Salt City Sound Machine

Rhys Milsap and Kristin Coons Wedding

Venue: Edgewood Resort - Alexandria Bay, NY
Date: September 20, 2014

People ask all the time… do you travel. And I answer all the time, YES! In fact, Salt City Sound Machine was on the road again on September 20, 2014, making our debut in the Thousand Islands in Alexandria Bay, NY. Why Alex Bay? Because it was for the wedding of Rhys Milsap and Kristin Coons!

(Also, because I figured if I played loud enough, they’d hear it across the St. Lawrence River in Canada and I could technically call SCSM an international DJ company. That result is still pending…)

The Edgewood was a great venue that really captures the style and beauty of the Thousand Islands. Rhys and Kristin had an outdoor ceremony set up looking over the St. Lawrence River on a stellar fall evening. SCSM did not provide sound or music for the ceremony, so I can only guess that it went well because Rhys and Kristin got married and everyone seemed happy. I suppose that’s a good sign. We did, however, have music running for cocktail hour, which directly followed the ceremony inside the ballroom at the Edgewood.

The reception officially began around 6pm with introductions (Do You Love Me – The Contours). The parents and wedding party walked directly onto the stage overlooking the dance floor and rest of the room when their names were called for their entrance. Rhys and Kristin, however, made their way onto the dance floor and enjoyed their first dance together (I Cross My Heart – George Strait). To add to the festivities, during the first dance, several guests blew bubbles to enhance the mood on the dance floor for our happy couple. There were speeches and toasts from a mix of family and friends and finally a delicious dinner.

Sometimes it’s beneficial to save the parents dances for after dinner. On one hand, you get to eat earlier, but also, it can serve to your advantage by letting your guests know that dinner is officially over and the dance floor is ready. This is the way Rhys and Kristin did it, choosing to wait until dinner was over for the Father/Daughter dance (Daughter – Loudon Wainwright III) and the Mother/Son dance (If There Hadn’t Been You – Billie Dean).

Usually, these dances would be followed up by some great dance music that wouldn’t stop until the end of the night, but this time, we did it a little differently. The groom’s sister, Chelsea, was celebrating her 21st birthday, so they gave her a birthday cake and some time in the spotlight, with a twist. Before the event, Kristin told me about the birthday and asked me to put on a fun show to playfully embarrass her. So, when the time came, I sang “Happy Birthday” while ripping off my dress shirt to reveal an undershirt that had ‘Happy Birthday Chelsea’ written on it, complete with heart. Chelsea was a great sport and she and the rest of the guests really seemed to enjoy it.

But then it was time to dance. This was a very energetic group, who really took advantage of the dance floor. They were especially receptive to group dances and slow dances. But overall it resulted in a pretty full dance floor throughout the night. To break up the constant flow of dance music, Rhys and Kristin had their own ceremonial moments throughout the night. The first was the Cake Cutting (Build Me Up Buttercup – The Foundations) which took place shortly after dancing began. As the night went on, they participated in back-to-back Bouquet/Garter Tosses and the Generations Dance. For the Bouquet Toss, Kristin chose a growing favorite for this moment (Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) – Beyonce). For Rhys, and the garter, he actually chose different songs for the Removal (Cherry Pie – Warrant), the Toss (The Boys Are Back in Town – Thin Lizzy), and the Placement (Whatta Man – Salt-N-Pepa). Directly after the Tosses, we did the Generations dance, finding out who in attendance had been married the longest to three songs (I’ll Be – Edwin McCain / Lay You Down – Conway Twitty / Can’t Help Falling In Love – Elvis Presley). And hey, it ended up great for the happy couple who had been married the longest as they were presented with a bottle of wine, courtesy of the bride and groom.

So even a few mere miles away from the border of Canada, events need to come to an end. After a long night of dancing, feet get tired, bodies get sweaty, and the effects of alcohol begin to set in.. for some. Either way, the night had to come to and end, and it did with the Last Dance (Into the Mystic – Van Morrison). At that point, there was nothing left to do but retire to your room at the Edgewood, or in my case, get on the road back to Syracuse.

Congratulations to Rhys and Kristin. Thank you for choosing Salt City Sound Machine and we wish you the best of luck in the future!