Yesterday afternoon, I received a phone call from a lady stationed in Iraq. She and her husband are finally getting a chance to come home on leave in February, and even though they are already legally married, they didn't get a chance to "do it right" like they wanted the first time around, so they are reaffirming their vows in a ceremony and reception here during their leave.
"Gloria" was only able to speak to me for a brief period on the phone, as you will read in the email below, so I told her to sit down when she did have time and compose an email with the info she had in her possession.
My response to her and her betrothed "Pablo" follows.
Read on:
Mr. McLeese,
I spoke with you yesterday regarding the wedding we have planned. My husband and
I are already married, but will be having our wedding ceremony and reception on
the 28th of Feb, 2009. We have been deployed and will be until late Jan 09, so
unfortunately, this is one of two means of communication. Phones are limited as
you saw yesterday.
So far, these are the details we have. We will be married the 28th of Feb 09 at
Ashford Suites in High Point. The address is 3901 Sedgebrook Drive, High Point,
NC 27265 and their telephone number is
(336) 812-8787 if you would like to view the facility we will be using. We do
not have a good count of people as of yet, but we are expecting no more that 60
people. This will be a very intimate wedding with mainly family in attendance.
There are two rooms contracted, one for the ceremony and one for the reception.
The bar will be located outside the reception hall, at Mulligans, about 20 paces
outside in the lobby. We will be having dinner, and you will of course be
invited to join us. The time of the ceremony will be at 4 PM, with the reception
following shortly there after. We are estimating approximately 5 or 5:30 PM for
the beginning of the reception. We would like to wrap things up at about 9 or
9:30 that night.
We are looking for all the traditional bells and whistles. We are traditional
type people when it comes to this wedding. We would love for all the things such
as the entrance announcements, all the individual dances, the garter, the
bouquet, etc. We are interested in hearing any fun or modern ideas you might
have.
As for equipment. I'm what you would call, not so technologically savvy, so if
you choose to use the smaller sound system, fine with us. If you choose to use
the larger one, fine with us. I don't see the need for any lighting, but if you
went to the hotel and saw that there was a place and a use for it, then we may
decide to use it. Our crowd won't be so young, so the nightclub atmosphere will
have to stay in the nightclub for now.
We are party people when it comes to music. We like a wide variety of tunes and
will happily provide you with a Do and Do Not Play List when the time comes. We
will be looking for some reggueton and some hit songs as well as some classics
and wedding favorites. Maybe a bit of country, but I can't be certain on how
much of anything. We can make more decisions on that in a future email. We do
not have a wedding song picked out right now for our first dance together or the
last song of the evening.
We are planning to have a photographer for the ceremony and reception. I saw
that you also take pictures, and that is perfectly OK with us. If you would
forward us more details on that, we would be appreciative.
I have read over your web site and we are interested in your services. You omit
great professionalism and have a lot of experience. This is our first wedding,
and the only wedding either one of us plan to have, and typical of most men and
women, we would love this to be perfect. I read your reccomendations of
interviewing 3-5 D J's. We are certainly interested in your services as I
mentioned and have made inquiries else where. Those plans and D J's are and were
not what we were looking for.
I will provide my husband's contact information at the close of this email, and
I have cc'd him as well. Please send the information and email's that you write
to both of us so we can have the information. Thank you for your time and help
and we look forward to doing business with you.
Very Respectfully,
Gloria and Pablo Varela
========
My response:
Dear Gloria and Pablo -
Allow me to begin this reply email by saying that I am incredibly honored and very very humbled by the fact that I am being given the opportunity to serve two of America's finest. I can not begin to tell you how difficult it was to word this email because of the tremendous pride and respect I have for our service men and women - and especially two that are serving in one of the most desolate and dangerous territories in the world.
Armed with the great information you have already supplied me with, I feel as though we have a good jump on the situation. I don't know what correct protocol is for sending things in the mail to you on the base, so you will have to tell me what is required. I would like to send you the aforementioned Bridal Planner that you read about on the website, so that you can have something to read thru for planning purposes.
As for what I think you will require in the way of sound, if there are only 60 people being expected to attend, then the smaller systems (one for the ceremony/one for the reception) would be plenty of sound for your purposes. I always supply a wireless lapel mic for the minister to wear in order for the service to be heard as well as the vows you and Pablo will be speaking to each other. If you are planning on having a soloist sing during the ceremony, I can also provide that person with a wireless handheld mic. Once I have a signed contract from you and Pablo, I'll make arrangements with the banquet person at the Ashford Suites to do a site survey of the rooms we'll be in to determine what lighting I think would be appropriate.
As for pictures that I take, I normally just take my good 35mm camera (I'm old school) and take what pics I can, and once developed weeks after the wedding, dump them on a CD and send them to the couple for a very nominal charge, if they want them in that format, or I just send the 4x6 hard copy prints in the mail free. I leave that choice up to the couple.
I look forward to your reply and will do everything in my power to make your special day perfect when that day arrives.
In closing, may God watch over you and Pablo and all of our servicemen and women.
Be safe.
--
Greg McLeese
Owner/Operator
KICKIT PRODUCTIONS
MOBILE ENTERTAINMENT
www.kickit-productions.com
336-744-1154
888-919-6373
========
All I can say is that there is this over-whelming feeling of awe and respect that I have for these two, and the hope that it will be the most perfect event I have ever done. It gives me a lump in my throat everytime I think of being able to give back to two people that put their lives on the line everyday to insure the freedoms I (and you) enjoy here at home.
Thanks for listening.
"Gloria" was only able to speak to me for a brief period on the phone, as you will read in the email below, so I told her to sit down when she did have time and compose an email with the info she had in her possession.
My response to her and her betrothed "Pablo" follows.
Read on:
Mr. McLeese,
I spoke with you yesterday regarding the wedding we have planned. My husband and
I are already married, but will be having our wedding ceremony and reception on
the 28th of Feb, 2009. We have been deployed and will be until late Jan 09, so
unfortunately, this is one of two means of communication. Phones are limited as
you saw yesterday.
So far, these are the details we have. We will be married the 28th of Feb 09 at
Ashford Suites in High Point. The address is 3901 Sedgebrook Drive, High Point,
NC 27265 and their telephone number is
(336) 812-8787 if you would like to view the facility we will be using. We do
not have a good count of people as of yet, but we are expecting no more that 60
people. This will be a very intimate wedding with mainly family in attendance.
There are two rooms contracted, one for the ceremony and one for the reception.
The bar will be located outside the reception hall, at Mulligans, about 20 paces
outside in the lobby. We will be having dinner, and you will of course be
invited to join us. The time of the ceremony will be at 4 PM, with the reception
following shortly there after. We are estimating approximately 5 or 5:30 PM for
the beginning of the reception. We would like to wrap things up at about 9 or
9:30 that night.
We are looking for all the traditional bells and whistles. We are traditional
type people when it comes to this wedding. We would love for all the things such
as the entrance announcements, all the individual dances, the garter, the
bouquet, etc. We are interested in hearing any fun or modern ideas you might
have.
As for equipment. I'm what you would call, not so technologically savvy, so if
you choose to use the smaller sound system, fine with us. If you choose to use
the larger one, fine with us. I don't see the need for any lighting, but if you
went to the hotel and saw that there was a place and a use for it, then we may
decide to use it. Our crowd won't be so young, so the nightclub atmosphere will
have to stay in the nightclub for now.
We are party people when it comes to music. We like a wide variety of tunes and
will happily provide you with a Do and Do Not Play List when the time comes. We
will be looking for some reggueton and some hit songs as well as some classics
and wedding favorites. Maybe a bit of country, but I can't be certain on how
much of anything. We can make more decisions on that in a future email. We do
not have a wedding song picked out right now for our first dance together or the
last song of the evening.
We are planning to have a photographer for the ceremony and reception. I saw
that you also take pictures, and that is perfectly OK with us. If you would
forward us more details on that, we would be appreciative.
I have read over your web site and we are interested in your services. You omit
great professionalism and have a lot of experience. This is our first wedding,
and the only wedding either one of us plan to have, and typical of most men and
women, we would love this to be perfect. I read your reccomendations of
interviewing 3-5 D J's. We are certainly interested in your services as I
mentioned and have made inquiries else where. Those plans and D J's are and were
not what we were looking for.
I will provide my husband's contact information at the close of this email, and
I have cc'd him as well. Please send the information and email's that you write
to both of us so we can have the information. Thank you for your time and help
and we look forward to doing business with you.
Very Respectfully,
Gloria and Pablo Varela
========
My response:
Dear Gloria and Pablo -
Allow me to begin this reply email by saying that I am incredibly honored and very very humbled by the fact that I am being given the opportunity to serve two of America's finest. I can not begin to tell you how difficult it was to word this email because of the tremendous pride and respect I have for our service men and women - and especially two that are serving in one of the most desolate and dangerous territories in the world.
Armed with the great information you have already supplied me with, I feel as though we have a good jump on the situation. I don't know what correct protocol is for sending things in the mail to you on the base, so you will have to tell me what is required. I would like to send you the aforementioned Bridal Planner that you read about on the website, so that you can have something to read thru for planning purposes.
As for what I think you will require in the way of sound, if there are only 60 people being expected to attend, then the smaller systems (one for the ceremony/one for the reception) would be plenty of sound for your purposes. I always supply a wireless lapel mic for the minister to wear in order for the service to be heard as well as the vows you and Pablo will be speaking to each other. If you are planning on having a soloist sing during the ceremony, I can also provide that person with a wireless handheld mic. Once I have a signed contract from you and Pablo, I'll make arrangements with the banquet person at the Ashford Suites to do a site survey of the rooms we'll be in to determine what lighting I think would be appropriate.
As for pictures that I take, I normally just take my good 35mm camera (I'm old school) and take what pics I can, and once developed weeks after the wedding, dump them on a CD and send them to the couple for a very nominal charge, if they want them in that format, or I just send the 4x6 hard copy prints in the mail free. I leave that choice up to the couple.
I look forward to your reply and will do everything in my power to make your special day perfect when that day arrives.
In closing, may God watch over you and Pablo and all of our servicemen and women.
Be safe.
--
Greg McLeese
Owner/Operator
KICKIT PRODUCTIONS
MOBILE ENTERTAINMENT
www.kickit-productions.com
336-744-1154
888-919-6373
========
All I can say is that there is this over-whelming feeling of awe and respect that I have for these two, and the hope that it will be the most perfect event I have ever done. It gives me a lump in my throat everytime I think of being able to give back to two people that put their lives on the line everyday to insure the freedoms I (and you) enjoy here at home.
Thanks for listening.
