New Years is always a fun event. Masses of folks celebrate the end of a year and the beginning of a new one. This one we have coming up is special since it is the end of the decade. I have the opportunity to share this celebration with the folks at Dave and Busters in Milpitas.

  They are offering a buffet and a place to party. For me it is a no brainer when it comes to fun places in the south bay. The biggest task for me for the night is what song am I going to play when the clock hits midnight. The past two years it has been easy. The end of 2018 I went with N0 Limit by G-Eazy and the following year I went with Sicko Mode by Travis Scott. But this year, there has not been a song for me that really stood out. If I go by the charts then my choices would be Old Town Road and Juicy by Lizzo. But I am not feeling those songs.

I always had a track that had the countdown but this year I will do the count down myself and throw in my surprise  song for the night. In my head, I am drawn to Little John or Too Short. Then again, Act Up by the City Girls was a big hit this past year. Again a dj’s job is the read the crowd and only time will tell.

One of the sites where I get my dj music is called Crate Gang. They do a good job of having tracks that I can not find and they make them dj friendly. I have been able to do some edits of my own that they have posted on their site. This week they gave me the opportunity to have the mix of the week. https://www.mixcloud.com/CrateGangRadio/crate-gang-radio-ep-4-dj-wingman/

  So I was fortunate to be at two different Marriott’s in two different cities and I was equally impressed with both Hotels. On Friday, I was in San Ramon Marriot. I had to park in the back in the dock of the hotel to unload my equipment. I was greeting by multiple workers. Most of the time I am ignored but it feels good to be greeted. In the back of the hotel they have rules to remind the employees. It just reinforces the concept of good customer service. On the sign, it mentions to smile to customers and also greet them. When I was unloading some employees asked if I need a bigger cart to help unload. Through out the night, I had to stay close to my mixer to make sure there was no feedback so I could not go out to eat but one of the employees asked if I need a drink and made sure I was hydrated.

  To have good customer service helps a venue become great. They hotel had 3 sources of entertainment going on at one time consisting of a band and two djs. In the room we were at we had a few chrismas trees that were decorated. They had outlets for power but also had power boxes incase I need more juice. Only a few places I have seen have that option of getting more power from the power box so it is good to have rather then not to have.  

   We had two events in two different Marriott’s and both of them excelled in customer service. Both places were elegant and the wait staff was very cheery. It was also nice that at the end of the event the staff was not trying to eagerly have me leave the premises with my equipment. Overall a top notch experience with a very good hotel chain.

 Last year I did a corporate holiday party in San Jose. It was a good time with lots of positive energy. They contacted me again and asked if I can do their event this year in Napa. For some reason I think of Napa being over 2 hours away but it is not that far from San Jose. Usually I only drive less than an hour to the events but I remember the positive vibe from the company event we had last year.

  I made sure we had two wireless microphones since at times there seems to be more than one event happening at a time. They were doing a raffle so they would read out numbers and the guests would receive nice prizes. It was their 25th year anniversary so we were instructed to stop what was happening every 25 minutes and make a game show sound and they would do a black jack game based on who was selected. The guests would have an option to keep the 50 dollars or a chance to double it by playing black jack. If they lose then they only get 25 dollars. It was fun on top of fun.

 As a dj you are supposed to not interrupt the speaker but with the 25-minute count down that did not matter. It was pretty humorous to play the Jeopardy daily double sound effect in the middle of someone speaking and it was black jack time.  Also during the night, they played the hi low game with big cards and guests had to predict if their card would be higher or lower than the dealer. The last guest standing would win a good prize.

 During the raffle, they would give out framed pictures of a comedian. So it felt like the white elephant prank. But the guests were not left out. Those three that got the gift was invited to play a game for big cash prizes at the end.

The company gave out nice prizes and the guests were super excited. The positive energy of playing of the games then transitioned to a night of dancing. It was an easy night of playing music since everyone was in positive spirits

In the South county area one has wineries to choose from for big spaces. But in Morgan Hill there is a restaurant that can boast that it has two areas to have parties. I was able to be part of a company party.

Mama Mia always had a big banquet room where I have djed a few times before. They also had a smaller room for small private dinners. Mama Mia did a genius thing and expanded that small room so it can hold bigger parties. On Saturday they had a band in their bigger room and they had me the dj in their newer room. They were able to add some flowers to the room to add a little color to the room. The party was served buffet style. The staff was on it in serving the party and keeping the space clutter free.

 They do have a private bathroom close to the back venue area but there are also the main bathrooms in the front that have more availability.

 One neat factor was even though a band was playing in the same restaurant I did not even hear any of their music. We were able to have two parties at one in close vicinity without the music interfering with each other. Another perk of the back room is that the back parking lot is only a few steps away so to decorate with flowers or to set up dj equipment is really easy.

 So now Mama Mia’s has two nice inside areas to host events and lets not forget their nice outside area so now it’s a triple threat in hosting nice events.

The City offers a perfect urban atmosphere with plenty of beautiful scenery. It is one of the top U.S. cities to get married in. What makes San Francisco so scenic are the spacious parks, the skyscrapers in the business area, and let’s not forget the San Frans’ icons cable cars and the Famous Golden Gate Bridge. San Fran is surrounded by water so it can provide many beautiful pictures. At San Fran, they have various types of gourmet food made from fresh ingredient to make any venue menu mouthwatering.

Temperature wise San Francisco cannot do no wrong. It may get a little chili at times so make sure you have light jacket in case you get married in the summer.

Half Moon Bay is a small town with big scenic views. There are awesome beaches, fantastic golf courses and delicious food. May to October would be the prime months to go but at the same time it does draw crowds of its beauty.

Napa has very stunning views of acres of vineyards. It is famous for all the wonderful wine that it produces. Restaurants produce fabulous food that go with Napa wine. Napa Valley towns are filled with nice boutiques and galleries.

The best time to go would be the summer and October. September may be hard to book since it is their busy time unless you really pre-book.

The thing to do is to go wine tasting. There are so many wineries to chose from. Guests do have plenty to do when they are going to your destination wedding in Napa.

How to Dj Your Own Wedding in the Bay Area?

A wedding is not something you just throw together and it takes planning and it takes plenty of money. What is one way to save money? Be your own Dj!

There are some worries one may have if they are doing the djing themselves. What happens if it sounds bad? What happens for your special songs are not found during the moment? Plenty can go wrong but being prepared is key.

Make sure you over-prepare the music so songs will not have to be repeated. Also needed are at least two speakers (don’t just get one), a mixing board, and a microphone. There are local av rental places that can drop off and set everything up for the wedding. On the same note, the equipment is rented so hopefully everything works as well as it should since it has had multiple handlers. The venue may have their own set up and it may be easier to use especially if the banquet manager is present to help with the set up. It would also be good to bring another digital player or a laptop with the music in case the first one runs out of battery or just stops working.

On your players settings make sure there isn’t a long gap of silence in between the transitions. A 5 second gap may feel like an eternity. Also play music that is on the disc drive or hard drive. Playing off the Wi-Fi can be tricky and not stable

There is a lot to consider when you are djing your own wedding. A lot can go wrong. Maybe reconsider hiring a professional dj to eliminate the worries and to ensure a flawless performance. Check out www.bwadj.com.

We believe in prompt responses. Setting up an event can feel like a second job and it can cause some stress. We believe to make the process as easy with possible. We are accessible by text, phone call or email and respond quickly. If folks, ask for quotes then we make sure they get it right away and we do not sugar coat anything. Our job is to make your wedding planning easier.

We help build playlists. We do not play the same old music at every event. We send out lists to our clients and the most popular songs and they pick their favorites and can add some other songs that are not on the list. Each party has its only playlist and they are never the same. We tend to get the requests a week before to ensure we can find the requests in time for the event.

We have played at night spots in the bay area so we had to be able to read different crowds to throw more energy at the dance floor. Not every crowd is the same so we have our experience to keep the party going and keep it going the whole night.

We believe in having back ups to our back ups. We make sure everything is in tip top condition but for some reason something is not sounding well then I have an alternative or two to make it sound better. Often times it is using another cable or connecting another controller to the set up. We always have another computer for those just in case scenarios.

 To have a good party is like a good business, you need good marketing. Usually it’s the folks who were in the student leadership spearhead the whole event. It would be ideal to form a committee since it is a lot of work and they can cover more ground in numbers. They can reach out to the school and advertise it on the marquee. They can create a facebook reunion class page to let folks know of the event. It would be great to send save the date notices by snail mail or by emails.

Plan to have the Reunion on a Saturday since it gives folks an opportunity to come to town  and not have the feel to rush back to their place of residence.

They find a dj that knows music for their high school period. Typcially the dj looks for the top hits the 4 years the students were at school.

There is no such thing as the older the class the less chance of them dancing. With a good playlist, people will be dancing. A good dj will keep the soft hits for the dinner portion of the night but save the floor fillers for the end of the night.

A good host will reach out to guests and ask for their favorite songs of their high school years and record the list and give it to the dj. Its best to send that list at least a week in advance so the dj has enough time to organize the music for the event.