Images & more from Chris & Tia's wedding

In my last blog post, I wrote about how honored I was to be performing at Chris & Tia's wedding last Saturday. I wrote about how I wasn't just making announcements for five hours...I helped them and their families create a lifetime of memories.



Documenting the memories were Kim & Nate from Aihara Visuals, and they have teaser pics up on their blog. Check it out!

This is one of my favorites:



Tia, Chris, and their guests are surely having a lot of fun, aren't they?

Here's another one:



You may be wondering why there is a picture of a Heineken bottle instead of a table number. It was one of the fun ways we personalized Chris & Tia's wedding and how we got the guests involved during dinner.

Those who know Chris & Tia know that they are very social drinkers and connoisseurs of beers and spirits, and they and their friends are very knowledgeable about drinks. So instead of the banquet captain traditionally releasing their tables to the buffet, we played a game! Each table was named after one of Chris & Tia's favorite beers or spirits, and throughout the evening, I would read trivia about these drinks. Guests would guess which spirit or drink I was speaking of, and when they guessed correctly, the table named after the spirit would go next to the buffet. Instead of guests simply sitting bored at their tables, guests got into the fun by yelling out the answers and encouraging the correct tables to go to the buffet! And for those guests who were not drinkers, it helped them to understand one of Chris & Tia's major passions.

Tables were named after the following spirits and were released in random order unless otherwise noted:

• Dirty Skyy Vodka Martini - Chappell/Waits Family Table, first to be released
• Jameson Whiskey - Sablan/Hayami Family Table, second to be released
• Newcastle English brown ale
• Bass English pale ale
• Guiness Irish dry stout (mmmm...Guinness...yum)
• Red Stripe Jamaican lager beer
• Boddingtons English bitter, "the Cream of Manchester"
• Heineken Dutch pale lager
• Pabst Blue Ribbon American beer
• Spicy Bloody Mary
• Bushmill Irish Whiskey

Here's how Chris & Tia's final timeline looked like:

Sequence	Time		Event
0	4:30pm		Wedding Ceremony in the Maile Gardens
1	5:30pm		Doors to the Waikiki Ballroom open to the Guests; Cocktail Hour; Receiving Line
2	6:30pm		Welcoming of Guests, Grand Entrance, Greetings & Welcome by the Newlyweds
3			Announcements (e.g., parking validations, restrooms, etc.); Invocation/Blessing of the Meal by Chris’ uncle TIM
4			Meal (Favorite Beers Table Release; Kissing Games)
5	7:30pm		Recognition of Family & Out-Of-Town Guests
6			Cake Cutting
7			Toasts & Speeches by Maid of Honor MYLA; Best Man DAMON; Chris’ father GEORGE; Chris’ stepfather WAYNE
8			Bouquet & Garter Activities (Bouquet Surprise; Traditional Bouquet Toss; Traditional Garter Removal & Toss; Reverse Garter)
9			Centerpiece Giveaway (Hot Centerpiece Time)
10			Video Slideshow, presented by NORTH SHORE VIDEO PRODUCTIONS
11			Mother/Son Dance (Chris dances with his mother TERRI) (No Father/Daughter Dance)
12			“Father/Daughter” Dance (Chris dances with Tia’s daughter ABIGAIL)
13			First Dance, into Money Dance
14			Open Dancing
15			Grand Finale

And here is Chris & Tia's final reception soundtrack:

1. Kool & The Gang - Celebration (Bridal Party Grand Entrance edit)
2. KC & The Sunshine Band - Get Down Tonight (Chris & Tia's Entrance edit)
3. Bryan Adams - Cuts Like a Knife (cake-cutting)
4. Natasha Beddingfield - Pocketful Of Sunshine (Maid of Honor toast intro edit)
5. Bob Marley - Jammin (Best Man toast intro edit)
6. AHA - Take On Me (instrumental - women to floor for bouquet)
7. The Police - Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic (bouquet catch edit)
8. Guns N Roses - Welcome to the Jungle (instrumental - men to floor for garter)
9. Herb Alpert - Love Potion #9 (Garter Removal & Toss)
10. Marvin Gaye - Let's Get It On (Reverse Garter)
11. Shrek soundtrack - I'm A Believer Reprise (RGarter Reveal)
12. Vengaboys - We Like To Party (Centerpiece Game)
13. Kenny Rogers - Through the Years (Mother/Son Dance edit)
14. Temptations - My Girl (Father/Daughter Dance edit)
15. Jimmy Cliff - Rebel In Me (First Dance)
16. Spandau Ballet - True (Money Dance)
17. Percy Sledge - I'll Be Your Everything (Special Dedication to Rachell & Shawn)
18. Semisonic - Closing Time (Last Dance)

Special thanks again to Kim & Nate from Aihara Visuals, as well as Les from North Shore Video Productions, for documenting Chris & Tia's story. They are all awesome people to work with! Mahalo to the catering and banquet staffs at the Hale Koa Hotel for being so super, too!

This is why I do this.

Meet RACHELL & SHAWN, happily married three years ago, on September 17, 2005.

It was truly an honor to be a part of their celebration and the wonderful memories that were created that night.  They have such a loving and supportive family and friends,and I was blessed to be a part of all of it three years ago.


So three years later, when Shawn's brother CHRIS finally decided to marry his longtime love TIA on October 4, they called me.  They had told me that, in between Shawn & Rachell's wedding and now, they had been to several other weddings, but none matched the passion, romance, and fun as they had experienced at Shawn & Rachell's celebration.  So it was again an honor to be asked to be a part of this family's memories.


So when October 4 arrived, it felt great to see everyone again.  Family who I had met three years ago greeted me like no time had passed, and it was amazing to see just how people have changed in three years...and how people have stayed the same.  Shawn & Rachell now have a darling baby boy.  Chris' mother TERRI is still looking lovely as ever, and Tia's daughter ABIGAIL, who was a wee little lass when I first met her, is now blooming into a precocious and active ten year old.


It dawned on me as I welcomed the guests at the start of the festivities just how special this day meant, not just to Chris & Tia, but to their families and friends.  This wasn't just about five hours of eating, laughing, and socializing...this was about coming together as a family and creating a lifetime of happy memories.


And once again, I felt truly blessed to be a part of it all.

Congratulations, Tia & Chris, on your wedding day.  It was indeed an honor to be a part of your memories...and that of your family.  I look forward to continuing to be your family's preferred party host for all of life's most significant milestones.

To my readers:


If you are already married, drop me a line and let me know how you have been doing since your wedding.  It's always nice to hear from you, and how things are different now...and how some things are still the same.


If you are getting married soon and have already reserved me for your wedding day, I look forward to helping you create a lot of positive and happy memories for you...and your family.  Memories that will indeed last a lifetime.

If you haven't booked me yet...what are you waiting for?  After all, I'm not just providing 4-5 hours of MC'ing...I will help you create a lifetime of happy memories for you and your cherished ones.

---

And on that note...the October edition of the VIP Wedding Newsletter will be arriving in your inboxes shortly! Please check it for more tips and advice to make your wedding more FUN, STRESS-FREE, UNIQUE, and MEMORABLE. This issue's main topic is on ethnic toasts: the information will help the people you ask to deliver the banzai, Mabuhay, or any other ethnic toast.



As for my married couples, read about how you and others have been faring since saying your "I Do's". For some of you who just started a family, your first Halloween with children may be right around the corner. The newsletter has some tips on how to have a safe, family-friendly Halloween.

And if you are not a member of the VIP club yet, shoot me an email so we can activate your VIP membership.

I look forward to serving you.

Wini & Kin's wedding celebration!

WINI & KIN's wedding last Saturday was certainly a unique one: NO DANCING. Yep, the couple were sure that their guests would not dance, so instead they wanted to do something different to entertain them. In fact, Wini & Kin did not even have a First Dance or Money Dance!

So with no dancing, how do you keep 280 guests entertained so as to prevent them from leaving early?

You create a very personalized party that involves the guests throughout the presentation and is a reflection of who the bride & groom is.

We helped Wini & Kin create a celebration fully loaded with interactive activities that engaged the audience throughout the whole night. From the moment they arrived, there was something going on. As they checked in, guests were offered scrips, which they would redeem later on that night for prizes. During dinnertime, the guests tapped the glasses eagerly to see other people kiss, as we did the Kissing Games to keep the guests entertained as they waited for their turn to the buffet. Instead of the traditional bouquet toss, the ladies participated in the Circle Dance, a unique and organized way of presenting the bouquet.

After the traditional garter toss, the garter winner (BEN, one of the groomsmen) thought he was putting the garter on DIANNA, the woman who won the bouquet, but instead, we did the Reverse Garter. Ben, blindfolded and unaware, actually put the garter on another man's leg, and the audience went crazy!

After a "surprise" song serenade by the groom (which caused many of the guests to cry), we played more games like Last Man Sitting, Golf Ball Chop, and The Raffle. In a reception where you would think many would go home once the formal events ended, surprisingly, many guests remained until the very end!

It just goes to show that having a good DJ is nice to have at the end of the night...but having someone who knows how to emcee and entertain the guests for the four hours of the formal program is even much more important! After all, you can hire the best DJ with the best sound system and biggest music library in the whole world...but if your guests do not enjoy themselves during the program and leave once dancing starts, was it not a waste of money and time?

On the other hand, you can have a mediocre DJ at the end of the night, but if your emcee creates such a lively and engaging program which your guests will remember forever, wasn't it worth the investment in a great emcee? Especially if your guests stick around to dance because they had such a great time beforehand?

For Wini & Kin, having music at their reception was not really important...but having a stress-free, unique, and memorable celebration was.



This is the final timeline for Wini & Kin's wedding reception:

Sequence	Time	Event
0	2:00pm	Wedding Ceremony at Atherton Chapel (Central Union Church), followed by photos with SHAWN STARR
1	5:30pm	Cocktail Hour; Doors to the Leahi Ballroom open to the guests; Receiving Line
2	6:30pm	Welcoming of Guests, Grand Entrance
3		Greetings & Welcome by the Newlyweds
4		Announcements (e.g., parking validations, restrooms, etc.)
5		Lion Dance by the WAH NGAI LION DANCE ASSOCIATION
6		Recognition & stories about the Families, by Wini’s friends ALAN & JAN
7	7:00pm	Meal Kissing Games to entertain the guests as they wait for their turn to the buffet Sometime during dinner, WINI to change into 2nd gown Towards the end of dinner, WINI & KIN WAI to go around & toast each table After toasting all of the tables, WINI to change into 3rd gown
8	8:00pm	Video/slide Show, presented by WINI & KIN WAI
9		Speeches & stories by ALAN & JAN, followed by open floor
10		Speech of Gratitude & Acknowledgments by WINI & KIN WAI (they will also recognize out-of-town guests)
11		Cake Cutting
12		Bouquet & Garter Activities (Circle Dance; traditional garter removal & toss; Reverse Garter)
13		"Surprise" Musical Performance by KIN WAI
14		Interactive Games
15		Centerpiece Giveaway (Hot Centerpiece Time)

And here's their soundtrack. Please note that the links to youtube videos may not represent the final edits used for each song. In some cases, the songs were edited or cued to certain points of the music for greater impact on the presentation, or to time the music better with my vocal cues for the activity at hand. These edits were done for several days before the wedding, as part of the prep work for Wini & Kin Wai's celebration.

1. Dido - Thank You sample (thank you speech) (0:53)
2. Justin Lo - Best Thing in My Life (cake-cutting)(3:09)
3. Nelly - Hot in herre instrumental sample (unmarried women to dancefloor) (3:36)
4. Black Eyed Peas - Let's Get It Started (Circle Dance Edit) (0:24)
5. Black Eyed Peas - Let's Get It Started instrumental(unmarried men to floor) (4:47)
6. Herb Alpert - Love Potion #9 (Garter Removal & Toss) (3:03)
7. Marvin Gaye - Let's Get It On (Reverse Garter)(4:03)
8. Shrek soundtrack - I'm A Believer(Reverse Garter Reveal) (1:12)
9. TV THEMES - Price Is Right (Raffle Game) (7:55)
10. U2 - Mission Impossible Theme (Last Man Sitting Edit) (3:14)
11. Danny Elfman - PeeWee edit (Golf Ball Chop edit) (3:45)
12. Boots Randolph - Yakety Sax (Benny Hill Theme - Heineken/chopsticks game) (4:28)
13. FRANK SINATRA - LOVE AND MARRIAGE (Newspaper poetry game edit)(2:35)
14. Vengaboys - We Like To Party (Centerpiece Game) (3:14)

Music for cocktails and dinner consisted of a great mix of jazz, love songs, and Chinese music specifically chosen by Wini & Kin. Grand entrance music was performed live by Wini's cousin PATRICK, a classically trained violinist, who played Pachelbel's Canon in D as the wedding party entered.

Special thanks to ALAN & JAN, who co-hosted the party with me last Saturday. Originally, they were asked to emcee the entire five-hour event, but thankfully for them, they only had to tell stories about the couple and make a few announcements in Chinese for the Chinese-speaking-only guests. Most of the time, ALAN relaxed with friends and his girlfriend at his table, and JAN enjoyed herself among her friends, many of which she told me later that she had not seen since they had left for the mainland many many years ago! This was one big class reunion for them!

Wini & Kin's wedding was an awesome way to kick off the new year!

Iris & Casey's fun wedding celebration

December 8 marked the wedding of IRIS & CASEY. They wanted a fun, unique, and entertaining party full of surprises! And we helped them to create it. Throughout the night, we surprised the guests with a variety of games and activities to keep them entertained and smiling throughout the night. The biggest surprise was a toast that Iris, the videographer, and I knew about, and the "victim" was the groom! This was the surprise:

Casey is very very close to one of his cousins. In fact, in our meetings, Casey had mentioned that his cousin Ty would have been one of the members of the wedding party. Unfortunately, for one reason or another, Ty could not make it to the wedding. So Iris & I conspired to have him be there...by having him record a toast and greetings to the newlyweds, which we would play back at the reception. Ty made the toast even more special by recording a VIDEO toast, so not only did Casey get to hear his cousin on his wedding day, but he got to SEE Ty...

Watching Casey's reaction as he witnessed this surprise was one of the most dramatic moments of the reception. It's moments like these that remind me of how much of an impact a good Master of Ceremonies & entertainer can make to the success of the reception.

Carlos & Rolanda's crazy wedding reception

December 30 was the wedding of ROLANDA & CARLOS. This party was a blast from the very beginning. Even with the Grand Entrance, the guests were standing, cheering, and going crazy as each couple was introduced. The room hit fever pitch when we introduced the newlyweds, with the audience creating the loudest cheering you have ever heard! It worked well as the bride & groom headed to the dancefloor, where we "scratched out" of their entrance music and threw on the song Brickhouse, at which point Carlos & Rolanda started groovin' and shakin' on the dancefloor!

From that point, it was a nonstop party, with the guests constantly cheering and eagerly participating in all of the activities that Carlos & Rolanda planned for them that night!

One of the highlights was garter game Last Man Sitting. In that activity, instead of the groomsmen fighting over the garter, they would run into the audience looking for object which I call out, and the last person to come back to their seat on the dancefloor would be eliminated. When we were down to the last two finalists, I called out the final object they needed to find...and the two guys immediately started WRESTLING with each other to try to prevent the other from searching. Guests went crazy as the two guys finally broke free of each other, ran all over the ballroom, and looked under every table, nook, and cranny to find the last object. When this object was found, the guy who first found the object had a difficult time to win because the other guy tried stealing this item away!

By the end of the night, Rolanda & Carlos were still smiling, laughing, and very very happy. Their reception was a great way of ending the year on a very high note!

Caden's First Birthday Party

January 5 marked the first birthday party of CADEN. We first met his family at the wedding of Caden's parents RON & CELESTE, who got married back in December 2004. So it was quite an honor for me to be asked to host their child's first birthday party. (For my mainland clients, first birthday parties in Hawaii are very very significant events, much like bar mitzvahs, except for babies instead of teens. Many parents rate this as the second most important party they ever had to throw, besides their wedding. So for Ron & Tran, this was HUGE.)

Since it was a daytime event with a good mix of children & adults, we needed to help them create a good mix of activities that appealed to both kids and their parents. And we did! For instance, one game for the kids was called Balloon Pickup. After blowing up several bags of balloons, the kids had to pick up the amount of ballons I called for. So if I said twelve balloons, they needed to scramble and pick up 12 balloons, or they would be out of the game. It was very very cute watching the children run all around the dancefloor trying to hold onto their balloons and chasing after the ones they still needed to get.

For the adults, we played a new game called Golf Ball Chop. This was a crazy activity in which each adult contestant was given a pair of chopsticks. When I said "Go," they scrambled to the center of the dancefloor, which had about a 100 golf balls in a hula hoop. The team with could pick up the most golf balls with their chopsticks by the end of the game would win. By the time we were down to the last few balls, EVERYONE was around the dancefloor watching the spectacle and cheering for their favorites!

By the end of the day, RON & CELESTE were happy, and Caden has many memories to look back upon as he grows up!

Of Cupid, Huge V-Day Cards, and Books About Weddings.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

I hope all of your plans for romance and passion have come together, and that your mate is treating you right on this very special day!

No big romantic dinner or big bouquet of roses for me today though; my better half and I both agreed that such things are overdone and generally uber-expensive on this holiday...so we decided not to do it. I did get her a GINORMOUS Valentine's Day card, though, and a gorgeous non-rose floral arrangement, which she gratefully appreciated, and we will be doing lunch later today...Next week, when prices stabilize and the V-Day rush is off, I'll take her to a nice dinner and buy her a bouquet of tulips, since it will throw her off guard as she is expecting roses! (She likes roses...but she loooooooooves tulips.) Bwahahahah...


As promised, here's the info on Peter Merry's new book The Best Wedding Reception...Ever! Peter is a really good friend of mine who wrote this book on choosing the right entertainment for your wedding. He is a former president of the American Disc Jockey Association, and currently he operates Merry Weddings, a wedding entertainment service in Southern California that has a similar philosophy and approach to weddings as I do. You can download the Foreword and Introduction FOR FREE, and there will be instructions at the end of the sample on how to get the first two chapters...again for FREE! From what I have read so far, this will be a great resource to have, especially if you are want to have a FUN, STRESS-FREE, and certainly UNIQUE reception that your guests will REMEMBER FOREVER!

And that leads me to today's Wedding Tip Of The Day: Go download that sample and follow the instructions to get the first two chapters! It will be worth your time to read through it. You will get a basic idea of why it's important to invest in great entertainment for your celebration. If anything, you get a free chunk of the book!

Have a great Valentine's Day!

With much love,

Marino
Ninja Entertainment

Big Bits O' News!

I hope you are having a great weekend!

Normally I don't post on weekends, but this is big: two big bits of news that can't wait for Monday.

First, my good friend Peter Merry just finished his book The Best Wedding Reception...Ever!. It's a great book about choosing the right entertainment for your celebration. Peter is a former president of the American Disc Jockey Association, and he operates Merry Weddings, a wedding entertainment service in Southern California that has a very similar philosophy and approach to wedding entertainment as mine. He was gracious enough to let me "beta-test" the first two chapters of the book, and from what I've read so far, it is one resource that every bride who wants a fun, stress-free wedding should have.

Tomorrow I will post the link where you can get foreword and introduction to the book (for FREE), and from there, you too will be able to download the first two chapters...FOR FREE! It's all an effort to make your wedding day so much more FUN, STRESS-FREE, UNIQUE, and MEMORABLE!

The other big news: I now accept all major credit cards! In the past, I was rather limited by my merchant services company to accept ONLY American Express, but with this new service (which uses Paypal), I can accept all credit cards, meaning more convenience for my clients...especially the ones trying to get Frequent Flyer Miles on their Visa or Mastercard! Hey every cent that goes to those miles for the honeymoon counts, right?


Have a great Sunday, and I'll see you tomorrow!

Yes, Web Designer is a part of my title.

It was a productive day today. Finished most of the projects I set out to do.

Spent most of the day laying out and sending February's e-newsletter. If you want to read it, you can find it here. Like this blog, it is filled with tips and advice for brides-to-be (current clients), marriage advice for recent brides (past clients), and news for my friends and colleagues. It's all an effort to stay in touch, keep you informed, and (in the case of future brides-to-be), make your wedding planning experience easier!

I also updated the website to link to this blog. After getting tired of updating each individual page, I found out about Textpad, a cool notepad replacement tool that allows you to make changes to all html files at once, rather than taking forever to do each individual one.

Still need to update the meta tags.

No weddings this weekend. The next one JEN & MARK's reception at the end of the month, and it will be a fun one. Just to give you an idea, we're introducing the wedding party to Survivor's Eye Of The Tiger, and when we introduce the bride & groom...Queen's We Will Rock You. It will be exciting! I'll reveal more as we get closer to the date; I have two weeks to rehearse and prepare.

And now, for today's Wedding Tip Of The Day, Part 2: Again, this is for the grooms-to-be. KEEP YOUR TUX JACKET ON DURING THE ENTIRE FORMAL PROGRAM. During all of the traditional moments of a reception (e.g., cake-cutting, garter toss, toasts, etc.), you will look much sharper and more confident in a full tux than a shirt and vest. And it will appear in the photos and videos. Your bride will love it. And besides...when else will she get to see you in a tux again? So keep it on until it's time to dance.

Coming up next week: an important tip when it comes to choosing your wedding date and location.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Let's add Marriage Counselor to my title

The other day, I was at Starbucks for a meeting with a bride & groom-to-be. After the meeting, as I was wrapping up and finishing my notes, the store manager Cheryl stops by my table. I've known Cheryl since college, and she's a dear friend. She says that her employees told her that her "marriage counselor" friend is here, and they pointed me out to her.

Fancy that..."marriage counselor."

Perhaps it's because I dole out so much advice and information at consultations, I seem like a marriage counselor.

Speaking of advice, here's today's Wedding Tip of the Day, Part 1:

Remember how I wrote yesterday that I would give grooms two strategies on how to make your bride really happy and to make you look good on your wedding day? Here's the first strategy, and the second will come later today.

On your wedding day, guys: REMEMBER TO ALWAYS KEEP SMILING. You never know when a camera is going to take a photo of you, and it's always nice to be caught with a smile on your face rather than a frown or dumb look. Besides, when you smile, you will appear more confident. It will make your bride more confident as well, and it will make your guests feel more comfortable. So let those pearly whites shine!

The second strategy comes later today, so stay tuned!