Kaitlyn & Tristan’s Reno Wedding

This wedding was simply magic.

That's not to say that it was without its own fair share of setbacks and unforeseen circumstances.

Wendy, the mother of the bride, contacted me in January after seeing my Renown Celebrate Amazing video.

Since she and her daughter Kaitlyn (the bride) both work at Renown, they wanted to hire a DJ who did too! Not only am I the resident DJ for Renown's Annual Celebrate Amazing Gala, but I was born there 30 years ago. But of course, that was back when it was Washoe Med.

As a matter of fact, when Wendy contacted me I was just finishing up delivering bouquets of flowers to Nicole and Kristen, my contacts at Renown.

Wendy told me that her daughter's wedding would be taking place in Bucks Lake, California. This was the first time that I had heard of this beautiful lake.

As the wedding approached, I received an iMessage from Wendy, confirming that Kaitlyn's music requests had been correctly recorded. When I opened the music request sheet, I was shocked to see that she had requested over 100 songs, and most of them were bangers! I loved the instrumental covers of love songs she wanted for her ceremony, and almost all of the must play dance songs were fire! As a DJ, someone who has been to hundreds of weddings at this point, my hat goes off to Kaitlyn and Tristan for their song selection. I had to update my main playlists because they requested such excellent and deep cuts!

Songs like Paper Planes Intro, and Temperature Intro, and Satisfaction Original Isak Extended Mix. As a die hard Benny Benassi fan, this was the first time I had heard of this mix!

After purchasing, downloading, organizing, and backing up all of their music, their wedding day came...

The beauty of Bucks Lake took me by surprise. The remote location near Quincy, CA, complete lack of cell service, lush green trees and foliage, and stunning wildflowers that painted the sides of the roads were simply breathtaking.

The sapphire blue waters were mesmerizing to me as I was setting up my gear. I was informed that there was an issue with PG&E, potentially prohibiting Kaitlyn and Tristan from having their wedding ceremony in the meadow as they planned. This must have been shocking to them, as they had already gotten their permits for the wedding many months in advance.

Thankfully, a conclusion was reached, and the wedding ceremony was allowed to continue at the originally intended location. Or so we thought...

Just after mic checking the officiant, setting up my generator, EZ Up, speaker, and laptop for the ceremony, we were informed by the fire chief that there had been a fatal ATV accident.

He proceeded to inform us that an emergency helicopter landing would be taking place in the ceremony site, and that we'd have to move all of the chairs, the arch, and all of my gear out of the way, immediately.

We complied, and it wasn't long before the plan changed again: instead of waiting for the helicopter, the decision was made to move everything to the reception site, so that's exactly what we did. This is where Paul, of the main Bucks Lake lodge, and Valerie of The Keepsake Co. Events really shined. A normal wedding presents enough stress for the venue and the coordinator. But a helicopter making an emergency Care Flight landing in the ceremony site? That's an unheard of kind of stress! But they both rose to the occasion, and were able to get everyone exactly where they needed to go.

The ceremony started an hour late, but we were able to quickly make up time. And the arch in front of the beautiful blue water of the lake was surreal. After the chaos of the ceremony wound down, we got the evening back on track with photos and cocktail hour. Then, it was time for the grand entrance.

Kaitlyn and Tristan originally planned to do their grand entrance to I'm on a Boat by The Lonely Island featuring T-Pain. But due to the helicopter landing issue, they weren't able to ride the boat over from the ceremony site to the reception site. But I still recommended that they did their grand entrance to I'm on a Boat, and I'm so glad they listened!

The crowd roared as I announced them, and the ground shook as they walked through the tunnel of their friends and family cheering and blowing bubbles.

Speeches were long, emotional, and very sweet.

Then, it was finally time for dancing, and that's where I really shine. I could tell right from the first few songs that this crowd was 10/10. I am not exaggerating when I say that the dance floor was a mosh pit. The peak of the dancing was when I played Usher, Yeah, and placed my Burning Man hat on Tristan. What a night!

Later, we all jumped in the lake together, and the next day I saw a Fire Rainbow!

The family was very generous, and tipped me $200.

Thank you very much Wendy, Kaitlyn, and Tristan!