Welcome to Jim Horn Entertainment’s new office!

Our new facility, which is part of the Bliss Wedding Cafe, is our new location to meet our clients and prospects. Their new website will be up soon, so check back often at www.blissweddingcafe.com.

Bliss Wedding Cafe is a wedding meeting place for brides and grooms and several wedding vendors along the Ms Gulf Coast. It’s in a great location in Gulfport at 2109 19th Street.

A special thanks to Lisa at Tilley Photography for documenting these amazing shots of our new meeting space.

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to send me an email or call me at 228-623-1383.

We are very excited about this new adventure and hope you like it!

The show begins at 1:00pm and runs till 5:00pm with a fashion show that afternoon.

Some of the best wedding vendors on the coast will be on hand. In fact, many of the vendors I have worked with and personally recommend will be there.

I’ll be there! Jim Horn Entertainment be part of the $25,000 wedding giveaway. I would love for you to be the winner and for me to be the host of your Special Day. We have teamed with many other great vendors to give you a free wedding! One lucky winner will be sooooo happy!

See you there!

I had the pleasure of working with Gritz Photography from Pensacola Fl. This was my first time to work with Laura Henson and she really captured the style and personality of Brandy, John, and their family and friends.

I truly love her attention to detail and her persona. It’s like we’ve worked together for years…..she just fits right in. Laura is not an ‘in your face with a camera’ type photographer…..she lets events happen and you never know she is there. She knows how to capture the moment and the spirit of the day.

I asked Laura what three things a couple should look for in a photographer. This is what she told me:

When choosing your photographer, of course find someone with a style that reflects what you have in mind for the wedding, but find someone that you GET ALONG WITH!  You of course don’t have to become best friends (although don’t be surprised if you keep in touch for years to come, I quite often do)  but you will more than likely spend more time with your photographer than anyone else at your wedding (this includes your spouse-to-be), so its important to be comfortable with your photographer.  If you have the opportunity, schedule an engagement or bridal session with your photographer before the ceremony.  These sessions really help you get to know who is shooting your wedding and the photographer can also get a feel for what you are looking for in photos, not to mention that these shoots are just plain fun!

Does your photographer offer prints or just DVDs?  Everyone wants access to print on their own from the DVD, I know I do, but when it comes time to frame something FABULOUS on the wall, what you get from a local chain print shop will NOT look as good as from the photographers pro-print shop.  Why?  A pro-photographer will have color-calibrated their photos with their print shop, so the wonderful retouching and editing that you receive in print will look EXACTLY the way the photographer intended.  There is a difference when compared side by side, and when you want to display your wedding photos on the wall for all to see,  you want them perfect!  The DVD is great to have, but make sure you have the option to order pro-prints as well.

How does your photographer plan their shooting for the day?  This is a big question and varies from photog to photog.  Do they develop a photo-timeline based upon your info?  Are they flexible in case of weather change, family members that are not in the right place at the right time, or things just running behind?  This is a highly coordinated part of the event, and it’s important to know how they personally approach things so you can get what you are looking for out of your wedding photos.  I am not talking about a “shot-list” of normal photos (the kiss, the rings, etc) your photographer will have the basics covered, but they should be informed of anything out of the ordinary that you are really looking forward to (a family heirloom hidden in the bouquet, a recreation shot from the brides parents wedding, etc).

Your photographer is ONE person.  If you are interested in both bride and groom preparation shots (which often happens at the same time), the reception area BEFORE the guests arrive, a ceremony where movement is prohibited, or  candids and details of guests interacting while formals are taking place, consider the time your photographer has to work with.  I recommend in these situations the help of a second shooter.  Two photographers can get different angles on the day, speed up progress of bridal party photos so everyone can get to the reception ASAP (always a good thing), and there are just plain more photos (and who doesn’t want that?).

Thanks so much for the valuable information, Laura. I KNOW everyone reading this will find it useful and educational.

Finally, I want to post some of Laura’s work from her Gritz Photography BLOG here.

As a fun gesture, I also put together this romantic slide show as I always do for my clients. Enjoy!

I spent my Black Friday not shopping…..but traveling to Bay St. Louis with a coworker to photograph the Gulf Coast.

Our first venture was to I Hop to fuel up for breakfast….because we needed it for the walking that we were going to do. I had the Breakfast sampler with pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, ham…the works……hungry yet???

After breakfast we drove downtown to Bay St. Louis to begin our photo adventure. I not only enjoy taking shots of buildings, architecture, etc. but of detail shots as well. I also like switching my camera to black/white mode to capture texture, old metal, etc.

Before you knew it, it was time to hit Gulfport, Ms and capture some of the flavor there, too.

I hope you enjoy the slideshow as much as I enjoyed creating it.

Just dig on the link here to enjoy!

Many of my clients and, and even prospects, ask me where the dance floor should be placed.

I always recommend, obviously, near the entertainment.

But many may place the entertainment too far from the dance floor or place the dance floor at the side of the room.

There is a theatrical term called, Theater in the Round. It involves having the entertainment and the guests surrounding them almost in a circular fashion. In fact many of the concerts, if not all of them, feature this type of arrangement (see below):

This is the most recommended room arrangement for best participation so everyone is able to see and hear the festive moments that are created throughout your reception.

Happy Planning!

It was an absolutely beautiful day and their wedding ceremony and reception were outdoors in the Woolmarket area. In the midst of their BIG DAY were geese, birds, forest, and a beautiful pond that landscaped the romantic setting:

After the ceremony, Brandy and John’s guests walked over to the reception site and were greeted with a genre of romantic Rat Pack-style cocktail music from Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Louis Armstrong and many standard classic jazz selections.

When the Wedding Party pictures were complete, the guests were entertained by my style of wedding party introductions that involved some really cool and entertaining background info of each of the wedding party members. The guests laughed and cheered as each couple was introduced! A big help was really appreciated by our wedding coordinator, Jean McGrury, from After the Proposal, who assisted in the events of the night.

During the course of the buffet, which was catered by the crew at Oak Crest Mansion Inn in Pass Christian, MS, I gathered everyone’s attention by presenting Brandy and John’s Love Story. The guests laughed and ‘ahhh’ at practically every paragraph I read. Their story was very sweet and the guests got a chance to know, in more detail, about how our newlyweds met, what their first date was like, and so much more!

Brandy and John’s Love Story was presented to their guests and afterwards they shared their first dance as husband and wife. Their song was “Make you feel my love” by Adele. But what the guests didn’t expect was what we included in their song. I created some unique vocal drops from Brandy and John over their song as well as the father/daughter song and the mother/son dance song. It really caught everyone off guard and they loved it! The hardest part for me, Brandy, and John was keeping this a secret.

Throughout the entire ceremony and reception, the SPECIAL DAY was captured by Laura at Gritz Photography. This was my first time to work with Laura and I must say she and her sister were a pleasure to work with. Their company is based in Pensacola, Florida. I can’t wait to see some of their special moments that they created and I’ll certainly post a link or a few pics here on this blog.

The donuts were created by A.J.’s Donuts and boy, let me tell you, my setup was placed adjacent to the tiers of donuts that looked like a huge wedding cake and it smelled fantastic.

The dance floor was opened with a rock-n-roll classic, “Old time rock-n-roll” by Bob Segar and the rest of the night was so much fun. The guests packed the dance floor on the very first song!

A big congratulations to the new Brandy and John Hamilton! It was such a pleasure to serve as your Master of Ceremonies and DJ.

Gautier, MS – January 25, 2011 – WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, is thrilled to announce Jim Horn Entertainment has been selected to receive the prestigious annual WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 for Wedding 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.

Jim Horn 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 Jim Horn Entertainment for their professionalism and dedication to enhancing the wedding planning experience last year.”

We are happy to announce that Jim Horn Entertainment is among the very best along the Gulf Coast area 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/reviews/jim-horn-entertainment-gautier/132bedeb4ec42af2.html.

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

Lots of great vendors, prizes and information will be given away here at this show. Here’s the details:

WHAT: Premier Bridal Show Gulf Coast

WHERE: Mississippi Gulf Coast Coliseum & Convention Center

WHEN: Sunday January 30th, 2011, 1:00pm till 4:00pm

WHO: You and your bridesmaids (tell another bride too!)

WHY: To win great prizes, meet with great vendors and learn great ideas for your Special day!

P.S. I’ll be MC’ing and playing music for the runway show. Stop by my booth and say hi.