Ceremony a cappella?! A ca-hellyeah!

I can finally tell you about some of the little touches that made our wedding personal! Yes, I didn't tell you everything, and I'm sorry for that. You know I never want to keep anything from you baby... it's just, I didn't know who else was out there reading this blog. I didn't want my wedding invitees to know about all of our wedding details before they got there, and if one of them read my posts, well then, they'd all know everything. I hope you can trust me again one day.

The first wedding detail I want to tell you about is so cool. We had a college a cappella group at our wedding! They performed before the wedding, and then during the ceremony! It was AWESOME. People are still talking about it. It's something that I've wanted to tell you about for so long, but had to keep top secret.

A while ago Rebecca and I were talking about ceremony music. I was absolutely appalled when I saw how much money some musicians charge to come out and play for an hour (tops). When you weigh that against the price of a DJ that plays music for several hours, or even some wedding bands that play entire receptions, some of these ceremony musicians need to get off their high horses and charge a little less. You have to pick from a list of generic wedding music that they already know, and then if you want them to learn something special they charge you more money. It just seemed like a crazy expense that was an easy cut for someone on a budget. Additionally, I've never been a huge fan of conventional wedding music - ie the violins, the string quartet, etc. That's not to say that I don't enjoy it at other people's weddings - it just means I didn't really ever see it fitting into mine.

I've been to weddings where people had interesting musicians play their ceremony. A cousin of mine had a jazzy horn trio (that had a rocking tuba) and they were great. It was the first time that I really enjoyed the song "Stand by me". Her musicians stuck out cause they were awesome. It was a cool touch. Many people have the option of having a friend or a relative sit in as their musicians. I think that's a really cool idea - but it wasn't something that was an option for us.

So I thought about what type of music I would want during my reception. I wanted something fun. Something that people would enjoy while they waited for the ceremony to start, something that I would enjoy walking down the aisle to, and lastly something FUN to run back down the aisle to as man and wife! Unfortunately, and downright surprisingly, I never heard back from Ben Folds, so I had to cross him off my list and look to my backup plan. Ben DID, however, assist in helping me come up with the idea! A while ago, Ben released a cd of college a cappella groups singing a few of his songs. He hosted country wide auditions on his myspace and website. He asked college groups to send in versions of his songs.

I LOVE a cappella music. I think my love for it was conceived during my adolescence while watching "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?" on television every afternoon. A group called Rockapella would sing us in and out of segments and then rock us out at the end of each episode. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that they were one of the first bands I typed into Napster years later when you could search for music to illegally download. I was shocked to find out that they had other songs... pop songs... classics... etc. It opened my eyes to a cappella. An a cappella group singing "No Diggity"?! Awesome. So, I love a cappella music.

Flash forward years later, and I'm searching for college a cappella groups to come sing at my wedding. It seemed like a natural fit to our relaxed, different, fun, wedding. Something that screamed us since Mrs. Temple of Groom loves a cappella as well (in fact, sorry Ben, but Rebecca listens to that a cappella cd in the car more than your original music sometimes!). So I listened to a cappella groups sing on their sites, and youtube, and sent emails out to the ones I loved. One of the groups I was most excited about was the first one to respond back to my email: Cloud 9 A Cappella from UCSC (University of California Santa Cruz). They were so excited, and very open to learning the new songs that I wanted for our ceremony.

I have to admit, hiring college students for something as important as my wedding day was a little unnerving. When I thought back to how reliable I probably was in college, and how SOBER I was in college, it scared me a little. But I have to say, Cloud9 was professional all the way. They delivered everything we asked for, and more. They set the tone for our guests. Everyone knew that they were in for a night that was going to be unlike any traditional wedding they'd ever been to. It was the PERFECT start to the day.

We told Cloud 9 that we didn't need them to sing lovey-dovey songs before the wedding. It's just not us, so we didn't require it. So Rebecca and I were happy to pick songs from their list of already performed music. For the pre-ceremony music we chose "Higher and Higher" by Jackie Wilson (you know it "your love, keep lifting me higher! Higher and higher", "Wonderboy" by Tenacious D, a mashup of "Kids" (MGMT) and "Poker Face" (Lady Gaga), and "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey. The sucky thing is that we didn't really get to hear the music! The group sang while we signed our ketubah (Jewish marriage documents), BUT we could hear our wedding guests going wild! When we lined up for the wedding ceremony, we could hear everyone getting into the music! They were LOVING it. Clapping after each song bobbing their heads, it was a success.

When the ceremony started I walked down the aisle to another song that they already knew, but I love, and was very appropriate: "Grow Old With You" by Adam Sandler from the movie "The Wedding Singer". The song is fun, light, and in a way, oddly romantic! When it's sung by live singers, it's classic and many people came up to me and said they loved the version even more than the original.

Then in one of the most moving moments of my life the group sang the first song we asked them to learn for Rebecca's entrance: "In My Life" by The Beatles. It was unbelievable. Not only do I think that it's an incredibly touching song when it was sung live, with feeling and heart, we just got so more than I ever expected. It was overwhelming. Yes, I think I probably cried a little bit. I do know for certain that I took a lot of deeeeep breathes because I literally was so excited and so overwhelmed by every emotion I forgot to breathe! Rebecca walked down the aisle, circled me 7 times (a conservative Jewish tradition), took my hand, and we walked underneath our chuppa (Jewish wedding canopy) to the lyrics "and I know I'll never lose affection, for people and things that went before. I know I'll often think about them, in my life I loved you more." and because these kids were so professional and came to our rehearsal, we were able to PERFECTLY time our entrance under the chuppa with the end of the song - when they re-sing the last line "in my life, I love you more". It sent chills down my spine. Even the first time we practiced it at our rehearsal, we knew we were in for something incredible. Something we didn't expect to be as moving as it was. I'm not afraid to tell you that I'm emotionally moved as I type this blog post! It was AWESOME. Below, listen to an mp3 of a practice session that Cloud 9 sent us a few months before the wedding. Keep in mind this is a practice session where they were first learning the song. Listen to it!


THEN, if that wasn't enough, Cloud 9 learned one last song for our wedding march back down the aisle: "Crazy In Love" by Beyonce! When they blasted the "horns" at the beginning of the song as we ran back up the aisle, it was AWESOME. We could hear them belting out their song from back inside of the house on the venue. There was SO much energy. Our guests stood and danced, and when the group ended you could hear everyone go crazy for them. It started the day on the right foot, it brought so much energy to the end of the ceremony that we carried on through the rest of the night. It was just US. We successfully injected a little of our personality into something that sometimes either gets overlooked. (Okay, not as much of our personality as the group of people that danced to Chris Brown down the aisle, but enough of our personality without making a youtube spectacle - Rebecca wouldn't allow it.....) Before they left, we were able to go thank the group but I don't think they'll realize how special it was to us. They were moved during the ceremony and the songs, and I think everyone else was too.

So there you have it, the first detail I kept from you guys. A college a cappella group as our ceremony musicians. Something I haven't seen before, and something I kept close to my chest. I can not endorse this idea enough. Lastly, here's a couple great pictures our photographers (Callaway Gable Photography) took of the group!

(visit Cloud 9's website to listen to their music and watch videos of past performances!)

Ben Folds plays my wedding! (3 months early)

Rebecca and I went to a Ben Folds concert on Wednesday night here in LA. It was AWESOME. We shouted "Temple of Groom" several times, but I don't think Ben heard us. It was such a fun show.

Even though for the first part of the show a 6'5" guy decided to barrel through the crowd and camp out nearly in front of us, we had a blast. Look, total side note to that guy, I KNOW that it's not your fault you're so damn tall. We get it... you were born that way. But at least realize that if you're that effing tall, people are going to get a little upset when you push your way to the middle of a general admission show. The 5'4" girl next to me had a right to say something nasty to you because you pushed her out of the way so you could stand in front of her while your drunk girlfriend didn't even watch the show. She literally had her back to the show the entire time. You have a right to stand where you want, but at least get to the show a bit earlier so the shorter people can plan accordingly. And while I'm at it (sorry for the rant guys)... a quick shout out to the guy that pretends he spots a friend towards the front of the venue so he can push his way forward. Your acting is going to have to get a little better than that. We knew there was no "Adrienne!" 30 feet in front of us. It's a great idea though, people were parting left and right, but try to end up in a spot that is physically capable of human occupancy. Don't wedge yourself in between two people less than a foot apart. You seemed like a pretty good guy but I didn't love the taste of your shampoo!

ANYWAY... It's always great to see a Ben Folds show. If we didn't have such a great DJ booked for our wedding, then I probably would have printed Temple of Groom cards to hand out at the show, and would have thought out some way to let Ben know about the campaign I launched a few months ago. He may not be at our wedding, but his music will be there at some point.

Well, to wrap things up, at the end of the night Ben took a picture of the audience so he could tweet it later... check it out!!!!!!!!!!

Click the pic to enlarge!

Vendor Love - Enter my happy place.

I haven't really gotten burnt out wedding planning lately. One thing that's certainly helped is that things are coming together pretty well, and the high-stress stuff is done. Most recently, we got our invitations back from the printer and they look great. All that's left to do is print the envelopes tie ribbons around our cards and mail them. Things are really coming together. Right now we're trying to figure out our centerpieces and that's kind of driving me up the wall. I mean why on Earth should we have to spend so much thought about something so insignificant?! Nobody remembers the centerpieces unless they suck so much or are overly awesome. We don't have "overly awesome" money, so we just have to spend enough to make them not suck. It's a CROCK that we have to spend just enough money on them so they don't suck so they are forgettable. Thinking about this makes my blood begin to...not boil cause I'm not really THAT mad or concerned that it won't get done... but let's say simmer. My blood is simmering.

Whenever I start to get in one of these moods, I've figured out the remedy to get my blood back down to tepid: think about the vendors that we've committed to. I happen to LOVE our vendors and think that they are so passionate about what they do and they do what they love, that the excitement can't help but to rub off on me. Thinking about my vendors ultimately makes me happy about the wedding and makes me wish the wedding was less than 100 days away (can you believe it, 100 days!!!!). I've blogged about each of our vendors in the past but today as I was trying for a 4th time to complete a blog post about something else and kept getting frustrated, thinking about them put me in a happy place. SO, I just want to take a second to talk about them out loud.

The Cass House Inn: My love for our venue is no secret. The town it's in, the aesthetics of the grounds/building, the food, it's the whole package. Unbelievably the Cass House worked in our budget. Though it's a small trek from LA, I'm looking FORWARD to that. I really like it here in Los Angeles, but I'm excited that the wedding will not take place somewhere in town. I'm not making a dig on anyone that chooses to get married here, because look, there are some INCREDIBLE spots in town, I'm just saying that Cass House is Rebecca and me incarnated into a bed and breakfast. The owners put so much attention into every detail at the Cass House. They couldn't be cooler with the wedding and forming the wedding menu. So far, they've just been awesome. We'll get married on their lawn in their flower garden, then have our reception in their herb garden. It's going to be awesome. A smile on my face.

Callaway Gable Photography: Brian and Allison are geniuses. How cliche would it be of me to say a picture is worth a thousand words.... super cliche?.... okay... but guys, seriously - their wedding pictures aren't just photographs, they are art. The first conversation I had with Brian we clicked. He said something that kind of stuck with me about his photography - he said that a good wedding photograph will make you remember the moment with all of your senses. It's such a cool thought. If you can remember the smells and the tastes of a moment by looking at a picture, then your photographer has really done his/her job. Brian and his wife Allie are a phenomenal duo. Brian's work has appeared in countless magazines and he has such an incredible eye for composition. Allison first appeared on the cover of Teen Magazine when she was 13 and went on to have a very lucrative modeling career. It's for this reason that she knows the do's and don'ts of posing and making a couple look the best they possibly can - she also knows the best angles to capture a moment. The two work flawlessly together. They can do it all. Lastly - I just want to show you some recent engagement sessions pictures that they just posted!

DJ Evoke: I've told you about Samantha aka DJ Evoke a few times already, but she's totally great and I just wanted to talk about her a little more again. Even though a while ago she was preparing for her move from the LA/Beach area to San Francisco she managed to make time to get a mix to me. She wasn't thrilled with her mix because of technology/time constraints so instead of just shelving the whole mix project until she got settled up north, she somehow found the time to make an entire playlist of music for Rebecca and me. We listened to over 2 hours worth of music she sent to us on a car trip up to our venue. At the end of the playlist Rebecca and I both realized that she totally gets us. It was exactly what we want for our reception. I'll fill you in about Evoke from time to time, but I can already see that this is going to be an awesome collaboration between two bloggers! (in case you've forgotten Samantha is a wedding blogger and you can follow her on twitter too! @teambride).

With Bells On Productions: I never thought we would have wedding planners/coordinators. I figured it was a luxury that was just never going to happen. That's when a friend/coworker/honorary family member named Sissy swooped in and made my dreams come true. I've worked with Sissy (co-founder of "With Bells On") on and off for the last 5 years. She hired me on my first Los Angeles job fresh from college. Here are a couple of things I know about her: she's SO meticulous and has an eye for detail like no other human I've ever met, she knows what needs to be done on a minute-by-minute basis, she's got mad skills at planning parties, she's got an unparalleled passion for party planning & coordinating, and she keeps in excellent company with Rachael (the other co-founder of "With Bells On"). I can't tell you how much weight is off our shoulders knowing that "With Bells On" has our backs on our our wedding day. Just the fact that they'll make sure everything is happening and set up, and... I know you get it, but just know that this is probably another entire post about how great this is going to be to have them there.

I'm sorry if some of you think this post is a little infomercial-ish. But look, the way I see it, I've done so much homework for any of you that need excellent vendors but don't know where to turn. I'm telling you, just thinking about any/each of these guys makes me feel so much less stressed because I know we're covered. One of the best parts of wedding planning is just knowing that you don't have to worry about something on your day. You can just trust that it's going to get done and you don't have to think twice about it. Each one of these vendors has done that for me. This weekend we had a slight centerpiece fiasco (I'll blog ya about it later.... that was such a stupid way to say I'll post about it later) and I could have easily lost my shit... instead I put myself in my happy place and thought about how great everything is going to be with our vendors.

Oh, and a beer while lounging on our new outdoor furniture (wedding present from Rebecca's grandparents) is also my other new happy place. Who's coming over for drinks this weekend?

Need a band? Call your Synagogue!

I can already feel it - these guys are gonna blow UP! Maybe we should have asked our Temple if they have a house band we could hire. Orthodox Jewish band covering Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" at a wedding of Shia and Perry. (Love how they incorporate the names into the song)

Well I've always heard, Ain't no party like a Hassidic Jewish party cause a Hassidic Jewish party don't STOP (unless it starts on Friday morning in which case it does stop for shabbat)! Oh man, I have like a million of these! Leave your best Orthodox Jewish band covering Lady Gaga jokes in the comments below.

Damn, one more, I can't stop: Wow, I know Lady Gaga loves shocking us with her wardrobe, but really, putting on a beard, yarmulke, and peyas is a little anti-semtic.

Now I'm done. Enjoy the video.

Game. Set. Match: DJ!

We booked a DJ! What a long crazy ride it's been. How did this happen?!? How'd we get here? Sit back and I'll tell you about one of the best decisions we've made for our wedding.

[cue music: Song TBD by our DJ]

Chapter 1: Splurging all over dueling pianists!
When we first started planning our wedding we were pretty positive we were going to book a band. In one of my first blog posts, "Band, DJ, iPod?" you don't have to be in the FBI's behavioral analysis unit (god I love "Criminal Minds") to tell that I was very pro-band. I had high hopes that I would book some sort of dueling pianos set up. Although live musicians are very expensive we tagged "reception entertainment" as one of our "splurge items". We would definitely watch our spending everywhere else, so we could spend a few more bucks on musicians. It was a perfect setup. So I set out to find a dueling piano act, and I found one. It was, perhaps, a little more expensive than I figured it would be, but I was ready to pay for it.

That's when paranoia set in about the dueling piano act. Is it danceable? And I know they say they can rein in the kitsch factor of their shows, but could they REALLY? I was prepared to take my chances with the kitsch (certainly I could have put something in the contract), but I still wasn't very sure our guests could dance to a few pianos. It would be a good show, but not for dancing. So I looked into adding a drummer to the piano show which raised the already high price. Then I figured while I was adding a drummer, why not add a guitarist.... I realized that I was just building a rather large band - one with 2 baby grand pianos.... and completely out of our price range. I had to let the dueling pianists go. They were unobtainable. It would have been fun, but just too much money. I wasn't prepared to spend that much, and at the end of the day, it seemed like thinking outside of the box was just too expensive. There's a reason there's an inside of the box.

Chapter 2: Counting all my Benjamins (so far, 0)
So after my failed attempt to sign a dueling pianos band I decided to further disappoint myself and try to reach out to the real reason I wanted a piano band in the first place. I desperately wanted to book Ben Folds for our wedding. In my head it made perfect sense: he'd somehow find the blog, see how awesome Rebecca and I are, and it would make him remember why he got into the music industry in the first place. He'd want to play a free 3 hour show for sure. I don't think I need to make this chapter any longer than it should be - we all know the outcome - it was short lived, kind of a joke, and didn't pan out the way I expected it to.

Chapter 3: Finding a band OR How do I stop bands from repeatedly calling my cellphone?
I hit up GigMasters, and spent hours and hours searching for a band. We were wading through a pool of punny band names mixed with a glorious level of so-so talent (disclaimer: there are some really talented bands on GigMasters, I'm not saying they are all bad). I really want to tell you some of the names, but would that be too mean? Should I? Oh man... fine. Phat Chants, The Ringtones, Buster Groove, and about 50 bands w/ some variation of the word Sensation in the title. I read profiles for bands that made my day they were so ridiculous (like this one). It seemed like a high quality band that was capable of playing 3 hours worth of music that we liked was going to cost us at least 1/2 of our wedding budget. And for the most part, the bands that we liked were a little too "glitsy" for our laid back & casual wedding. For instance, ones that came with dancers, or ones that sent me riders about needing a green room w/ specific foods & specific stage requirements needed for their show... Seriously?! You're not playing Dodger Stadium, you're playing a Bed & Breakfast in an off-the-beaten-path beach town in central California. Your deli tray, m&ms, and skittles are the LEAST of my worries on my wedding day. (The rider w/ specific foods is not a joke - one band included this with their quote!)

There were a handful of talented, young, & fun bands that were close to our price range. So I requested quotes. All the bands got back to me and were willing to work with their rates, but at the end of the day they were just all a bit out of our price range, AND at the end of the day we just weren't excited enough about any of them to splurge!

Currently I have the awesome fortune of getting 3-5 voicemails a week from all of the bands asking me if I've reconsidered, or if I've booked anyone else, or if I just changed my mind. Today I got a phone call from a band and it stated (verbatim) "I left you a message on January 18th, February 4th, and February 15th, this will be my last call..." Um really?! Do you promise?! I've already spoken with you and let you know I've gone a different route, but you still call! Take a hint, we broke up... move on. (BTW, if you're the guy from a band that's been calling me and you're reading this, I know you're just doing your job, you seem like a really nice guy, and your band is one of the ones that I liked, but we just can't book you, I'm sorry.)

Chapter Four: Ripping the band-aid off quickly and painlessly!
So Rebecca and I kicked up a lot of dust in our multiple band quote request, and once the dust settled and we saw the bands we could afford, we asked ourselves, "Why do we want a band anyway?". The ones that we could afford generally sounded a tad cheesy/campy, and when we thought about our wide wide tastes of music we realized we would be asking way too much of a band to be able to adequately play everything we like. We started to look at bands' playlists and saw a lot we liked, but at the same time saw a lot we didn't like. Bands in our price range just couldn't play enough music we love. At the end of the day we realized that if we were able to find a DJ... the RIGHT DJ..... one that we could trust and felt comfortable with - that would be the best option for us. But with my trust issues that would prove not to be such an easy task.

The Final Chapter, Chapter 5: I'm starting to sound like a Groomzilla
Ms. Temple of Groom and I set out to find a DJ. Friends recommended a few. Some seemed too cool for school w/ their house trance music mixes and some seemed really good, but overpriced. After all, we were trying to save money by hiring a DJ. We went on a wide rampage looking for DJs. Hell, I even went to a DJ's website that I found from being in traffic on the 101. He was the car in front of me, and had his DJ bumper sticker advertisement on his back window. Something told me that DJ Dandy wasn't going to be the right fit for us, but I still had to see his site. If you're bored, and want to see it, you can click here - spoiler alert: the front page has an english bulldog in a jester hat.

So needless to say, I became more and more hesitant about entrusting our wedding reception to a DJ. Sure they are a little less expensive than a band, but at what cost? I've been to weddings where the DJ seemed to have his own agenda no matter what the he and the bride & groom agreed to. I've seen some DJs literally do magic tricks for the party. I've heard horror stories where DJs made the night about themselves talking on the mic at any given chance, or played the chicken dance. It just seemed like such a risk. I started to think I didn't need a DJ, I needed a music babysitter. I don't think I could come up with fun playlists on my iPod for the entire day, and I don't think that a pre-made playlist can match up with the energy of any given moment. I would be stressed about it all evening. I think that reading energy + manipulating it is something so beneficial that a DJ brings to the party.

SO, I found some DJs close to the venue, and I started drafting my emails to them - bitchy bitchy bitchy groomzilla-esque emails. Ones where I would tell them I didn't want them to speak. Ones that asked them if they'd honor a "do not play" list and would use their judgment and not play songs similar to songs on our do-not-play list (IE if we said no "macarena" you shouldn't play "come on ride the train"). I was proofreading my email and I felt dirty. Like a mean person. I didn't like it, but I just don't want to be burned. Before I hit "send" I sent out a tweet that changed everything:

Oh man, I'm drafting an email to potential DJs and I can't help but come off very groomzilla-esque. I need to sound more positive!

Mere minutes later I received a tweet in response to mine from someone named @TeamBride. It said: @TempleofGroom I can help you out if you want...I wouldn't want you to sound like a groomzilla and I'm a DJ...

Wow. Someone was coming to my rescue to give me DJ advice. Not just SOMEONE, a wedding blogger... a bride-to-be that sends out tweets that I follow... and she was going to help me sound like a better person.

So we started instant messaging, and talking about our weddings, and talking about music in general and TeamBride (Samantha) is extremely knowledgeable and extremely willing to help with any questions I had. During our chat I started reading through her blog, found her top 10 songs at the moment - I love them all. Then it hit me... Samantha is a DJ, I love her taste in music, and she seems like she's completely on the same page as us in terms of what we want our wedding to be. I wanted TeamBride/Sam/DJ Evoke to be our DJ.

By far one of the smartest decisions I think I've made during my months of wedding planning is confiding in and entrusting a DJ that also happens to be planning her own wedding as well. She truly understands my fears and what I want my day to be. More times than not, I don't think the DJ really understands the importance of the day for the bride & groom. Not only because he's single and living in a basement of his parents' house (kidding kidding), but also because he's most likely a guy that doesn't worry about weddings or wedding planning. He may have just "shown up" on his day if he's married. Samantha truly GETS it. I couldn't feel more confident in our decision. Rebecca and I already had a disagreement on what music to play during the cocktail hour - so we got in a chatroom with Sam, and she diffused that bomb so effortlessly. She's truly the best. I'm so happy to welcome DJ Evoke to the Temple of Groom family.

The beauty of it all is that I didn't even have to send 1 bitchy email out to potential DJs. This was just meant to be. Very excited.

Here's what's going on:

Wow, I'm in awe of how wedding bloggers can juggle daily life, work, wedding planning, and STILL find time to blog. Not only do some of you find time to blog, but yo also find time to find awesome and interesting wedding stuff online, THEN blog about it! [slow clap that builds to a standing ovation] I have not been that good! Perhaps I overvalue sleep.

So, we're steadily moving forward with our wedding plans. It's 165 days away. Which seems like such a short amount of time, but I've realized as friends have gotten engaged then married within the time we've been engaged, is plenty of time to get things done. No need to panic about things that aren't done yet!

We've made some progress in the last couple weeks or so! As you've read, we finished registering which took way longer than expected. We also came up with the idea for our E-Session photographs (you'll have to wait and see). I think we potentially found our wedding ceremony musicians, and our reception DJ. OH! I bought my wedding suit! That was awesome. Thanks to a blogger named BowieBride (http://www.bowiebride.com/) who gave me the tip that Barney's Warehouse sale was happening. The suit is beautiful. As soon as I can fit into it, I'll take pictures. Kidding, I can fit.... kind of. Okay, I confess, I bought a suit that has pants that are a little snug. It's my inspiration to lose weight....it's working. Anyway - it's a Michael Kors 3 piece suit. Awesome. Now I just need to find a great shirt, and my sneakers.

On our plate right now we're thinking about videography. I think I came up with one particularly great way to cut costs which I'll share with you later if it comes to fruition. One thing I decided I'm going to do to help combat the astronomical rates I've seen on some of these videographer websites is edit the footage on my own. I know that it's most likely a LOT to chew, but I think that I could easily lay "I had the time of my life" over some reception footage as well as the next guy. Capturing moments on video has always been very important to my family so it's something we need to book, but we're having trouble budgeting it. My dad has been converting all our family videos to DVD and he's been sending me copies. It's been awesome to watch them all, and it makes me realize we really need a videographer.

We're also trying to figure out what our tables are going to look like. I'd really like to go with that "casually eclectic looks effortless but really wasn't" tablescape. SO, at some point we're going to hit up some flea markets and look for cool mismatched vases and potential knickknacks. Also, we're thinking more candles - less flowers.

Which leads me to the next morsel of business! We're going down to the flower district this weekend. Any fellow wedding bloggers out there want to meet us? We'll most likely buy our chuppa poles - and I think Rebecca wants to get some ideas for flowers to carry. I also think she wants to buy flower seed to potentially make her own bouquet.

I know I'm forgetting a whole bunch of stuff we're doing. We need to start designing our invitations. I'm so worried I've bitten off more than I can chew with Gocco. I know we'll eventually understand it, then fall in love with it - I'm just apprehensive. We also need to make time to get up to our wedding venue and meet with rental houses about certain things. Wow.

Oh man... So much to do. Anxiety and panic setting in. Overtaking body. I need a brown paper bag to breathe into. Maybe I can find a cool vintagey decorated one on etsy, or better yet regretsy.

The Entertainment Machine

I've dedicated a chunk of time today attempting to find bands online. I'm sifting through tons of pages, and watching demo videos. To make things a little more fun I'm pretending I'm a high level record producer looking for the next big band. Unfortunately, I haven't found it yet.

But one listing COMPLETELY caught my eye, and I've been obsessing over it for the last hour or so. I've laughed pretty steadily since I saw this listing, and it's just totally made my day. It just tickled me the right way. So the band I found advertised themselves with by saying:

"With our band, you're not only getting several bands in one but literally an entertainment machine."

This sent my mind into a frenzy. I know they're describing themselves as being an entertainment machine, but I've been laughing since reading this imagining the band showing up with a LITERAL (as they said) entertainment machine. I've been wondering what the entertainment machine looks like. Will it clash with our centerpieces? Do I have to worry about the safety of my guests? If left unattended is there a chance it could enter attack mode? SO, I know I'm an ass, but I couldn't resist myself - I emailed the band and inquired about the entertainment machine. Here's my letter:

Hi! I'm very interested in hiring your band to perform at our wedding reception in August, but I've got a few questions regarding the entertainment machine you bring. Space is an issue at our venue, approximately how large is the machine and is it aesthetically pleasing? If not, is it something that can be hidden so guests don't see it? I assume that it's needed for your performance but if it's not, is there a way you can please work up 2 price quotes - 1 with the entertainment machine and 1 without? Lastly, I'm a little concerned about power for the entertainment machine. Does it run on regular 120v power? If not will you supply a generator?

And finally, here is what I picture the entertainment machine to look like!

Ben Folds + Our Wedding = My Impossible Campaign

As of right now, I give myself an F.... maybe a D minus for effort.... I haven't booked a musical act for the wedding. It's the ONE task that men across the globe want to help wedding plan. Sure, I've had a lot of great ideas, but I haven't pulled the trigger.

It's late at night and I'm in bed thinking what music I want at my wedding. A name blazes through my head so fast it's like a big fast name that's on fire, and it's evidently all I can think about because I couldn't even come up with a good metaphor for something that's fast and blazes! The name is Ben Folds. I know it's impossible and it will never happen. So I roll over and wake up Rebecca to try to get her opinion. It's absolutely no help that she wakes up and groggily says she wants Ben Folds too. So instead of sleeping, I spend hours trying to figure out where I can find an affordable band to replicate that sound. The problem is, it can't be done. Such a band does not exist.

So I'm coming to you internet. As cliche as it sounds, stranger things have happened. Maybe one day Ben Folds will get bored and google his own name. Maybe I'll be somewhere on that list and he'll click. Let's somehow get my plea to him. I'm sick of wasting my time trying to figure out what I can find to replace Ben... now I'm onto wasting my time trying to reach out to him. Today I launch my campaign to get Ben Folds perform at my wedding reception. With your help, let's make this impossible task happen! If you run a site, post a link! Help a brother out! The campaign begins today!

TEMPLE OF GROOM
OPERATION: GET BEN FOLDS TO PLAY OUR WEDDING
DAY ONE

Task 1: Reach out to Internet
Task 2: Letter to Ben Folds (see below)

Dear Ben,
Hey dude, what's up? Did you see the series finale of "Monk?" I don't really watch that show, but I think it was pretty good. Cool, cool....So look, obviously you know I didn't come here to talk about "Monk" and I know what you're thinking "Dave only writes to me when he wants something." Look, you're not completely wrong. I feel terrible about it. But now I'm swallowing my pride because I'd be forever grateful if you could just do me this one solid: play at our wedding in August. Before you scoff, and turn away, I do want to say that you kind of did this to yourself man. You're too good. You've made it impossible to like any other music. Nothing will do.

I don't want to bore you with details about Rebecca and me, but you'd really like us. We're fun, and we're going to have a great wedding. The food should be awesome, and you're totally welcomed to eat with us. We've been fans of yours for a very long time. I've loved your music for the last 12 years when I first heard you (I was living in Charlotte at the time). We're definitely fans, but we're not the type you have to be afraid of (we've never thought about wearing your skin to see if it makes us better at the piano!). BUT, we are the type of fan that thought that your concert was the best way to spend our 3 year anniversary last year (@ the Wiltern).

On TV, I just watched Oprah surprise her best friend Gayle by having Josh Groban serenade her at work. I think you're easily 10x cooler than Josh Groban. I'm not saying that we're any better than Gayle, but between you and me...well, I just think you'd have a better time at our wedding than hanging with Gayle (although I hear that she makes an awesome spinach and artichoke dip). You seem like someone that would want to make a wedding on a tight budget the event of a lifetime because it would mean so much to the couple. I don't know how true this is, but years ago a friend of mine that went to UNC claimed he saw you talking to a homeless man for over an hour. This proves that you're awesome and caring. This is why I think I have a chance, albeit a 0.04% chance.

Alright, I don't want this to get too beggy, or too long so I guess I'll wrap this up. If you've got any questions, please don't hesitate to write. But before I go, just think about all the website hits you're gonna get from people that read my website. I can guarantee probably about 20-30 a day....a DAY. You'll blow up. Lastly, let me say that Rebecca and I love you and we hope your family is well and having a great holiday season.

Hit me back whenever you get a chance,
Dave

PS. If it makes a difference I can promise that you won't have to play "Rock this bitch" at the wedding!

Idea: Dueling Pianos?

Yesterday I came up with an idea, and now I want to get some feedback. What do you guys think about having dueling pianos as the wedding band/entertainment?

If you've never been to a piano bar and seen dueling pianos, basically it's two piano players facing one another, taking turns playing a mixture of songs. They normally try to outdo one another by getting more crowd participation or by making the performance more enjoyable. They usually play mostly anything that's asked of them, and they bring the fun. Any piano bar I've ever been to, I've never left sober, and I usually leave thinking it was a blast.

Keep in mind we're thinking of having a more casual wedding. We aren't very formal people, so it kind of seems fitting. People would most likely drink their faces off, join in singing with the piano players, and dance. Not sure if the piano players would ever let one of us take the mic - but everyone knows my love of Karaoke, so it may be a possibility.

What do you guys think?

Band, DJ, iPod?

Guys, let's start with a topic I know you all care about - music. It's perhaps the only manly wedding issue there is. So we'll take baby steps on our "Let's all care about our wedding planning" journey. Instead of jumping into the "make our own invitations" and "DIY centerpieces" pool, we'll just getting a toe wet and talk music puddle.

Reception entertainment is huge. I think we can all agree that it will make or break the wedding. So the question is: Band, DJ, or iPod? I think all have their pros and cons.

Band: Most expensive, but easily most awesome. What kind of band do you pick? Personally I don't want a band that's going to play music I would tell a DJ not to play ("Celebration", "We Are Family", "Shout"). Just because it's live, doesn't make me love it. You want to appeal to everyone at the party, but where do you draw the line? One of my cousins had a New Orleans jazz band at his wedding. I didn't know a single song, but it was the most fun I've had dancing at a wedding. So do we pick a band that plays fun music nobody knows? I almost love that idea. (post your wedding band ideas, suggestions, etc, in the comments section!) Oh, also, what happens if the band doesn't know the song you want as your first dance? Will they learn it? I picture a jerk lead man saying "This band plays what we want, when we want, we aren't going to learn "You're still the One" by Shania Twain." (that is not my first dance song btw).

DJ: Less expensive than a band, but in my opinion the biggest risk. Wedding DJs seem to be loose cannons. They take song requests even when you tell them not to, they play ice breaker songs like the macarena, chicken dance, etc. How can I trust a grown man that calls himself DJ Dano (actual name found when googling DJ, wedding, Los Angeles)? HOWEVER, I'm in no way totally against having a DJ at the wedding. I just want someone I can trust. Someone that knows I will throw him out if he plays something I don't like. I'm sure there are incredible DJs out there that can be told "don't talk unless asked", "only play our approved music", and "NO icebreakers" and will listen. Post your DJ advice, horror stories, success stories, in the comments section of the blog!


iPod: Definitely the least expensive option. I have the ability to create my own playlist. Sure it can't change with the flow of the party, but my playlists are awesome. Okay admittedly I've been at a party where I plugged in my iPod and then questioned why the hell I put songs next to one another - six 80s songs in a row - really? Friends have said there are horror stories about wedding iPod entertainment. I'd love them to elaborate in the comments section! Has anyone ever considered hiring someone to sit by the iPod - a makeshift dj? I want to hear your iPod reception stories!

Alright everyone, voice in! Let me hear your advice and opinions! What did you do at your wedding? Did it work? What are you planning at your wedding? Are you happy with your selection? Nervous? Comment below.