Nov 112011
 

El Cortez San Diego Wedding CakeToday I was near downtown at the El Cortez to provide San Diego wedding DJ and lighting services for a ceremony & reception. It was in the forecast to likely be a very rainy day here in San Diego. Our bride and groom knew this was going to be a problem for their planned outdoor ceremony so they had a tent setup outside on the El Cortez patio. The ceremony and our bride’s uncle performed ceremony which was held facing the fireplace. He was really able to add a personal touch to the couple’s stories & vows.

Our couple met in high school and one memory that was brought up during the wedding ceremony was the fact that our groom always remembers his first kiss on the cheek with her. He graduated a few years before her & went on to college at USD. During this time they broke up for a while & moved on their lives. They both went their separate ways during college. Seven years went by… They didn’t totally lose touch during this time because when they were both in San Diego during holidays and summer they had a similar group of old friends. Our bride eventually moved back to San Diego. Once back they began to spend more time together and both realized they felt a little differently towards each other. They were a little older, wiser, more understanding, & slightly more mature. They learned how to value each other and eventually decided to get engaged & married. The bride’s uncle ended the ceremony with a great saying: “It only takes a few minutes to marry the one you love but it takes a lifetime to learn how to love the one you marry.”

El Cortez San Diego Wedding Ceremony Music El Cortez San Diego Wedding Cocktail Hour El Cortez San Diego Wedding Centerpieces & Linens

Once inside the reception room our couple used lots of gold linens, candles, and manzanita branch centerpieces to complete their fall themed wedding. As a unique wedding favor our bride and groom decided to give each guest a personalized bottle of champagne. Our couple hired me as their San Diego wedding DJ but they also knew that they wanted to hire me to provide quite a bit of lighting for the reception ballroom inside the El Cortez. Our couple felt that the reception room tends to be on the darker side of things so it needed quite a bit of lighting to really make it look good. We were originally going to also add some lighting to the outside patio space and on the fireplace but because of the rain we had to pull everything inside. I used 20 uplights in various fall themed colors, cake spotlighting, and a gobo monogram projected down onto the dance floor to give the room a really warm and interesting look.

El Cortez San Diego Wedding Uplighting El Cortez San Diego Wedding Venue El Cortez San Diego Wedding Gobo Monogram
After the meal we kicked things off with the toasts. Our bride and groom made a very personal slide show that I projected onto an 8 foot screen as their “thank you” to family & friends. We then moved into the first dance and opened up the dance floor. Guests were a little slow to start dancing early on in the evening but after the cake they really warmed up and let loose. Everyone ended up having a great time.

El Cortez San Diego Wedding Video Slide Show El Cortez San Diego Wedding First Dance San Diego Wedding DJs

El Cortez San Diego Wedding Entertainment San Diego Wedding DJ El Cortez Wedding DJ

San Diego Wedding Lighting & Extras Provided:  20 uplights, gobo monogram projection, cake spotlighting, and slide show projection equipment

SAN DIEGO WEDDING DJ MUSIC:

Ceremony Bridesmaid’s Song:  Forest Gump Theme – Soundtrack

Ceremony Bride’s Processional Song:  Canon in D – O’Neill brothers

Ceremony Recessional Song:  The Prince of Denmark’s March – Wynton Marsalis

Wedding Party Introductions Song:  Galvanize – Chemical Brothers

Bride & Groom Entrance Song:  Sweet Child Of Mine – Guns n Roses

First Dance Song:  Until – Sting

Mother/Daughter & Mother/Son Dance Song:  I Hope You Dance – Lee Ann Womack

Bouquet Toss Song:  Girls Just Want To Have Fun – Cindy Lauper

Cake Cutting Song:  Pour Some Sugar On Me – Def Leopard & Sugar Sugar – Archies

Last Dance Song:  November Rain – Guns and Roses

 

SAN DIEGO WEDDING VENDORS:

Photographers =  Your Inner Song Photography

For more information about this event or to hire us as your San Diego wedding DJ click here:   Positive Energy Productions  |  858.490.0445

Jan 012010
 

Here we showcase one of the San Diego wedding venues overlooking Mission Bay. Below you will see a few photos of some of the many lighting options we can provide for your wedding or event in the Mission Ballroom at The Bahia Resort Hotel in San Diego.

Bahia San Diego Wedding Cake Bahia San Diego Wedding Flowers Bahia San Diego Wedding Centerpieces & Gobo Monogram Projection 

These lighting options can really highlight the unique features of this room and also really enhance the photos throughout the event. Uplighting looks great on the columns between the windows. If you are using the A, B, & C ballroom spaces we can use 9 uplights if you want to light up each column like the photos below (one light not in the photo on the far right). We can also add a few uplights on the other side of the room to balance things out and add a little color to those walls as well. Another great option for the blank dividing wall is to project your gobo or monogram up onto the wall. It adds some interest and helps to disguise the wall a little.

Bahia San Diego Wedding Uplighting Bahia San Diego Wedding Uplighting & Gobo Monogram Projection Bahia San Diego Wedding Reception DJ

San Diego wedding venues come in all shapes and sizes but this ballroom has some unique architectural details. Here is another example of what lighting can do in this space to highlight these features. In the photos below we used 12 uplights in the room and also provided the cake spotlighting. As the sun goes down and the room gets darker you can really see the lighting come to life.

San Diego Wedding Escort Card Table San Diego Wedding Flower Centerpieces at the Bahia. San Diego Wedding Cake at the Bahia

San Diego Wedding Sweetheart Table at the Bahia San Diego Wedding Uplighting & First Dance at the Bahia San Diego Wedding Cake Spotlighting & Uplighting at the Bahia

 Purple uplighting & Cake Spotlighting Close at a Bahia Resort San Diego wedding Purple uplighting at a Bahia Resort San Diego wedding  Purple uplighting & Cake Spotlighting at a Bahia Resort San Diego wedding

As you can see the cake spotlighting really makes the cake stand out in the room at a distance and also adds some drama to the cake photos. Uplighting adds lots of warm color in the space.

The wedding below was for a large 300+ person wedding using all the ballroom spaces on the top floor. They opted to use blue uplighting to pull some of the colors out of the carpet and bar areas.

Large 300 person wedding at Bahia Blue Uplighting at  Bahia wedding in San Diego Sweetheart Table With Blue Uplighting at  Bahia wedding in San Diego

Dancing with Blue Uplighting at Bahia wedding in San Diego San Diego Wedding DJ at Bahia Resort

The Bahia Resort is located at: 998 West Mission Bay Drive San Diego CA. 92109


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For more information about lighting or San Diego wedding venues please click here to contact Positive Energy Productions.