Iman & Justin’s Wedding Highlights from Savannah Conway on Vimeo.
Video Credit: Savannah Conway
Photo Credit: Brittany Juravich
Venue, Vendor Team & Cocktail Hour
On this beautiful June day at the Utica wedding Venue Hotel Utica, we celebrated the marriage of Iman & Justin. For Iman & Justin’s wedding I provided reception DJ services, our “Full Larger Room Accent Lighting” package, and the Selfie Station Photo Booth. The reception started out with guests arriving to the Hotel’s main lobby and mezzanine for cocktail hour. I was already setup on the lobby floor that looked amazing underneath the lovely chandelier décor of the hotel with all the beautiful white floral from Blooms and Blossoms that made the room look even more stunning. One of the focus areas other the Iman & Justin’s sweetheart table was the table the cake was set on right next to the couple’s sweetheart table. This Classy Cakes masterpiece was very tall with its own pillars in addition to the multiple layers and a water fountain on the lower level of the cake. During cocktail hour I checked in with my wedding photography and videography team for the day. Brittany Juravich a Syracuse base photographer (who’s incredible photos are seen in this very blogpost) and Savannah Conway of Film by Sav a Central Florida and Upstate NY videographer were all set and staged for me to start wedding party intros once cocktail hour was over. I took one more walk through the crowd that was on the mezzanine joined in conversation as my Rat Pack, Crooners & Italian Spotify mix played for guests. Before taking my spot for introductions I had one more very important check in with the days Planner Courtney of Crown Coordination Event & Wedding Planning who helped keep all of us vendors on track and schedule for the day. Courtney and I made sure the wedding party was all set to go and accounted for the grand entrance.
Introductions, Parent Dances & Toast
After cocktail hour concluded guests made their way down to the first level lobby to their seats so I could introduce the wedding party. Guests were over the top excited as Iman & Justin weaved through the crowd and made their way to the center of the dance floor area after making the walk down the mezzanine stairs. After a quick welcoming and a few words from Justin we transitioned right into the first dance as a married couple to “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Elvis Presley which ended with a huge ovation from all the wedding guests. After I faded out of the first dance song as guests cheered, I welcomed Iman’s mother Maria out to the dance floor to share their special moment with special moment together to “Butterfly” by Miley Cyrus for their mother daughter dance. Immediately following Iman and Maria’s dance, Justin made his way back to the dance floor joining his mother Kim to dance to the song “That’s What Mama’s Are For” by Chris Lane which was concluded with a round of applause before Iman and Justin took their seats at the sweetheart table for the first toast. First to give a toast was Justin’s Best man Joey and was followed up by Iman’s Maid of Honor Maria. Both Joey and Maria gave beautiful heartfelt toasts that led us into the dinner hour.
Dinner, Formalities & Dancing
During dinner I played lots of upbeat sing along songs similar to my Spotify “Sing-Alongs Upbeat” playlist that the room loved and I could hear the crowd signing from the next room over as us vendors sat and had our meals. As dinner came to an end and just before opening the dance floor Iman and Justin decided to incorporate a garter and bouquet toss into the reception and I opened the dance floor immediately at the conclusion of the bouquet toss and went into my closing dance set which by clicking here you can listen to my live Soundcloud mix from the wedding. We ended the night with all of Iman and Justin’s friends and family surrounding them as on the dancefloor dancing to their pick of the last song “Die a Happy Man” by Thomas Rhett.
