Marino's Wedding Entertainment Blog is moving!

One of the things I learned at the conferences I attended over the last two weeks is that

A BLOG ISN'T AS EFFECTIVE IF IT ISN'T HOSTED ON YOUR WEBSITE.

As much as I loved using Blogger/Blogspot to host my blog (mainly because of its ease of use and constant uptime), it just wasn't helping me as effectively in reaching you. So I finally "bit the bullet" and switched over to Wordpress.

The old content will remain with blogger, but new content starting in March 2009 will be based at my website.here. So please go there for information, ideas, stories, pictures, and more! I look forward to serving you.

My Wedding DJ Buddy & his family = Famous

DON FAUMUINA runs Spin Doctors Mobile Disco/I Do Wedding Entertainment here in Honolulu, HI. He is a very good friend of mine. His wife BELLA sings in a local musical group called NA WAI HO'OLU'U O KE 'ANUENUE (The Colors of the RAinbow). Last year they released a music video of "Oh Boy," one of their hits, and their video is exploding on YouTube and on local TV! Check it out! You will see Bella throughout the video, but look for cameos of Don and their two boys! My DJ friend is famous!

Vegas Day Zero

It's been quite a day! I'm in the room relaxing before the big Welcome Get-Together later tonight. It has been a very intense day, with LOTS of learning and ideas, ultimately which will be shared with you to help you make your wedding day more FUN, UNIQUE, STRESS-FREE, and MEMORABLE.

Here are some highlights from today's seminars and workshops:

JIMMY JOHNSON warmed up the audience before the first seminar.



PAUL KIDA talked about finding inspiration, and being inspiring to your clients. From this seminar, I picked up a BRAND NEW table release activity that is VERY INTERACTIVE and A LOT OF FUN.



ROB PETERS, MIKE FERNINO, and SCOTT FAVER spoke about tax strategies, doing events for non-profits, and maximizing your exposure in dealing with these organizations.





The ThinkCycle Session was a workshop on maximizing your business and performance. Everyone shared ideas and gave constructive criticisms on how we market our businesses and communicate with our clients. I was able to pick the brains of some people from Kansas, Indianapolis, and Chicago; get their insights on how they communicate in their markets; and adapt what I learn to the brides & grooms I meet in Hawaii.

Officially, the day is over, but there is still a lot going on! There's the Welcome Party tonight, and I'm going over to Bucca de Beppo with some good friends for dinner. There are over 70 of us going, so the experience should be interesting!

Come back tomorrow for more stories and images from my adventures here in Las Vegas at the Mobile Beat DJ Conference!

Aloha from Vegas!

I finally made it! I'm in my room here at the Riviera, and it's the morning of the first "unofficial" day of the MOBILE BEAT DJ CONFERENCE. The flight itself was uneventful.

Thumbs up, we are a Go for takeoff!

DON from I Do Wedding Entertainment/Spin Doctors Mobile Disco and I finally arrived at 11:30pm Pacific Time. Although we didn't get to our room until around 1:30am (due to many factors), we were still in pretty good spirits.





After dropping off our stuff in the room, we went out for food. We ended up meeting JERRY, a DJ from San Diego, and his wife LISA, and having breakfast with them. It was cool to pick their brains and see what unique things they are doing for their brides and clients in their market; likewise, we shared some of the original things we do for you in Hawaii. In the end, Don and I picked up some very good ideas that we can use to make your wedding more FUN & UNIQUE! And the seminars haven't even started! By the end of the week, I'll have many more ideas, which will ultimately help you have a more FUN, UNIQUE, STRESS-FREE, and MEMORABLE experience at YOUR wedding!

Stay tuned throughout the week as I post new ideas, thoughts, and experiences that I will learn about! Check back often for the latest!

More learning = more unique presentations for you

On Sunday, I leave for Vegas for two conferences, where I will learn about new trends and ideas to help you make your wedding day more FUN, UNIQUE, STRESS-FREE, and MEMORABLE. The first one is the Mobile Beat DJ Conference, held officially on February 17-19, but with more educational seminars on February 16 as well.




I'll be learning and developing new games, activities, routines, and more, which in turn will help you have a more personalized, interactive, and original experience at your wedding, since many of these games and ideas originated from conferences like these.

The week after is the Catersource/Event Solutions Conference & Tradeshow, held this year at the Las Vegas Hilton. This is where I network and learn about the latest wedding trends for 2009: what's "in" (candy buffets, going "green", value-oriented presentations), what's cool (linens, chair covers, photobooths), and what's "out" (chocolate fountains, Hummer limos, extravagant events). When I get back, I'll have more ideas to help you make your wedding look "current" but still within budget!

And when I get back, I have some business training workshops to attend to here in Honolulu. These workshops will help to streamline my business, which ultimately will help me save time and money to better serve you!

Over the next three weeks, there will be a lot of learning, but it is necessary to consistently provide you with a fresh, original, and unique palette from which to create your own celebration.

Of course, while I'm away, I will still be checking my email and voicemail, so please feel free to call or email! You won't wait too long for a reply! Or if you're going to be in Vegas for the next two weeks, call me; let's get together and hang out while we're there!

Get Motivated!

Last Monday (Feb 9), I attended the Get Motivated! Conference at the Blaisdell Arena. As a person who motivates audiences at weddings and parties, it was good for me to get some motivation as well! Seminar topics included leadership, business, and building relationships with people--skills that I need to have as a party host and Certified Professional Master of Ceremonies. These skills allow me to motivate your guests and make sure everyone feels comfortable at your event. So this day was a day of personal and professional development, and I was taught by some very inspiring teachers.

ELI MANNING, quarterback for the 2008 Super Bowl Champions New York Jets, talked about leading and inspiring a team towards a common goal. I got some great ideas on how to keep an audience going and moving towards a common goal--a fun and lively wedding.





The great ZIG ZIGLAR, a master sales trainer, spoke about the importance of building relationships. Relationships are the key to bringing out the best in people, from your wedding party to the guest of your parents whom you have never met.




University of Hawaii head football coach GREG MCMACKIN talked about goal-setting, and how your values are directly tied to whether or not you achieve those goals. If you create a wedding that doesn't fit who you are and your core values, don't expect it to have the same impact as one that is directly rooted in your goals.




TAMARA LOWE was a fantastic Master of Ceremonies. She really knew how to keep the energy up between speakers and how to get people motivated. I learned many new things from her.




Former New York mayor RUDY GUILIANI spoke about leadership through difficulty. He shared his experiences in dealing with 9/11 and how people remained calm through the tragedy. Likewise, if things go wrong at your wedding, try to remain calm and remember that you have a great team surrounding you. From your vendors to your wedding party, they will work hard to help you overcome whatever obstacle that comes up.




The crowd was huge! It was sold-out on the day I attended.




And of course, being the gearhead, I had to take the obligatory picture of the audio rig, which was provided by Rhema Systems. (From what I was told, Hawaii Stage & Lighting Rentals provided by the lighting & staging. Not sure who provided the video, but they were awesome too.)




Overall, it was a very educational day, and a lot of the things I learned will be applied to your wedding or special event in order to make it more FUN, STRESS-FREE, UNIQUE, and MEMORABLE! By becoming motivated, I can have YOUR guests GET MOTIVATED!

Linked to Facebook!

In an earlier post, I wrote about how I now have a Facebook page to stay in touch with my friends, clients, and you. Today, I think I figured out how to link this blog to the page so that every time I post a blog entry, it will be reflected on Facebook as well. This is the first post that should be cross-posted between this blogsite and FB. Let's see what happens. (And if I crash the World Wide Internets, my apologies. :)

"I thought it was pepper."

At many weddings during the toasts, the bride & groom may wish to "open the floor" to guests who wish to say a few words to them. At this one wedding, one guest wasn't paying attention to what was going on and was handed the microphone. Hilarity ensues. (No, it wasn't one of my weddings, but I did laugh when I found the clip on the web.)

INCREDIBLE Offer for Videography from Advanced Visual Arts

Are you still looking for a great videographer to document your day? GREG and the guys from Advanced Visual Arts have an incredible offer.



AVA has two videography packages. The Basic Package includes:

• 1 Camera at your Ceremony
• 1 Camera at your Reception
• 6 Hour Coverage
• Professionally edited with Music and Titles
• Custom Designed Video Case
• 3 Complimentary DVD Copies

The Classic Package gets you:

• 1 Camera at your Ceremony
• 1 Camera at your Reception
• Professionally edited with Music and Titles
• Custom Designed Video Case
• 8 Hour Coverage, instead of six hours
• Prebridal Coverage
• Records the Photo Session
• Interviews with Bridal Party & Family
• 5 Complimentary DVD Copies, instead of three

Normally the investment for the Basic Package is $895, and the investment for the Classic Package is $1095. But GREG (AVA's owner) is offering you the opportunity to have the Classic Package for the same investment as the Basic Package. This gives you so much more value to your videography package!

To be eligible for this offer, you need to...

• Already be my client. So if you haven't booked me yet to be your Certified Professional Master of Ceremonies, this is another good reason to.
• Understand that Greg will not be onsite on the day of your wedding, but he will edit the final copy of your video. Greg has a wonderful team of experienced videographers to capture your day. I have worked with them; they are superb guys.

I have worked with Advanced Visual Arts on many occasions. They are outstanding people with incredible product. Get more info and check out samples of their work by visiting

http://www.advancedvisualarts.com

Tell GREG that Marino sent you!

One of my favorite Super Bowl commercials

If you have ever worked backstage at a concert or live theatre, you will really appreciate this clip. And if you haven't, you'll appreciate the lighthearted approach to it. In some ways, it does happen like this...

They didn't work out.

One of the joys I get out of doing this is seeing how happy brides and grooms are on their wedding day. With so much emotion invested into this day, it feels really good to see them have the time of their lives.

While I try to stay in touch with my friends (because at that point, I consider my clients my friends), it gets hard sometimes, and occasionally, we lose touch with one another.

So it saddens me when I find out that things didn't work out. Which is what happened today. While on Facebook, I ran into a good friend of a couple who I helped in 2006, a couple whose wedding was one of the craziest, wildest parties I have ever performed. In fact, I still use their clip of the Reverse Garter in my expo booth presentation. Sadly, a few months after the wedding, trouble started brewing, and a year after the wedding, this couple had separated. According to the friend, the bride has already moved on, and the groom lost touch with all of his friends because it was simply awkward to hang out with them when their whole group was tight.



I'm a romantic at heart, and it saddens me to hear stories like this. In a perfect world, every romance is a fairy tale punctuated by the "happily ever after"...but the reality is that the hard part begins after the "I Do's" are said and done with.

Here's my point: cherish your relationships. And realize that while the wedding day can be a challenging time...the real test happens after.

What keeps me going are the many SUCCESS STORIES that happen.

It's always great to hear of couples who are STILL happily married to each other, who have gone on to raise families, buy homes, etc. Like CELIA & NATE, happily married way back in 2000...today, they are still very much in love, raising a wonderful family, and living the dream...



For every couple that didn't work out, it feels good to know that there are 2-3 that do...And that's one of the reasons I keep doing this.

OWA Fun!

I belong to a great group of wedding professionals, and every month, the Oahu Wedding Association has a get-together, to socialize, network, learn about industry happenings, and to have fun. Yesterday's meeting at Anela Garden was no exception. The location was beautiful, and the food was very good. The presentation was a lot of fun too, as we all shared ideas on advertising and using "new media" and "social networking" (Facebook, blogging, etc.) to build our business in 2009.





And of course, guess who was the Master of Ceremonies and ringmaster of the whole thing?



Of course, this was a party, so there was the ever important socializing and having a good time.





Thanks to the OWA Board for putting this presentation together. Dave, Michelle, Merri, Susan, Emi, Jen Ramsey, Eugene...they all worked very hard to create something very seamless, smooth, informative, and fun for all to enjoy.

Thanks to Geralyn Camarillo with Hokuli'i Images for being our official "press photographer" and for taking such awesome images. The pictures in this post were all taken by her! You can find more images of last night's party on the OWA facebook page. (You don't need to be a member to look at the images.)

Thanks to Pumehana Davis for the delightful harp music during cocktails and dinner.

A special mahalo to Tom Sasagake for hosting the event at Anela Garden!



And of course, to all who came...

THANK YOU FOR COMING.

This party could not have been a success without YOU.

Save The Date: MELISSA & TOM

MELISSA & TOM will be getting married on September 19, 2009 at the Turtle Bay Resort. This will be a fun wedding; Melissa was a theatre major in college, so she is very outgoing and entertaining. Tom is a gamer: Melissa says he owns over 200 games on various platforms. They met online, and after dating long-distance while Tom served our country, and after he asked Melissa's father for her father's permission, Tom proposed on New Year's Eve in such a storybook way.

Details for their celebration are still very much under development, but there is a lot of material to work with. Their reception will truly be a reflection of who they are, how much fun they are, and how stress-free it will be. It will be exciting!

LEGO buffet table release for weddings

A delightful conversation with VERMA (wedding on Aug 8, 2009) brought to mind an original and fun way to release the tables to the buffet, using LEGO--those bright yellow, blue, red, and white bricks that we all loved playing with when we were younger.



Several years ago, I did a wedding for JOSHUA & SAMANTHA. Joshua was a contractor/builder, and Samantha had a two year old boy who loved playing with LEGO. So I incorporated both concepts into the reception with a very creative table release! Here's what I did.

Before the reception began, Samantha's "setup crew" and decorators placed several pieces of LEGO on each table next to the centerpieces.

When it was time to release the tables, I told the guests that the banquet captain would NOT release the tables. Instead, I would ask the guests to use the LEGO pieces to build homes, tying in Joshua's career as a contractor into Samantha's son's love for LEGO. The first three teams to complete the project to specifications would go next to the buffet. For example, I could ask for a two-bedroom, one-bath single story home, with two doors and five windows. Using the LEGO pieces, guests on each table built the house I asked for, and they got very creative with the construction. And of course, the first three teams to complete the project went next to the buffet.





While the houses didn't come out exactly like how you see above, the activity was a lot of fun, very personalized, and for many guests, it brought back wonderful memories of their childhood!

And finally, for VERMA, since she and DARREN are also big LEGO fans, here's an original "Save-The-Date" I found on the web.

Save The Date: MARIBETH & PAT

MARIBETH & PAT are planning a fun and original wedding on July 18, 2009, at the Hale Koa Hotel. It's still a long time until the wedding, but there are a lot of creative ideas we could incorporate into their celebration. Besides a Chinese Lion Dance, they are planning to have some hula kahiko, play some pranks on the garter winner, and many other original ideas. It will be a lot of fun!

Congratulations to IANDELL & FINLEY!

IANDELL & FINLEY got married last November, and they had a fantastic time with the celebration we helped them to create.



They are proud to announce the upcoming birth of their baby! Iandell is due in August, and we wish her and Finley the very best. Congratulations!

I'm on Facebook!

My profile is still very much a work in progress, but you are invited to drop in and be a friend! :)

Thank you for coming!

To all of the brides and friends who dropped by my booth at the Hawaii Bridal Expo this weekend: thank you for coming! It was great meeting you and hearing your stories about your upcoming wedding.

To my past clients (Sunny [and her mother and sister Summer], Kris & Christy): it was AWESOME to see you again! It is so nice to catch up and see how things have changed since your wedding, and how some things have stayed the same! Special thanks to KRIS, who was gracious enough to hang out and help me in my booth even though he missed the Baltimore game! Thank you thank you thank you!



Thank you to all my photographer & videographer friends who helped contribute images and video to my booth presentation! Your generosity, and more importantly, your friendship, is very much appreciated!

Over the next few weeks, I will be following up with those of you who are planning your wedding soon, and I look forward to helping you create a party that is so very FUN, STRESS-FREE, UNIQUE, and something that will give you HAPPY MEMORIES THAT WILL LAST FOREVER!

Don't forget to register for the Wedding VIP Club! Visit

http://weddingvip.ninjaentertainment.com

Hawaii Bridal Expo = Arrgghhh

Leading up to the Hawaii Bridal Expo this weekend, there is a flurry of activity here at the Ninja Entertainment office:

• The website has been updated...again. Check it out.
• The office printer is busy...printing. It is printing a bunch of stuff to be given away.
• I'm racking my brain figuring out how to approach this expo this time.

Each show is different, and what may work at one show may not work at the other. Part of the fun of these productions is trying to figure out what's hot and what's not, and what will bring brides to my booth or drive them away.

If you are going to be at the show, drop by, say hello, and watch some of the funny videos I'll be showing throughout the day! It will certainly be fun!

Oh, and don't forget to download a $1 coupon to save on your admission!

Fun with Married Names

I had the privilege of having lunch and a superb conversation yesterday with LESA, an upcoming bride-to-be, about the hilarity of married names. You see, her full name is LESA K. CHOCK-HUNT. When Lesa's mother got married a long time ago, Lesa's mother decided to hyphenate her name, and when Lesa was born, it was decided that Lesa would take the hyphenated name as well.

Now that Lesa is getting married, she wants to still keep "Chock-Hunt", but she realizes how ridiculously long her whole name will be if she decides to go for it.

LESA K. CHOCK-HUNT-KODAYAMA

Imagine having to sign that on all of your legal documents! Oh, and that doesn't include her full Hawaiian middle name, which starts with a "K", ends with an "a", and has an ARMY of vowels and consonants in between!

So she's undecided as of now. Should she go for the long string of letters, or simply go by Lesa K.C.H. Kodayama? Lesa and I had a good laugh about her unique situation, and about how I would introduce her and her husband for the Grand Entrance:

Ladies & Gentlemen, please rise and help me welcome your guests of honor, MR. DAVID KODAYAMA & MRS. LESA K. CHOCK-HUNT-KODAYAMA!

Even Lesa had to admit that it would be quite a mouthful.

Dear readers, any advice for Lesa? Feel free to leave a comment, as she is a regular reader of this blog and will GREATLY appreciate your thoughts.

Website updated...again.

Have I mentioned lately that I work for the BEST brides-to-be EVER??

Thank you to Lisa, Corrine, Kehau, and numerous other brides-to-be who wrote in recently to tell me that there was a problem with the navigational menu on the Ninja Entertainment website. Apparently, the old java applet used to code the menu wasn't as universally compatible as I thought it was. So those brides (and probably many more) could not get past the first "movie" page on my website because there was no way of moving to the other pages!

So I spent a few hours yesterday re-coding the menu into javascript. The resulting menu should be more compatible with most operating systems and browsers. So if the last time you visited my website and could not get past the "welcome movie" page, you might want to go back and check it out now. You will be able to access the rest of the movies, including some samples of me performing at various weddings and some testimonials from the many wonderful brides I have performed for in the past. Check it out at

http://www.ninjaentertainment.com

And if it still doesn't work, email me please! I appreciate your input.

Weekly Tips Are Out!

Members of my Wedding VIP Club, check your inboxes: the Weekly Wedding and Romance Tips are out!

• If I was your Master of Ceremonies or DJ for your wedding, you will be getting a great tip on keeping the romance alive in your marriage. This week's tip is especially useful if you live on the mainland, on the west side of Oahu, or in a place where you must deal with a lot of traffic every day!
• If you are a future client or have not yet reserved me for your date, you will be getting some great tips to make your visit to the Hawaii Bridal Expo this weekend (January 16-18) more productive!

So if you aren't getting these weekly tips, you can easily get them by joining my Wedding VIP Club. Simply register at

http://WeddingVIP.ninjaentertainment.com

Here is one free tip from the Weekly Wedding Tip newsletter, and this is a tip your man will truly appreciate if he is a football fan:

Sunday, January 18, are the conference championships for NFL Football. These games determine who will be in the Super Bowl on February 1. If your man enjoys football, he won't be thinking of your wedding if you bring him on Sunday. He may even feel some animosity towards you for taking him away from the games on TV! Your solution: bring him with you on Friday evening, January 16, or on Saturday, January 17, so he can watch his games on Sunday. He will GREATLY appreciate you for it!

Did I mention that becoming a member of my Wedding VIP Club was free?

New for 2009: Wedding Reception Workshops

New for 2008: I am presenting three FREE Wedding Reception Workshops this month and next month. The workshops are entitled

Creative Ways To Make Your Celebration More Fun, Unique, Stress-Free, & Memorable

These workshops will be creative brainstorming sessions in which I will share some creative ideas to personalize your party and make it very interactive and involving for your guests. These workshops will be limited to only four couples per session to make sure that each couple gets at least a few ideas for their own personalized party.

The workshops will be held on Thursday, January 29, February 5, and February 12. Each workshop will be held at My Office at 1019 Waimanu Street Suite 101 (Honolulu, HI 96814), and will begin at 6:30pm.



(For those working with KELLY SUGANO or MARY CACHUELA with A Perfect Day, NAOMI LEE with Les Saisons, or JAMES CHUN with Crane Media Productions, yes, it is the same office. We share office space.)

To register for any of the workshops, please visit

WeddingVIP.ninjaentertainment.com

Space is limited for each free session, so let me know ASAP when you are interested in attending!

Waxing.

I work with the greatest brides EVER. LESA, who is getting married in 2010, sent me this post on weddingbee.com to share with you. This is especially helpful if you are having a destination wedding or honeymoon in Hawaii, where you will be spending a lot of time on the beach in a bikini. These are great tips for ladies who have never gone in for a wax before.

Check it out!

New Issue of Wedding VIP Club Newsletter is OUT!

The January issue of the Wedding VIP Club Newsletter is out, and it's a good one! It is filled with great advice for the bride-to-be, as well as useful romance tips for the already-married bride. If you aren't getting it yet, you can become a member of the Wedding VIP Club by visiting

http://WeddingVIP.ninjaentertainment.com

The big news...starting this year, the newsletter will come to you WEEKLY. Ok, maybe not the full newsletter, but this is how it will break down:

• Brides-to-be will get Weekly Wedding Tips to make your wedding day more FUN, UNIQUE, STRESS-FREE, and MEMORABLE!
• Brides (those already married) will get tips on romance to keep the fires of love burning!

And at the beginning of every month, everybody gets the FULL newsletter, which combines both the Wedding Tips and Romance Tips, as well as Anniversaries & Events and Tips for the Guys!

So remember, to become a member of the Wedding VIP Club, simply register at

http://WeddingVIP.ninjaentertainment.com

Making your wedding more FUN, UNIQUE, STRESS-FREE, and MEMORABLE can really be that simple.