Last weekend I played for the wedding of Megan and Nathan Perez. It was a Christian Wedding in Chicago . Acutally it was a Christian wedding in Elgin. Anyway, the reception was held at the Highland Golf Club in Elgin. This is a newer hall, being only about a year old or so.
Highlands Golf Club in Elgin, IL
The staff struggled a little at times. Because of the time of year when summer help goes back to college, there were a lot of new people working their first party there, so some things didn’t go as well as they could of on the halls part. Service was uneven, dinner took took long, and some tables had dirty dishes left on them for way too long. Kathy was in charge of the room and was working very hard to make things run smoothly and to her credit, she pulled it off. I’m sure that once the newbys get accustomed to the routine, these problems will quickly go away. They had an lcd projecter and screen mounted in the ceiling that they rented to Megan and Nathan (as her sister made a slideshow presentation). You could tell that it was a good quality presentation, but there was no sound and the picture kept turning deep blue. Another obvious problem they need to fix at Highland Golf Club. Other than that, the only weird thing was that there was no dance floor. Nada. The room was packed with tables and there was only a small space left for me to set up on with a table and a sliver of carpet about 8 feet wide and 12 feet long. I wasn’t totally shocked, because when going over details with Megan and her mom, I found out that Nathans side was not really comfortable with the idea of dancing, or drinking at the wedding. Megans family were also Christian, but they wanted to have to dancing and a bar available for their friends and family. So the compromise was a cash bar, a small dancefloor, and careful instructions on what music was to be played. No problems, everybody ended up happy! I played a little game near the end of dinner that ended up in the Chicken Dance and that was well received.
Chicken Dancing
Later we did other fun family dances such as The Hokey Pokey
Hokey Pokey
…And the Cupid Shuffle
Cupid Shuffle
Of course Megan and Nathan picked some slow, romantic songs to dance to as well.
Megan and Nathan Perez
There was a Bouquet toss, and Dad/Daughter and Mom/Son dances as well. What I really liked about their wedding was the Sparkler sendoff. Shortly after 10:00 pm (They had an early flight to Hawaii) Everyone gathered outside for the big sendoff with sparklers. Being a bit of a Pyro myself, I thought is was an awesome idea!
Sparkler Sendoff
Off to Hawaii
From the very beginning, the Brides Parents were very concerned that the guests enjoyed themselves, and I think everyone did! They even brought me a cool goodie bag at the end of the night to express their gratitude. It had a nice thank you card in it (with a generous tip Thanks!), a couple bottles of water, some coffee, and a little bag of wedding themed cereal. Megan and Nathan are lucky to have such wonderful Parents, friends and relatives; everyone was so nice and easy to work for. When they rode off into the night with the background of sparklers still glowing and waving, I thought it was a perfect ending of a delightful evening, and a wonderful beginning for a delightful couple. For more wedding ideas read all our blog posts. Chicago Wedding DJ For information on booking Al Mitchell or any of our DJs, call us at (630) 372-TUNE or email us at info@ameritune.com