88 Keys on the Road - Blog

Find out what happened when the dj failed to show up for the wedding!

Last week I posted one of the 'Saved the Day' Wedding Stories that were recently shared at the Central Minnesota Wedding Association's Award Banquet. The 'XO'  eXtraOrdinary Award was given to the 3 top stories submitted by its members. The stories were judged on how a member of the Central Minnesota Wedding Association 'saved the day' for a couple that had hired them. The 3 stories that won were written about Larry Rowe at Impressions Mobile Music--whose story I shared last week, as well as Sharon Planer at Pianist for Parties, and Paige Meier at Carlos Creek Winery. Today I am excited to share the amazing story of Paige at Carlos Creek Winery.

As writer of this blog I must start out by stating that Carlos Creek Winery was WCCO's "Viewers' Choice for Minnesota's Best Winery" in 2014. Not only do they have award winning wines, but award winning services!  Here is their story.

Prior to the start of the wedding ceremony our wedding coordinator, Paige Meier, noticed the DJ was missing and tried calling him. He never answered or called back.

The DJ was supposed to provide the music for the wedding ceremony. Paige's quick thinking saved the couple from a ceremony catastrophe. Paige used her cell phone to download the ceremony music based on what she had remembered from the wedding rehearsal. Whew!

The staff at Carlos Creek Winery continued to try and reach the DJ...but to no avail. Now it was time for the social hour and still no DJ, so Paige used her cell phone to provide the music. During this time the couple did NOT even notice that their DJ was a no show! They heard the music and figured everything was good.

While Paige was keeping the music gong during the social hour, the staff found out what song the couple's first dance song was supposed to be as well as some of the couple's other dance music choices.

Lucky for everyone, Josie Nelson was the music performer on the Wine Patio that day. 

When Josie finished her set. The staff asked her if she would be willing to help them out later that night and play the couple's First Dance song as well as some of their other special dance songs. Josie was a sweetheart and agreed! Since some of the music wasn't in her polished repertoire, she hurried home to learn the new music and returned. Josie got connected into the sound system and was ready to perform! CLICK HERE for Josie's YouTube channel.

The guests were now seated for dinner. Paige took over as the MC and did all of the announcing. When it was time for the First Dance, Paige made the announcement and Josie performed beautifully while the couple danced their first dance together. It was more than perfect! The couple never dreamed they would dance to a live performance of their song. Not only that, but Josie performed the mother/son dance, the father/daughter dance and a few of the first songs for the guests while Paige kept up with the announcing. 

Paige continued using her cell phone and downloaded songs as guests made requests. The guests were dancing and enjoying themselves all night long.

The wedding was a wonderful success thanks to Paige, Josie and the staff at Carlos Creek Winery! What an award winning team!

Find out more about Paige and the wonderful team at Carlos Creek Winery.

Find out what happened when a judge who was hired to marry a couple never showed up at the wedding!

The Central Minnesota Wedding Association hosted its Awards Banquet last week. The 'XO' eXtraOrdinary Award was given to the 3 top stories submitted by its members. The stories were judged on how a member of the Central Minnesota Wedding Association 'saved the day' for a couple that had hired them.  The 3 stories that won were written about Larry Rowe at Impressions Mobile Music , Sharon Planer at Pianist for Parties , and Paige Meier at Carlos Creek Winery.

I will share Larry's story in this post and the other stories in later posts.

Larry Rowe is DJ entertainer extraodinare at Impressions Mobile Music

Here is what the bride and groom had to say about Larry 'Saving the Day'! 

The story began on Sept. 27 2014 . . . .

We decided to have our wedding outside in a field on our farm.  We decided to have a Stearns County Judge do the ceremony.  I sent our choice of wording for our ceremony and the address, time and date.  The Judge stated he had a wedding prior to ours but would for sure be here by 5:30. 

Larry came out earlier in the afternoon and set up all of his equipment for the music and lights. 

I was in the house getting ready and all of the guests were arriving.  We had our BBQ started and dance floor was ready for the evening.  We were ready to go... the hay ride to the field was on it's way, it was 5:30 and we were ready. 

When we got to the field we were informed there was no JP yet.  Hmmmmm ... so we said we can wait a little to see if he is just running late.  Larry came up and asked if everything was okay.  We said, "Play some music for a little bit and we will see if he shows up."  Joe's sister had googled 'ceremonies' and had a plan that we would fake it and have Joe's brother just read the ceremony. We could get married at the court house at a later date. 

Larry came over and said, "I can't believe how calm you are.  Other brides would have been crazy by now."  And that was putting it mildly!  Ha Ha.  We told him this is our life, just winging it most of the time.  He offered to check and see if a friend of his was available to do the ceremony.  We said. "Well, we will wait a little bit."  

Larry called his friend just to see if he was around and well, he was fishing.  Larry came back to tell us what he had found out.  We thought for a bit and decided, "I guess we have to pull him off the lake!"  We said, "Okay. The JP isn't showing and we better get someone here."  Everyone was getting hungry and mingling.  So Larry called his friend and asked him to come. His friend stated he had to run home and shower but would be on his way.  I said, "He doesn't need to shower, we don't care if he smells fishy!"  

We were all watching the driveway for the next car to come in and wondered who it was going to be ... the JP or Larry's friend?  Larry's friend pulled into the drive way and  he calmly came up to us asked us if we wanted anything special.  Joe and I both said, "No just lets get married and get to the dancing!"  

Larry literally saved the day, went WAY above and beyond his job.  We loved his music he kept everyone young and old on the dance floor all night.  I cannot say enough GREAT things about Larry and how he just seemed to keep everything going calmly and of course pulling a JP out of his hat was quite amazing!  

We will never forget what Larry did and how professionally he did it.  We feel Larry deserves the XO award. Words cannot explain how lucky we were to have not only a GREAT DJ but one that knew a JP!  

Find out more about Larry Rowe at Impressions Mobile Music

by Sharon Planer, Pianist for Parties

Are you planning a Wedding? Are you planning a special event such as a birthday party or anniversary?

Chances are you will want to attend a Wedding or Event Fair to get ideas for your event. 

Here are some suggestions to help you get the most out of your Wedding and Event Fair experience.

Before you attend the event, think about your top priorities for your event. Ask yourself, 'What are the two or three most important aspects of my wedding day or special occasion?'

Floral arrangements / your wedding dress / live music / price / writing the perfect wedding vows / having someone else be responsible for the pressure of your planning and day-of festivities / photography / videography / venue location / decor / food .. . . the list goes on.  

I have worked with hundreds of couples planning their weddings and people planning parties.  Their priorities vary immensely. When planning your event, it is helpful to determine what items you think are most important.  From there you can direct your focus. Use a mobile device or notebook to draft some questions surrounding your priorities. List the categories where you need help planning. Educate yourself in those areas that are most important to you. By doing this, you will develop more questions.

On the day of the Event Fair here are some items to bring.

• Your list of questions.
• Your list of categories where you need help planning.
• Camera or mobile device to take photos.
• Your appointment calendar.

On the day of the Wedding or Event Fair approach the event professionals that are top on your list. Be direct and tell them that their area of expertise is especially important to you.

• Take photos of items of interest. After you have photographed the items you like, snap a photo of their poster or business card to remember their name.
• Ask your questions. Don't shy away from asking hard questions. 
• If you feel good rapport with the professional, set up a private meeting to further discuss your questions in detail.
• For the remaining Categories where you need event planning help, gather what information you can from those event professionals and record which companies you might like to do business with.
• For the professionals that you are interested in, find your Categories list and record their business name. Take notes that will help you remember what made them stand apart from the others. This will be very helpful when you return home with a pile of brochures because you will be able to identify the companies that you want to follow up with.
• Sign up for the giveaways and prizes.

After the Wedding or Event Fair is over. Contact the professionals that you liked and go from there!

There are many great Wedding and Event Fairs in the Twin Cities as well as greater Minnesota. I personally think the smaller shows give you have a better opportunity of connecting on a personal level with the event professionals. But the larger shows are great for gathering a lot of information from many different sources.

For a list of shows where I will be performing, check out my web site at http://pianistforparties.com/events

I would love to meet and play samples of music just for you!