Marino's Hawaii Wedding Emcee & DJ/Entertainment Blog

My good friend Chuck Lehnard with Maui Mobile Music wrote this a while back, and it’s something that I thought you’d like to know, especially if you’re on the fence about hiring a professional Master of Ceremonies & DJ for your Hawaii wedding:

You can have cold chicken, wilted flowers, disposable cameras and kool-aid to drink, but if your entertainment is good…THAT is what your friends family and loved ones will remember.

One the other hand, you can have the best cake, beautiful flowers, an open bar, the best photographer in the world (which BTW none of your guests will even know about since maybe only 5% of them will ever even see the pictures) but if your emcee, iPod, DJ, or band is bad, THAT will be what people remember. They will remember that your biggest day of your life was boring or no fun.

On your wedding day, I bet your car is good enough to drive you to and from the church, but I bet you will hire a limo.

I bet that you have a friend who can make a cake. But I bet you will hire the best bakery in town.

I bet that your friend has a great new camera from Wal-Mart, but I bet you will hire a professional photographer.

Why would you do anything less than hire a professional emcee & DJ to help make your day perfect?

Wise words indeed.
 

Image courtesy WENDY & ERIC / L’Amour Photography

written by Marino_NinjaEntertainment \\ tags: Advice, Chuck, DJ, Emcee, Fun, Maui, Maui Mobile Music, stressfree

Hawaii wedding photographer Aaron Bernard with Liquid Light Images recently posted a very informative article on the Top Wedding Photography Mistakes. If you’re still in the hunt for a great wedding photographer for your Hawaii wedding, then you will find Aaron’s article most helpful.

Click here to read Aaron Bernard’s article on the Top Wedding Photography Mistakes.

written by Marino_NinjaEntertainment \\ tags: aaron bernard, Advice, ideas, liquid light images, photography

Ten years ago, I attended my cousin’s Hawaii wedding as a guest. It was gorgeous reception at the Halekulani. The room was elaborately decorated, and my cousin spared no expense making the ballroom look magnificent.

Sometime during dinner, the unexpected occurred: my cousin’s wedding ring slipped off her finger. She, her wedding party, and the families looked all over the ballroom trying to find this very expensive piece of jewelry.

And the guests? We sat there…and sat…and sat. The emcee made no announcement, and no one told us about the delay. So we sat. And sat some more. After 45 minutes of searching, they fortunately found the ring under the head table stage. But with the delay in the presentation, the guests had grown restless, and as soon as dinner ended, many of the guests found it as an appropriate time to leave. So there were only a few of us to see my cousin cut her cake, toss her bouquet, and dance her First Dance.

If the guests were properly engaged during the momentary break in the presentation, they might have felt involved and been more inclined to stay. But alas, the break allowed people to get bored, and when you get bored, you probably would want to leave the situation at the next polite opportunity, wouldn’t you?

So it was with some incredible irony that many years later, I found myself back at the Halekulani for Maren & Erik’s Hawaii wedding in October 2006, but this time, instead of a guest, I was the Master of Ceremonies for their event. Like my cousin’s wedding 10 years ago, Maren accidentally lost her wedding ring somewhere in the Grand Ballroom. Like my cousin’s wedding, Maren had 250 friends & family at the reception, and Erik, Maren, and I did not want their audience to get bored as Maren, Erik, and their families searched for the ring.

So what did I do to keep the party going? I assessed the situation and made it into the positive by involving the audience in a Scavenger Hunt. I would ask for objects, and guests needed to find those objects, collect them, and place them in front of them at their table. To win, the guests needed to collect ALL of the items; if they are even missing one, they can no longer play. So I chose items that are commonly found among the guests or in the ballroom:

• A fork
• A napkin
• A watch
• An earring (it was funny to see some ladies take off both earrings and give one to their hubby or boyfriend so he would still be in the game!)
• Anything with a lens (camera, eyeglasses, shades, etc.)
• And so forth.

So as Erik, Maren, and their families searched for the ring, the guests were preoccupied and having a great time!

After everyone had collected their items, there was one final challenge. I told the guests that there is a wedding ring that is special to Erik & Maren somewhere on the floor of the ballroom, and if a guest found it, they would instantly win, even if they were missing an object!

Immediately EVERYBODY got down and searched for the ring! Two-hundred fifty guests searched every inch of the Grand Ballroom looking for Maren’s wedding ring, until finally the groom’s uncle found it by the door. Success!

In the end, the Scavenger Hunt was one of the highlights of the celebration, and today Erik & Maren still get many compliments about how the “missing ring drama” was handled!

What could have been a disaster, with the audience sitting bored and waiting for things to happen, instead turned into a fun and lively event that kept the energy and momentum going until we were ready to continue with the presentation.

When you meet with your potential emcee for your wedding, ask him what he’ll do if you lose your ring on your wedding day, or if the power goes out during the reception, or if you get delayed to the party because the limo breaks down. Listen to his answers to how he would react. You see, anyone can host the perfect wedding reception if everything runs perfectly. But you know that nothing is perfect. Will your emcee know how to react when the unexpected occurs?

Now that’s a great question.

written by Marino_NinjaEntertainment \\ tags: 2006, Advice, erik, halekulani, maren, october, preparation, stressfree, unxpected, wedding

In a recent conversation with Diego & Eleanor, who are having their Hawaii wedding later this month at Moana Surfrider Westin Resort, Diego had mentioned that one of his favorite pastimes was watching The World’s Strongest Man Competition on ESPN.

If you’re not familiar with The World’s Strongest Man Competition, the premise of the show is that the producers are looking for the World’s Strongest Man. To determine this, participants are given several challenges that only a Strong Man can do, like pulling dump trucks, lifting two-ton boulders, and running a time trial race while carrying weights over their shoulder. Losers get eliminated over the course of the show until only one is left–the World’s Strongest Man. That sounds like a fun enough thing to enjoy, so I thought about how to incorporate that into their wedding.

We came up with this creative activity that will happen starting at dinner and run throughout the reception, an alternative to tapping the glasses to get the newlyweds to kiss:

To prepare for this event, I will bring a 10-20 lb dumbbell weight to the reception and leave it near the stage.

If guests want to see the newlyweds kiss, instead of tapping their glasses, a guest must come to the stage and hold the dumbbell in front of her, with her arms forward and straight. If the guest is successful, Diego & Eleanor would kiss! It’s really that simple.

What makes this activity fun is the twist that is thrown in: the longer you hold out the weight, the longer the kiss will be. So if you can hold it out for a few seconds, Diego & Eleanor will kiss for a few seconds. If you hold it out for a minute, they’ll kiss for a minute. If you hold it out for longer, then we may be there the whole night!

Diego & Eleanor love the idea! We can’t wait to see how it will turn out at the wedding, and I’m certain the guests (especially his guy friends, whom Diego tells me are quite competitive) will get a kick out of it.

written by Marino_NinjaEntertainment \\ tags: 2010, Advice, creative, diego, dumbbells, eleanor, Fun, games, ideas, june, moana surfrider, unique, world's strongest man

It’s the middle of the week, and it’s time for this week’s edition of Why I Like…Wednesdays, where I spotlight Hawaii wedding professionals who I enjoy working with and recommend. Hopefully this will help you as you go about choosing the right wedding professionals to serve you at your Hawaii wedding.

This week’s spotlight falls on Janice & Davis Lauderdale of Video 21 Productions.

Why do I like working with them?

• They’re easy to work with. Not just at the wedding, but before and after as well. As a Master of Ceremonies that help my clients create original and unique Hawaii weddings, it is vital for me to be able to work well with wedding professionals before the wedding so as to make sure that they understand all of the creative ideas and moments that will take place. Janice & Davis are very responsive and thorough, and I greatly appreciate that. They are also great to work with after the wedding, with a very good turnaround time after the day of; you’ll often find your Same Day Edit on their blog a day or two after your wedding!
• They are fun to work with. It is important that all of your Hawaii wedding professionals “gel” together and enjoy working as a team to serve you. The crew at Video 21 are awesome team players.
• Their work is solid. Video 21′s editors have a creative eye for wedding cinematography. Whether you want a classic look or a more contemporary “Hollywood-style” production, they can help you develop that look for your video presentation.

But don’t just take my word for it: here are some clips from past events in which I was fortunate to work with them.

This one is from Ryna & James Yamada’s wedding, October 2009 at the Hale Koa Hotel and Ice Palace.

Ryna and James from Video 21 Productions on Vimeo.

Then there’s Jennifer & Gage Costa, who were such a treat to serve at their wedding in January 2010 at the Hale Koa Hotel–they had a fabulous party that included elements of Las Vegas, because they and their guests enjoy going to Sin City often.

Jennifer & Gage from Video 21 Productions on Vimeo.

Finally, from July 2009, here are ceremony highlights from Pat & Maribeth Gill’s wedding day at the Hale Koa Hotel.

Maribeth & Pat from Video 21 Productions on Vimeo.

There are many more events at which I was able to work with them, and if you check out their blog, you will see many more great examples of their work. But besides the work they do, their ease to work with and fun nature makes any wedding at which they are at much more worthwhile and enjoyable.

written by Marino_NinjaEntertainment \\ tags: Advice, davis, gage, Hale Koa, ice palace, james, janice, jennifer, lauderdale, maribeth, pat, ryna, video, Video 21, wedding, why i like wednesdays

As a professional Master of Ceremonies, it’s always a treat to find out the history of the couples whom I serve: how they met, how they fell in love, how he proposed, how she accepted. Oftentimes, there is a particular aspect to their Love Story that could potentially add a unique and original “twist” to their celebration, if properly incorporated into the presentation. When done right, it creates an unforgettable experience for the bride, groom, and their audience.

Such is the case for Emily Kuehn and Chayson Seneca, who are planning for their Hawaii wedding in June 2011 at the Hale Koa Hotel. In our conversation, one of the things they mentioned was that they met in college over a game of Beer Pong. If you’re not familiar with beer pong, Wikipedia defines it as…

a drinking game in which players throw a ping-pong ball across a table with the intent of landing the ball in a cup of beer/water on the other end. The game typically consists of two two-to-four-player teams and multiple cups set up on each side set up in triangle formation. There are no official rules, so rules may vary widely, though usually there are six or ten plastic cups arranged in a triangle on each side. The losing team must consume all the beer remaining in the winning team’s cups.

The Challenge: find a way to incorporate Beer Pong into the presentation, because it was such a key moment in the development of their relationship, but to do it in such a way as to get away from the “drinking” part of it and more towards the “fun” part of it. Of course, I love a good challenge, and we were able to incorporate the game into their presentation, personalize it so it reflects the occasion, and get the audience involved so that, even if you’ve never played beer pong, you’ll still have fun in a clean, family-friendly sort of way.

The first step was in renaming the game: Beer Pong is great for frat parties and college keggers, but certainly not as appropriate for a wedding, where grandparents, children, and conservative guests may be in attendance. So instead, we’re going to call it Beverage Pong. In that way, we won’t offend any of the guests.

Now for the setup: like in traditional beer pong, we’re planning to put a triangle of cups on one end of a long table and fill those cups with a minimal amount of water to weigh the cups down. We’re also providing the ping pong balls for contestants to use.

The Game: like in traditional beer pong, participants throw ping pong balls towards the cup and hope to get the ball into one of the cups. Here’s what makes Emily & Chayson’s version different: if the participant lands a ball in a cup, our newlyweds will kiss! Obviously, the more successful you are at sinking a ball, the more often you get to see the couple smooch.

And that’s not all: the distance also plays a part in how long the kiss will be. So if you shoot it in from up close, it will be a short peck. If you make it in from the end of the table, it will be a much longer kiss. If you successfully get it in from across the dancefloor, you are “The Man”, and Emily & Chayson will honor you with a very long kiss.

Emily & Chayson are excited about this and are looking forward to having Beverage Pong in their presentation. It makes their party very original and unique, not a cookie-cutter, carbon-copy reception.

When you meet your emcee for your Hawaii wedding, tell them your own Love Story. See if they’ll give you some generic activities to incorporate into your celebration, just because they’ve done it before at other people’s weddings…or if they actually will listen to you and give you ideas to help you make your party as unforgettable and original as you are!

Wedding images courtesy PHIL AMMON / A+ Media Creations

written by Marino_NinjaEntertainment \\ tags: beer pong, chayson, Emcee, emily, Fun, games, Hale Koa, unique, wedding

This is a new feature I’m debuting today and hopefully will be able to maintain: Why I Like…Wednesdays, where I focus on a particular Hawaii wedding professional I enjoy working with! As a Hawaii wedding emcee, I work with a lot of wedding professionals, some good, others GREAT, others…ummm…you get the idea. Each Wednesday, I’ll spotlight a particular Hawaii wedding professional I like to work with, and hopefully you’ll like to work with too.

Today’s spotlight is on The Bridal Boutique, owned by Cecilia Domingo and Joyce Coelho. Why do I love them? Besides their great sense of style, they really know how to make a bride look beautiful in their dress. They can help you choose the right gown for your Hawaii wedding, as well as help you find coordinated outfits for your bridesmaids, if you wish. Many of my clients are Bridal Boutique brides, and they LOVE their dresses. And you will too.

Here’s Nicole Richardson. She got married New Years Eve and wanted two dresses: a formal gown for the formal wedding, and a unique wedding dress for the reception that reflects her rebel “rocker” image. Joyce & Cecilia were able to help her create the right dresses for the occasion:

The “traditional” wedding dress
 

The “not-so-traditional” wedding dress
Images courtesy Norma Allen Photography

The concept of the “not-so-traditional” dress was Nicole’s; Cecilia & Joyce were able to accommodate it, and Nicole was one very happy bride!

I love working with Joyce & Cecilia with the Bridal Boutique, especially since my brides are so happy with them and their services. And you will too! Check them out!

Website: http://www.bridalboutique.com
Blog: http://thebridalboutique.wordpress.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thebridalboutique
Twitter: http://twitter.com/bridal_boutique
Phone: 808-597-8893

And when you contact them, tell ‘em Marino sent you!

The Wedding Cafe Workshops – Gowns from KAIMEDIA on Vimeo.

written by Marino_NinjaEntertainment \\ tags: Advice, dress, gown, networking, Partnerships, unique, wedding, why i like wednesdays

As a professional Master of Ceremonies, I frequently get asked about original ideas to help personalize my clients’ Hawaii weddings. After all, after investing much time & money into creating a signature “look” to the event, most brides-to-be don’t want the presentation itself to be average and ordinary. So depending on your tastes, style, and interest, I can help you create fun activities that get your audience involved AND are a reflection of who you are.

Many couples whom I work with are into sports, so we try to incorporate that into the presentation. One such couple, Christy & Kris Pascual, who were happily married in July 2008 at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel, liked playing golf, and many of their guests played golf too. So we incorporated that into the wedding with the Golf Game/Putting Challenge. Simply put, the idea is to set up a small portable putting green on the dancefloor, and if the guests wanted to see Christy & Kris kiss, they needed to hit a hole-in-one! Instead of tapping the glasses to get the newlyweds kiss, they were encouraged to make a putt. What made it more fun was that, the farther out you are, and if you made it in, the longer the kiss would be! Therefore, if you putt right from the edge of the hole and make it in, it would be a very short peck. If you putt from the far end, it would be a much longer kiss.

Kris & Christy’s wedding celebration – Golf Game from Marino – Ninja Entertainment on Vimeo. Footage courtesy GREG VENTURA / Advanced Visual Arts

The activity was a lot of fun and a hit among the guests! Even the non-golfers had a good time as they watched some great golfers make (and miss) putts. And because the newlyweds and many of the guests played golf, the activity was much more meaningful than simply tapping the glasses to get the newlyweds to kiss.

When planning the presentation for your own Hawaii wedding, think about your interests, likes, and dislikes. Use your creativity to come up with unique ways to tie those interests into traditional moments like the bouquet giveaway, cake-cutting, and toasts. Come up with original ways to get your audience involved. Or, you could simply contact me for help. I’d love to sit down with you and help you create a party that’s just as fun, unforgettable, and unique as you are.

Image courtesy ED PINGOL Photography

written by Marino_NinjaEntertainment \\ tags: 2008, christy, Fun, games, golf, july, kris, personalized, sheraton waikiki, unique, wedding

In all of the hubbub that goes on planning your Hawaii wedding, you may forget about what happens AFTER the wedding…and one of those easy-to-forget but important-to-remember things is the name change. If you’re planning to stick to tradition and take your husband-to-be’s name, it’s not as simple as declaring it on the marriage certificate. You’ve got forms to file, agencies to contact, people to inform. The guys at Bridesclub, who are producing the upcoming Hawaii Bridal Expo in July, share this great post on what to do to make the whole name change thing much easier and more stress-free for you.

Click here to read the article on Changing Your Name After the Wedding

Images in this post courtesy ERIC & WENDY / L’Amour Photography

written by Marino_NinjaEntertainment \\ tags: Advice, ideas, name change

Mashups are a great way of “bridging the gap” between the mix of guests at your Hawaii wedding! A mashup is a song that combines elements of two different styles or genres of music into one song. Take this, for example:

 
In this example, the remixer (Party Ben) takes the vocals from Beyonce’s Single Ladies and combines it with the theme from The Andy Griffith Show. This makes the song instantly recognizable to

• your younger guests, who will recognize the Beyonce hit right away, and
• your older guests, who may have grown up watching The Andy Griffith Show, will instantly recognize the main theme, and may reminisce about the great memories from the past that the melody brings.

A mashup like this, when played by your wedding DJ, can bring generations together.

Here’s another one:

This is a fun one! Your younger guests will appreciate hearing Lady Gaga’s Just Dance, and your other guests who enjoy Journey will appreciate dancing to the instrumental sound of Don’t Stop Believing.

Here’s a combination of Green Day’s Brain Stew with The Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby:

And if you have guests who like music from the movie Grease, and/or like music by hip-hop artist Snoop Dogg, they will get a kick out of this:

So where do you find mashups? Mashups are everywhere! An easy way would be to go to youtube and run a search for “mashups”. Look for songs that you think you and your guests would enjoy dancing to, and let your DJ know so he can find a way to get those songs!

Mashups are a wonderful way of personalizing your wedding, getting your guests to dance together, reliving some happy memories from the past, and having a great time at your Hawaii wedding!

Image courtesy PHIL AMMON / A+ Media Creations

written by Marino_NinjaEntertainment \\ tags: Advice, dancing, DJ, mashups, memories, music, unique