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Merlyn + Joseph // party time (SDE) courtesy ARIA Studios.
 

Merlyn & Joe Guieb wanted a great party. For their Hawaii wedding in Waikiki, they had decided early on that they wanted their guests to leave the reception at the end of the night with a lot of positive & happy memories, and they wanted their wedding to be completely different from all of the weddings that their guests had experienced in the past. With that in mind, they approached me to help them develop a party that was going to blow their guests away! Instead of a cookie-cutter wedding experience like their guests were used to, we were going to give Merlyn & Joe’s audience a party that would stand out in their guests’ minds and be the talk for many months after the wedding.

And did I mention that we did this all in a month?

Fortunately, when we first started speaking, they already had the groundwork in place–they had a great photography & videography team (Aria Studios), a great DJ (Exquisite Entertainment), a great location (the Hyatt Regency Waikiki), and a detail-oriented planner (Joe’s sister Jen). All they needed was a professional wedding Master of Ceremonies to help them tie it all together. And tie it together I did! In the month leading up to Merlyn & Joe’s wedding, I worked closely with their Hawaii wedding professionals to make sure that EVERYONE knew of the original and creative things that Merlyn & Joe were planning to do, in order to best serve them on their wedding day.

When August 28 rolled around, the stage for a great party was set. After a beautiful wedding ceremony and fun cocktail hour, the party kicked off with a bang! The Grand Entrance, based on Joe’s love of fast cars, was the first surprise of the night, which led into the second surprise–a creative and choreographed First Dance routine that was fast and involved their wedding party!

 

 

Images courtesy MERLYN & JOSEPH GUIEB
 

And there were even more suprises in store for the guests. Kissing Games during dinner kept the mood happy and light-hearted. Instead of tossing the bouquet, we did the Anniversary Game in which Merlyn honored the longest married couple, happily married 54 years. And in the spirit of competition, the unmarried men competed with each other and worked with the audience to win the garter in a twist to the traditional garter toss!

It all built up to an night in which the energy and fun that started at the tables was transferred to the dancefloor once the lights went down and the dance music began!

Merlyn & Joseph’s Hawaii Wedding – Dance Battle
 

Merlyn & Joseph’s Hawaii Wedding – Grandma Is The Life of the Party
 

Merlyn & Joseph’s Hawaii wedding – Having Fun
 

By the end of the night, Merlyn & Joe glowed as their guests said their goodbyes and told them that their wedding was truly one of the best, most memorable Hawaii weddings that they have ever been to!

Of course, many hands went into the success of Merlyn & Joe’s celebration. Special thanks to:

• Michele Ganiko with the Hyatt Regency Waikiki, for being so great to work with;
• Kolby Akamu and her crew at Aria Studios, for capturing all of the great times and wonderful memories;
• China Anderson and her team at REA Events, for the spectacular decor & design;
• Jason Akiona, Chris Todd, and their crew with Exquisite Entertainment, for providing the sound system and the great music during dancing;
• Joe’s sister Jenifer Guieb, who helped keep Merlyn sane and organized during the planning process, as well as to successfully juggle her role as point-of-contact AND bridesmaid on the day of the wedding; and of course
• the 275 guests who joined Merlyn & Joe; your presence helped to make it even more special & meaningful to the newlyweds!

Congratulations to Merlyn & Joe, and thank you again for letting me and my team be a part of your special day and your memories.

Happy at the end of the night!

Continue reading »]]> 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.

Continue reading »]]> I’ve recently come across a troubling trend. With the need to make their weddings very unique and original, many brides have begun to do activities and games at weddings that have absolutely no relation to them and just do these games for the sake of doing them. Worse yet, they ask their emcee to do it, but without the proper training and rehearsal for it, the emcee delivers a presentation that can be embarrassing and even offensive. In the end, is this what they really want?

I was recently made aware of this by a photographer friend of mine. Her client had hired a well-known radio personality to emcee the event; this radio personality was a good friend of the bride & groom. Apparently during her research, this bride had read on my blog about some of the games that I do and asked the radio personality to attempt these games at her wedding. Specifically, one of the games she wanted to do was the Kissing Games, a popular and highly interactive activity that involves the audience and is done throughout dinner and the reception.

Unfortunately, this radio personality works at a station that is known for its “shock jock” format, and this radio personality was used to using double entendres and saying things that could be heard as inappropriate and lewd. So when he did the Kissing Games at the wedding, instead of making the activity very fun and romantic (which is part of the reason we do it at weddings), he made it very lewd, sexual, and offensive. Yes, it was funny, but was it worth offending grandma and shocking the guests for a laugh?

My point is this: If you are going to copy my games or create your own, make sure your Master of Ceremonies knows the reasoning behind it. Why do it? The Kissing Games were meant to be more than a fun diversion; it was meant to create romance and enthusiasm in the audience. If we do the Golf Game, it’s not just because it’s fun and unique; it’s because either the bride, groom, or guests like to play golf! If we do the Anniversary Card Crafting Activity, that’s because the bride or groom likes to do arts & crafts!

Also, Make sure your Master of Ceremonies knows HOW to do these activities and actually REHEARSES them beforehand. As with any live stage presentation, the actors and performers memorize the script and rehearse their lines long before the curtain rises just so that their performance is flawless and perfect at every performance. If your emcee tries to “wing it” and attempt a game/activity they’ve never done before, it’s very likely that the activity will fall flat and not make the impact that you want.

Image courtesy KYLER KWOCK/Kai Photo

Continue reading »]]> Two days ago, I posted a clip of the Best Wedding Entrance Ever. I wrote about how much time it must have taken for the wedding party to rehearse this, to get the timing and staging right so that it comes out very smooth and fun!

Here’s the Man of Honor’s “toast” at Amy & Brad’s wedding. Like the Wedding Entrance clip, Amy & Brad’s wedding party spent a lot of time rehearsing and preparing for their presentation. What made this even more amazing was that they were all spread out across the country. At the end of the video, Amy writes about how her Man of Honor even sent out sheet music and rehearsal tapes to people from New York & Maryland all the way to Ohio, Kentucky, and Florida, just so they would be ready for final rehearsals the week of the wedding. The resulting “WOW Factor” from their effort is amazing.

If your Maid of Honor or Best Man is looking for inspiration for their toast, here’s something you might want to share with her or him:

Continue reading »]]> Do you have a Devil’s Advocate in your wedding planning process? The DA is a person or group of people who assumes the negative perspective to squash your unique or creative ideas. He represents a subtle yet toxic danger to your wedding plans, minimizing your opportunity for a creative and memorable wedding celebration. The DA is the one who often reminds you that an idea or wedding professional is “too expensive,” “not important,” or “it won’t work,” without offering solutions as to how to make it work.

Such negativity will only hold you back from achieving your ideal wedding celebration.

For example, let’s say that you meet a really awesome Certified Professional Master of Ceremonies who can help you create a fun, memorable celebration that YOU want. He has a lot of creative and fresh ideas to make your party very entertaining, enjoyable, and stress-free. He has the experience to make it happen. You want to hire him. But your mother-in-law constantly tells you that it won’t work.

• “He’s too expensive.”
• “You can get Uncle Kekoa & Aunty Lynn to do it for free.”
• “A photographer is more important because you need great pictures.”

In this example, your mother-in-law is the Devil’s Advocate. All she does is highlight what won’t work without offering any solutions or ideas on how to make your idea work.

You need to make sure the Devil’s Advocate isn’t too active in the wedding planning process. Her negativity will prevent you from having the wedding you want, since she will always give you doubts about your decisions. keep her as far away from you, if possible!

If you want to have someone take a negative position to keep you on track, choose a person who not only criticizes, but also helps you find solutions on how to make your ideas work. Using the above example, let’s say your BFF brings up the same objections as your mother-in-law, but she also offers ideas on how to make it work:

• “If you really want that emcee, we can cut from another part of the budget that is less important.”
• “Can we get the professional emcee to do all of the formal stuff, and have Aunty Lynn & Uncle Kekoa do the personal stories and stuff?”
• “Let’s go for a cheaper package from the photographer, so you can have your favorite photographer AND that Master of Ceremonies that you want.”

In this case, instead of shooting down your great idea, you have someone help you to make it happen.

And when your wedding happens the way you want it to happen, you’ll be much happier with the result, won’t you?

So lose the Devil’s Advocate, and have Your Dream Wedding Reception.