How to Get the Perfect Reception Music

Dance the night away...

I know what you're thinking, you do wedding flowers, not wedding music but, I am always reading everything I can on anything related to flowers...weddings, new varieties of flowers, funeral stuff (sad I know). One of the blogs I follow is the Houston Wedding Blog who publish the Weddings in Houston Magazine. It's a great magazine and it showcases a lot of the venues we do flowers at, The Hotel Za Za, La Colombe Dor, The Rice Lofts/Crystal Ballroom, Butler's Courtyard and many others that we haven't yet done. I came across a great article on picking out music for your wedding reception. Of course you want your guests to have a great time, but you want the music to also fit the wedding theme and the bride and groom's personality.

Photo: Anthony Dinh/Composure Studios

The Article

Click here to read the full article on Houston Wedding Blog, but below is the article also.

We’ve all been to weddings where the reception music was awesome—where we danced all night and everybody, young and old, had an amazing time. And we’ve probably all been to a couple of weddings where, well…not so much. So what’s the secret to the perfect playlist? How can you make sure your party music is pitched to your preferences, while not alienating older guests? What to do if you’re gaga for Gaga and your groom is a country boy through and through? Renowned Houston wedding entertainment guru Jonny Black of Jonny Black Productions answers these pressing party-music questions…and more!


Houston Wedding Blog: What should a couple’s goal be with their wedding music?


Jonny Black: First, it should be a reflection of their taste. It should reflect the energy and type of wedding environment they want. If they want fun and upbeat, they should do that. If they want a cocktail party—we recently had a wedding, for example, where there wasn’t any dancing at all, just high cocktail tables and light appetizers—the music should reflect that, and be more in the background.


HWB: How many songs should be on the couple’s playlist?


JB: For us, if we have 10 to 20 songs from the couple, or even artists or genres, this will give us a very good idea of what they like. We’ll ask, “What’s on your iPod?” or, “What’s in your CD deck?” instead of “What are your top 10 favorite songs?”…which usually gets an “Uhhh…” response. We’ll think about popular music from different decades. From the ’70s everyone likes disco; ’80s is about Journey, Bon Jovi, Michael Jackson; the ’90s might be Black Eyed Peas, Beyonce, Rihanna. From there, we make connections.


Most importantly, we like to make the couple feel comfortable. For brides who get stressed over little details, the last thing we want to do is say, “Come up with X amount of songs,” and add to their stress.


HWB: What if the bride and groom disagree about what to put on their song list?


JB: The bride is always right : ) But truthfully, we want to make everyone comfortable. Everyone should feel like they got a compromise. Last year, for instance, we had a groom who didn’t really dance, didn’t go to clubs. He was into dark heavy-metal-type stuff, and he thought he had his heart set on having that at his wedding We had to help him understand that although that’s what he likes, if we play it at the wedding, the majority of guests are not going to like it, and are probably going to leave early. We told him, if we want guests to leave saying, “Wow this was the best time we had in years,” then playing that music is not a good idea. In these cases, we always try to explain it in a way where we can make the bride or groom see, and usually they’re pretty accepting of it.


HWB: That sounds very diplomatic. OK, so what about raunchy songs and NSFW–as in, not safe for wedding–lyrics?


JB: Where we’re at with technology in this day and age, pretty much every song you might want is available in a clean edit, so it usually isn’t so much of a problem. But we will make recommendations if we foresee an issue. We did a wedding recently where the bride and groom are both party animals but the family is very, very conservative. The couple wanted “Sexy and I Know It,” “Party Rock,” Rihanna, that kind of thing. But we didn’t want to upset the family. So we came up with an alternative list that offered a good compromise. On the other side, we have couples who just want to let it rip, and play uncut songs. We ask, “Are you sure?” At the end of they day, if they want it, we’ll do it.


But unless we discuss it first, you can assume that everything our DJs play at a wedding is clean and radio edited, so there are no surprises.


HWB: We’ve got all these great songs. Now how do we figure out what gets played when?


JB: You have to select an entertainment company that is experienced in weddings, where if you give them a list of music, they can make connections and know where you want what songs—versus providing a huge song list to someone that may not be familiar with weddings specifically. You may get Black Eyed Peas played during dinner, which won’t go over well.


HWB: Your advice for hiring a wedding DJ?


JB: When selecting music or entertainment—or any vendor for the wedding—hire professionals. An experienced wedding entertainment professional on the music side will be able to guide and keep things moving along, to adapt and overcome any potential hiccup that comes up.


For more about Jonny Black Productions, or to schedule a consultation, or call 832.867.6911.


Hope you learned something, I sure did.
Thanks for reading everybody!
Tarrah :)

Enchanted Florist of Pasadena
2519 Strawberry Rd
Pasadena, TX 77502
(713) 944-4303
www.EnchantedFloristPasadena.com

Follow un on Pinterest!

Do you pine to pin???

Are you one of the millions of people who have recently joined Pinterest? Well so have we and we're obsessed! Follow us at  Enchanted's Pinterest and be inspired. We will be posting some of the more fascinting things we have the privlidge of making for our wonderful customers, along with wedding pictures and ideas and anything else we find interesting. We look forward to following you back to see what you're up to. And find this creative and unique arrangement on our Fun Flowers board.

Also to appear, custom prom corsages, unique prom boutonnieres,

homecoming mums, and even personal sympathy flowers.

And as always, you can visit our website at

www.EnchantedFloristPasadena.com

so purchase flowers and plants to be delivered around the world.

I hope to see you soon! Tarrah

Facebook Friend Contest 2012

It's that time of year again to give away roses!

Who wants to win a FREE dozen red roses??

It's our second annual Facebook Friend Referral Contest. Do you have lots of friends, family and co-workers? Why not introduce them to our flower shop and our Facebook page and win some free red roses for you in the process. All they have to do is like our page and write your name on our wall, who ever has their name on our wall the most by August 31, 2012, will win. It's that easy. I can't wait to see who wins!!

So send your friends to www.Facebook.com/EnchantedFloristofPasadena right now!

Here is last years winner Trudy getting her FREE dozen red roses along side owner, Debbie Wright

Following us on Facebook is the quickest and easiest ways to hear about upcoming specials, contest, and free prizes as well as see beautiful picture of what we do in our store day to day. We will also start playing the name game in September. If you see your name on our wall on Facebook, all you have to do is come in to get your free flower. We will pick two new names each week so theres many chances to win!

Bonus Blooms Contest

Are you feeling lucky??

A new contest starts today called Bonus Blooms.  All people receiving flower and plant deliveries from our store will get a game piece on the back of their card. All you have to do is go to our website and enter the code you were given to see if you are a winner.

Lucky winners get a free flower arrangement they can chose to either keep for themselves or have delivered to a friend (in our delivery area.) 1 in 10 win so chances are good!

Pictured here is a new creation. Item RM-129 Hot Pink Chic. Click here to order this bright beautiful bouquet now, or give someone a gentle nudge that you would like this or something else delivered from our store to get your chance to win!

Texas Sized Homecoming

It's always bigger in Texas!

Homecoming started as a collegiate tradition of welcoming back alumni to a school, generally in conjunction with some big event such as a sports game, and including activities such as dinners and dances. Today, colleges, high schools, and even some junior high schools celebrate with a homecoming, and in Texas that means football! And we do things on a much larger scale.

Click here to order

This is a single mum with zebra print ribbon. This one is for Pasadena Memorial High School, but can be made in any color.

How we do it

Originally homecoming mums were made of fresh white football mums, made in the schools colors with a few streamers and the names written in glitter. Today they are made of silk flowers. They are more durable, can be made larger, and can be displayed on their walls at home for years to come. Boutonnieres or mini mums on garters have gained in popularity for boys, as well as minis for little sisters and friends. And the newest trends right now are homecoming mums for wrists and rings.

And the bigger and glitzier the better right? They are full of streamers and trinkets and literally have all the bells and whistles with the names of the persons giving and receiving the mum spelled out in glitter press on letters.

 

Click here to order this one

This is a single mum. It has a wire backing to make it unique.

It is made for Pasadena High School but can be made in any color.

 

What goes on a homecoming mum?

In addition to the streamers, bells, whistles, and trinkets, there is a vast array of things that can be added to your homecoming mum and only limited by the imagination and school theme. A variety of ribbon colors and textures are currently being added in, in addition to their school colors, such as camouflage, zebra & leopard print, stripes and polka dots. Also they are blinged out with rhinestones, feathers, beads, lights, and glitter. Then there are stuffed animals in the schools mascots, deers for Deer Park, bulldogs for La Porte, mustangs for Pasadena Memorial and so on. And activities other than football and cheer leading are being incorporated into the mums as well- other sports like soccer, baseball, tennis, track, and basketball as well as choir, band instruments, musical notes, drama, and anything else you can imagine.

Mums by Enchanted Florist

All designs at our store are one of a kind creations allowing customers the opportunity to show off their own style and guarantee them to have a unique design, not an assembly line design from a grocery store. Our main schools on display are Deer Park HS (maroon & gold), Pasadena Memorial HS (teal & black), Sam Rayburn HS(columbia blue & royal blue), South Houston HS (red & white), Pasadena HS (green & white), Dobie HS (orange & white), but we can make mums for any school, no matter the color. Come by our store to place your order, or shop our website 24/7.

See you soon :)

Tarrah Wright

Enchanted Florist

2519 Strawberry Rd

Pasadena, TX 77502

www.EnchantedFloristPasadena.com

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Pinterest

(713) 944-4303

2011 Facebook Friend Referral Contest

Who wants to win a FREE dozen red roses??

It's our first annual Facebook Friend Referral Contest. Do you have lots of friends, family and co-workers? Why not introduce them to our flower shop and our Facebook page and win some free red roses for you in the process. All they have to do is like our page and write your name on our wall, who ever has their name on our wall the most by July 31, 2011, will win. It's that easy. I can't wait to see who wins!!

So send your friends to www.Facebook.com/EnchantedFloristofPasadena right now!

Following us on Facebook is the quickest and easiest ways to hear about upcoming specials, contest, and free prizes as well as see beautiful picture of what we do in our store day to day. We will also start playing the name game in August. If you see your name on our wall on Facebook, all you have to do is come in to get your free flower. We will pick two new names each week so theres many chances to win!

To order the Item RM-352 Fly Me Away Premium Red Roses now, click here. When you care to send the VERY best! Our premium long stem roses from Ecuador are hand delivered in an upgraded red vase using premium foliages, curly willow, and topped off with two dancing butterflies.  Approx size is 34"h x 20"w

How to Care for Your Spathiphyllum

What do I do with it now?

So you've just received a new plant and now you need to know how to keep it alive right? Well the spathiphyllum is an easy care plant that can go by many names- spathiphyllum, spath, peace lily, or what we commonly call it in our flower shop, a closet plant. But don't be fooled by the name, you can't really keep it in a closet if you expect it to live.

Click here to order

The spath is a tropical flowering plant in the same family as the antherium. It have long medium green leaves and grows a white bloom. Generally it is grown as a house plant. The spath or closet is know as an air purifier and it helps remove toxic chemicals from the air like formaldehyde.

Caring for your closet

The closet plant likes low-medium light and high water. It's best to water with room temperature water, generally once a week allowing the soil to dry slightly between watering. Lightly misting the leaves at most twice weekly will also be beneficial because the closet likes high humidity. Cold drafts will harm this plant as well as direct sunlight. Remove spent blooms to ensure continued blooms. Black leaves mean over watered. Poor drainage, too frequent water, or standing in water will cause root rot. Re-pot your plant every 2-3 years to ensure a long lifetime with your hardy plant

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Ideas for sending a closet plant to your friends

Closets are one of our most popular plants and we can decorate them up any way you can imagine. Armatures (like the one above) and trellises can be made out of bamboo, curly willow, or birch wood (see above). Whether its fun and bold like the first picture, natural like the armature or inspirational like the picture below, we can create something for everyone. Our only limit is your imagination.

Click here to order item RM-440 Peaceful Prayer. Or go to www.EnchantedFloristPasadena.com to browse our plant selection.