Nittany Entertainment now has a Youtube Channel.

We will be posting fun videos of weddings in action

Our youtube channel is
http://www.youtube.com/user/NittanyEntertainment?feature=mhee

Park Forest Middle School students, faculty, and staff worked for months to prepare for April 15- The third annual Park Forest Middle School Mini-Thon, benefitting the Four

Diamonds Fund at Hershey Medical Center.  Students raised money in a variety of ways.  Many sponsors donated services for the event, including Nittany Entertainment, who donated the sound and light system and DJ Jeff Tranell, who also teaches 6th grade at the school.   Students started the evening with a spaghetti dinner and then stayed on their feet and danced the night away and played games until midnight.  Four Diamonds kids and families addressed and motivated the dancers throughout the evening. When the grand total was announced, it exceeded expectations and $30,000!

I had a young lady come up to me at a wedding this past weekend to ask for a business card.  She said I was the best wedding DJ she had ever heard.  I know there are some great DJs out there so I appreciated the comments.  The thing about this that struck me as different is that we were only 30 minutes into dinner when she made her comments.

When people think about DJs at weddings they often assume the DJ is only used for dancing after dinner, but good cocktail and dinner music can set the tone for a fun evening.  Early on in my DJ career I used to dismiss dinner music as just filler until the actual dancing.  Over time I have come to realize this can be just as important.  As a DJ you don’t want to get caught up playing dinner or cocktail music so loud that the guests can’t have a normal conversation.  It needs to be at an appropriate level where the music can be heard but you don’t want their ears bleeding during dinner.

Another mistake often made with dinner/cocktail music is that it can get too cliché.  Kenny G’s popularity peaked in the late 90’s along with the Macarena.  We don’t need to revive him at a wedding. The music needs to be updated, but still appropriate for the setting.

The music should also create the appropriate energy level too.  Cocktail hour music should be somewhat upbeat to create a fun atmosphere but not too over the top that your guests can still maintain a comfortable social atmosphere and conversation.  Dinner music should be a tad bit lighter.  I often find it is nice to start dinner with slower instrumental and kind of build the energy level as the tables are being cleared.  That way the guests don’t feel like they are ready for a nap.  Instead they are ready to get moving.

We have some great varieties of dinner/cocktail music that include Jazz, Piano, and New Age in our collections.  We also have some surprises that will get the guests talking about your dinner music too.  Contact us today so we can give you a sneak peak of how to make your dinner music unique to your wedding and fun at the same time.

State college, PA –1-25-11 – WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, is thrilled to announce Nittany Entertainment has been selected to receive the prestigious annual WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 for DJ Entertainment!

Recognition for the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 is determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 750,000 WeddingWire newlyweds. Our past clients are among those that shared their experiences on WeddingWire, the largest wedding review site in the nation.

Nittany Entertainment stands among the top five percent of wedding professionals in the WeddingWire community, representing quality and service excellence within the wedding industry. Awards were given to the top wedding professionals across 20 service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers, and were based on the overall professional achievements throughout the past year.

“WeddingWire is honored to celebrate the success of the top-rated wedding professionals within the WeddingWire community,” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “With the annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ program, WeddingWire has the unique opportunity to recognize the best wedding professionals across the US and Canada. We applaud Nittany Entertainment for their professionalism and dedication to enhancing the wedding planning experience last year.”

We are happy to announce that Nittany Entertainment is among the very best DJ service within the WeddingWire Network, which includes leading wedding planning sites WeddingWire, Martha Stewart Weddings, Project Wedding and Weddingbee. We would like to thank our past clients for nominating us to receive the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011.

For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today at http://www.weddingwire.com/biz/nittany-entertainment-state-college/7fe2dad28500079c.html

For more information on the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011, please visit www.WeddingWire.com.

People always ask me for unique wedding situations. I had an interesting one this past weekend.

If you attended Penn State in your undergrad or grad school, you probably remember “Move in Weekend”
Parents and students truck back to Penn State with all types of necessities. This is also a good weekend for any locals to stay far away from Walmart or any other local retail store.

Another place to avoid, unless you are dropping your child off to East Halls for their first semester, is campus.

Picture this. Brian and Emily get married at a beautiful Bed and Breakfast just outside State College. Guests are about 25 minutes late which pushes the ceremony back about a half hour because they are stuck in heavy traffic on RT. 322.

This is not that big a deal. Ceremonies on average are about 10 to 15 minutes late.

The ceremony ends around 6:15pm and the photographer informs us they are going to Penn State to get their pictures taken.

Flash Forward to 7:30pm. Most of the younger guests at this point are feasting on a liquid diet. We all know It is important to stay hydrated, especially for an outdoor reception. The mother of the bride is starting to panic, because she knows the bridal party should have been back by now, and there are 150 hungry guests to feed.

We talked with both moms and they agree, it is time to eat. So we calmly get the guests to their seats, say grace, and tables are released. During this time, we also change the music into a more upbeat mood. This keeps the guests in a celebratory mindset and lets guests who aren’t in the buffet line yet possibly work off some alcohol on the dance floor.

It is now 8:45pm and most guests have been through the buffet. Our bride and groom are introduced to many cheers and the party goes into the next level. We quickly move through their formal dances and everybody has a blast.

It may not seem like that crazy of a story, but imagine if we just sat back and waited until 8:45 to start dinner. Because of noise issues they could only use the outdoor space until 11pm.