Uplighting inside the Grande Ballroom, highlighted purple from the dancefloor lights.
William and Suzanne got married! And they did it at the Hilton Torrey Pines which is one of the great wedding venues in San Diego. It was my second time in the Grande Ballroom at the Hilton Torrey Pines in the last few months. I was in the same ballroom set, with the same floor plan back in February. Ironically, I worked with Thomas of Aqua Vivus (videographer) at that same wedding too.
They got married down on the lawn where a harpist supplied music and the hotel supplied the sound system so I got a bit of a break from the extra time and equipment that is usually required to help with the wedding ceremonies.
After the ceremony, guests enjoyed cocktails and appetizers in the foyer while they also got to enjoy the photo booth. I supplied a remote wireless sound system to provide a groovy mix of cocktail music. Following cocktail hour, we escorted guests to enter the beautifully decorated, set and lit Grande Ballroom. The uplighting and pinspotting on the cake looked awesome, and some of the guests were commenting on the same.
Putting on some extra moves during their Tango.
William and Suzanne got introduced after their wedding party and went into a choreographed Tango dance . . . with a twist. The last part of the song included some Black Eyed Pees hip hop which got the crowd all fired up! After a great dinner by the Hilton, and champagne speaches by some of the wedding party, we got right into open dancing for the rest of the night only to be stopped once for a full “half time intermission” which included Cake Cutting, Bouquet/Garter Toss, Same Day Video edit and finally, a traditional Money Dance. More open dancing followed to close out the night! Congratulations William and Suzanne!
Blake was super awesome! He is a true professional. We live out of town from our venue in San Diego and it was great that he was willing to skype with us for our initial wedding event consultation and further correspondences. He did an amazing job as our MC and DJ, most of our guests were literally on the dance floor the whole night. He also has a very organized, user-friendly website/blog where you can see his past events and lighting options. We went with the uplighting (champagne color) and he threw in with our package lighting for the head table and cake which really set the warm yet hip mood for the night. He has a questionnaire to get an idea of the type of music you want played (or not played) and he really listened & honored what we wanted. Thank you Blake for sharing with us your amazing skills and talent!
It was great to work with excellent vendors – as I always say, having a great vendor team makes happier vendors and happy vendors are better vendors.
- Brenda Swann of Swann Soirees
- Melissa of Melissa McClure Photography
- Thomas from Aqua Vivus Productions
- Everyone at the Hilton Torrey Pines Hotel
- DJ/MC Services for the Wedding Reception
- Remote Sound System for Cocktail Hour
- Uplighting
- Pinspotting
- Dancefloor Lighting
Hilton Torrey Pines Wedding Pictures
Cocktail Hour in Foyer. Photobooth and Remote Sound System in Background
Seating arrangement.
Uplighting inside the Grande Ballroom, highlighted purple from the dancefloor lights.
Uplighting inside the Grande Ballroom, highlighted purple from the dancefloor lights. The pinspot cake in the far background.
Pinspotting on the cake, from a bit of a different angle this wedding.
Uplighting inside the Grande Ballroom, highlighted purple from the dancefloor lights.
Champagne uplighting and pinspotting on the cake makes this room look beautiful!
A different approach with my pinspotting – backlighting the cake with a ton of light.
Cake pinspotting and uplighting.
Suzanne & William doing their First Dance to a choreographed Tango.
First Dance!
Putting on some extra moves during their Tango.
Poor empty table!
There was a great crowd for dancing!
Dancing at the Hilton Torrey Pines.
Even guests were doing the YMCA at their chairs. (Yes, the YMCA was on their “must play” list.)
2 Comments
Join the conversation and post a comment.
Leave a Comment
Awards
Blake! Isn’t the YMCA on everyone’s must-play list? Love the photo of guests doing the YMCA on their chairs! William and I are so happy with your work, thank you for making the night magical with your incredible skills & beautiful lighting!
Good Morning, Suzanne! Thank you very much for the kind comments! I had such a great time working with You and William to put on such a great wedding! Had a great time with awesome vendors too! And like I’ve said earlier, if ‘you’ like the YMCA, then ‘I’ like the YMCA and am glad to play it 😉 (I just had to make a reference to it since unfortunately, so many people do not like it as much. They just don’t realize how many people really do like the song though. I say Play on!!!) Anyway, have a GREAT honeymoon and congratulations again!!! Say hey to William!! Hugs, Blake!!