Greg Gibson took the photography and he is known for his documentary style and  Pulitzer-Prize winning style. He is wonderful to work with and always produces incredible images!

Check out the necklace!  Alison got it from a wonderful designer on Etsy!  We also loved working with Evan from MyDeejay.com & Main Event Caterers – who both practice sustainability and are all about the utmost in customer service!  Easy to work with and green at the same time!

Seeing these photos made me realize again how exciting it is to be a part of a couple’s wedding day.  I loved working with Alison during the planning process while going over her floral designs.  There is nothing like being part of a wedding day as a wedding professional.  I am truly blessed to be doing what I am doing.  I love teaching others how to green their businesses and showing brides and grooms how to go green on their wedding day.

Happy Planning!

Katie Martin

]]> http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/wedding-planning/alison-robs-eco-wedding/feed/ 2 http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/wedding-planning/vendor-spotlight-evan-from-mydeejaycom/ http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/wedding-planning/vendor-spotlight-evan-from-mydeejaycom/#comments Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:33:26 +0000 Katie Martin http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com/blog/?p=560 We had some time to interview Evan Reitmeyer – one of our favorite DJ’s!  Check it out!

How did you get started in the wedding business?
By accident. Seriously!  Coming out of college with a background in IT, I was struggling to find a job.  It was right after the dot-com bubble burst, and the market was saturated with people who had much better resumes than I did. I took a job as a contractor doing some cross-platform database development for a DJ agency near Baltimore.  I was there a couple weeks when they asked if I’d be interested in becoming a DJ, and I thought it might be fun. I turned out to have a natural knack for DJing, and particularly for weddings.  I quit the agency after being there almost four years and started MyDeejay.com – the rest is history!

What do you do when you are not working?
I don’t understand… what do you mean “when you are not working?”  I’ve never heard of that…  I work a lot.  MyDeejay.com is a family business, both me and my beautiful and talented wife Jennifer work on the company full-time.  Building and maintaining a successful business takes a lot of time, but when we’re not in the office we spend as much time as possible with our uber-cute son Colin.

How would you describe your approach to weddings?
Our approach is all about honesty, trust, and results.  The DJ is typically the vendor that couples are most worried about, because they’ve either seen a bad wedding DJ or have heard horror stories.  We really strive to be the antithesis to the stereotype.  Each couple meets their DJ, in person, before we even give them a contract.  We place a premium on building a strong relationship with our clients, which enables us to serve them better and give them exactly what they want on their wedding day.  The proof is in the pudding – our online reviews are consistently fantastic, and our clients refer us like crazy to their engaged friends.

What inspires you in your work?
Being the best.  I don’t mean that in the sense that I just want MyDeejay.com to be better than the other DJ companies in the area, I want us to be better than every other DJ company imaginable.  We compete against ourselves, and constantly challenge ourselves to be better.  Our mantra is “doing business the right way,” which means that we are always looking for ways to improve and provide better service to our customers.  This includes everything from the advice on our website to the clothes we wear when we are setting up our equipment – every aspect of our business is designed for one purpose: to provide the best customer experience possible.

What  do you find the most rewarding about your job?
Knowing that we’re making people happy and delivering on our promises every single weekend. Most of the time, couples have no idea how important our job is to the overall success of the reception – they don’t realize our impact until the end of the wedding.  Getting thank-you notes and emails, great online reviews, and referrals from our former clients is incredibly satisfying, because it means that we’re actually accomplishing our goals.

What’s the one thing you wish everyone knew about you or your business?
You know, even though we put a ton of information on our website, there is still a lot that we don’t talk about.  I wish everyone knew how much time and effort we put into each wedding, each couple, and our company in general.  We make it look easy, but it’s a lot of work.  Our customers don’t know about our cutting-edge management backend (that nobody besides us will ever see), our internal policies and processes, our incredible DJ training program that we make EVERYONE go through – even if they’ve done 500 weddings, or the continuous education and group training we do with our staff.  I like to say we’re stuck in a “company improvement feedback loop” because it’s a process that never ends.

What do you think sets your company apart from other wedding DJs?
Basically our entire approach – we’ve designed our entire business to give our customers the best experience possible.  We give couples all of the benefits of working with a single-operator DJ like excellent customer service and the ability to meet their DJ before they sign a contract, and add all of the advantages of working with a larger company, like a huge music library and a rock-solid emergency backup program.  I think we stand out from other DJ companies because we don’t have any weaknesses, and we have an impeccable reputation that we are extremely proud of.

What do you love about weddings?
Everything!  Well, almost everything.  Honestly, this is the best job in the world.  It’s still incredible to me that, when I go to work, the people I’m working for are having the happiest day of their lives, and it’s my job to make sure that everyone has fun.  I love music, I love happy people, and I love the sense of satisfaction I get at the end of the night and the bride and groom tell me how much fun they had.  Weddings are incredibly rewarding emotionally, because you have a chance to make someone’s special day an amazing experience.

What’s the best piece of advice you can give to couples when planning the music aspect of their wedding?
Do your homework.  You probably don’t realize it, but this is basically the most important decision you’re going to make in terms of the overall impact on your reception.  If you have great entertainment, your wedding will be a smashing success.  If you have not-so-great entertainment, your guests will probably leave early.  It pays to do some research, check references, and check online reviews.

Who is your favorite artist or band?
I ask people this question all the time, and I can’t answer it myself.  I love too much music.  How’s this?  A six-way tie between Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Outkast, Mos Def, The Cure, and Thievery Corporation.  And Diana Krall.  And Brad Paisley.  And Sade.  Nevermind, I give up. I can’t do it.

What is the worst song of all time?
It’s funny you should ask!  Speaking of segues, I have a 4-part series on my blog (http://www.mydeejay.com/blog/2009/08/worst-songs-ever-40-worst-songs-of-all-time-part-1) that answers this very question.

Open mic, final thoughts:
Planning a wedding should be fun, or at least not un-fun.  Try to remember that you’re celebrating your love, and it’s not about making other people happy.  Other people will be happy for you if you’re happy, and if they’re not, then they shouldn’t be on your guest list.  Other than that, just hire professionals and people you can trust.  Take their advice, follow their lead, and it will be great!

You have seen previous posts about the beautiful Adele Wechsler wedding gown that was provided by Promise for the Savvy Bride, but here you will finally get to see the bride in the dress that she chose! Robin Fisher from Polished helped to style the bride and her sister with the best colors and accessories.

Although Earth Day was a very strange weather day, the wedding was beautiful!  Fortunately, the couple had two of our favorite photographers (Love Life Images & Documentary Associates) that took amazing photos for them. The wedding day started off with a quick interview from WJLA Channel 7 at the Mount Vernon United Methodist Church!

We designed the eco-friendly bridal bouquet with blue delphnium, yellow freesia, pink astilbe,  lisianthus and bouvardia.

Videographer Jessica Pi took amazing coverage that I will post shortly!  Elegant Hair by Giselle provided a beautiful natural look for the bride and Carola Myers provided flawless eco-friendly make-up by Korres (which Katie is an avid fan of!).

Utilizing the amazing local Cherry Blossom farmers, Green Love Events was able to display these magnificent blooms in the alcoves going up the stairs to the cocktail hour.

The cocktail hour was hosted upstairs in the museum, complete with mason jars filled with flowers!  The tops of the mason jars were available to the guests at the end of the evening; encouraging guests to reuse the jars for their own use after the wedding!  All of the flowers used for their wedding were grown by local farmers or from Holland’s pesticide free farmers.  All Dutch flowers were flown in on a commercial flight to utilize space otherwise unused by the average consumer on a commercial flight! 

The bride and groom made their way to the reception in a pedicab!

The guests were invited into the Carriage House after the cocktail hour for dinner and dancing.  Here are some of the beautiful details from the tables!  We love billy balls and lisianthus!  Every place setting had a different type of flower tucked into their napkin!

The centerpieces consisted of three vases.  Some tables had pink recycled glass jars (others had orange) accompanied by a flip top container and spice bottle filled with flowers.  The tops for the spice jars were provided to guests at the end of the night and they were able to take the flip top jars to use for anything from holding sugar for their coffee in the morning to saving leftovers!

Evan from MyDeejay.com had everyone dancing all night long to the couples favorite tunes!

Avalon Caterers provided eco-friendly, local and organic cuisine from the cocktail hours through the end of dinner!

 Cakes  by Design provided a beautiful eco-friendly cake complete with fresh local raspberries and decor that can be reused again and again!

The bride’s Scottish heritage brought forth the bagpiper at the church and the the beautiful custom-designed Korean Korum Bow on the bride’s gown was a fantastic addition to celebrate the groom’s culture.

Of course,  the snapshot studio from Love Life Images was a hit!

Last but not least, the entire wedding was carbon neutral with a carbon offset purchased by Elegance & Simplicity  from Carbonfund.org!

Elegance & Simplicity also provided all wedding stationery (which was all post-consumer waste recycled paper) and calligraphy.  The stationery included wedding invitations, escort cards and programs.  Elegance & Simplicity provided the couple with a logo and a logo sign to be reused by the couple as personal decor.  All leftover flowers were either taken by the family or composted by Elegance & Simplicity.  The discarded programs and escort cards were recycled by Elegance & Simplicity.  Leftover food was packed up for the bride and groom and their families at the end of the evening by Avalon Caterers.  Avalon Caterers made sure that all of their staff either carpooled or took Metro to the event.  Ask your wedding professionals how they can make a eco-friendly difference in your wedding day!  Check out all of the green wedding professionals in the consortium by clicking here!

Congratulations to our 2009 Green Wedding Giveaway Couple!

Soon – I will be launching the Green Love Events website (a 100% eco-friendly wedding division of Elegance & Simplicity Wedding & Event Designers, Inc.)!  We had a preview available of our services at the Washington DC Couture Wedding Consortium Bridal show.  However – we have changed the logo!

Here it is:

Stay tuned for the launch of the website featuring our flowers, Photography from Love Life Images & Documentary Associates, Sound from Disc Jockeys on Call & MyDeejay.com, Bridal Fashion and Style from Promise for the Savvy Bride and Polished Image & Style Consultants.  It will be your one stop shop for an unforgettable Eco-Friendly Green Wedding or Event in the Greater Washington DC and Baltimore Metro Areas!

* Katie Martin