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Real Columbus Weddings, Industry Trends and Music Ideas

Best of Columbus Weddings

By Night Music DJ and Fizzy Cat Photo Booth | January 23, 2023

Best of Columbus Weddings

Best of Columbus Weddings. It’s Official!

Once again, thanks to our many wonderful wedding couples and fantastic vendor friends, Night Music DJ Professionals AND Fizzy Cat Photo Booth have each been nominated for BEST of Columbus Weddings! We are grateful to be included among the elite of Columbus Weddings, and we’re thrilled with this honor.

What could be better than that?

Well, we think it would be fun to WIN this year, and we could really use your help! Just click this link, and vote for Night Music DJ Professionals in the DJ category, and also vote for Fizzy Cat Photo Booth in the Photo Booth category. (If you come across more vendors you love in the other categories, help them out, too!) Do it today, because voting ends soon.

This past year, we were lucky enough to be involved in making wedding dreams come true for so many memorable couples. We can picture and remember the fun, the love, the music, the party and the unique feeling of each and every event. That is the real reward … this is just for fun.

CLICK HERE to VOTE for Night Music and Fizzy Cat.

Voting ends February 3rd.

 

Thanks for all of your support. We couldn’t do it without you!

DJ Jodi & DJ Steve

Visiting your wedding guests

By Night Music DJ and Fizzy Cat Photo Booth | November 7, 2022

Visiting your wedding guests.

So many guests … so little time.

Our wedding couples sometimes ask us how they can visit with or thank all of their guests during the reception. These are dear family and friends who have traveled to celebrate this big day, but, with a limited amount of time, this can be a tough task. As a worried bride once told us “We have 120 guests. If we talk to each one for a minute, that’s two hours. What are we going to do?” By the way, we figured that one out, and her Visit-Guests-Mission was accomplished using one of these ideas below.

Visiting your wedding guests

Kelly and Tyler say HI to their guests. Photo by Story Told Photography

Here are a few ideas we have seen in action.

The perfect idea for visiting your wedding guests might be here, or this might spark another solution that is JUST RIGHT for your wedding.

1) Release rows or pews from the wedding ceremony
2) Receiving line after the ceremony or into the reception
3) Casual socializing during cocktail hour
4) Table Visits.
5) Table Touches
6) Ballroom Blitz, with a set amount of time (usually about 15 to 20 minutes total)
7) Table Photo Challenge (usually less than 5 minutes)
8) Thank You Toast from the couple to the guests on the microphone
9) Just knowing you’ll catch up with friends and family at the dessert table, the bar or on the dance floor!

If you have any questions about making one of these ideas work, just let us know. In fact, check out the the Ballroom Blitz HERE. And always, remember to talk with us about your vision and hopes for your celebration. We are happy to consult and brainstorm with you to make it all come true!

Songs ideas for your parents dance.

By Night Music DJ and Fizzy Cat Photo Booth | July 20, 2022

Songs for the parents dance at your wedding.

Are you planning to have a special dance with a parent during your wedding reception?  It’s a sweet tradition that means so much and can create such a sweet memory. We recommend the parents dance!

Father Daughter Dance

Rachel and her dad on the dance floor. Photo by Nicole Dixon.

Here are sixteen handpicked songs to consider using for dancing with a parent at your wedding reception. We’ve included good ones that were selected by some of our recent couples. These ideas include songs old and new, country and pop, with slow or mid-tempo beats. Maybe one of these will be perfect for your traditional parent dance at your wedding. Let us know if you’d like even more ideas … we’ve got bunches.

Forever Now by Michael Buble
You will Always Be My Son by Anthem Lights
You’ll Always Be My Baby by Alan Jackson
You’ll Be In My Heart by Phil Collins
She’s A Rainbow by The Rolling Stones
Mother Like Mine by The Band Perry
You’ve Got A Friend In Me from Toy Story
Letter To My Mother by Edwin McCain
Sleepwalk by Santo and Johnny
Humble and Kind by Tim McGraw
Seasons of Love by Pentatonix
How Sweet It Is by James Taylor
Have It All by Jason Mraz
Slipping Through My Fingers from Mamma Mia!
Count On Me by Bruno Mars
I Love This Dance by Caleb Beachy

Listen to the songs on a Spotify playlist HERE

Need more ideas? Check out these playlists.

Understory. A new venue from Wolf’s Ridge Brewing

By Night Music DJ and Fizzy Cat Photo Booth | March 3, 2022

Understory. A new venue from Wolf’s Ridge Brewing

Finally!  A truly beautiful location to meet for drinks or host a wedding in Old North Columbus! Understory at Open Air, 2571 Neil Ave, is a place we know you will love.  

Understory Columbus

Going in for a tour with Private Events Coordinator, Emily Stenger, we knew we would love it because it combines so many things that we appreciate. Understory is close to nature, and has repurposed an unused historic building with beauty and intention so that it seems like this gorgeous NEW lounge and event space was this building’s destiny all along. Because we are long time fans of Wolf’s Ridge famous and award winning craft brews, commitment to service, and elevated chef driven food…well…let’s just say we were admirers before we even got the tour.  

Understory Columbus

The patio overlooking pretty old growth trees and the Olentangy Trail is so inviting. We are sure that this will be a very popular place to meet friends or wow your out of town guests.  

Understory Columbus

Put Understory on your Columbus Bucket List for a must visit place! And, if you have a special event or wedding in your future, get in touch with the super friendly and helpful Emily for a tour or a chat. Your friends will be so impressed that you discovered this hidden gem.

Visit Understory here.

Check out more excellent Columbus venues here.

Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens Wedding

By Night Music DJ and Fizzy Cat Photo Booth | January 5, 2022

Sarah and Christian’s Wedding at Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens Wells Barn

Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens is without a doubt one of the most sought after locations in Columbus for a beautiful wedding celebration. It’s easy to see why, as they offer so many gorgeous venues within the park, and plenty of flexible indoor and outdoor spaces to host a perfect event. For many years, we have been proud to be one of the Conservatory’s preferred and trusted wedding vendors. It’s really an honor for us to be considered among the best of the best in helping the talented team at The Conservatory take great care of their clients!  

A very happy day for Sarah and Christian – photo by Adam Lowe

One of the reasons that weddings at Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens are so fantastic is Sarah, who helps wedding couples as their lead event coordinator. We were completely thrilled when Sarah contacted Night Music, and asked us to DJ and MC her wedding and reception. Sarah knows so many wedding professionals, that we were over the moon that she chose us to help make her day the best! Sarah and her husband Christian met at Miami University, and they had lots of fun friends to join in the celebration for their Miami Merger!

The dance party rages! – photo by Adam Lowe

Some of Sarah and Christian’s highlight songs 

Grand Entrance: Sirius by Alan Parsons Project
Cake Cutting: Sugar by Maroon 5
Bride and Groom First Dance: Die a Happy Man by Thomas Rhett
Mother/Son Dance: My Wish by Rascal Flatts
Mother/Daughter Dance: The Best Day by Taylor Swift

Not only did we have fun on the dance floor with hot cuts from Lizzo, Harry Styles, The Kid Laroi and Halsey but rocking throwback sets with tunes from Mayday Parade, 3OH!3, and The Killers sent this party over the top!

The dance floor was alive with energy! photo by Adam Lowe

We love being part of weddings at Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, and The Wells Barn is a great setting for a wedding and incredible reception. 

Any day we get to work with Ryan Pitts and his excellent team from Cameron Mitchell Premier Events is a good day! Good food, great location, and happy guests. Every single time! 

Thanks to Adam Lowe for being so much fun to work with, and for capturing such beautiful images of Sarah and Christian. Sarah knows all the best wedding professionals. Gorgeous flowers by SunflowerKate Florals, and the yummy treats from Carrie’s Sugar Buzz really delighted the guests! 

Special Thanks to friend and fantastic coordinator Julie Wagner for everything!

See another Night Music Wells Barn wedding here

 

Cocktail Party Playlist. With The Girls!

By Night Music DJ and Fizzy Cat Photo Booth | November 23, 2021

Cocktail Party Playlist. With The Girls!

 

The holidays are are coming, and before you jump in to your favorite vat of holiday music, try this cocktail party playlist. Several of our favorite ladies have released some fantastic tracks lately, and we wanted to share them with you. This is our ongoing series of carefully curated cocktail party playlists designed to give you some great ideas for your next gathering.

 

We call this playlist With The Girls. Come on, who doesn’t want to be with the girls?

 

 

Listen to more.  Click HERE to go to our Spotify page.

 

We have a lot of curated playlists to help inspire you when choosing music for your special celebration. You can find them HERE.

Ballroom Blitz at VUE Columbus

By Night Music DJ and Fizzy Cat Photo Booth | September 7, 2021

Ballroom Blitz at VUE Columbus

 

We love sharing cool new ideas that are designed to make your wedding memorable, fun and stress free. Here is a good one! So many of our couples have asked us for suggestions to manage fun and fast table visits after dinner.  We know it can be done, but it can be tricky, that’s for sure.

 

We were thrilled when our recent couple Micah and Luke brought us the idea of “The Ballroom Blitz”!  It worked great, and was really fun for the newlyweds and their guests.

 

Introducing … “The Ballroom Blitz”!

 

VUE Columbus Wedding _ Micah and Luke

After dinner, immediately following the toasts, DJ Steve explained the activity to the guests.  He let them know that Micah and Luke were so happy to see everyone, and that they were going to make their way around the entire room, stopping by each table to say hello and thank you!  He also told the guests what once Micah and Luke completed their rounds, they would be cutting the cake followed shortly by dancing!  (*Note:  We LOVE to let the guests know what’s happening.  It really makes everyone feel part of the fun).

 

The guests began applauding as DJ Steve said “They’re off!” and played the song “Ballroom Blitz” by Sweet.  Because Micah and Luke were 100% committed to this fun idea, it worked perfectly, and everyone had a blast! Everyone understood this was going to be a whirlwind visit, so no one had hurt feelings for a short “hello”.  Mission accomplished:  each guest and every table got a visit from the bride and groom!

 

Thank you Micah and Luke for trusting us to make your idea perfect for you and your friends and family.  And for letting us share this with others.  We will definitely suggest this again!

 

Looking for other creative and unique ideas for your wedding? Check out our FUN IDEAS.

 

Thank you VUE Columbus  and Jenna Fisher Photography!

 

Night Music DJs Reopening Hilliard Office

By Night Music DJ and Fizzy Cat Photo Booth | April 19, 2021

Can you tell that we’re excited?

Night Music DJs Reopening Hilliard Office! We’re happy to announce that beginning May 3rd, we are reopening our Hilliard area office for in person consultations and meetings.

Night Music DJs Jodi and Steve

We have really missed the face-to-face visits and planning interactions with our clients and industry friends, and we are thrilled to be able to invite people back to our comfortable office. Of course, we will be following all safety guidelines, so, no worries.

By the way, if a simple phone call or Zoom meeting works better for you, it works better for us.  We always want to make things easy for you!

Let’s talk soon ~ Reach out here

Brooke + Troy’s FUN Columbus Wedding Vows

By Night Music DJ and Fizzy Cat Photo Booth | March 29, 2021

Brooke + Troy’s FUN Columbus Wedding Vows.

How about some personalized FUN at your wedding reception?

We love when our clients have creative ideas to personalize their wedding receptions. Helping to create fun and memories is exactly what we do!

Brooke and Troy were planning for their wedding and reception at the beautiful Grand Event Center in Grandview, and they knew they wanted to include their wedding party of best friends in a fun and unique way. Boy, did they ever!

Brooke + Troy's FUN Columbus Wedding

The epic dance party at Brooke + Troy’s wedding

Several months before their wedding, they asked each member of their wedding party this: “If you were going to write the vows for our wedding, what would you write? We need your help!” Brooke and Troy asked their friends to be creative and fun, and not to worry about being too silly or even heartwarming. They love and trust their friends, and were excited for their input.

Their friends actually had fun with this assignment, and forwarded to Brooke and Troy some outrageous, hilarious, and memorable ideas for the couple to use as inspiration when writing their wedding vows. Many months passed as the wedding date drew closer, and most of the wedding party had forgotten exactly what they had written, or had forgotten the “Vow Assignment” completely!

On the day of the wedding, a good friend officiated Brooke and Troy’s wedding ceremony complete with vows they had written themselves. Everyone loved the special moment.

The reception began with a lively cocktail hour, a scrumptious dinner, and a couple of sweet toasts. Now, it was time to begin dancing! But first, Brooke and Troy had a fun moment planned that their guests would not forget!

FUN Columbus Wedding Idea

Everyone LOVED the wedding vows!

Their wedding officiant friend, with some help from DJ Steve, called Brooke and Troy and the entire wedding party to the dance floor. “Before dancing begins, our newlyweds would like to hear their wedding vows one more time!” Then as a surprise, each member of the wedding party was handed the exact vows they had written for Brooke and Troy, and were instructed to read them out loud. The results were hilarious, and incredibly sweet, and memorable. It was a blast – but very moving at the same time! None of the guest will ever forget this special moment!

The dance party kicked off right after that with everyone really ready to celebrate. We loved it! What do you think?

We can help make your Columbus wedding reception successful. We focus on YOUR STYLE – YOUR MUSIC – and YOUR PARTY

Brittany and Grant’s Scioto Reserve Wedding

By Night Music DJ and Fizzy Cat Photo Booth | February 4, 2021

Brittany and Grant’s Scioto Reserve wedding.

They did it … they had their EPIC wedding day! Today we look back to Brittany and Grant’s Scioto Reserve wedding. We were so honored to help make their wedding dreams come true!

Night Music DJ Style and Story Scioto Reserve Country Club

No Secrets From The DJ

When we have planning sessions with our couples, we always joke “NO secrets from the DJ”! Seriously, the more we know, the better everything will be. So, we talk and listen and really get to know our couples. We encourage them to share inside jokes, family dynamics, special dating memories, and any fun ideas they are imagining for their ceremony or reception. Of course, this is in addition to really understanding their musical tastes of songs and artists they like … and don’t like. When the wedding day arrives, we want our couples to feel 100% confident that we are completely on their side, understand them, and will absolutely work to make everything perfect!

Night Music DJ Style and Story Scioto Reserve Country Club

A Clear Vision

Brittany and Grant came to Night Music with a ton of experience attending and being in weddings. They had a very clear vision for the romantic outdoor ceremony and blowout dance party they wanted for their celebration! DJ Jodi was thrilled to take their ideas and dreams, and work with them to plan how it would all come together.

Night Music DJ Style and Story Scioto Reserve Country Club

What a blast!

All night the dance floor was PACKED and time flew. This really was a fantastic night, and we are so thankful that Brittany and Grant trusted us to make it all work! You can tell from the pictures that this was an EPIC and unforgettable wedding!

Thank you also Brittany for sharing such a great recap. Keep reading below to enjoy the review that made DJ Jodi blush!

REVIEW:

When DJ really means Divine Jodi

Jodi was nothing short of amazing! We had two meetings with her prior to the wedding. One is normal but we requested a second meeting because we had a few special requests that we needed to discuss with Jodi. She was very generous with her time to hear out our crazy ideas. We wanted to do a basketball theme bridal entrance which meant Jodi would have to play announcer- she did AMAZING and helped us execute perfectly! Next, we did a bridal (money) dance and Jodi explained how the dance worked so that all guests knew what was happening and what they should be doing. Lastly, we asked to do a sprinkle send in (that’s right, not a send off) in the middle of the reception, after the bridal dance and before the evening of dancing began. Jodi warned us that this could be a risky move because guests may end up leaving since they will already be outside, but she encouraged us to go with our “out of the norm” idea as long as the bridal party led the rest of the guests to the dance floor to kick off a night of dancing. I’m glad she expressed her possible concern because it caused us to really think it over. Once we decided to go with it (prior to wedding day), she helped direct guests by explaining what all would be happening during the send in and afterwards on the dance floor. Ultimately, Jodi set expectations for our guests throughout the night and kept them informed. Jodi played only the music we requested (for the dance floor part of the night) and it was amazing! During dinner, I didn’t have a specific list of songs, so she played a delightful mix of classic dinner music. It was nice not having to stress about those songs, she just played what felt right. Once we all hit the dance floor, some people went up to make song suggestions, but she politely declined if it wasn’t something we had on our list for the night. She was always looking out for us! Jodi was very professional and a pleasure to work with. Not to mention a female DJ is bad a$$! My two oldest sisters had Steve (Jodi’s husband) as their wedding DJ. When Steve wasn’t available for our date, we were excited to meet Jodi and let me tell you, it’s no wonder Steve is a great DJ because Jodi was his rockstar teacher! They are a power DJ couple! Thank you Jodi for helping to make our wedding run so smoothly and for cranking out the tunes!

Night Music DJ Style and Story Scioto Reserve Country Club

Thanks to Scioto Reserve Country Club and the fantastic Ann Marie. Contact her for YOUR Scioto Reserve wedding. Thanks to pianist Steve Banks for providing cocktail music, and a big thanks to Style and Story for these great images. Use these tools like Brittany and Grant did when planning your wedding.