Seth Hoisington

Ok, now you know why we DJ’s need to write down the Bride and Groom’s names on a sheet a paper and look at it all night. In my last 3 weeks, there has been a consecutively shared name from each wedding A Becky, 2 Matts, 2 Traceys, and a Kyle. Geesh. My wedding this last week was a blast. It was held at Arlington Hall at Lee Park Now I must say, the renovation on that place is amazing. I had DJ’d there about 10 years ago, when I was first starting out, and it was falling apart and ugly for that matter. It now is a 5 star venue (In my honest opinion) with marble and wood floors through out. The food was incredible, the decor is beautiful, the load in was extremely easy (yay!) and you could not have asked for better weather. The ceremony was outside with the reception inside and they kept the doors open all night. It never once got too hot or cold. I have to admit, I was a little nervous going into this wedding because I was up sick the whole night before. So on minimal sleep, I was digging up every ounce up energy and enthusiasm I could muster (thank you Diet Coke). Plus, Matt and Tracey and their family/friends were so much fun!!! From the very start as the bridal party and other vendors showed up, I knew this was going to be an awesome night. Joseph Mark was the photographer, Dallas Digital shot all the video, and Marisa, the Director of Catering for Arlington Hall (and looks exactly like my sister), were total professionals and fun to work with. BBJ Linen did all the decorating with maize linens, set off with a deep blue 2″ border around the top of the table. I wish I would have brought my camera. When Joesph gets the pics up, I’ll lll link to it. Garden Gate did a fantastic job on the floral arrangements and the cake was made by Panini Cakes. Also, a nice dessert was served later on, Paciugo (too bad I was working, so I refrained from having some, I’ll have to goto the one in Addison to get my Paciugo fix) Also, we had a Pipe and Drape backdrop added to the stage from Lite Dallas and it was back lit with a gold wash to match the color of the walls in the room. This shortened up the deep stage, plus it added a visual pop to the room. Sorry for boring you with all the vendor details, I just like to recognize great professionals who are 1) great to work with, and 2) make the overall event that much more classier, elegant, and fun.

Whew, what a weekend, or week for that matter.  I had two ceremonies, plus two receptions this weekend, and the detail prep included two full love stories, scripted intros, a rehearsal on Thursday night, and I don’t know how many miles of walking.  My first event was the wedding of Rebecca and Matt at the Dallas City Club which is on the 69th floor of the Bank Of America Plaza in downtown Dallas.  (Shown on left)  For DJs and Bands, this is most likely the worst load in and out Venue in all of Dallas.  You basically park across the intersection from the actual building and then you have to take a freight elevator down, then traverse a long tunnel that slopes upwards and has some drainage grates in the path (torture on dolly casters and your arms).  Then you get to wait 5 -10 minutes for another freight elevator to arrive and take you up 69 floors.  By yourself, a standard load in can take up to an hour.  Unfortunately for me, I couldn’t find anyone to assist me this weekend, so I showed up extremely early and double dollied it.  This was great for load in, for but load out, my secondary dolly had it’s tire come off of the rim due to the weather change and my neglect to check it’s air level (i haven’t used this particular dolly for 6 months - stupid me) So, I got to walk to underground maze three times.  Yay for weight loss!!  Now in between the chaos of load in and out, the wedding and reception rocked.  I love working with great vendors.  The photographer was Kevin Jairaj and the site coordinator was Vicki Welch of City Club  I think a key trait to a good photographer is personality (besides the obvious quality of their work).  Kevin not only does incredible work, he is easy and fun to work with making not only me, the dj, but the clients happy as well.  Happy people = Fun Time = More dancing.  I have worked some receptions where the photographer was a total jerk and it’s hard to work with the bride and groom, after they have been stressed to the nines by an overbearing, time consuming photographer.  The more of a friend you become with your client and their guests, the more responsive and trustworthy they are of you.  I have found that when clients take advantage of scripted introductions and love story presentations, it blurs the crowd’s perception of me.  It changes that perception of “just another dj” to “he really knows the bride and groom well, they like him, so, we like him too”  On many occasions, I will go over to the bar to get a glass of water or a diet coke, and guests will ask how I met the bride and groom, if I am a friend or family somehow..   I love when they ask that, it means (to me) that I am doing a good job.  After that, if you make a mistake, they laugh with you, and not at you.  Not that I make tons of mistakes, but you get the point.

My second wedding was the wedding and reception of Tom and Crissy at the Japanese Gardens (located in the beautiful Ft Worth Botanical Gardens.)  The ceremony took place at sunset, and the brisk night air kept the people alert and awake.  I have to say that I love small intimate simplistic weddings just as much as huge 150-200 people full on productions.  The guests were extremely friendly, the photographer was great, and a good time was had by all.  Unfortunately, the temperature being in the low 50’s, resulted in the evening ending a little earlier than originally planned, but the time that was spent there, was quality time.

Although my legs are sore from all the loading in and out, I have to say that this weekend was great.  I love being a part of people’s weddings, hearing their stories of how they met, and seeing it transition into a marriage, and watching their friends and family have a great time.