Three Tasty New Trends in Wedding Reception

COCKTAIL HOUR ENTRANCE
An interesting new trend for wedding receptions and cocktail hours is for the bride and groom to actually be announced fifteen minutes or so into the cocktail hour, so that they can enjoy the spirits, as well. As everyone knows, a tasty drink or two can really make the party fun. If the bride and groom get done with their pictures quickly enough, why not?

THE CANDY CART
A sweet new treat in weddings is the Candy Cart. A scrum-dilly-icious candy buffet adds fun and color to any wedding. This new trend has a table on wheels that looks like it was heisted straight out of Wonka’s Chocolate factory. The cart is covered with large glass bowls and vases over-flowing with goodness. Little baggies allow for all of your guests to pick what kind of candy they want and take it home. Kids and adults love taking home little bags of loot so that the sweetness of the reception continues long after the DJ has packed up.

HONEYMOON GIFT REGISTRY
Enough said. Just like any other type of gift registry at a store or on Amazon, friends and family members purchase parts of the bride and groom’s honeymoon. If it is not the obvious plane tickets or hotel room credits, it could be a show, an expensive dinner or a tour bus ride at the point of destination.

Wedding Reception First Song Ideas

Sometimes it is tough to reinvent the wheel. If you are planning your first dance, here is a great list of ideas:

• You Are My First, My Last, My Everything - Barry White
• Take My Breath Away - Berlin
• The Rose - Bette Midler
• Our Love Is Here To Stay - Billie Holiday
• Just The Way You Are - Billy Joel
• She’s Got A Way - Billy Joel
• We’ve Got Tonight - Bob Seger
• You Are My Special Angel - Bob- Helms
• If - Bread
• Everything I Own - Bread
• Heaven - Bryan Adams
• True Love Ways - Buddy Holly
• Tonight And Forever - Carly Simon
• You’re The Inspiration - Chicago
• Lady In Red - Chris DeBurgh
• Longer - Dan Fogelberg
• Endless Love - Diana Ross & Lionel Richie
• Can You Feel the Love Tonight - Elton John
• Friends - Elton John
• The One - Elton John
• Your Song - Elton John
• Can’t Help Falling In Love - Elvis Presley
• Always - Erasure
• At Last - Etta James
• Let It Be Me - Everly Brothers
• Songbird - Fleetwood Mac
• The Best Is Yet To Come - Frank Sinatra
• The Way You Look Tonight - Frank Sinatra
• If I Loved You - from Carousel
• As Time Goes - - from Casablanca
• Some Enchanted Evening - from South Pacific
• Somewhere - from West Side Story
• Love Theme To Romeo & Juliet - from Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet
• Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You - Glenn Medeiros
• Here We Are - Gloria Estefan
• Beautiful - Gordon Lightfoot
• It Had To Be You - Harry Connick, Jr.
• So This Is Love - James Ingram
• Up Where We Belong - Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warrens
• You Are So Beautiful - Joe Cocker
• Woman - John Lennon
• I Swear - John Michael Montgomery
• Chances Are - Johnny Mathis
• Beautiful In My Eyes - Joshua Kadison
• So In Love - K.D. lang
• Don’t Know Much - Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Neville
• Amazed - Lonestar
• What A Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong
• Here And Now - Luther Vandross
• Dream A Little Dream - Mamas & the Papas
• Hero - Mariah Carey
• Grow Old With Me - Mary Chapin Carpenter
• Embraceable You - Nat King Cole
• Unforgettable - Nat King Cole
• When I Fall In Love - Nat King Cole
• Marry Me - Neil Diamond & Buffy Lawson
• When A Man Loves A Woman - Percy Sledge
• After All - Peter Cetera & Cher
• Glory Of Love - Peter Cetera
• Wedding Song - There is Love - Petula Clark
• Perhaps Love - Placido Domingo & John Denver
• Forever and Ever, Amen - Randy Travis
• You Are the Everything - R.E.M.
• I Can’t Fight This Feeling Anymore - R.E.O. Speedwagon
• Unchained Melody - Righteous Brothers
• Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You - Roberta Flack & Peabo Bryson
• Truly, Madly, Deeply - Savage Garden
• Kiss From A Rose - Seal
• Dreaming Of You - Selena
• From This Moment - Shania Twain & Brian White
• You’re Still The One - Shania Twain
• If I Never Knew You - Shanice Wilson & John Secada
• True - Spandau Ballet
• You Are The Sunshine Of My Life - Stevie Wonder
• I Believe - When I Fall in Love - Stevie Wonder
• Ma Cherie Amour - Stevie Wonder
• Give a Little Bit - Supertramp
• Eternal Flame - The Bangles
• I Will - The Beatles
• In My Life - The Beatles
• Something - The Beatles
• We’ve Only Just Begun - The Carpenters
• In The Still of the Night - The Five Satins
• I Only Have Eyes For You - The Flamingos
• A Groovy Kind Of Love - The Mindbenders
• Oh, How The Years Go - - Vanessa Williams
• Will You Marry Me? - Vonda Shepard
• Hold Me - Whitney Houston & Teddy Pendergrass
• One Moment In Time - Whitney Houston

Am I missing anything? Drop me a line.



DJ Kenny Casanova - is a professional wedding reception mobile dj and professional wrestling ring announcer out of Albany, NY and Troy, NY.


Our site... www.TheDJservice.com




Our facebook... Kenny Casanova







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.


Our site... www.TheDJservice.com
Our Facebook... Kenny Casanova
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Finger Food Wedding Reception - AN APPETIZING BIG HIT!

I was the disck jockey for some good people out of Schenectady, NY this past weekend, hosted at a nice little restaraunt called The Cella Bistro. The bride and groom’s favorite thing about past wedding receptions that they had attended was always the appetizers.

Hors d'oeuvres, hors d'oeuvres and more hors d'oeuvres!

From every party to wedding they have ever attended, it seemed that these two had a huge interest in the fun food, rater than the actual sit-down. They liked mushrooms, and wonton shrimp and crab cakes and friend veggies and jumpo shrimp, you know, all the yummy stuff.

So what did they do? The made EVERYTHING APPETIZERS!

That is right. There was no real sit down, but there was soooo much good finger food and hors d'oeuvres around that you never even missed it.

The mass grazing was a good time by all.

Wedding Seating: Tea Candle Place Cards

Yet again, I saw a different thing this weekend that I thought I should share with you all. At a reception at Franklin Terrace in Troy, NY, I saw Place Cards printed on small candle holders with a lit tea candle inside.

You know those little cards you see at the front of the hall at the beginning of the ceremony? Yeah you do. Place cards are the little folded business card-like slips of cardstock that have the guests name printed on them, directing them to their assigned table for the reception.

The wedding I did had the cutest little little tea lights with professionally printed names on each one and the table number, as party favors for the guests to bring home with them as a momento. These particular ones had a white crest with the guests' names printed on it in gold with a black outline. Beneath the names was a table name, each with a synonym for love like, "PASSION" and "ROMANCE."

It was really cool to see everyone surround the table and look for their candles! Then, on by one, each person carefully brought their little candle keepsake to their destination table. The line of people was soothing and fun!

Neat idea!

Wedding Music Choice - Set An Atmosphere

Of course, the bride and groom’s song choices outweigh anyone else’s at the wedding. However, it is still very important to try to incorporate lots of music that their guests will enjoy. Think about it for a second. Who wants to put on a wedding where people hate the entertainment!?

The purpose of playing music at all is to set an atmosphere. Therefore, the real logic behind planning your reception music should be to create an atmosphere where people will have fun, rather than expose your guests to music you like.

Throughout the years, wedding receptions have changed. They are vastly becoming the party dancing part of the wedding, while the ceremony holds the classy and more serious peaceful part of the day. Therefore, the trend now for receptions is to be far more upbeat and fun. If this is the atmosphere you want, the possibilities of song choices are endless. However, picking songs that ONLY you like can be a big mistake.

Most bride and grooms want to select songs that are special to them. Sometimes the songs relate to how they first met or the couple’s first date, or perhaps some other memorable event. It is very important, to do this, however, if the whole playlist are “special songs” to the bride and groom, they may not be special to everyone else.

If you want to have a finger on the playlist, as you plan songs for the wedding reception, seek out a second opinion from friends or family. With the internet, you can easily send out emails and get a feeling for what people will like.

If your overall goal really again is to create a fun, dancing atmosphere, you really have to pick songs that people can dance to and songs that people like to dance to. Even if you do not like “dance music,” if your guests do, you will need to pick songs they like to get the atmosphere that you are looking for.

WEDDING COLORS

Usually, as a DJ for wedding receptions, I get the linen from the hall and match up my stuff as best as possible. It is funny though. Colors are really changing up.

Remember something borrowed and something blue? At first we only saw hints of one color on a bride. A little color maybe in the hair… A blast of color in jewelry… These accents made a nice touch, while still allowing the bride to wear her traditional white, at a traditional white wedding. However, many different colors have been creeping into the scene more and more, with all the new brights and eccentric patterns just as we see in today’s fashion trends. Just as we see people breaking the norm at many receptions, today’s bride who wishes to buck tradition is throwing the color rules out the window.

Just as brides and grooms are breaking it down on the wedding dance floor in the middle of a slow song all over the internet, today’s independent woman is no longer a follower. She is no longer silent. She doesn’t want to go along with the crowd. She wants to be different. She wants to make her day memorable. Today’s daring bride wears what she wants to wear, and sets a trend.

Out of Albany, NY, but willing to travel, I was the Disc Jockey for a recent wedding in Rochester, NY. At this particular wedding, I was pleasantly shocked to see that each bridesmaid had a different pastel color on, as I was calling the introductions over some Black Eyed Peas. The dresses were, in fact, the same cut and style and matched the vest on each of their individual escorts, but none of the dresses were the same color. White at this one was reserved for the bride, however, I am seeing brides dropping this tradition more and more!

What Will Everyone Think? I read that historically, white wedding dresses weren’t the norm until after Queen Victoria wore a white dress for her wedding. Okay, I am just the DJ, and not any sort of fashion plate, but I can tell you this. Not all brides are following the Queen anymore! Brides who are choosing colored gowns, are doing so for many other different reasons.

Quite often, in a world that sees second marriages as commonplace, for today’s bride who wants color but doesn’t want to be too obvious, I have been seeing washed out and faint colors on the dance floor, mixed into in their traditional white dresses. I have also seen very faint colors, it almost still looks white; almost as if someone washed a bright colored sock in with the gown.

Wedding dresses in the palest of pink or the lightest of blue add color, but aren’t looked at as inappropriate and don’t make the groom look as if he is marrying Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.

One denominator for color choice has often been selection to match the season. Spring brides are choosing pale pastels, while those marrying in the summer choose deeper shades of similar colors. Those getting married in autumn are choosing yellows, golds and even shades orange, like my friend Pete, who recently got married on Halloween 2009, which fell on a Saturday.

However, from what I hear, it is the daring trend-setting winter bride who often chooses to make the boldest statement. Last winter, I had a bride in a bright red dress, with a red veil to match. (And yes, she looked like she raided Lady Gaga’s VMA closet.

My opinion on this? The wedding is all about the bride. I think the bride looks beautiful with whatever she chooses to wear, as long as she feels good in it and wears it front of a DJ at the reception, rather than a band!