If you tuned in to the TLC channel last year and watched the hit show, Masters of Reception, you’d be familiar with The Villa in Mountain Lakes and Frungillo Catering.   The Frungillo family is well known in the special events community and deserves its stellar reputation. It was an amazing experience.

John and Nicole were an ideal bride and groom.  They brought a lot of joy and happiness to their own celebration. From the initial phone calls to the e-mail exchanges to the final design session at their home, John and Nicole were committed to making this one of the best days of their lives; fortunately, their family and friends had the same game plan.  When you bring that much positive energy to a first class venue and put some of the industry’s finest professionals in charge, simply let nature take its course and enjoy the ride.

I was delighted to work with The Villa’s expert banquet manager, Joe’l Falco.  We’ve teamed up several times over the past decade and it always resulted in a stellar event.  When the menu was finalized and the special details were confirmed, Joe’l and I designed an event timeline that enabled us to produce a seamless blend of hospitality and entertainment for all of the guests.

Capturing the once in a lifetime moments throughout the day was one of the best photographers in the business, Dave Kotinsky, from Visionmasters. His work is all over the MMP website and the MMP blog.  I appreciate his photographic artistry.  Special thanks to Dave for providing the photos for this entry.

Among many highlights, one of my favorites was when John and Nicole presented the bouquet to John’s grandparents, Lester and Erna.  After playing Unforgettable by Nat King Cole and At Last by Etta James, we determined that out of all the couples on the dance floor, Lester and Erna were together the longest… over 50 years!    As Nicole handed the bouquet to Erna, a collective “aww” could be heard from the sentimental crowd.  I asked Lester and Erna if they had any advice for the newlyweds and Lester said, “be flexible.”  Then without missing a beat, Erna replied, “I’m usually right.” It was a classic Kodak moment. To top it off, we went on to play Lester and Erna’s wedding song, Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White.  The look on Erna’s face was priceless.  As a result of the detailed planning session two weeks prior, we already knew who the longest married couple was going to be.  With the help of John and Nicole’s Sherlock Holmes-like investigative research; we had Lester and Erna’s wedding song cued up so they could experience the joy of their first dance as husband and wife one more time.   I love my job.

We finished the night with one of John and Nicole’s favorite artists, Michael Buble. Their guests enjoyed Michael’s version of Save The Last Dance For Me for their grand finale and then The Best Is Yet To Come for their goodbyes, hugs and kisses outro.

Perfect indeed.

Holly, the Director of Human Resources, had seen us perform during a Bar Mitzvah at The Villa in Mountain Lakes a few years back. She called soon after asking us to provide the entertainment for the Synchronoss Celebration.

This year they got a little fancy with the lighting. Blue LED’s uplit the stone accents and snowflakes were projected onto the ceiling of the ballroom to help guests get into the holiday spirit. It worked.

The highlight of the night was The Mad Texan’s Jeigermiester Dance Party. As always, Synchronoss’ Vice President, Chris, took the mic after the dessert and emcee’d a twenty minute dance set to his favorite tracks. This year’s theme was “Funk”, and he was definitely getting funky…for a white boy from Texas. Some of the crowd favorites were Let’s Groove Tonight by Earth, Wind and Fire and Word Up by Cameo.

Special thanks to Barbara from Fiddler’s Elbow for her hospitality and professionalism.

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