Courtney and Jeff

Courtney and Jeff had an amazing wedding at the Terrace Bay Inn shortly after Thanksgiving of this year. Courtney and Jeff had an amazing wedding at the Terrace Bay Inn shortly after Thanksgiving of this year. The wedding was beautifully decorated by Amanda from Ever After Decorating. It’s really nice to see brides and grooms pay tribute to the history of their family tree and I was glad to see Courtney and Jeff do this near the guestbook. .

Courtney and Jeff opted to go with beautiful uplighting behind the head table and chose a red to accent the white and black elegant color choices. The bridal party introductions went very smoothly with Courtney and Jeff being introduced into the room to the song “Smile” by Uncle Kracker. Afterwards we moved to the Cake Cutting Ceremony with a gorgeous cake created by Cake Sera Sera. . Guests were invited to dinner in a very fun and creative way and after dinner guests also enjoyed a candy buffet as well.

Our full grand march happened after dinner with the bridal party entering to “Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me” and Courtney and Jeff introduced to “Love Is A Beautiful Thing” by Phil Vassar. From there we segued to their first dance to “History In The Making” by Darius Rucker, followed by Courtney and her father Dave’s dance to “I Loved Her First” by Heartland. Jeff and his Mom shared a dance to “My Wish” by Rascal Flatts and then the wedding party helped kick off the dancing.

The dance floor was hoppin’ all night, only stopping for a fun Garter and Bouquet segment featuring Jeff’s favorite NFL team…the CHICAGO BEARS! The reception ended on a wonderful note with a special twist to their last song “I Love This Bar” by Toby Keith…pleasantly surprising Courtney, Jeff and their guests. Congratulations Courtney and Jeff! Best wishes on married life together!

Courtney, Jeff and Mitch

Angie and Kevin October 17th

Angie and Kevin celebrating with family and friends

This picture only tells half of the story from Angie and Kevin’s wedding reception. I’ll give you a better glimpse of their event at the end of this blog post. Angie and Kevin celebrated in style with a classic black and white theme with red roses to accent which looked absolutely timeless. The Terrace Bay Inn was their venue of choice and as always, Mike, Laurie, Kristin and the staff and I work exceptionally well together. We recognized the outstanding achievement by Angie’s grandparents Paul and Ora of being married for 70 years and I know Angie was proud of that fact and glad to share with her guests. The introductions into the room went flawlessly as Angie and Kevin surprised their guests by entering from the stage side of the room instead of the front. Angie and Kevin’s cake cutting ceremony followed their welcome and thank you to their guests from coming and their guests were invited to the buffet line in a fun way as well.

Angie and Kevin's First Dance

After dinner, guests gathered around for Angie and Kevin’s Love Story where at one point Angie said that Kevin was hilarious. Just as they started their first dance as husband and wife to the sounds of Lionel Richie’s “My Love”, one of the children from the bridal party was heard saying “That was hilarious!” Kids can be SO cute!

Angie and her father Bob share their Father Daughter dance

After their first dance Angie and her father Bob shared a moment with their Father Daughter dance to “I Loved Her First” followed by the opening of the dance floor with the bridal party to “You’ve Got A Friend”. The dancing kicked off with music from Bachman Turner Overdrive to Big N Rich, Kid Rock to KC & The Sunshine Band and Big N Rich to the Black Eyed Peas…with a special memory created during that song. Look for the video to be posted later.

Best Man Scott shaking his thang

The party was still going strong at 11:30pm so Angie and Kevin along with their families decided to extend it until 1am and the high energy celebration continued with 80’s mixes into hip hop, country into rock and even a little retro with Come On Eileen and Blister In The Sun thrown in for good measure. We ended the night with “Chicken Fried” by the Zac Brown Band and an encore of “I Gotta Feelin” To quote Kevin “It was a good night….a great NIGHT…an AWESOME NIGHT!!!

Havin' fun on the dance floor

Thank you Angie, Kevin and families for being wonderful clients to work for and best wishes!!!

AWESOME night with family and friends

Megan and Dave August 22nd, 2009

Terrace welcomes Megan & Dave

Megan and Dave had a beautiful wedding day on August 22nd, 2009. The room was very nicely decorated courtesy of Tiffany at Final Touches Designs and guests arrived and enjoyed cocktail hour.

Tables beautifully decorated

Megan and Dave with their bridal party arrived shortly after, and were having a great time on the bus during their bar crawl before the reception. Let’s just say it was a little difficult to round everyone up for the Grand March :). For the introductions Megan and Dave entered first to the sounds of Thunderstruck by AC/DC, and then we brought the bridal party in from a different way than normal into the room, each to their own song. Dave and Megan then welcomed their guests followed by the toasts and blessing. To get Megan and Dave to kiss that day, guests had to walk up to the putting green and sink a putt, which was a fun addition to the dinner hour.

After dinner we had a wonderful cake cutting ceremony with the bridal party bringing out cheesecakes for every other table in the room and one special couple per table with cheesecake performed the “cake” cutting ceremony with Megan and Dave. Beautiful moment!

Megan and Dave's Cake Table

Megan and Dave’s first dance to “We Are Man & Wife” by Michelle Featherstone followed their Love Story, then Megan and Dennis shared their Father Daughter dance with words to each other during the dance to Cinderella by Stephen Curtis Chapman. Dave and his mom Jean then had their Mother Son Dance to “Simple Man” by Shinedown. The wedding party dance then broke out to “Forever” by Chris Brown for a change of pace to a traditional wedding party dance.

Megan and Dave's First Dance

Megan and Dennis enjoy the moment

Jean and Dave's Mother Son Dance

Amanda and Jesse

Remember Amanda and Jesse? They were there too…Jesse was a groomsman and had a blast the entire night. Dance floor was going all night to the sounds of “I Gotta Feelin'”, “Summer of ’69”, and even one of Dave’s favorites, Nickelback’s “Something In Your Mouth” Dave’s father even sang a beautiful song to Megan and Dave during our first slow set of the night.

Slow dancin'

The night ended with a fun group sing-a-long to “Jack & Diane”by John Mellencamp. Thanks Megan and Dave for the memories! You are a wonderful couple to work with!

Jennifer and Chad

Signing the Marriage License

Some couples are troopers to the end, proving time and time again that their love will stand the test of time. Such is the case for Jennifer and Chad…who had some obstacles to deal with on their wedding day. I arrived at the Terrace Bay Inn shortly after 1pm to set up their event and had to unload in the pouring rain. I strongly dislike doing so but my thoughts quickly turned to Jennifer and Chad. Their reception was to be at 3:30pm outside in Garden, MI…just a few towns away. As luck would have it, 3:30 rolled around and the rain began to pour down on the ceremony site. Different family members asked Jen and Chad what they wanted to do and they both said unbeknownst to the other one that they would get married in the rain. This presented quite the challenge for their photographer Daniele Carol but she and her assistant handled it flawlessly…even getting an umbrella-full of water dumped on them at one point!

Green uplighting at the Terrace

Green was one of Jen’s primary color choices for the wedding so we accented the Terrace columns with her color choice. Guests began to arrive to the sounds of 70s and 80s classic rock. Shortly thereafter, Jen and Chad arrived with their damp bridal party in from the rain and then we got everyone together for their introductions. The Best man Mike even came in with a cape!

Best Man Mike's cape!

After the introductions of the bridal party Jen and Chad went over and cut their cake, followed by toasts and the blessing before the meal.

Beautiful wedding cake

. Chad and Jen even invited Chad’s Aunt Sue to perform the second cut of the cake that day since it was her birthday as well. What a great honor!

Jen and Chad live in Vegas and wanted to spice up their dinner a little bit so we played a fun game to invite tables to the buffet line. Suffice it to say that I had something happen to me at their wedding that has never happened in the past 13 years or over 500 weddings that I’ve performed in that time frame. It was a lot of fun and made for great conversation starter for their in and out of town guests. Dinner was great and soon it was time to deliver Jen and Chad’s Love Story followed by their first dance to “Lucky” by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat.

Father Daughter Dance William and Jen

The Father of the Bride William and Jen then shared a dance to “Always Be Your Baby” by Natalie Grant…a beautiful and unique song choice. Chad and his Mom Lael then shared their Mother Son dance to “On This Day” by Christian Barnes, an up and coming popular choice for Mother Son dances this year.

Lael and Chad Mother Son dance

. Dance floor opened with our bridal party dance to “Friends In Low Places” by Garth Brooks and guests danced the night away to songs like “Sexyback”, “Humpty Dance”, “Fat Bottomed Girls”, “Paradise By Dashboard Light”, and “Hey Ya!”. The evening ended with everyone up and dancing to “Celebration”, a special request to end the night by Jen and Chad. Thank you Jen and Chad so much!

Mitch, Jen and Chad

Amanda and Jesse

Lindsey and Clay

I had the pleasure of being referred to Amanda and Jesse from one of my past clients, Lindsey and Clay. Lindsey and Clay had an AMAZING wedding on September 22, 2007 so I knew the potential that Amanda and Jesse’s reception had. They both are involved in motocross and work in the biking world as well…two outstanding people from wonderful families. The evening started at the Terrace Bay Inn with cocktail and dinner music from Leona Lewis, Jackson Browne, Tim McGraw, The Beach Boys and Plain White T’s. The introductions went well and everyone enjoyed the cake cutting ceremony as well. After dinner, we gathered the bridal party along with Amanda and Jesse’s parents and everyone got to hear Amanda and Jesse’s Love Story. It was an emotional moment with a special twist at the end.

Amanda and Jesse's First Dance

Amanda and Jesse then shared their first dance with their guests and even had fun with that themselves in a unique way (no…not the evolution of dance…something much more personal). Amanda then danced with her two fathers to separate songs and each moment was touching for her and her fathers.

Amanda and Tony

Amanda and Jeff

Jesse and his mother Ginger then shared a special moment for the Mother Son dance with Jesse even throwing in a surprise for her.

Ginger and Jesse

Dancing started and we got underway almost immediately. The Garter Bouquet segment was fun with Identify Your Bride and the party even went long into the night. The photos taken in this blog were from my own camera. Photos from Keith Freeman of Freeman’s Photography should be added soon. Keith did an amazing job with Amanda and Jesse and the photos turned out BEAUTIFUL…way better than what I can do! Thanks Amanda and Jesse and families for an amazing night. I am blessed to work with such awesome people.

Joanna and Bill June 20th, 2009

Joanna and Bill's First Dance

What an amazing couple! I am truly blessed to work with and for the best clients in the world. Joanna, Bill and I first met back in February of 2008 and they had the daunting task of planning their U.P. reception from afar as they live in Illinois now. We got along great from the first meeting and together created a beautiful reception. Joanna and Bill were married outside at the Terrace Bay Inn overlooking Lake Michigan and I also provided sound reinforcement for the ceremony. If you are having an outdoor ceremony I strongly recommend hiring a professional to provide sound for it as wind carries voices. Too many reception halls think it’s OK to rent you a microphone on a stand with an amp and a rock speaker from the garden and call it good. The last thing you want is to have an ugly mic, garbled sound distracting from your vows and a microphone stand in your wedding photos I’m sure 🙂

Beach themed head table

Sorry for the tangent there…back to two beautiful people…Bill and Joanna. They had a beach themed wedding that they beautifully decorated themselves. I have to give kudos to their friend Erin, who provided them with one of the most exquisite wedding cakes I have ever seen. The cake was simple, elegant and fit the theme perfectly.

Gorgeous Wedding Cake

After the ceremony everyone went inside for the cocktail hour and from there we had our bridal party introductions. Joanna is a huge fan of Disney and the Muppets as well, so her parents walked into “Mahna Mahna”, of Muppets fame with her and Bill being introduced to “The Muppet Show Theme” (why do we always come here? LOL!) To keep with the beach theme the bridal party entered to “Margaritaville” by Jimmy Buffet. After the buffet meal was enjoyed, we moved on to the next chapter of the night with Joanna and Bill’s Love Story. They have a beautiful story and it was fun to share with their guests.

Joanna and Bill

We followed with their first dance, father daughter and mother son dances. The night was beautiful outside so our dance floor didn’t really get kickin’ until later but we ended the night with a big circle on the floor with Joanna and Bill surrounded by their closest family and friends. Beautiful night for a beautiful couple!

Great ending to a great night!

Joanna, Bill and I

Ashley and Mordi June 13th, 2009

Ashley and Mordi Reception Entrance

. I had the privilege of performing for Ashley and Mordi on their wedding day on June 13th at the Terrace Bay Inn. I used to work with Mordi a few years ago, and have actually used his charter fishing services as well, which I must say he is very talented at.

Elegant head table

The decorations were very elegant with a black and white theme. Being a fisherman, Mordi and Ashley were introduced to “Fishin’ In The Dark” by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and the full song played later to a dance floor filled with guests singin’ along!

Mordi and Ed cuttin' up during the Toast

Mordi and his Best Man Ed bear a striking resemblance and had a little fun with the audience during the toast. It was one of the most unique and fun toasts I have ever seen. Buffet dinner was provided by the outstanding staff at the Terrace, one of the best facilities and staff I have ever had the privilege to work with. Tables were dismissed via song titles, a fun way to liven up the party. Ashley’s friend Kristy provided a cool slideshow in tribute of Mordi and Ashley following cake being served.

Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You

Ashley and Mordi then shared their first dance with their guests to “Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You by Frankie Valli, then Ashley shared a dance with her father John.

Ashley and her Father John

Mordi then danced with his Mom Sandra to “It’s Your Song” by Garth Brooks. The dance floor was hopping almost from the word go, with Mordi and Ed doing chest bumps with each other to “Old Time Rock N Roll!” We ended the night with three different encores as Mordi and Ashley’s guests didn’t want the night to end!

Ashley, Mordi and I after a fun night!

Angie and Doug 052309

Terrace sign

Whew…time flies when you’re sick! Sorry I haven’t gotten to posting about Angie and Doug’s wedding…I’ve been under the weather the past few days and preparing for this weekend’s weddings!

Angie and Doug are an amazing couple who became friends and I’m honored that they chose me to be their Wedding Entertainment Director that evening. Their reception was held at the Terrace Bay Inn.

Terrace Bay Inn

Angie and Doug opted for our uplighting package and we created a color to match her wedding colors to accent the pillars in the ballroom.

Terrace uplighting

We had so much fun…including a specialized intro with big props going to Nino…a good friend of Angie’s who does pyrotechnics for the Detroit Pistons at the Palace of Auburn Hills. (video coming soon!) From there Angie and Doug had their cake cutting ceremony, toasts and then a plated meal was served by the Terrace. We had a fun way for Angie and Doug to kiss during dinner.

Kissing Game

and then we moved to the dancing part of the evening after a photo montage was shown by their photographer, David Hakamaki. Angie and Doug’s Love Story was emotional, fun and very unique and had everyone involved from the start.

Angie and Doug's First Dance

Their first dance was quite unique as well (ask me about it sometime) and then the fun began.

Everyone Dancing!

Most everyone stayed, danced and had a great time! We even had a wonderful fast ending to Footloose! Thanks Angie and Doug for everything!

Angie told me her feet hurt. She was so tired from dancing!

Fenway and Fall Weddings

Well…it’s been a while since my last post. Sorry about that. I know at least a few people are reading this blog, and it’s pretty cool to hear that upcoming brides are seeing what I have done for recent couples and becoming even more excited for their wedding day. The last few weeks have been quite hectic, yet extremely fun.

First, my brother in law and I shipped up to Boston (Cue Dropkick Murphys) for Labor Day weekend. We had so much fun. Our trip actually started on Thursday night as we travelled to Milwaukee for Harley Fest and saw Kid Rock, Sugarland and Lewis Black perform. Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland is one of my favorite singers….she is SO passionate and emotional, especially when she sings her song “Stay”. It’s beautiful to watch. Friday morning we drove back down to Milwaukee from Tim’s apartment in Manitowoc and flew to Boston. We got our convertible Mustang rental car, checked into our hotel and proceeded to one of baseball’s last great parks….Fenway. We ate at a couple of the local pubs just outside of Fenway before both games that we saw…one Friday night and one Sunday afternoon, both versus the Chicago White Sox. Just before the Sunday game we got to take a tour of Fenway Park, which was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. Can’t you tell I’m a big Boston Red Sox fan?! LOL.

Saturday Tim and I drove up the coast of Maine to meet up with a good friend of mine who does morning drive on the #1 country station in Portland, ME. Dave is a truly genuine person, very cool and actually lives on a farm! From there, we met up with a buddy of mine from high school who I hadn’t seen since his wedding and then we were traveling south to meet my parents in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire…some of my dad’s old stomping grounds where he grew up. We drove along the strip in Hampton Beach and took in the beauty of the Atlantic Ocean and afterwards went for a lobster dinner at a coastal restaurant.

The following weekend my parents flew out from Maine to visit our family here in the U.P. My kids love having their Nana and Bumpa from Maine come to visit. My dad, my son and I got to take a fishing charter on Saturday thanks to Morti Young from Big Bay De Noc Charters. I’ve known Morti for a few years now and he’s one of the best guys you will ever meet. I am privileged to be performing for his wedding upcoming in June of next year.

Friday September 12th it was back to work for two weddings over the weekend. First, I performed for Staci and James in Manistique followed by Dana and Jacob on Saturday at the Terrace in Escanaba. Staci and James had a few fun things planned for their guests such as putt putt for kissing and they even did an evolution of dance performance for their first dance. The following night, Dana and Jacob Maki had a beautiful wedding day, complete with gorgeous decoration courtesy of Amanda from Ever After Decorating and Rhonda from Flinn’s Flowers. Dana and Jake’s Love Story was beautiful and everyone had a good time.

Last night I had the pleasure of performing at the Wawonowin Country Club in Ishpeming, MI. I don’t get to Ishpeming often, but I have to say that Kevin and his staff do a phenomenal job. The Wawonowin was the perfect size for Rachel and Dave Riley’s wedding with 170 guests. We had just the right special touches added for their wedding day; they had a very touching Mother/Son dance (thanks Marianne!) and even a fun surprise for Dave’s brother who is “In The Navy”! The night concluded with a drunken group sing-a-long to “Friends In Low Places” followed by dancing and singing along to “Don’t Stop Believin’” and ended with Dave and Rachel’s first song they ever danced to together “Can’t Help Falling In Love” by Elvis. Everyone had a great time and they had a wonderful wedding day.

This weekend I am performing for Megan and Adam with what is sure to be a great time. I previously performed for Megan’s sister a few years ago and it’s a pleasure to be able to perform for her family again. We’ll have a surprise guest at the reception (approved my Megan of course) so stay tuned!

Kristin and Brian, Sara and Matt, Alice and Jim and Taylored Weddings on YouTube!

Wow! Where did August go? My past three receptions have all went wonderfully. It’s amazing the caliber of people that I get to perform for week in and week out. First off, Kristin and Brian on August 9th, 2008. Their reception was held at the Terrace Bay Inn where Kristin also works as a server. They had a very unique and fun reception. Guests seemed to flock to the custom monogram that was created just for them and displayed on the dance floor like magic at the start of their first dance. You can see video footage of the monogram and Kristin and Brian dancing in it during their wedding party dance here.

Sara and Matt’s wedding was the following weekend in Marquette at NMU Great Lakes room. Beautiful people with a wonderful atmosphere of elegance and fun was created for their wedding day. They had a very unique idea to have them kiss during dinner, which several guests thoroughly enjoyed.

Just last night, I had the privilege of performing for Alice and Jim. They live in Chicago now and had a very interesting love story that was presented just before their first dance as husband and wife. I also created the photo montage that was shown that evening. We even had what seemed to be a drunken sing a long occur at 9:30pm at night to Faithfully by Journey.

Several videos of the items that I’ve described can now be found on my YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/tayloredweddings. I’ve included photo montages that I have created in the past for clients, touching moments created for the specialy dances at the weddings I perform at, and some of my favorite mixes and crowds.

My family and I celebrated my birthday Saturday morning before I drove to Marquette to entertain for Alice and Jim’s wedding. I’ve got a couple of weekends off now, one by design and one that was a good thing. This upcoming Labor Day weekend my brother in law and I are shipping up to Boston to watch my beloved Red Sox play in a weekend series with the Chicago White Sox and Saturday we will also travel up to my home state of Maine to see a good friend of mine in Portland and have dinner with my parents. The following weekend my Dad, son and I are going to take a fishing charter when my parents come to visit me and my family here from the State of Maine.

Enjoy your upcoming holiday weekend and a busy September kicks off for me again with 5 events starting on September 12th. Staci and James have a few fun surprises planned for their guests and I am happy to be a part of it. Stay tuned.