Ben & Melissa

August 3, 2014

What a way to finish a whirlwind of a weekend! On Friday night, I was DJing for Kip Moore, Tim McGraw, and 25,000 people at Watershed Festival at The Gorge Amphitheater. On Saturday, I was in Seattle for Sophia & Joseph’s wedding reception. And then came Ben & Melissa’s wedding day: a Sunday ceremony and reception with fun interactions, awesome personal touches, and TONS of dancing with Ben & Melissa’s family and friends.

If done right, dinner interactions (i.e. “games”, but I use that loosely) can lead to some awesome memories and bring two sides of family and friends together as one. We did two – one at the start of the dinner portion of the night, and one at the end as a segue into the Toasts. The first was “Ben & Melissa Trivia”, where tables would “buzz in” to answer the question; a correct answer earned that table’s invite to the buffet; an incorrect answer meant that table had to invite another table to the buffet. Great ad-libbing skills is definitely a requirement to make this moment shine!

The second interaction was “Bear, Ninja, Hunter”, a spin-off of “Rock, Paper, Scissors” that Ben liked to play. What I liked about this was that guests had to actually stand up to play – just picture the different poses in your mind! – with the eventual winner at each table being awarded a prize revealed at the end of the game: the table’s centerpiece. It was a great segue before the formal toasts that brought everyone back to their seat post-dinner.

After the formalities concluded, it was time to celebrate. Check out some of the photos from Heather and Ryan of HR Northwest Photography below; guests had no problem packing Lord Hill Farm’s dance floor!

A final note: Ben & Melissa also rented a photo booth from my company, The Puget Sound Photo Booth Co., for use at their wedding. It was a perfect entertainment option for guests during the cocktail hour and after the cake had been cut and the dancing/dessert social began. I included one of the hundreds of photos taken below; I always enjoy seeing the creative use of props by family and friends. Pure fun and definitely something you considering adding to your wedding reception!

Ben & Melissa, thank you for having me as a part of your wedding day celebration. I wish you a lifetime of good luck and happiness! Except when Melissa’s Packers play the Seahawks! :p

Tony Schwartz

Ben & Melissa’s Five-Star Review

When my (now) husband and I began the wedding planning process it’s safe to say that we knew very little about planning a reception that could flow and keep guests engaged. I knew from the beginning that I wanted a MC/DJ with plenty of experience that would be able to help us plan a unique reception and Tony definitely fit into that category! Right after we met Tony we knew we wanted to work with him; not only does he know how to keep a dance floor going, but he offers up ideas for all parts of the ceremony and reception. He helped us personalize everything in any way we wanted, from the lighting to the song choices, to what trivia questions we wanted asked to bring guests up into the buffet line, and he was very responsive to any questions we had during the entire process. He arrived at our wedding early to set everything up, played songs right on queue during our ceremony, and kept Ben and I up to date throughout the night with what would be coming up next. I don’t think we could have had such an amazing wedding without him and our guests are still telling us what an “awesome party” our wedding was. I would highly recommend Tony to anyone looking for a MC/DJ that will not only get guests out on the dance floor but help you create a completely personalized, amazing wedding day!