Omni San Diego Wedding DJ 8/28/10

Aug 282010

Tonight was a large 225 person Filipino wedding in downtown San Diego at the Omni Hotel. The referral trail is long on this one… First off this couple hired me to be their San Diego wedding DJ based on a referral from a wedding that the bride & groom attended in 2008. That wedding was a referral from a wedding I DJ’d back in August of 2001 at the US Grant. The 2001 wedding was a referral from a previous wedding that is no longer in my computer system which means it was sometime back in 1995 to 1999. It always amazes me to look back at how each couple finds me. I just sent an indirect “Thank You” to the 2001 couple.

The cocktail hour tonight was held just outside the ballroom. Once we opened the ballroom doors guests made their way to their seats to find a nice bottle of sake wrapped up as their wedding favor. We started off the evening with the huge grand entrance of 42 people! I put in some time practicing to make sure I pronounced all the unique names correctly. After our couple entered we went directly into their first dance. Toasts were held after the meal (with sake service) and were followed by the father/daughter, as well as, the mother/son dances. We kicked off dancing and the dance floor was full. After about 20-30 minutes guests were naturally wanting a break so we slowed things down and showed the couples slide show which the NR3 videographers added footage from the ceremony and reception filmed just minutes earlier. We then went into the money dance which is a well-loved tradition at Filipino weddings which represents the wish that good fortune is “rained” upon them. We finished off the events with the cake cutting and the bouquet/garter toss. The rest of the evening was open for dancing. I played a large variety of music including all the major dance hits, some Cha-Cha, and a few songs from Lea Salonga (see below). Dancing went well for the rest of the evening. The lighting helped add some color to the walls and bring more purple into the room. I also projected a custom gobo monogram image down onto the dance floor that added a personal feel to the space.

Lea Salonga is a great singer and actress in the Philippines. She has appeared in “Miss Saigon” on Broadway, as well as, the voice of Princess Jasmine in Disney’s Aladdin. It was Filipino Cultural Night at Petco Park and Lea sang the National Anthem during the Padres game (the groom works for the Padres and helped line this up). In the photo to the left you can see Lea Salonga with our couple.