Cruise ship wedding in California

As I begin my 40 minute drive from my home in Escondido, CA to downtown San Diego & to DJ in The Port of San Diego, I can see it’s another beautiful day in the making. Sure enough, when arrive at the Port it’s sunny, blue skies, and somewhere in the 70’s. Just another day here in paradise.

I load my equipment and make my way through the terminal and meet up with the Wedding Coordinator’s, the Bride and Groom, and about 35 guests who came from all over the United States.

After getting our ship passes, we are the first ones on Royal Caribbean’s “Radiance Of The Seas”. The Bride and Groom head to their cabin to change, their guests explore the ship, and I head to the 13^th floor and the Starquest Lounge to setup.

The ceremony starts right on time and their family friend who is also the officiant tells us all how the Bride and Groom met. The Groom is a doctor and was caring for the Brides mother. It was a very touching story. After they exchange their vows and rings, their two young grandchildren girls sing a song they had written especially for the wedding.

As they begin taking pictures, I play some special requests from Michael Buble, Rod Stewart, Frank Sinatra, and the brides favorite, David Archuleta’s version of “Stand By Me”.

They listen to Louis Armstong & Kenny G’s version of “What A Wonderful World”, Diana Krall’s “Let’s Fall In Love”, and others as they enjoy a delicious luncheon buffett and spectacular views of downtown San Diego and the Harbor.

I introduce the Bride & Groom to their family & friends for their first dance as husband & wife to Michael Buble’s version of “The Way You Look Tonight”. Per their request, I invite everyone to join them on the dance floor.

After throwing the bouquet and garter, the grandkids are ready for the “Electric Slide”, “Cupid Shuffle”, and the “Cha Cha Slide”. Then the Best Man joins them on the dance floor to his favorite, “Old Time Rock N’ Roll”. For those who wanted something a little mellower, I personally sang “After The Lovin’” and “L-O-V-E”.

Before you know it, the reception is almost over. After taking a picture with the Bride & Groom, they thank me for a “superb performance”. They will have a fantastic honeymoon as the ship sets sail in a few hours on a 14 day trip to the Panama Canal. I thought, it sure would be great to stay onboard and enjoy this fantastic voyage, but then again, I live here and DJ in San Diego, California, “America’s Finest City”, I’ll head home to my paradise and look forward to doing this again in the future, either on another cruise ship or at one of the many beautiful venues here in Southern California.

By George James, Preferred DJ w/ Academy DJs

wedding 10-11-08 in St Simmons Island, GA

Wedding 10-11-08
A wedding reception is a special time for family and friends to celebrate the union of two. A little rain should not spoil that celebration. A rain shower started just as I was making the introductions. Just as I got the bride and groom announced my laptop locked up and started looping. I don’t think it favored getting a little wet, even my back-up amp got into the act and started flashing warning signs. Would this night end as a disaster? No! With some awesome “spring-into-action” help from the Coastal Kitchen’s venue staff we covered the primary system up and moved inside then switch to the backup systems. DJ Ricardo had his laptop on the ready so we were back online and jamming in no-time. I truly believe in having backups to everything, in this case it paid off. Meeting with Jeff, Coastal Kitchen’s private party staff coordinator, a couple of days before the event proved to be very important as well. A level of cooperation was established from our meeting to ensure a special celebration no matter what happened, rain or not. And a special celebration was had by all till the wee hours. The bride and groom even danced on the bar and did not let a little rain dampen their spirits. My laptop & amp recovered as well and are ready for the next special celebration.



By DJs Steadman Pottinger & Ricardo Montalvo

Wedding 10-11-08 Marine-Land

Hi every one,

I wanted to share an experience I had with Jennifer and Jason last weekend. I had the pleasure of performing at their wedding in St. Augustine, Florida where Marineland is located. This place was the scene for a beautiful wedding involving the ocean on one side and a Dolphin habitat on the other with the DJ (Me) placed in the center.

I performed their ceremony music and they waded ankle deep in to the dolphin pool, the dolphins were part of the ceremony. During the evening there was a small dolphin show with even one of the dolphins assisting with the wedding cake cut. The wedding party was very small and intimate, it was perfect. Towards the latter part of the night I had every one dancing, although it was dark I swear the dolphins were dancing and singing too until the end of the reception

What an experience, thank you

Wedding with Dolphins from AcademyDJs on Vimeo.

Richard Barker
Academy DJs, Inc

Academy DJs at Road Atlanta 2008

Patrón Tequila Party Tent 2008

Academy DJs, Inc hired to represent a corporate sponsor finding themselves on the "Speed" channel and the talk of the races. The Club Patron lounge was the only place to be to watch the races or hang out after them thanks to Academy DJs, Inc

Intense is one word that can accurately describe the past 4 days of my life. It started nervously waiting for my new boss, Richard, to arrive at my house for a long 6.5 hour road trip to Braselton GA just outside of Atlanta. What would we talk about for 6.5 hours? Would there be any awkward moments of silence? To our surprise we found our common ground and had plenty to talk about even after a few tense moments about gas pedal management. Richard reminded me that the Petit Le Mans was where the race was and not on I-75. Road Atlanta Raceway is in Braselton, GA, a sleepy town with an international race track that never seems to sleep. Just like the race cars roaring and rocking around the race track, our job was to rock the Patrón Party tent for 3 days in a row from 9 am to 7 pm. That’s where the intensity comes in. MC’ing and DJ’ing for 10 hours a day is no light feat. Richard and I drew upon our military experiences and worked as a team. First attract the crowd then secondly keep them entertained which equals people staying and enjoying more and more Patrón Tequila. On day 3 the crowd size was so large we felt like soldiers who did not want to leave their post until the mission was complete. That’s exactly what we did. Richard brilliantly flowed on the microphone; I spun the wheels of steel with a hypnotic rhythm for 10 hours straight with no breaks or switching of roles. We just felt the flow and did not stop for anything. At the end of the day our client, Patrón, along with the masses, was happy. It was then we realized the importance of adrenaline. Academy DJs came through and actually made this corporate tent and sponsor the hotspot to be at the races.

Article by Steadman Pottinger