Yingxi (Rona) Shi & Jeff Kuntz

When: Monday, May 30th, 2011

Where: Turtle River State Park, Grand Forks, ND
1st Dance Song: "Eyes on Me" from Final Fantasy

This was actually an outdoor ceremony and indoor reception.  The couple met as students in the UND meteorology department.  There was a brief panic in the morning when lightning knocked out the area's power, but the park runs on propane, not the electrical grid, so my mad scramble for a generator on Memorial Day Monday was unnecesary.  There was some misting rain as we all arrived for the ceremony, but in all, the day was quite beautiful.  The ceremony went off without a hitch, though the pastor's mic was on mute, his voice carried fine.  The reception, however, was perfect til about 9:30pm, when tornados were spotted around Grand Forks, sending many of our meteorologists on their way, and the rest of us to safety.  Which wasn't too bad, since we had to be done at 10pm (per park rules) anyway.

I'm very used to pronouncing difficult names, but that's usually Polish or Norwegian.  This is Chinese, a whole new set of phoenetics.  If you're wondering, Rona's name is pronounced like 'Ing-She'.  That's the easy one.  Have fun trying to pronounce Shaoyue or Zhe.

The reception was pretty traditional.  Rona's parents flew in from China for this, and her dad wanted to do a speech, done with a translator (her cousin), who learned just how hard that is to do well.  Not everything in Chinese translates easily into English very well, or at least, not literally, but he did a pretty good job.

Rona and Jeff choreographed their first dance song, all five minutes of it, making a great impression on the guests.  For those who can, 12 lessons or so is all it takes to put something together that will get noticed.

Erin Lowder & Derek Hoffert

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When: Saturday, May 28th, 2011

Where: Bestwestern Guest House, Grand Forks, ND
1st Dance Song: "Beautiful Mess" by Jason Mraz

Derek's family and I go way back.  I DJ'ed both his older sisters' weddings in 1999 and 2000.  Tonight, they decorated the Guesthouse pretty well.  Real evergreen trees behind the head table, candle-lit lanterns on a bed of grass (yes, as in lawn) for centerpieces.  Their flower/decorator Georgina Smith had containers of grass growing from seed for the last eight weeks, just begging for sunny days.

Erin wasn't crazy about the garter removal, so we turned things around.  Once Derek got out to the floor and dropped to one knee, she grabbed him, put him in the chair, and took the garter off his leg (already under his pant leg).

Random song I've never played before, and probably won't again, but that did great here: "Stop" by the Spice Girls.

Amy Strand & Charles Getsman

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When: Saturday, May 21st, 2011

Where: Clarion Inn, Grand Forks, ND
1st Dance Song: "Then" by Brad Paisley

Don't worry, Chuck, I won't repeat your wife's nickname for you here, though it was revealed (playfully) to the guests.  The same can't be said for your buddies, though, or the youth soccer team you coach.

Instead of the traditional garter giveaway, Chuck decided to have the guys compete over it, via an air guitar contest.  Sadly, there is no footage of this because, while silly, it was still fun.

Danielle Grandbois & Daniel Danielson

When: Friday, May 20th, 2011

Where: Doublewood Inn, Fargo, ND
1st Dance Song: "Heaven" by Yanou & DJ Sammy

Just go ahead and try and say their married name outloud.  It's all about the emphasis and second syllable in Danielle to make sure you don't sound like Daniel is marrying Daniel.

 Danielle is a big karaoke fan, so we included that throughout the night.  Something like 12 songs scattered over a four hour dance.  Only one singer was bad... she yelled more than sang her song.

Danielle did make a video slide show of pictures, but had me play it on a loop during the entire social and dinner.  Guests could watch if they wanted, when they wanted.  This is key if your video exceeds ten minutes or so.

Aleesha Ruff & Andy Nicholson

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When: Tuesday, May 17th, 2011

Where: Woodland Lodge, Turtle River State Park, ND
1st Dance Song: "I'll Be" by Edwin McCain

Alee and Andy were married on a Tuesday.  They both just graduated, he's now commisioned in the U.S. Army, so it was a now or never thing for them if they wanted their friends there before everyone scattered to the winds.  They did end up competing with a Tim McGraw concert, but it didn't seem to be a problem.

The Woodland Lodge is a bit small (space for 100 or so indoors) but is actually pretty nice: full kitchen and central air.  There is also a patio area if the weather is nice.

To get Alee and Andy to kiss, guests asked them questions.  So a guest who knew Andy well asked Alee about him.  Because of this we learned that Andy is into power kites.  I'm not sure what that means, but one is 13 meters long.  That's enormous and I now feel bad because I still have trouble getting the regular little ones off the ground.

One last note, I would have never expected a bunch of ROTC/military guys to be so into Rebecca Black's "Friday."  Curious.