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Nate & Megan – Duluth MN August 24th 2013

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Nate & Megan had a beautiful wedding out in the middle of a field at their aunts farm.  The picture above is the tent that we were in for dinner & the dancing, they had their ceremony over in an adjacent field.  The only source of power was several generators running the implements for the catering staff, and the lights etc.  They had a separate generator for me and my sound/light gear.  Fortunately I arrived early to set up and get everything sound checked, because it turned out that the generator they had me on was bad. It ran, but did not supply enough voltage/amperage to power on my speakers.

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Pictured above were the original 2 generators, the one on the left is the one that was for me.  Thankfully one of the family members was able to help me get things sorted, (it turned out that they had 3 spare generators) and they set me up with a replacement.  With the new generator, everything was great! Until about 11:30 when the generator ran out of gas…  Nate had refilled the fuel on the generator right after dinner and then as everyone was dancing and drinking, the generators were forgotten, until WWWEeeeeeeuuuuuwwwww….  Everything went dark.  I guess they had the lights running off my generator as well!  12 people and 5 minutes later, the generator was restarted, and we finished the night with a packed dancefloor.

Unfortunately, my iPad battery died early in the night, and I had forgotten my iPad charger so I was unable to take more pictures throughout the night.

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The new generator!

 

 

Mitch & Niki – Mayowood Stone Barn, Rochester MN – August 17th, 2013

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The Mayowood Stone Barn is a FANTASTIC old barn venue with gorgeous stonework.  This gig was a little challenging, in the fact that the venue had pretty specific regulations on sound levels and everything due to it being in the middle of a residential area.  But I was able to work with the venue staff and wedding planner and we had absolutely no issues whatsoever.

Mitch & Niki were wonderful and both have amazing families.  I enjoyed getting to know some of their friends and family during dinner, and then we all had a blast once we moved the dance upstairs to the loft.  Luckily the day had cooled off and the loft wasn’t as hot as it was earlier in the day (upper 80’s).

After a great evening, and receiving many compliments from the guests, I trekked back to the Twin Cities to stay and visit with my sister before heading back to Duluth the next day.

 

Junior & Jenna – Enchanted Barn Hillsdale, WI – August 9th 2013

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This is the summer of “Barn” weddings!  I arrived at the Enchanted Barn in Hillsdale and was impressed with the venue they have there.  Setup for the ceremony was easy, and then after the ceremony the staff reset the Loft of the barn for Dinner, and then after dinner, reset it again for the dancing.  It was a wonderful night and I had a good taste of Latin music since much of their family was Hispanic.  I enjoy experiencing other cultural wedding ceremonies and music varieties since it helps me expand my skills.

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Matthew & Madison – Pine Peaks in Cross Lake, MN – August 3rd 2013

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After DJ’ing a wedding the night before, I drove out to Cross Lake MN to Pine Peaks, a neat wedding venue out on a farmstead.  Dinner was excellent, and the place was packed!  The dance floor was full the whole night and everyone had fun & enjoyed the games.  I really felt invigorated at the end of the night, like being on an adrenaline high, the night just had that much energy.

RJ & Cyndi’s wedding – Spirit Mountain, Duluth MN

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This was another wonderful wedding at Spirit Mountain Ski Resort in Duluth, MN.  We did the ceremony outside on the hillside overlooking the St Louis Bay, and then dinner & dancing all night in the Chalet!  I met many amazing people and had a great time DJ’ing for a packed dance floor all night.  I also had many compliments by the end of the night from very happy and satisfied guests.

This is my first attempt at making a “Gig log” with my new iPad.  Hopefully I’ll be doing more of these from now on!

Tim and Sarah – Valentini’s Vicino Lago – Duluth, Minnesota

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I was called early Sunday morning by my fellow DJ Sam, he was supposed to be DJ’ing this wedding that afternoon/evening but had a sudden family emergency and asked me if I could cover for him.  Even though I had gotten home around 1:30AM that morning from DJ’ing Chris & Holly’s wedding the night before, I said “Of Course!”.

I went into this wedding without any preparation other than reviewing the information Sam had a couple hours before I was due to start.  Valentini’s Vicino Lago is a great Italian restaurant along the lake walk in Duluth, MN and is normally closed on Sundays except for private events.

I met Tim & Sarah once they arrived at the restaurant and let them know about Sam’s emergency, and not to worry, they were in great hands (I did earn the title “DJ of the Year 2012” after all!).  I also had the benefit of having another fellow DJ, Ian, as one of the goomsmen.

Dinner was delicious, and after Valentini’s staff cleared away several of the tables we had a dance floor!  It was a little tight, but it was packed all night.  Friends of the bride came up towards the end of the night and thanked me profusely for making Sarah’s day so amazing.

Congrats Tim & Sarah!

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Chris & Holly – Spirit Mountain, Duluth MN

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I always like DJ’ing weddings at Spirit Mountain, the staff there is great, and it is just a beautiful venue.  I did the sound/music for Chris & Holly’s ceremony on the hillside overlooking the bay and Lake Superior.  Then we moved inside to the chalet for dinner and dancing all night long.

The people at this reception were amazing, and the dance floor was super packed with well over 100 people.  I knew based on music requests that I took during dinner that I needed to play “Paradise by the Dashboard light” by Meatloaf, and when I did the entire place went nuts!  Just check out the 2nd part of the video I took during the dance.

Dennis & Jolene – Port Wing WI

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Dennis & Jolene’s wedding was a blast.  We were at the Town Hall in Port Wing WI (a tiny little town on the south shore of Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin).  Dinner was excellent, and I kept the dance floor packed all night.  Everyone loved the games I played with the guests, and I had many compliments from family members of both the Bride and Groom.

I enjoy these smaller, laid-back, small-town weddings. 🙂

 

Behind the mixer

Behind the mixer

DANCE!

DANCE!

 

Ry & Lindsay – Le St Germain Hotel, St. Cloud MN

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What an amazing wedding reception!  Ry and Lindsay were awesome, and I love their families & friends.  They had some special requests for certain music for the ceremony and during dinner, and I was able to find all of the songs they asked for (even the ones that were not already in my massive music library).

I did the music for their ceremony, and we did a fun twist on the dinner kisses that everyone enjoyed.  But once the dance started, I kept having people come up and telling me that they had never been to a wedding where they had as much fun as they were having now.  I gave out a lot of business cards throughout the night.

EDIT: Review from Ry & Lindsay!

Aaron kicked some serious butt. Of all the component parts of our wedding day, I was most worried about getting a DJ experience that didn’t feel forced, played contemporary hits, and got people having legitimate fun. Aaron exceeded all of our expectations by a significant margin. The party games he played were new to both of us as well as our guests, and everyone really liked them. I had more than a dozen experienced wedding-goers say he was the best DJ they’d ever seen at a wedding. And it all came at a price that we couldn’t believe. I would’ve paid double for our experience, and still been happy at the value it gave us. I would have had a hard time saying what it would take for me to go out of my way and recommend a wedding DJ before this experience, and now I know. Excellent website tools (seriously killer), amazing price, and, above all, the perfect DJ. Well done guys, and thank you again Aaron. Hope you had half as much fun as we did.

Dan and Joe Wedding – Hope Glen Farm, Cottage Grove

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Dan & Joe are an amazing couple, and their ceremony/reception at the Hope Glen Farm was beautiful.  We did the ceremony outside, there was a quick spring shower beforehand, but the sun came out just in time.  Then we danced the night away in the barn.