Debbie and Mike's reception! 4 Points Sheraton, Ann Arbor, Michigan

I used to get so nervous before DJing. My hands used to shake every time I picked up the microphone to announce a bridal party. I accepted a long time ago that I'm not a "natural" MC. A few of the DJs I work with like Emmitt, Brendan, Garret, Joey....those guys can rock the mic. I'm always in awe of Emmitt when we work together. He has no plan. He can just pick up the mic, talk, and it sounds good. But not me. I have to plan what I'm going to say. And then I practice what I'm going to say. A thousand weddings later and I don't get nervous anymore. Now its become second nature. But even now, I still like to run through bridal party introductions a few times just to make sure I got it before I do it "live". This past Saturday for Debbie and Mike's wedding, I was nervous. They had a large bridal party and wanted each bridal party member announced individually to a specific song. I thought this was a fantastic idea. I've done this before, but for much smaller bridal parties. This one came to 16 song changes. This is challenging because typically it only takes about 10/20 seconds for each person to walk in. But that can vary alot depending on how far the door is from the final destination and how fast each person walks. So I figure I have about 20 seconds to stop the previous song, load the new song, figure out which person is next to announce, and announce new person. This may sound easy, but add to the fact the pressure of having 200 strangers staring at you, a videographer's bright light and huge camera pointed at you, oh and of course the big one - avoiding large gaps of silence, and this simple task suddenly gets more challenging. Brad was working with me. I was incredibly tempted to have Brad handle the music switching while I just announced, but I'm a control-freak/perfectionist and I wanted each announcement to be timed perfectly with the music. Unless we had rehearsed, there was no way he would know exactly when to hit the play button. Thankfully, luck was on my side and the door was a decent distance away from the dance floor. Even better, the bridal party was a blast and they danced their way in. All in all, it ended up being about a 30 second intro for each person...totally manageable! I thought it went well, and overall, I wish more couples did this for their introductions because I think it really personalizes them alot more and is tons of fun for everyone. :) The rest of the party was amazing...these people knew how to get their wedding on! Full dance floor + lots of requests + high-energy crowd = very happy dj. Brad got a couple quick pics and video clips from Debbie and Mikes awesome wedding reception! - ->>

Love the bride breakin' down some "footloose" in this first clip!



A couple more of a great "Shout" and of course, some party train action:





and of course - a cake shot:



and one of the happy couple:



A couple more of our newest team member, Brad:



this one has facebook profile shot written all over it:



A couple more pics we grabbed while behind the DJ table are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/platinummix/DebbieAndMike4PointsSheratonAnnArbor


Great party! Congrats Mike and Debbie!