Weird, Wonderful Holiday Mix from Dart DJ

I meant to get up bright and early to post this for you all..... But I went to the Dart DJ holiday party last night and then to Footsie's and drank waaaaaaay too much whiskey and also some really grody stuff I don't remember the name of that Elizabeth claims is the new Jagermeister.

Now my head hurts.

Anyhoo.


Click here for your weird, wonderful holiday mix from the Dart DJ boys. Which is actually not very holiday. It's mostly just a great, weird collection of covers and lesser-known versions of popular songs. (Even if Elvis's "Crawfish" drives you nuts, stay tuned for Hot Chip covering Joy Division!)

BONUS: If you're cheaping out on the dj for your wedding, Dart has a bunch more mixes over here. The Flashdance also mixes a mean mix.


Photo from last night by Michelle of Rad + In Love

Hey Mister DJ.... Will you organize my crappy playlist?

Hi ESB

When it comes to our wedding my guy and I have very clear priorities. Food, food and food. We're renting out one of our favorite restaurants and throwing what we hope is a great dinner party stuffed to the gills with love.  

There will be a couple of hours following dinner where people can sit and talk or go into the courtyard for dancing. We don't want a DJ. The last thing we want is a stranger in a satin vest yelling at our elderly relatives to get funky. There are fantastic, magical DJs who can integrate seamlessly into a party but as I said earlier our budget priority is the food and those unicorn DJs don't come cheap. We have a dear family friend acting as casual MC and a cousin who will man the laptop with the music as his gift to us. 

Are there any DJs I can pay a flat fee for organizing our play list? We have a random play list and I'd like to pay someone to organize it so that the music balances heating up and slowing down, that genres aren't clumped together and the end finishes with a great set of songs that work well together.  I not very into music so I don't trust myself to make it cohesive.

Thanks in advance for your help.

*****

I asked my friend Jesse of Dart DJ, “What would you do if someone asked you to organize her playlist? Tell her to eff off?”

Here's his response:

I would probably say that "organizing" a playlist without physically being there to assess the crowd, room and mood of the event is kind of like a baseball player stepping up to the plate blindfolded and hoping to hit a home run. It could happen but the much more likely conclusion would be a total disaster. Honestly, every wedding we do is so different in terms of crowd, size, mood and set length that it would just be irresponsible of us to take money for this sort of thing. I would never recommend it. The only thing we do for people is sometimes provide a cocktail playlist. Since we are just setting a mood, sometimes this can be done with a good deal of accuracy. Hope this helps!


p.s. (from me) What is a "casual MC"? And WHYYYYEEEEEEE?

p.p.s. Stay tuned for a weird, wonderful holiday mix crafted especially for us by Dart DJ.


Photo courtesy of the world wide webs. Let me know if you know who took it.

Why the F* does it cost so much?? DJ edition! (Sponsored by Dart DJ)

We didn't hire a DJ for our wedding. We sort of recruited the best man (bad idea) to help with the music, but he was too busy doing best man things (I.E. having fun at the damn wedding) to pay much attention to the music.

Was the party still amazing? 

Yes.

Do I wish I hadn't spent 45 minutes fucking with the iTunes playlist in the middle of the reception? 

Yes.

If I had it to do over again, would I scrape up the money to hire a REAL DJ? 

Yeah, I might.

Here's Jesse from Dart DJ to tell you why the good ones cost so f*@%ing much:

My partner Michael and I started Dart with the goal of shaking up the typically safe (read: boring) world of wedding DJ's with our unique sound and style. We believe that creativity is essential, from the custom gear we use to the personal mixes, edits and playlists we make for our couples.

Much like our friend Beth at Whoa Nelly Catering, as DJ’s we are often asked, "Why the f* does it cost so much?"

Before we get into the nuts and bolts of why hiring a DJ—and specifically a good DJ—is expensive, we should start by saying that talent and reputation will always be the main factor when it comes to DJ pricing. You pay for what you get and if it's important to you that your wedding DJ is talented, engaging and professional, the price point will always be higher. While Dart itself is a relatively new company, both Michael and I have been making people dance for years at events, clubs and festivals around the world. We are always digging through vinyl looking for those timeless tracks that avoid cliche but are universal in their appeal. This process is something we love to do and a key part of what separates us from a DJ who downloads top 40 playlists and rehashes what Ryan Seacrest is playing on KIIS FM that morning. 

With that said, spend five minutes on Craigslist and you will find DJ’s who are way cheaper than us (charging anywhere from $400-$800). AVOID THESE DJ’s. After you see the amount of gear, time and energy that goes into each event we do, I hope you will see why these price points put you at risk of hiring someone flaky and unreliable for your wedding.

Taste

As I noted above, no amount of gear, cabling or time will ever perfectly explain the cost of a DJ (don’t hate us for it). The reality is that music is a crucial part of your wedding and to keep people dancing and keep their interest, we need to always be reading the crowd and making adjustments. People who are charging $400 are simply not doing this for a living. They may be selling life insurance during the week and trying to make a few extra bucks on the weekend—which is totally cool—but when it comes to really knowing your library of music and being able to make quick adjustments in a tasteful and stylish way, we feel that this is where devoting your full time and energy to the craft pays off. A few months ago, I came in contact with a wedding DJ to remain nameless. He told me he plays more or less the same songs at every wedding, explaining that these songs “work” and why mess with a good thing. Maybe you're cool settling for "good" (really, "OK" is probably more accurate), but Michael and I simply don't believe in that kind of platitude. You don't have to trade taste for dancing - you just have to work a little harder to find well produced songs that connect with people in a universal way. And that's what we're all about.

Gear

(Note: This gets really boring really fast, so feel free to skim!) Owning and maintaining top quality gear is not a cheap endeavor. Michael and I obsess over the gear and aesthetics of our company and we think that pays off both musically and visually on your wedding day. Our custom wood console, 900 mixer, technics turntables, mics, subs and brand new JBLs are expensive and would probably be in the $500-$750 range just for you to rent from a rental company on your wedding day. With that said, the truly hidden cost for DJs and gear is the cabling. Reliable cables are REALLY expensive and we need a lot of them! In addition, we need back ups of everything so that if something shorts out on the day we can quickly and seamlessly swap it out. We've thought through little details like that precisely so you never notice them and keep having a great day instead. 

Time and Prep

While rates are often negotiated based on how many hours you need us to actually DJ, the reality is that any wedding is going to take up our entire day and night. A short day will be around 10-12 hours while others, particularly with travel, can stretch to 19 hours (We actually did a 19-hour day last weekend!). While some of that has to do with our attention to detail (we typically set up 2-3 hrs before anyone arrives to make sure everything works perfectly), the reality is that DJing a wedding is much more involved than DJing a club. You can't just plug in your computer, play for two hours, and then leave. Then again, most people are assholes in clubs, slip you $20s to play shit songs you hate and/or spill their Red Bull vodkas on your backpack in the process. So ultimately you can see why we're much more interested in the more exacting, but more rewarding business of making you, your friends and family boogie down. 

DJs are often stereotyped as being lazy, apathetic, overpaid stoner kids. After DJing all over the world and for a long time in Los Angeles, I can tell you that this is pretty true! It’s true because switching between two songs is super easy if that is the height of your ambition for an event. The exceptions to this rule are the DJs who are talented mixers, that love what they do, and who want to push an event to engaging and exciting levels. Inevitably these are the people you want at your event and the ones who will command higher prices. 

A final tip for couples who are on a very tight budget: ask a friend (not a close friend) with solid DJ experience to DJ your wedding either as a favor or at a friend rate. That way you have at least seen the person spin and have an idea of what they will bring to the event. If you do not have a friend or a friend of a friend who is a good DJ, you may have to step up your budget and give us a call! We're pretty nice. 

[Editor's Note: If there is *no room* in your budget for a DJ, no way no how, Dart DJ has some pretty good mixes for the swiping. Don't tell Jesse I told you.]

Help me pick a DJ! QUICK!!

Hi ESB,

I need to decide on a dj fast (this week). I had no idea they booked up so far in advance. I don't go hear djs at bars very often period, and I certainly have no experience hiring wedding djs. Having been together for several years, we feel already married, and in many ways we see our wedding almost as an excuse for a big outdoor dance party. So the dj is important.

My options:

1) A friend/acquaintance who I have heard is a great wedding dj. I have heard him dj before, though it was years ago, and he has great taste in music, obvious audiophile, sweet smart guy, etc, but he's like a stoner drug dealer dude who is questionably reliable. What if he doesn't show up? What if he gets mono the week before the wedding? He is the cheapest option.

2) A wedding dj from a pretty cool event dj company. They seem to "get" our non-mainstream musical taste, and won't do cheesy shit, but who knows? Basically they assign a dj a few weeks before the wedding and we talk to that dj to decide on music and he or she plays what we want, plus a little creative input. My fiance likes this idea because we would actually have more control of exactly what music the dj played -- less dj ego involved. I like it because we have a contract, which means someone will dj our wedding no matter what. But, we don't choose our dj, so it feels a little like a crap shoot. A lame dj would be the lamest thing we could do to our wedding.

3) Our friends out of state throw an awesome dance party that people line up around the block to get into. They could bring one of their djs to the wedding. That dj would be awesome, but very expensive, and I imagine we would have very little input as to what he/she would play. However, this dj would get the party started for sure. Again though: drugs, party monsters, bohemian, will he catch the plane and show up in one piece? Who knows.

I know this is ultimately a personal choice, but maybe as someone who has actually hired a dj before you could offer some advice? Or one of your readers?

Thanks!
DJ Challenged

*****

To recap, your options are:

1) questionably reliable

2) pretty cool

3) awesome

Am I missing something?? I mean, you did just describe your wedding as "an excuse for a big outdoor dance party."

Book the out-of-state badasses and CALM DOWN, LADYPANTS.

Sure, some DJs do a lot of drugs, but just as many of them are huge coffee drinkers.

Christian Brylle by Henrik Bülow for Dansk via The Fashionisto

A Wedding in Polaroids

And the most thorough, thoughtful, helpful write-up I have yet had the pleasure of publishing.

Take it away April:

Sitting down to write about our wedding seems an awful lot like an Academy Award acceptance speech -- there were so many incredible people and friends involved. I'm about to start blurting out a list of names before the orchestra starts playing the STOP TALKING music.

About our wedding: it happened over labor day weekend in a small town 2 hours north of San Francisco. Monte Rio is beautiful, remote and very California without having the expense of nearby wine country. The ceremony was on a meadow by the Russian River with the reception at the community center. We treated it like it like a destination wedding.

Besides our own marriage, here's what we wanted for our guests:

- to have a relaxing long weekend on the river.
- to enjoy themselves so much that they were really sad when the weekend was over.
- to leave feeling like they really got to know other people and made new friends.
(To that end we created a Facebook group to organize lodging, communicated on our save the dates that guests needed to book lodging pronto and gave people the resources to find rental houses together. We also created a custom google map with important location and people's rentals.) As far as we know, success!

Long term, WE owe the photographers, big time. We didn't have a pile of cash to burn, so we decided early on to spend on what was important to us. Pictures last forever, right? We wanted the photographs to represent the time we had that weekend and Chloe Aftel did just that. Bonus: she is hilarious and a joy to work with (she did our engagement shots too). She does magical things with Polaroids and captured the romantic, ephemeral parts of marrying someone you love. Waking up the day after the weddings and flipping through the prints was immediate gratification! We had another photographer manning the photo booth during cocktails -- Meg Messina took fantastic wedding guest portraits.

Finally, a shot of gratitude to Jennifer Tipton. She came on as the wedding day coordinator but she was indispensable long before that. She was wonderful to work with and  was on top of everything during the weekend.

The dress: it was St. Lucia sample by Jenny Packham, purchased at San Francisco's Glamour Closet. This is the place to go if you want an expensive dress for half-price. Ideal for people who a) are motived bargain shoppers or b) don't mind if their dress has a few fix-it blemishes.
The headpiece: bought a couple but settled on the Mignonne Handmade - Nature Girl Halo in ivory.
The bridesmaids: almost all wore long, pale pink Rachel Pally. She designs with modal jersey, aka feels like pajamas.

The cake(s): we didn't want a wedding cake per se. We bought basically one of every cake from Miette. Beautiful/delicious/not $1000.

And finally, here's the rest of the Rad people/places/things near California's Sonoma valley....

Artistry by Alan: Oh my, those lashes! He comes from a Hollywood background and sat me down, did his magic and I looked like myself but flawless. What cinched it for me is he did make-up on the movie Clueless. HELLO 90's girl fantasy!
Brian Ho of Dreams in Audio: the best damn unwedding DJ we could've found (sf-based)
Fork Catering: food truck extraordinaire, tasty, local, fresh food.
Pinterest: I had an Inspiration and Final Wedding board to manage the look since our wedding decor didn't really have a strong theme besides what we liked.
Virb: hosted our wedding website! Easy and (more importantly) stylish.

The last note: we ended up with 12 kids/babies on the attending guest list(!). Besides reserving the playground adjacent to the reception site we also introduced the parents beforehand via email. We had a kid activities, made programs with a colorable illustration. One of my favorite parts of the reception was the kids smashing a Confetti System-style piñata we filled with toys and candy. It was joyful having them around!

OH, I cannot believe I almost forgot to mention my favorite wedding stress coping mechanism. No, not stress eating (close second!) — my favorite way to let of irrational impulses and wedding industry wackness out was by creating the Twitter account @BRIDEHULK. In the same vein as internet meme @DrunkHulk, you tweet the rage away. I did not man @BRIDEHULK myself, I enlisted the help of about 10 other brides who were also wedding planning last year. Most of us graduated out but there are still a couple friends who are getting married in 2012. I hope the tradition will live on and would be happy to share login information with others who find themselves fed-up with one too many staged wedding blog posts, difficult potential vendors and crazy-pants family drama.

Cheers!
April

(Chloe Aftel also took super gorg digital photos. A few of em are up over here.)

Here's someone who actually needs our help

Dear ESB,

I've been reading your blog for months and though I have no idea how I found you, I heart you dearly! Come join my crew in NY soon! We'll take you to tequila trivia on sunday night which is as fun as it sounds: lots.

Anyway, to the point: My fiance and are one of those couples who like the DIY aesthetic but work 100 hours a week combined so by the time we have a free minute the last thing we can muster is the energy to craft anything worthy enough to be involved in our wedding (except we made our own invites but that's only because I had a hookup through work so that was essentially part of the 100 hrs... I'm rambling but you get the point. We're spent). We are madly in love 4 years strong but I'm starting to worry about pulling this whole shebang together with only 1 month left (Sept 10 yay!) and so much left to do.

Part of the "we're so busy" is that we're in the throes of planning Dr's visits instead of the wedding because we found out a few months ago that he has a brain tumor. WTF right? Wtf. Total shock that definitely helps keep those "what should my bridesmaids' dresses color be" dilemmas in check but it also put all planning on hold for a few months. Weeks and weeks into this stuff and we are feeling good about his ability to kick this shiz, we're optimistic like that, and both agree the show will go on with the wedding on the date as planned. At last the point: because of the crazy medical issues that arose, and needing to put those at the forefront of our attention we have seriously slacked on planning the wedding and I'm now beyond stressed.

Biggest obstacle: help us find good tunes to make this party a celebration of LIFE! LOVE! JOY, and that we even get to HAVE this day together. We're in the market for:

- DJ to spin tunes at the reception, preferably for no more than $1000. Wedding is at 4ish on Montauk, reception follows 6-11 or so in Bridgehampton*

Also would LOVE recommendations on:

- cheapish rehearsal dinner ideas in Montauk for about 30 people ($50 a person ideally)

- hair/ makeup people for 3-8 people (still seeing who wants this but at least it would be 3 people) who would be willing to come to Montauk and would be ok with $100 for the bride and closer to $50 per bridesmaid/mother/etc.

- sexy but tasteful stark white dress I can dance in at the reception, ideal price is like $30 but I'd go up to $100 if it's awesome and re-wearable. My dude is into my arms so a halter would be good.

We're paying for the wedding and on a budget, everyone's favorite word. We are super creative fun people but feeling totally drained and not able to make this party the awesome shin-dig we'd love it to be, to celebrate the once-in-our-lives gathering of our favorite people with. The above are the broad strokes of what's missing to make this happen. Any other recommendations would be super too...

I'm attaching my dress which I got from Bridal Garden in NYC (which I highly recommend... it's a thrift store/ sample store all in one and I combined 2 dresses for half of the price of a retail dress) in case that helps? Or maybe just because I love it, despite how it is so traditional and far from what I thought I'd want, which is why I think I'm jonesing for a shorter-funkier party dress if I start tripping all over it.

Thank you thank you thank you...

*Oh and for the record I feel like I have to make a disclaimer: I have a very generous colleague who scored us a deal on our venue as a thanks for some of that hard work, as we are very far from "hamptons" types, which is part of why I'm having a hard time finding some of these elements that will make it "us" or "us on a sojourn in the hamptons..."

*****

FWIW, I don't think you need a second dress. You look so gorg in the first one, why not wear it for as long as you can??

 ♥

Non-cheesy first dance songs

Dear ESB,

You must get asked this a lot, but do you have any suggestions for non-cheesy first dance songs?

*****

I asked The Flashdance (aka Michael Antonia) to field this one. Obv.

He sent this missive from the beach in Mexico:

i do get asked this question a lot and it always makes me uncomfortable. to me it is like asking an artist to paint a picture of you in the dress you will be wearing without ever having seen it (or you!). honestly i would be no better at picking one of the most sentimental songs of your entire life without any more information than your first name! i can give you a bunch of songs that i think are great, which would work, but really they will always be my favorite songs and will likely mean very little to you... my suggestion is to stop thinking about it in terms of a first dance, the way your guests might interpret it, or the lyrical content etc and think of it only as a song that means a lot to you and your fiance.

but, esb didn't ask me to wax philosophical on you, or make you feel bad for not having the right song... she asked me to give you some advice. try this link out. there are 17 songs i chose that i think would make a beautiful first dance (and you can download them all for free!) but do me a favor... drive your car to the end of a dirt road somewhere in the mountains and make out to these songs for a couple of hours before choosing one for your first dance!!!

(Jack Kerouac via FFFFOUND!) 

Who needs to be tipped?

Hello East Side Bride!

I'm getting married in July this year, and my mom asked me to figure out who needs to be tipped so we can be ready, cash in hand, the day of. Everywhere you look it says "Tip your vendors," but what is appropriate? Obviously, catering/waitstaff gets tipped, but what about the photographer, DJ, doorman? I want to make sure everyone is thanked for their hard work, but don't want to look like an a*@hole with a lousy tip. Is asking your vendor, straight up, what's typical a bad idea? Does that scream IDIOT Bride?

-Ashley

*****

I asked three vendors to help me with this one. Because what the f*ck do I know about tipping? Srsly.

Here's what they had to say.

Heather Gilson of One Love Photo (pictured above with husband/partner Jon Almeda):
Out of the 30 weddings we do a year we probably get a tip from 5-10 couples. Our packages range from $4,000-6,000 and most tip around $200-$300. They usually write a sweet card too. We don't expect it at all but really, really, really appreciate it when someone does tip us. If tipping is for services then really the photographer should be getting tipped because our business is 100% service based but I just don't think it's the norm (so we don't expect it). We have had couples that wait to see the photos and then send us a thank you tip in the mail a month or two after the wedding (which is really cool). She should just do what feels right, keeping in mind that keeping your artistic wedding elves fed and happy is always a good thing for everyone :)

Michael Antonia (aka The Flashdance):
i don't think it is standard practice to tip your dj... some coordinators tell their brides that they should and i can count on tips when working with those coordinators, but i never expect it, or feel slighted when it doesn't happen. if i were you i would set aside tips for each vendor but only give them out if you feel they have earned it. if your dj is amazing and keeps people dancing, makes your announcements, plays well to the audience, and doesn't text message during your wedding, etc a $100 tip would be very generous, less than $50 would be (in your words) "a lousy tip" but anything is better than nothing right? i don't think there is a standard, i have been tipped $500, i have been tipped $20, i have not been tipped at all (this is most common) and i don't think my performance played a part in those decisions.

Emily of Emily Thompson Flowers:
I have been on the receiving end of various approaches to tipping your vendors. Brides can sometimes forget when adding up all their bills that they are receiving really specialized custom services from often under-appreciated artisans and schleppers who are extremely skilled and work their fingers to the bone. We've all known about the wedding-industrial-complex for longer that we can remember and been taught to mistrust anyone in the industry as price-inflating snake-oil salesmen. As a member of that very business, I can't say that this isn't sometimes true, but I and many vendors I know are scrupulous and fair, and try to pass on cost cutting measures to all of our clients, no matter how big their budgets.

I always say that the best policy with the staff of your wedding, from planners to sweeper-uppers is that you should be kind and respectful, and tip if you like. I like to be able to give my staff a tip from the client, they are always glad that their work was appreciated. But the most important thing is that every bride and groom will get better work out of their vendors--more attention to detail, more desire to make the client's every wish come true--if they are decent to work with. Nobody throws freebies at bridezillas. I think everyone I work with will agree that this kind of etiquette is more crucial than tipping. 

That said, ask your vendors. Nothing says "brilliant bride" better than direct, polite questions.

(Images by One Love Photo, Instant Dong, Lisa Vollmer)

I made you a playlist. (Yeah, you.)

Please go directly to The Flashdance to download. And put it on tonight, wherever you are.

Happy New Year! I LOVE YOU GUYS!!


p.s. MA & crew have somehow neglected to use my rad artwork (vandalized photos by Lauren Dukoff via tobacco and leather and عبير*) but I trust you will print out the above image and tape it to your ipod or whatever.

Gorg Italian wedding

The DJ is pretty gorg too.* Why are Italian men the only ones who can pull off the unbuttoned-down-to-there look?

And I love the photos by Deirdre Quinn via her little winter bride blog.

*If I may defend myself, I had a crush on him before I knew he was Didi's husband.

the sunday wedding (poolside)

Our favorite dj has another event up his sleeve.

Wishing wishing I could be there. I definitely need a road trip.

Spin This

Last night I had a chance to see this man in action. No, not spinning records. Killing the jukebox at Little Joy.

It turns out Michael lives in my neighborhood, so we got together to talk about weddings and alt-weddings and wedding blogs.* (While he hit me with these guys and of course them.)

Beware The Flashdance. They may just take over the indie wedding world. Via Echo Park, of course.

Now I'm listening to the demo cd Michael gave me and kinda wishing I had a wedding to go to this weekend.

*I'm not sure the other (two) happy hour patrons appreciated all the w------ talk, but anyhoo.

(Image courtesy of girl.x)

The Wedding Spinner

You guys, weddings just got a whole lot cooler.

Meet Michael Antonia, who recently relocated to LA from NYC (welcome!) and decided to add more weddings to his dj schedule in order to spend time at home with his wife and new baby.

Hire him if you can. Or at the very least take his suggestions. Srsly. Any dance mix that moves from Stevie Wonder to Roy Orbison to Salt N Pepa is killer in my book.

And then there's The Flashdance, a new alt-wedding blog Michael has built with Our Labor of Love & Max Wanger.

Awesome.

Part of me really wishes we had a dj. I love the music we spun on iTunes, but it was kind of a bummer that the best man, H-town and I had to step away from the party at various points to man the computer.

another dj wedding

What is it with djs? They can't leave the rest of us with the illusion that we're cool?

Photos by Kate Webber. See more of Abigail & Eli's nyc wedding (including flowers by the rad Saipua) on The Bride's Cafe here and here.

I assume you've seen the portland dj wedding.

cool as hell wedding

I have to tell you I totally geeked out when DJ/blogger/etsy maven Genevieve told me she was a fan of my weird little wedding blog. (Actually, what she said was, "I love this blog, it's one of my favorite parts about my wedding planning adventure.") Not to brag, but.... I have the coolest readers.

Above are a few of Genevieve and Matt's photos. Below are her off-the-cuff thoughts on their October 5 wedding.

Okay, I'm in wedded bliss!!!!! Here is the run-down on my super awesome, way fun, cool as hell, not that stressful, totally completely fully "US" wedding!

Okay, so wedding details:

We are a DJ duo, and we DJ a regular new-disco/house party called NIGHTCLUBBING (shamless plug!) at Holocene, where we got married. The music and the food were the two most important things to us with this whole thing, we hashed out the menu with our SUPER talented caterer friend Jeremy Larter, and our friend Derek Plaslaiko flew out from NY to DJ. We didn't go wrong with either thing, both were sooooooo good at what they did for us! We had the ceremony and reception at the same place, and I didn't want to do a huge aisle walk or anything, so we had family members from both sides hold a canopy over us while Matt's brother married us, and my dad did a really sweet reading. Matt's parents have been together since they were 14, and my parents have been married for almost 30 years, so we really felt like we wanted the whole wedding thing to feel really personal and family oriented. After the quick ceremony, everyone mingled *ahem*drank*ahem*, and then we ate the amazing buffet style dinner. People danced all night, (and there was indeed what I must admit would be best called a mosh pit at one point, totally unexpected, but people went nuts when the Pixies "Debaser" came on. You just go with it.) Afterward everyone headed to another bar to close the night.

It was really important to me to minimize waste for this party. All the decorations were totally DIM (do-it-myself), re-purposed/re-purposable, including tablecloths, a thrifted and totally gorgeous collection of vases and candleholders, paper flowers I made mixed with feathers and wheat stalks, and dahlias from the Farmers Market that I put together with my sisters and cousin the night before. I made my own dress (I am a seamstress and designer, so that was a natural idea). We were so lucky to have Holocene's gorgeous space to be in, so romantic and fairylike in there, and we didn't have to do much "decorating". We were able to do the whole thing on a tight budget (I think it's rolling in under 5 grand for 100 people to party like nuts), and make it look and feel like a million bucks. Best of all, I got to have tons of fun at my own wedding, talk to everyone, and feel like I was dancing on air.

I didn't hire a professional photographer, so I think no one may have thought to get shots of my table arrangements and stuff, which bummed me out for a sec, but then I realized that all the pictures of all my friends and family look so happy that what got captured was what really mattered.

Um, Genevieve.

a) Your centerpieces are gorgeous and

b) Damn right. Not only do you have pictures of everyone having an f'ing fabulous time, but I'll bet you anything the dance party is what they're still talking about.

(Photos by Jarkko Cain and Chloé Richard)