WeddingTable Decorating Idea: Table Sash

Being a local DJ means, also, quite often I have to pinch-hit as a wedding planner. Therefore, whenever I see a new activity or decorating idea that I like at a wedding that I am the disc jockey for, I really feel the need to share. This past week I saw one of the coolest table settings I have ever seen and I had to really stop to figure out what was making it so different.

The answer was a strip of fabric, a runner or a table scarf / sash, placed right across the center.

Are you planning a wedding and looking for a fresh idea to spice up your table centerpieces for your wedding? Here is a noble idea. Why not jazz things up with table sashes?

This new decorating trend is an affordable way to really flash some color at your wedding reception.

Performing as the disc jockey at The Franklin Terrace in Troy, NY, I got to see first hand how the bride and groom added to the hall's linen with some linen of their own. They gave the event planner some really great sashes that they purchased online for their tables housing a guest list of about 180 people.

Over the hall's already sharp black table clothes with dark pink napkin accents, the white table scarfs brightened the center, accenting detail in a black Oriental print running right down the center.

No matter what you choose, this idea can really make your wedding colors pop.

Wedding Flip Flops Idea

Have you ever dressed up to go to your friends wedding and realize that despite the fact that you look great, you know that your feet are going to kill you within a few hours? You are really not alone. This happens to us all. Fear not. If your bride and groom have stood up and done their homework, it is possible that sore toes will not be in your future.

Here is a modern idea some of you may not have seen yet. Rather than have your guests walk about and dance in uncomfortable shoes, why not provide a basket of cheap, but nice wedding flip flops? USually the biggest offender to "Wedding Feet Syndrom" is the dancing and that takes place when the lights go out anyhow, for the most part.

Think about it. Many women, imparticular, struggle with a balance of comfort for their feet and wearing the right shoes to go with their dresses. No matter how much you spend, most high heel shoes cannot hold any woman up for a full 4 hours or more, without some discomfort.


As a bride planning your wedding, it is important to note that you really cannot expect the majority of your guests to make the comfortable decisions in their footwear for your night. They are trying to look their best for you. Getting together the perfect ensemble almost never translated into comfortable footwear.


FIVE THINGS TO THINK ABOUT WITH THE FLIP FLOP BASKET:
-Designer stores like Old Navy carry a variety of colors for around $2 a pair.
-Some local dollar stores even stock some decent flip flops and sandals.
-Try and make your flip flops available to your guests in your wedding colors.
-You can make your flip flopss look pretty in a stylish basket with vibrant ribbons holding pairs together.
-Keep your flip flop basket conveniently right near the dance floor.



For more ideas cheack out Albany Wedding DJ Kenny Casanova

Wedding Worksheets - a must for success.

When you plan a wedding, many people end up being in charge of many different aspects of the night. It may sound simple, but it is important to communicate well, in order to get what you want. One way you can really get your points across is by mapping everything out on paper so your expectations and wishes are clearly understood and met.

When you go about hiring a wedding professional like a disk jockey, a professional photographer, or even your caterer, you should always ask if they have a planning worksheet. Most often, the vendor has their own custom document that will help you be prepared for your wedding day. Using the vendor's own custom worksheet will better help them understand what you want in their own recognizable format, perhaps collecting everything aver a few pages. This erases confusion and helps the vendor know exactly what you are looking for.

Wedding worksheets really do help you get prepared for your wedding day. A good worksheet will help you also to better understand how most traditional weddings (and even many non-traditional ones) will look in an outline form.

Using worksheets will help you make sure, in the long run, that you will not overlook anything on the hectic, special day when you get married.

Whether or not you are using a custom vendor worksheet, or just downloading one online, there are FOUR very important aspects that you will want to keep in mind when filling out your disk jockey worksheet:

1) SETTING THE TONE – Some people want class. Others want an all out party. Many people want their reception to fall somewhere in between. A good worksheet will ask you what kind of feel you are trying to acheive, and when you will want that tone met over the course of the evening.

2) CREATING A MUSIC PLAYLIST – Your wedding is your special day , therefore you really should be the one to decide how you want it to feel. Music will set the atmosphere. Getting some of your ideas down onto paper will better help to create the feel you are hoping for. While you should not attempt to write every song down that you would want to hear, providing ten or twenty might give your DJ a good idea of what you like, while giving them the room to read the crowd.

3) THE DO NOT PLAY LIST – This is very important, but quite often forgotten in the mix. You should always take the time to write down the few songs you absolutely do not like, so that there are no surprizes on your special day. Although I hate playing "The Chicken Dance," for example, some older DJ’s absolutely love it! If you failed to add this song to your worksheet as a “DON'T PLAY,” you may end up thinking your DJ clucked everything up in the end, while you watch good 'ole grandma flap her wings.

4) ACTIVITY OPTIONS – There are so many wedding activity options that you can rock at your wedding. A good worksheet will have them listed so you can easily cross off or circle the ones you want.

If you would like to check out my latest worksheet, email me a request at ken@theDJservice.com and I can email you over one.


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My Pirate Wedding Report

Hey party people! DJ Kenny Casanova here, with my OWN wedding report on The DJ Kenny Casanova & Maria DJ Pirate Wedding Extravaganza.

A lot of local people from Albany, Troy and Schenectady browse my blog here at TroyRecord.com for great wedding tips and planning ideas, based on succesful weddings I have attended. Therefore, it is ironic now that I can share some fun things from my actual wedding.



As I stated in previous posts, we practiced what we preach. If you have the guts, "Theme weddings make for a better time!" ...We had a theme wedding ourselves, so that our special day would stick out and be memorable. Being a wedding DJ that has a few weddings a week, we had to go with something different so it would stay in our minds forever. My wife chose PIRATE and it was awesome!


CELEBRITY EMCEE - We brought in the most pirate-like celebrity we could think of; Glens Falls native former WWE United States Heavyweight Wrestling Champion, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan to emcee the event and mingle. Hoooo! He was great!!! Everyone loved him and he fit the bill perfectly!


CENTERPIECES - Our centerpieces were treasure chests with mardi gras beads, gold coins and large crystal gems. Here, we did not skimp on contents and also did not use any cartoony-like happy meal-like prize inserts, which would have been easy to do. The key to decorating for a fancy pirate wedding was that we tried our best to make everything look legit and as real as possible, so it didn't look like a kid's pirate birthday. Using higher quality decorations made everything feel more classy ...or at least as classy as a pirate shindig can be!

FLAGS - We hung 17 different jolly roger pirate flags up in each window bay of Birch Hill's big reception hall. (With them all being slightly different, this helped things feel more real and made things more interesting to the eye. It was way more cool to see the little variations to each flag than to quickly browse over the same print over and over again of the same skull & crossbones. There are actually many different pirate flags out there, and if you look online, you can find full real 3 x 5 foot flags for $5-$10 a piece, that may not be all that weather-sound, but perfect for the short-term; an indoor reception like ours.

FOOD - We had buffet style thick carved prime rib, lobster penne, and chicken marsella.






CAKES - Arrrghhh! Yes matey! We had two cakes; one custom pirate wedding tower by yummy local wedding cake favorite Cocodots, and a surprizing groom's cake by my own sister that was peanut butter frosting, peanut butter cake and topped with crushed reeses everything! (My favorite!) I actually fed a piece of this to my best man, the same as you feed one to your bride, in full pie-face tradition.

PHOTO MAGNET PHOTO-SHOOT - We had a green screen magnet shoot so that people could bring home high quality magnets to put on their refridgerators of the night, featuring fun with all their friends. These keepsakes were great because the photographer would change the background on the spot to match costumes and our theme. And, the sharp full color quality was also unbelievable! This extra fun was provided by Holmes Photography in the Albany, NY area.

In case you might want to walk the plank yourself at your own wedding, here are some of our guests pictures to hold you over, as the professional shots by Manny at Affordable Photography are not quite done yet.

There will be more to come soon, on how to actually plan a great pirate wedding, once we go through all the pictures.

In the meantime, we have more of our guests shots at www.kenmariapiratewedding.shutterfly.com

Our Pirate Wedding is Coming...

Most of what I write here ends up being a lot of ideas for people planning weddings. The reason this ends up happening is I end up DJ'ing one or two weddings a week, and the events become easy content for my DJ blog. It is a no brainer.

Anyhow, I just wanted to let the readers know that I practice what I preach; Theme Weddings are one of the best ways to really make your wedding memorable.

About a year ago, I wrote a blog about how I would plan a "pirate wedding." The way I write my wedding theme blogs are I either go to a wedding that has an awesome theme and absolutely have to share what I saw, or I do a bunch of research up on an idea and write. In the case of my pirate blog, I had gone to my nephew's birthday party which had a pirate theme, due to his love of The Pirates of The Carribean movie franchise. Then I got to thinking how it would be interesting to take some of the fun birthday party ideas and work them into a wedding that afforded a bigger budget to the theme.

Before posting it, my fiancee read it and told me I shouldn't put it out there for everyone to read.

"Why?" I asked. "Is it not realistic? Do you think nobody will want to do it?"

"Not at all," she replied. "I want it for our wedding."

(This is why I am marrying her!)

Anyhow, we have had an absolute blast planning for our own special day.

Here are some shots of the best man, Marty Carbone (who also has a blog here) and myself, with the costumes that didn't quite make the cut:




And... Here is the gigantic decoration pile in sotrage waiting for the big day, along with a bit of an idea of what a centerpiece might look like:

Top Ten Wedding Disaster List ...Put to Music

There are so many problems that can occur at a wedding, but as the song goes, "Don't Worry, Be Happy." Having a back up plan, or thinking about solutions to the problems that could occur are the keys to acheiving "The Perfect Wedding." If you plan your wedding with these problems in mind, as Bob Marley once said, "Every little thing's gonna be all right." Here is my Wedding Disaster playlist from TheDJservice.com:


1. Plan out your ceremony and you can… “Have The Time of Your Life” - Greenday
The Ceremony is the most important thing, overall and is often forgotten about. After all, the wedding reception is really just the celebration of having just had the ceremony. Spend a little time putting things together to make it memorable.

2. Be careful not to waste all of your … “Money” – The O’Jays
“Do we really need an award-winning classical violinist in by the coat room?”… “Do we really want a centerpeice in the bathroom?”… The dreaded Wedding Industry is a big money maker and a huge money taker. It is soooooo easy to get caught up in all the frills and extra options when you are planning wand request the very best of everything. This can get very costly, if you don’t pay attention to the little costs.

3. “Just The Two of Us” – Will Smith
Your wedding as a whole should be symbolic. Make sure your wedding is a reflection of both of you; the bride and a groom. Sometimes we forget to put in the personal likes and dislikes that make the event special. In the end, everyone should have some of the traditional wedding to make them happy, but also a mixed in balance of things that are important to the newlyweds.

4. “I need Somebody to, HELP, not just anybody.” – The Beatles
Two people are important for the success of your special day; the minister/officiant and the Disc Jockey/band leader. It is your duty to really know who is running the show. This means if you bring in a boring officiant for your wedding ceremony, your ceremony will be boring. Also, if you hire a bad band, people will have a bad time. Book a lame DJ and get lame stuff like chicken dances and YMCA, that is, if you dare consider the Village People to be "lame."

5. “Lose My Mind” - DMX
Don’t "Lose Yourself" as Eminem would say. It is easy-squeezey to get all stressed out and sweat the little things. Afterall, there are a ton of different components to a wedding where anything could go wrong. Odds are something will. If something doesn’t go exactly as planned, take a deep breath and move on. No one will care. Sometomes it makes things even more memorable. We are all human!

6. “More Money, More Problems” – The Notorious BIG, Biggie Smalls
If you let them, the wedding professionals, caterers, and even your guests can end up costing you a an arm and a leg and a fortune. Figure out exactly want to spend and stick to it!

7. “I’m Here For The Party” – Gretchen Wilson
It is never a good practice to "get your Ke$ha on" and go get plastered the night before your wedding. The funny thing is, it happens all the time. Think about it though. You are probably dropping thousands of dollars on your wedding. Do you really really want to be hung over on your special day? Words of wisdom: If a bachelor / bachelorette party is set up for the night before, be careful you don’t spoil things for the day after.

8. Be a great host and always think of… “Everybody” – Backstreet Boys
While it is your “special day,” the wedding reception will only be fun for everyone if you include everyone. That means perhaps playing some music you may not particularly like, or allowing something to happen for the good of the whole that you may not be particularly fond of.

9. “It Takes Two to Make a Thing Go Right” – Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock
It is hard to remember that there are two people, when planning a wedding. Quite often, the bride has been thinking about this day her whole life and totally takes over. Ladies, if you want the groom to enjoy himself, let him have a little fun in the planning as well.

10. “Singing in The Rain” – Gene Kelly
Make sure to have yourself a back up plan for every single individual thing that could go wrong. People are optimistic at heart and often think, bad stuff like these things could never ever happen to me. Howeverthey are the same ones who end up with ketchup all over the bride's wedding dress. If you don’t keep this in mind, all your people could be stuck out in a rainstorm.


(PICTURE CREDIT: http://www.getmarried.com/wedding-blog/2009/08/12/wedding-cake-disasters/)

Ten Ways to Save Big At Your Wedding

Are you planning a wedding and watching the numbers build? Fear not. There are many tips and corners you can cut to save money. Sometimes, just saving a little bit here and there can total major savings across the board. Here are ten great ways to to cut spending on your wedding ceremony and reception:

1. Watch Decoration Costs – Decorations can add up fast. Perhaps using candlelight might be a great option for you. Candles can be a delightful and romatic alternative to purchasing expensive centerpieces, costly flowers, and fancy decorations.

2. Which Day of The Week is Crutial to Savings – A catering hall or disc jockey "prime time slot" is usually considered to be Fridays, Saturdays, and even sometimes Sundays. The traditional wedding season tends to take place between somewhere in April through October. Booking outside these restraints and understanding these definitions of "wedding prime time" will really help you save.

3. Get Some Help! – Why spend a ton of loot on the photographer, musicians, officiant, or DJs, if some of your friends and family can make this happen for cheaper or even free. Who do you know?

4. Affordablity in the Wedding Dress Department – Havine a relative's wedding dress altered is nostalgic, time-honored and can additionally often often far cheaper than buying a new one, as well. Websites like eBay and Amazon even, thrift stores, can be a great way to save literally hundresds of dollars on the wedding dress.

5. Your Wedding Invitations – Online is totally acceptable now, so you can save a bundle on postage right there. If you do not want to go the e-invite route, at least shop your invitations online. Competition is fierce and you are bound to find a deal if you look enough.

6. Funding Flowers – Some vocational schools have Floral Classes as part of their curriculums. With the right connections, you can work with local schools to turn your wedding decoration into a classroom assignment and only pay cost of the flowers.Check with the hall to see who else is having a wedding there that weekend. You may be able to save on flowers by sharing.

7. Throw a “Wedding Prep” Party – Get all of your bridal party and friends together. Turn on the tunes and have them put together favors, flower arrangements and anything else that you have to pay more for when it comes completely assembled.

8. Think Food & Drink – Always provide your own caterer when you can. If your hall does not allow this, ask where money can be saved. See if they’ll let you provide your own liquor, or if serving only wine and beer will be cheaper than a full bar. Also consider only having open bar open during your cocktail hour, then serving an inexpensive wine with dinner.

9. Play on eBay – Anything you buy, always check eBay and Amazon first!

10. Cut Down The Guest List – When you look at many weddings at $50 or more a plate, you have to be selective. One rule of thumb is do not invite anyone you haven’t seen or even talked to in five years. Don’t encourage single people to bring a date. Avoid inviting work colleagues. And let your friends bring their children.


If you follow these guidelines, you will certainly have some money left over. That means a better home together and/or honeymoon you could have. For more was to save, check out Our site... www.TheDJservice.com

Outdoor Wedding Advice

Man alive! The past two years, as a wedding DJ, I have seen some pretty rainy outdoor weddings. While an outdoor wedding can be totally awesome, when the weather does not cooperate, it can be a disaster if you do not have some planning, in order.

1. Dress for the elements. Choose fabrics that ensure comfort on the big day. Think about the later hours of the event as well. Will you need to be warm at any point? Will it maybe get to warm, after the dancing starts?

2. Keep your guests' comfort in mind. Also, make sure to let your guests know that the wedding will be outdoors. Prepare them so that they may dress appropriately.

3. Decorations. Wet streamers look like wet toilet paper. Remember, decorations have to brave the elements, and sometimes they may ruin photos, as well. Look for natural or built-in points of beauty for great backdrops and photo opportunities, rather than to try and plot lots of unnecessary decorations.

4. Invest in a good tent. You get what you pay for and you do not want to be dodging downpour streams in the middle of the dance floor. Take no shortcuts when renting a tent, or deal with sunburns and tidal waves.

5. Plan well. While you have to plan ahead and cannot know what the weather will be on a particular date exactly, you can still try for the right season. Plan your outdoor wedding day for a time of the year that averages good weather that is comfortable.

6. Have a Backup Plan. Ever hear of "Plan B"? Make one! You can't predict what the weather is going to be. Rather than stress about it, plan for a site which will allow you to move the entire wedding to an inside location easily.

7. Alert your vendors! All of your vendors should know that it is an outdoor wedding. It sounds easy, but often this is forgotten and sometimes certain precautions need to be taken by your professionals to make everything work out well.

Wedding Bouquet Toss Song Ideas

The glowing spotlight is shinning softly on you and all eyes casted your way. Your hands hold a modest, yet gorgeous bundle of flowers and you are about to throw it all away, and move on to the next wonderful chapter in your book. It is now that magical moment for you, the bride in white.

Everything is just how you imagined it would be. Your dress is perfect. Your hair is lovely. However, the silly DJ cracks a stupid joke to match his song choice and plays something ridiculous and seemingly unrelated, all because you didn't specify and left it up to him.

You bite your lip and think, "I knew I should have told him what to play!"

Don't worry! If you are still planning, there is still time.

There are countless songs out there, and it is overwhelming, but you do not half to reinvent the wheel. So what can you actually pick for a song? Here is a popular listing of Top Bouquet Tossing Songs where you cannot go wrong!

• Another One Bites The Dust - Queen
• Dancing Queen - Abba Girls
• Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper
• I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor
• Ladies Night - Kool & The Gang
• Man! I Feel Like A Woman - Shania Twain
• Respect - Aretha Franklin
• All I Wanna Do - Cheryl Crow
• Chapel of Love - Dixie Cups
• Hot Stuff - Donna Summer
• Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison
• So Many Men, So Little Time - Miquel Brown
• Single Ladies - Beyonce
•This one is for the girls - Martina McBride
•Wishin' and Hopin' Ani Difranco (My Best Friends Wedding Soundtrack)
•"Sex in the City" theme song
• American Woman - The Guess Who
•Bootylicious - Destiny's Child
• Diamonds are a girls best friend - Marilyn Monroe
• Dirty - Christina aguilera
• Don't want no Scrub - TLC
• Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - The Police
• Express Yourself - Madonna
• Funky Town - Lipps Inc.
• Girls, Girls, Girls - Motley Cruew
• Hey Ladies - The Beastie Boys
• Hit Me With Your Best Shot - Pat Benatar
• Its Getting Hot in Herre - Nelly
• Its Raining Men - The Weather Girls
• Just a girl - No Doubt
• Ladies Night - Kool & The Gang
• Lady Marmalade - Pink, Mia, Lil' Kim, Christina Aguilera
• Let's Get Loud - Jenifer Lopez
• Like a Virgin - Madonna
• Milkshake - Kelis
• Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman - Britney Spears
• Oh Its so Quiet, Shhh (Zing-Boom) Bjork
• One way or another blondie
• Our Day Will Come - Ruby and the Romantics
• Perfect Day Hoku - Legally Blonde Soundtrack
• Red Neck Woman - Gretchen Wilson
• Shoop Shoop Song - Cher
• Single White Female - Chely Wright
• This one's for the Girls - Martina Mc Bride
• Touch Me, Tease Me Case - Foxy Brown
• What a Girl Wants - Christina Aguillera

Plan The Perfect Wedding - Thinking of your guests on your day

"Can I have the perfect wedding?" Yes, but you may have to give a little. The only real way to be happy with your reception is if all the people around you are happy. The big question, therefore, then should not be "What do I want?" but rather, "What do I want for my guests?"

All little girls write their names on their notebooks in school with their crush's last name instead of their own. And they all picture the perfect white wedding as well. Creating the best wedding reception as an adult, however, is like writing a term paper for school. You have to do some research and focus on finding answers to the right questions, first. Therefore, you actually have to pick the right questions.

Finding the answers to, "what do I like?" may come off selfish and create moments that are only meaningful to you. What you should rather do isl spawn a number of sub-questions that go along with it like, "what do I want my guests to say when they sit down?" and also, "what do I want my guests to say when they walk out the door?"

WHO IS GOING TO BE THERE? - Thinking about who is going to be there before you actually plan, will make your reception "the best wedding of all time." Different people like different things and you have to have a happy medium of what they will like and what you will like also.
HOW CAN I BE A GOOD HOST? - Be a good host and your party will be good. It is just that smimple. What can you do to accommodate all of your guests' wishes? Your homework is to find what really makes you happy, and also makes every guest attending happy as well.

HOW CAN I MAKE MY WEDDING STAND OUT? - Because loads of different wedding receptions happen everyday across the globe, it is safe to say thousands of alternative reception options have been created and your answers are out there. You just have to find them. Using this planning philosophy can work in every area including food, entertainment, music and even the overall look & layout of the decor.

Be unselfish and be kind and fill in the blanks with stuff you love and things that symbolize who you are. The rest will be perfect.

Wedding Idea - Remember a Loved One Who Is No Longer With Us.

It is a very thoughtful idea for the bride & groom to want to honor a relative, loved one, or family member who is no loger with us. The key to making this happen effectively is to keep it classy and in the spirit of celebration. You do not want to depress the members attending your wedding reception by causing something that could envoke tears, but provide something that will at as a visual representation of the missing person that celebrates their life.

This is not hard to do, as you really end up with countless tasteful options. I have seen annotated pictures and photo album displays, a small table setting with a plaque that held many names, a stand-up photo cut out, a poetry reading, a song dedication activity from the wedding DJ, a special lit candle and/or lighting presentation, an insert on a slide show, and countless personable things that meant something to the person no longer with us.

Whatever you choose, it is a great idea. Just keep in mind that it is very important to not dwell on the loss, but to smile, toast and celebrate the person for their contributions in life to the couple's happy day. Afterall, they would have wanted it that way.






DJ Kenny Casanova - is a professional wedding reception mobile dj and professional wrestling ring announcer out of Albany, NY and Troy, NY. You can email him at ken@theDJservice.com.


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Themed Alternatives to Wedding Place Cards

You know the little cards that lead you to your table at the wedding reception... Well, they do not need to be cards anymore. As I wrote in a previous blog about a month ago, I recently saw a couple use lit tea candles with their guests names printed on the candle holders. This isn't the only alternative option out there, especially when a them is involved.

At a beach-theme reception, you can really have a blast. Seashells with names printed on them, perhaps from metallic ink pens are a novel idea, as are decorative stones. Other people may choose to actually decorate coconuts with their guests names on them, as well. Other ideas can include mini-ships in a bottle, messages in bottles (open slips of paper read through the glass), or other various sea-related statuettes.

A vegas theme could involve poker chips with names on them, or even large playing cards!

Music-friendly? Another neat idea includes cd's (compact discs) with the couples names printed on them, with music for later listening. How about a 45 record with names on them for the older guests?!

It is really worth stopping by the dollar store and seeing what you can whip together! You will be surprised, and hopefully, so will your guests!