Matt and Faye and a DJ and a Photographer
When the folks at Culinary Concepts took over at The Independence Seaport Museum, they created Events at I.S.M., which is part of their new niche division called Event Venue Management. The aim of the new venture is to assist venues with their marketing and branding, while making the process of finding and choosing venues more seamless, streamlined and for the most part, a lot less overwhelming.
Cutting Edge Entertainment and Culinary Concepts had already worked together at a number of venues in the Philadelphia area, so when Events at I.S.M. was first launched, we got the call to be the preferred partner, providing DJ services whenever needed at the Seaport Museum’s event facility, along with a handful of other vendor partners handpicked by the Events at I.S.M. team, all in the spirit of making the process of planning an event easier for the client.
When, on October 6, 2009 Events at I.S.M. announced their “Love Of A Lifetime” wedding giveaway – where a lucky couple would win almost ninety thousand dollars worth of wedding services (basically a free wedding) – Cutting Edge was called upon to provide the DJ. Initially we were provided a date, but aside from that we had to wait for the outcome of the contest to take the next step.
In February fifteenth of 2010, the winning couple (Matt and Faye) were announced on Fox 29’s “Good Day Philadelphia“, and the planning was underway.
Now, when you take a wedding reception and you pimp it out with a great caterer, an exciting venue, a fantastic wedding coordinator and an awesome band (yes, they’re having a band AND a DJ), the role of the DJ becomes somewhat marginalized, so at most the DJ will be playing dinner music and making a few announcements, and although we might do a dance set or two, the majority of the dance time will likely be left to the band. Ultimately Leila – the wedding coordinator from Eclatante Event Design – will be pulling the whole thing together, and has been leading the charge in both working with Matt and Faye as well as blogging about each step in the process.
After a few nudges from Kelly-Ayn McKay at Events at I.S.M. I decided to reach out to Faye to arrange a meeting. Don’t get me wrong, they were friendly nudges, as Kelly-Ayn reads our blog regularly, and hinted to me that Leila had already put up quite a few posts regarding the progress, while Matt and Faye have been diligently posting blogs on Philly.com as well.
So what’s left for a marginalized DJ to blog about? Well, what a DJ does best… something fun.
I phoned Kevin York – the “official” Love of a Lifetime (LOL) photographer (and a good friend) – and together we devised a plan. I then called Faye back and together we made the arrangements. We met for dinner, had some sushi and discussed some wedding plans, and then did something that both Kevin and I knew would make for a great blog post, while at the same time fulfilling a future brides dream. “I’ve always fancied myself a rocking lead guitarist” is what Faye said, and with the help of Matt, Kevin and Rock Band, I was able to come as close as I could to making that dream come true.
If our meeting was any indication of what the wedding is going to be like, I’m certain it’s going to be a whole lot of fun.
As a final thought, I’d just like to give big props and thanks to photographer Kevin York. Throughout this entire Love of a Lifetime wedding planning process, I’ve watched Kevin pulled this way and that, always on the ready with camera in hand for so many of the vendors involved, and always coming through with amazing photos. Thanks Kev!
-Craig
Be sure to check out Kevin’s blog for more images!
Photos by Kevin York – www.kevinyorkphotography.com
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Great blog and we are proud to be part of the team too.
Donna
Yes Donna, We are looking forward to working with you and Beautiful Blooms!!