Weekend Weddings

Quick post today...

We have three weddings this weekend and I am excited !

I met with my Sunday couple today for 2 and a half hours and got a lot of details nailed down. Cool playlist and lots of historical tidbits to add to the reception. I know it's going to be fun.

Sunday I will be playing Dallas at a country club doing a reception that also looks very promising.

What I am learning today is that I really love working with people who want to invest the time that it takes to plan out the details of their reception. We put all our heads together, everybody wins and we have a great time!

Blessings on your weekend!

DJ-RJ

WatchMeGetMarried.com

www.watchmegetmarried.com

By ABBY ELLIN

Published: June 25, 2006

Only two guests — both strangers —were in attendance on May 18, when Dawn Westman and Einar Ollander of Tarpon Springs, Fla., were married in the chapel of the Grand Princess, a cruise ship sailing the Mediterranean. But dozens were watching from home.

The audience included the bride's father and stepmother, who witnessed the event from their home in Worcester, Mass.; the bridegroom's mother in Tarpon Springs; and the bridegroom's brother in Gainesville, Fla. All awakened around 4 a.m. and flicked on their home computers so they could view the wedding couple walking down the aisle, live over the Internet.

"None of our friends or family were there in person," said the new Mrs. Ollander, 39, who, like her husband, had been married once before. "But they were able to watch it on the Webcam."

This Webcast concept perfectly melds America's couch-potato culture and its obsession with weddings. Now there is no need to rise, dress up and go. Observers can quickly take in a niece's ceremony and openly engage in catty commentary, all from the privacy of home. For the couples it offers a high-tech, low-cost way to have their "destination wedding" and connect with friends and family, too.

"I think big weddings are overblown and expensive," said Carol Angell Beauvais, who watched her cousin's Caribbean wedding last year from her den in Westport, N.Y. "You should save your money for a down payment on a house."

It would surprise few to learn that Nevada, land of drive-through weddings and Elvis impersonators, has rapidly embraced online ceremonies.

About 5,000 couples have made use of Webcams perched in the chapels at the Treasure Island and MGM Grand hotels in Las Vegas. "One of the reasons we chose Treasure Island was because of the Webcast," said Shauntea Tolliver, 29, of Beach Park, Ill., who married Ransley Denton, 33, on May 2. Only 10 people witnessed the wedding in person, but a gaggle of relatives in five states tuned in.

How do people let guests know of their Webcasting plans? Via electronic invitation, naturally.

Marc Finkel, the chief operating officer of Cashman Enterprises, a Las Vegas photography and video service which began offering Webcasting three years ago, asks the bride and bridegroom to provide the names and the e-mail addresses of all guests. Mr. Finkel then sends digital invitations.

Two years ago, Larry Fair began noticing how few guests were present at ceremonies he witnessed on Honolulu's beaches. "Obviously not everybody could come," Mr. Fair said. So he and a partner established a business there called Live Internet Weddings that charges $400 over the cost of producing the wedding video itself to stream it live on the Internet. His company (www.liveinternetweddings.com) keeps it online for two weeks, in case people miss it live.

Stephanie Coontz, the author of "Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage" (Penguin), has considered this phenomenon and declared it a mixed bag. "We no longer have cookie-cutter marriages, and people are very interested in using their wedding ceremony to indicate how unique their marriage is going to be," she said.

Some tech-savvy suitors are even getting engaged via the Web. On May 20, James Lee, 27, a Yale medical student, proposed to Uschi Lang, 26, a student at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, by Internet. Knowing that a round-the-clock Webcam had been set up in the new Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, Mr. Lee stood outside it at 5 a.m. and held up three signs that read: "Uschi Lang. I love you. Will you marry me?"

Ms. Lang watched his proposal and "started crying," she recalled. "And of course said yes."

She was not the only one watching. They sent the link to their relatives in Seattle, China, Hawaii, Germany and Peru. And then, of course, there were the thousands of bloggers who mentioned the event on their Web sites. "I started realizing the implications," said Mr. Lee, who is undecided about doing a repeat performance when they marry. "In retrospect, it was a crazy thing."

For those who view a friend's wedding on the Web and wonder if they need to send a gift, Ms. Coontz has an answer: "My gift is watching it."

Music a la Ruta - Slogans

Tonight, I will be at Ruta Maya on South Congress mixing some great acoustic music. Here is the schedule:

Jonathan Byrd/Jane Bond & Chad Tracy/Green Mountain Grass
8pm Jonathan Byrd www.jonathanbyrd.com
10:30 Jane Bond & Chad Tracy www.janeandchad.com
12 Green Mountain Grass www.myspace.com

I was playing around with the Slogan Generator that somebody posted on a bulletin on MySpace today and came up with a few funny slogans:

Step into Music4Life!
Mama's Got The Magic of Music4Life.
Keep that Music4Life Complexion.
Strong and Beautiful, Just Like Music4Life.
The Man From Music4life, he says "Yes" (TRUE!)
My Anti-Drug is Music4life.
All You Need is Music4life and a Dream.
You Too Can Have A Music4life Like Mine.
The Incredible, Edible Music4life.

Have a great day !

RJ

Paris Hilton's New Song - UB40 - Ruta Maya y Mas

So I heard about Paris Hilton's new reggae song "Stars Are Blind" and I got a copy that was "leaked to the internet" (can you say smart marketing?) and I have listened to it a few times and I must say I quite like it. Not sure who produced it, most likely an American producer as it is quite poppy. Perhaps it will be a summer smash? The vocal reminds me of Gwen Stefani and they used the riddim from UB40's Kingston Town, who by the way will be coming to Austin for the Reggae Sunsplash tour August 25th at The Backyard. That should be a great show.

Spent tonight mixing at Ruta Maya. Had some great music from Melissa Greener & Sarah Dashew. Got to record them both into the laptop and it looks like we need a real soundcard very soon to bring the quality up to where it should be. The LightScribe burner is the bomb!

Earlier in the day, did some radio spots for the Austin History Center for Juneteenth history, and also some spots for Yolanda B who is doing a comedy show. This was the first spot she has voiced since I have worked with her and she just knocked it out in fine style. You can hear noth the spots daily on KAZI 88.7 FM. Here is the info on the comedy show:

Get Yo Laugh & Groove On
Saturday, June 17th, Doors Open at 7p. Pre-Show starts at 8:15p. Tickets $10.00. Comedy Show at 9:30p with Keisha Hunt & Lil' Brough. Performances featuring Rochell Terrell, Al B. Wilson , Strictly Business, CeCe, Caporie and Arthanik & Dream Boys. Location: Texas 1115 (Formerly Texas Mist). For more information 512.576.8387 or 512.385.3553

RJ


“It will work. I am a marketing genius.”
“The way I see it, you should live everyday like its your birthday”
“I like it, ... but it's yellow, and I'm like, I didn't want yellow for my engagement ring.”
~Paris Hilton

Chapel Dulcinea

I met with a client Sunday and we took a trip to Chapel Dulcinea to do a site survey for his wedding and I must say I fell in love with this place! The chapel is beautiful and the view is spectacular too. They even have a bell to ring after you get married. What makes it even sweeter is that the chapel is FREE if you want to get married there. You can check the availability online. They do have a reception hall, Tuscan Hall that can be rented as well if you wish to do your whole day there. That is where the waterfall is located.

Best of luck to all of you who are loving and building beautiful lives together!

RJ

The last of the human freedoms is to choose one's attitudes.~ Victor Frank
 

Weekend

The modem at home died Wednesday night, so I am doing the coffee shop office today and getting some things done. Hopefully I can get them to come this weekend and get back online. Makes me see just how dependent we are this internet for communication and researching...

Getting ready for a wedding reception on Saturday at Bob Bullock Museum. Bethany, Brandon and I spent about 2.5 hours on Thursday doing the final preparations for their reception. I recorded a nice thank you segment that she read for her sorority sisters that we will play when we have them all on the dancefloor. The playlist is composed of mostly R&B and hip-hop and I think we're going to have a great time. Expecting around 200 guests.

DJ Ted will be doing a Beatles "When I'm 64" party on Saturday night out in Wimberly. This will be his first gig working for us and I am excited about Ted and what he is bringing to the business. He has a lot of DJ experience and also breakdances and likes to get kids involved in the fun.

Wishing you a blessed weekend in all you do!

RJ


It makes no sense to worry about things you have no control over because there's nothing you can do about them, and why worry about things you do control? The activity of worrying keeps you immobilized.
Wayne Dyer