MERRY WEDDINGS blog

Corbitt was known to wear Superman PJs under his clothes to school when he was a kid. He would call over an unsuspecting classmate and open his button shirt to reveal the “S” symbol on his chest while whispering “I’m Superman!”

Briana wanted to surprise her hero/husband with a creative Groom’s Cake and on cue the cake was brought out while the Superman Theme began to play. Here is the cake…

Corbitt's Superman Groom's Cake

After Briana told everyone the story behind his surprise Groom’s Cake…Corbitt “unveiled” his own surprise when he told Briana that he was wearing Superman underwear underneath his tux.

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These are part of the creative guest favors at John & Yvonne’s Reception this evening. How fitting…seeing how they both met at Dental School in Boston.

His & Hers Toothbrushes

Later tonight…we’ll be doing the Newlywed Game…but instead of having them use their shoes to answer the questions…we’ll have them hold up the pink toothbrush for Yvonne and the blue one for John.

And yes…their guest favors also included dental floss…LOL!

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The guests are just arriving from David & Janelle’s Ceremony on the beach and this is the view that is waiting to greet them at the Reception…

What a great view of Monarch Beach. (©Peter’s iPhone)

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In May of 1999, while entertaining at Craig & Kelly Cooper’s Reception, I was asked to to pull a fast one on Craig’s brother, Steve, who was one of his Best Men that day. During the Grand Entrance…we surprised him with a brief version of “The Dating Game” as a roast of his status as a perpetually single guy. Steve played along quit well…but when you see the footage…be sure to check out Bachelorette #2…what a HOTTIE!

Craig and Kelly had selected a casual Hawaiian theme and they had insisted that I wear board shorts and sandals. This is the only reception I have ever performed at in shorts. So I introduced myself to their guests on the mic as “DJ of Great White Legs.”

So fast forward to today…imagine my delight when I found out that Steve Cooper was finally getting married. And today he and his fiancé, Jessica, secured my services for their big day in July of 2008…when Jessica will become his wife…in San Francisco. Look out Craig…you know what they say about payback…

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Doug & Jesse were just about two of cutest, wildest, and funniest people I have ever worked with over the years.

"Jesse...you're supposed to cut the Cake...not Doug!"

They loved to laugh and they wanted to give their guests something to talk about (and laugh about) for years to come. I had given them a copy of my new book, “The Best Wedding Reception…Ever!” and as we were discussing creative and memorable ideas, I showed them a YouTube video that was cited in my book as an example of how a bride and groom could create an enormous amount of fun energy amongst their guests by surprising everyone with a fun choreographed routine in the middle of their First Dance. The example I showed them can be seen here…

They liked this idea so much, they immediately started scouring YouTube for other video clips featuring fun dance routines, and that’s when they came across a routine by comedian, Judson Laipply, called “Evolution of Dance”…which can be seen here…

And so they selected a few of the favorite song clips and practiced their own routines. Meanwhile, they kept all of their guests, including their wedding party, in the dark about their plans. I helped them tighten up the edit of their song clips and we also created a fake CD skipping effect to fool the guests into thinking something had just gone horribly wrong in the middle of their First Dance…which only served to heighten the level of surprise as you will be able to see here…

To make sure we pulled this off correctly, and to segue the energy they had just created into some seriously fun open dancing, we scheduled their Father/Daughter Dance and Mother/Son Dance to take place before their First Dance…so we could just go right into the open dancing as soon as they were done. The location for this reception was the Woman’s Club of Orange. The video was shot by two of their friends, Chad and Robin. And the photographs were being shot by Amanda Collins with Jim Kennedy Photographers.

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When I first met with Brianna and her mother, Ginny, back in August of last year…she told me about an unusual activity that she wanted to work into her reception agenda. It turns out that Brianna’s favorite game of all time is “The Balloon Stomp.” She has enjoyed this game since childhood and she always looks forward to rolling it out at large family gatherings…”So I figured why not do it at my reception?” she said to me.

We brainstormed some fun musical selections and made a list of victims…volunteers…and then we scheduled it to happen after the bouquet and garter tosses but before resuming the open dancing. Once our group of victims…volunteers…had been gathered on the dance floor, we finally revealed that it was time for “The Balloon Stomp” as a small balloon was quickly tied around the right ankle of each participant. When the frantic sounding music began, everyone attempted to stomp out their opponents ballons while desperately trying to protect their own balloon from being popped. It was loud…it was crazy…it was fun…and Brianna was loving every minute of it.

I think Carmen Kaiser at The Summit House in Fullerton might have been wondering why all the balloons were being blown up before the wedding and stored in her office…LOL! Robert Acton with Photography by Robert and Don & Rose Stafford with Mr. Videocam Video Productions were certinaly having fun catching the action on film and video.

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Matt and Tenley first met at a medical conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada back in April of 2004. Matt just returned from a tour of duty in Iraq and their guests had flown in from literally all over the country.

Matt & Tenley laughing while wacthing their Wedding Party's introductions.

The location: Hotel Laguna in Laguna, Beach, CA.

I landed this fantastic event thanks to a quality referral from my good friend, Jim Kennedy of Jim Kennedy Photographers. Jim and I have worked together on several weddings in the last few years and his images are featured on the cover and inside my new book, “The Best Wedding Reception…Ever!” Working with Jim is always a blast…and his second camera shooter was Amanda Collins, who also has a photo featured in my book.

One of the more memorable moments involved Matt unexpectedly singing a karaoke verision of Bon Jovi’s “Living On A Prayer” while everyone was cheering him on.

Matt belting out Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer"

Then, Tenley unveiled another surprise for Matt as several of the men in attendance (including the groomsmen) began peeling of their jackets and shirts to the song, “I Wan’na Be Just Like You” by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, to reveal t-shirts that each featured a unique childhood photo of Matt on the back. I’ve seen slideshows and video montages at weddings before…but this t-shirt “man-tage” was truly a first for me and the guests as well.

The latest way to display a slideshow...the T-Shirt "Man-Tage"

Yes Matt...that's you!

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Julie Weaver has posted some photos from our most recent wedding…here is just one…

Mike and Melissa exiting with a Sparkler Sendoff

 The rest can be seen on her blog page.

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