rose at The Venetian with Special Guest: Kim Sozzi

Last week, I assisted my good friend, Jason Jani with artist relations at the Palazzo Ballroom of the Venetian for Rose & Joe’s wedding reception.  Jason, owner of Sound Connection Entertainment, arranged for the dance chart-topping singer, Kim Sozzi to perform a surprise set for the guests after the first course.

Rose & Joe wanted their wedding reception to be exceptional, so they chose the Palazzo Ballroom of  the Venetian.  They wanted their entertainment experience to have a modern, yet elegant flair, so they chose Jason’s firm to handle the production.  Then, like many of our clients, Rose and Joe wanted their once in lifetime celebration to be extraordinary; so they asked Jason to come up with a WOW factor moment that they and their  guests would never forget.

Since Rose & Joe are both big fans of dance music and recording artist Kim Sozzi, having Kim make a special appearance and perform a personalized set of their favorite songs at the reception became the ultimate concept and desire; Jason delivered and made it happen.

As a result, Rose, Joe and their guests experienced a dance set that deserves to be in the new book release, The Best Wedding Reception…Ever. After the first course was served, Jason played the classic ballad, At Last by Etta James to pack the floor with couples;  followed by an Italian family favorite, The Tarantella, to warm up the dance floor with smiles and laughter.    The stage was impeccably set for  Jason to “Crush It” and take Rose & Joe’s  wedding reception to the Signature Event level.

Kim Sozzi entered from the grand staircase into an eruption of  cheers and applause.  The guests were blown away and couldn’t believe that Kim was singing her biggest hits like “Feel Your Love” right in front of them. Literally!  A seasoned professional, Sozzi sang her songs down off the stage, right in the middle of the crowd, never taking the spotlight away from the guests of honor.  The room’s ambiance was filled with the best of both worlds, energy and intimacy. Rose and Joe looked like they were floating on air.  The joy on their faces was priceless as they were enjoying every minute of the moment. At one point, I checked in with Jason to confirm that all was right with the world and he said, “Look at how happy Rose & Joe are right now, this is why I do this.”

Special thanks to Jimmy Silva from the Venetian for his hospitality and professionalism; he and Dave Mocera always provide a first class experience for everyone that walks through their doors.

While we are on the subject of the best that the Special Events industry has to offer, check out the cinematic excellence that Greg from Endless Wave Studios produced for the newlyweds. Greg specializes in producing mini-film featurettes for his clientele the day of their event known as “same day edits.” A couple doesn’t have to wait 6 weeks or 6 months to re-live the magic anymore. In Rose and Joe’s case, not only did Greg produce a professional music video that was played on the Venetian’s large drop down screens before their grand entrance, he also created a full production featurette of the days highlights that played right before cake cutting.  Greg’s latest blog entry goes into more detail…    “I think a story is only complete when you are there for everything, the making of the cappuccino in the morning, the giving of gifts, vows, and kisses, and right to the last song. This is why we can give back such a complete story.”

Check out his ’same day edit’ artistry below.  One of my favorite parts is when Rose sent Joe a gift before the ceremony and later on when they made their grand entrance into the Palazzo.  I was there in the moment and it was awesome; watching it again with this level of connoisseur-like editing, camera work and musicality was just as breath-taking. The ultimate stamp of approval came from my wife who teared up after I showed it to her today.  With watery eyes she said, “tell Greg he did he a great job”… an emotional smile and a kodak-moment laugh immediately followed.

To see more highlights, live footage and behind the scenes interviews, check out Jason’s video log below.

I look forward to teaming up with Jason in the future for more Signature Collaborations.

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