My wife and I live in the SF Bay Area and wanted a destination wedding in Oahu. We travel to Oahu…read moreonce or twice a year anyway and thought it would be a nice way to double up as a vacay for family and close friends.
Initially we expected 40 - 45 people, so it wouldn't be that big of a deal, right? Well..... 10 more people got added.... And then another 10 were added... And then 20 more... And all of a sudden our initial headcount doubled. Yikes, it evolved into a big deal.
We had to manage, coordinate, and pay for vendors based on phone/email and a 5 hour flight away.
This would prove to be a daunting task...
Mike Bell and his team came highly rated on The Knot so we gave him a call. He's super chill, professional, and competitive with his pricing.
Once we expressed interest in his DJ services, he forwarded us a questionnaire. It asked about the types of music that we like and the types of music that we don't like (aka music that will be banned). It asked which specific songs would be played during which specific portion of the reception (entrance music, father daughter dance, garter toss, bouquet toss, cake cutting, etc). It was very specific as to which version of the song (original, cover, acoustic, etc), which artist, and which year. We thought to ourselves that a person that puts this much thought and attention into his questionnaires would put even more into the actual event itself. DJ services: Done.
Many of our family has kids, so we wanted to add a little fun to the reception. We were hoping for a photobooth. We reached out to all of our potential vendors for leads and contacts. Mike Bell stated that he had a guy and if we opted to upgrade our DJ package, he would throw in the photobooth for free. Photobooth: Done.
Next, our event coordinator asked us who was doing our "uplighting". We explained that we thought that lights were included in the package. She said that basic room lighting is included with the reception, but suggested we hire a vendor to do our "uplighting".... Grrrrrreat, let's add something new to our ever growing list. Again, we reached out to our potential vendors for leads and contacts. And again, Mike Bell came through in the clutch. He stated that for a nominal fee, he'll handle all of the lighting. Uplighting (whatever that is): Done.
Lastly, our pastor was unable to make it to Hawaii because he already had an event scheduled for that weekend. We reached out to our event coordinator and all of our vendors for leads and contacts..... And lo and behold... Mike Bell himself is a wedding officiant. And he's not just qualified...... he's kind of overqualified. He circulated another detailed questionnaire about our relationship to help provide more insight and to make the ceremony personal. We checked out samples of his work on YouTube and were brought to tears. His words were extremely inspirational. Wedding Officiant: Done.
Our daunting task of hiring vendors was cut in half because of the services of Mike Bell and his team.
Fast forward to the wedding day....
Mike spoke such powerful words at our ceremony. It spoke to both of us and brought about tears of joy. He used a lot of material from the questionnaires to personalize his anecdotes. I felt like I knew him since kindergarten.
And so did some of my family, LOL. Feel free to peep the video here.
https://vimeo.com/252007158
Mike killed it (in a good way) at the reception. He played all of the music from our extensive playlists and made some good executive decisions on his own. When he noticed that people weren't dancing to specific types of songs, he'd fade it and return to ones that brought people back out. He noticed that the Electric Slide brought a lot of people to the dance floor, so once things started slowing down on the dance floor, he switched back to the Electric Slide, followed by the Cupid Shuffle, followed by Cha Cha Shuffle 1 and 2. The dance floor was packed. And it was 25 minutes of non-stop cardio and sweat flying all over the place.
The lighting was beautiful. Feel free to peep the photos here.
http://www.mesascottohana.wedding/photos/1542334
The photobooth was so fun. I kept looking over at the bar and thinking to myself that our bar tab was going to be super expensive because the line was long .... all night. And then I realized that it was the line to the photobooth, which was adjacent to the bar. Phew, that was a close one. Mike and his crew provided a ton of fun accessories and props. The technology was top notch and self supported. You simply click on the button on the screen, pose, and wait for it to print. There was staff on hand to add paper and answer questions, but it was super easy to use. My nephews and nieces had a blast.
Kortni and I highly recommend Mike for all of your wedding needs: DJ, lighting, photobooth, officiating
Mike Bell and his staff are top notch.
Blessings,
Vince & Kortni
