randal stout entertainment - blog

Best In Bridal Fort Worth Luxury Bridal Show 08/02/2009

2009-07-13T22:55:00.004-05:00

Randal Stout is one of the sponsors for the Best In Bridal Fort Worth Luxury Bridal Show happening at City Club of Fort Worth on Sunday, August 2nd, 2009.

More information can be found at the website for Best In Bridal at www.bestinbridal.com.

We will be hosting the main ballroom located at City Club. Randal Stout will be the MC/DJ and our lighting company, Lumen Event Lighting will be lighting the main ballroom and the Oak Room. The Picstrips.com photo booth will be on display outsided the main ballroom for all to see. Please come see us and be a part of the first bridal fair to have a Twitter presence! It will be an historic occasion!

Tickets cost $15.00 at the door and $12.00 if you pre-register online. The website is www.bestinbridal.com and the hours will be from 2PM to 6PM on Sunday, August 2nd, 2009 at City Club of Fort Worth which is located at the DR Horton Tower, 301 Commerce Street, Fort Worth, TX 76102.

Jessica & Chris Carns (Speed) 06/27/2009

2009-07-07T16:22:00.010-05:00

Congratulations Jessica & Chris! One of the funnest parties we've had a chance to help with. Pictures from the event are online here.

Jessica & Chris had a great wedding at the Old Red Museum in downtown Dallas. Kristyn Hall with Event Elements provided the day-of coordination for wedding and did a fabulous job!

Randal Stout was the disc jockey and master of ceremonies and the party was more of a frat party than a wedding reception! We like it that way! Lighting was provided by our company, Lumen, as we showed off the packages that are now incorporated into Old Red's portfolio.

Highlights of the evening: Jessica & Chris had an awesome choreographed first dance to "Boom Boom Boom" by the Black-Eyed Peas ala MTV's Rock The Reception. Towards the end of the evening the "prop box" made it's appearance, filled with all kinds of goodies that Jessica & Chris brought with them. Cheesey? Not with this crowd--they wanted to party!

UTA Summer Band Camp Dance 06/24/2009

2009-07-07T16:19:00.004-05:00

Randal has been providing the music for the UTA summer band camp dances for over fourteen years. This year we treated the kids by bringing in the Picstrips photo booth! Pictures are posted, please click here to see them.

MPI at the Fort Worth Omni! 06/12/2009

2009-07-01T17:44:00.004-05:00

The Picstrips photo booth pictures for the MPI event held at the Fort Worth Omni are now available online. Please click here to view them.

picstrips.com!

2009-06-13T13:10:00.004-05:00

Hello all! We have officially launched the photo booth side of our company. Our first official event happened last evening for MPI at the Fort Worth Omni Hotel. A lovely event and a lovely hotel!

Next Tuesday the pictures will all be posted for the attendees to be able to get on and download. The www.picstrips.com website will be up and running next week as well.

In the meantime, for more information about our photo booths, please contact us at the office at 817-410-8399.

Sounds of the Season - Preview Party 05/19/09

2009-06-10T11:43:00.010-05:00

Meredith Commender of Significant Events of Texas asked us to help with the Sounds of the Season Preview Party benefitting the Dallas Hearing Foundation. The event took place at Hickory Street Annex in Dallas.

We provided the lighting for the room and the plasma screen and projection screen. In the room we placed the ice blue uplights around the pereimeter, shined the retro stars on the floor and lit each of the large posters showing the stories of those that have benefitted from the Dallas Hearing Foundation.

Paul Dyer of VIM Studio was nice enough to provide us with the photos that you see here.

The next event for Sounds of the Season is the Gala scheduled to be held on December 19th, 2009 at Union Station in Dallas. It is going to be an incredible production!

Happy Valentine's Anniversary! 02/14/09

2009-03-10T09:57:00.010-05:00

On February 14th we had an awesome wedding with Liz and Richard Hardy! The stage was set by our Dream Weddings wedding planner, Micki Novak, who assembled an awesome team for the reception at the Adolphus Hotel's Grand Ballroom featuring photographer Edward Ramirez, videographer LaDonna Aiken, and floral by Darren and Craig at Fete des Fleurs.

Randal Stout acted as Master of Ceremonies and our lighting company, Lumen, provided the lighting for the event, which featured pinspot lighting for all the tables and a red color wash of the ballroom and dance floor, as seen in LaDonna's video above.

Dallas Rocks! 11/07/08

2008-11-26T23:38:00.003-06:00

Dallas Rocks with Russell Simmons, Magic Johnson, Pat & Emmitt Smith from Hakim Sons Films on Vimeo.

Michael Tiegs with All Star Productions called upon us to help with an event that he was doing for Annika Cail of 521 Events. The event was the Dallas Rocks charity fundraiser which happened on November 7, 2008. It was held at City Place near downtown Dallas.

We had a chance to work with some great people and do some star gazing. For the event, Michael asked us to provide video services which included supplying four 50" plasma screens for the presentation that happened during dinner. We incorporated IMAG video (live feed video) from Shezad Mangee's team of videographers intermixed with a Flash video presentation and video files supplied by the client. Be sure to check out our copper pintuck pipe and drape which is featured against the back of the stage where Magic Johnson is speaking.

After a dinner, presentation and auction, guests were invited upstairs to the 42nd Floor enjoy the after party. Guests were treated to Academy Awards-style gift shopping, the VIP "Peacock Lounge" which we lit with peacock colors and peacock feathers, and the dance lounge which featured hip lounge furniture and a blue glow, thanks to our lighting. DJ Cassidy was spinning the tunes as guests were dancing under our club-style lighting. Check out the video for snippets of the event.

Monica & Mike Mancuso (Acosta) 10/12/08

2008-10-28T19:10:00.002-05:00

On Sunday the 12th we had a great wedding reception for Monica and Mike Mancuso. Their reception was held at the Stonegate Mansion in Fort Worth. We had a chance to work with some great people on this event including wedding planner Shari Johns of As You Wish Events, photographer Gary Donihoo of F8 Studio, and cinematographer Chris Jones of Mason Jar Productions.

We can't wait to see what the photographs look like because the event was stunning. Chris gave us the link to his preview video and told us to post it up here on the blog for all to see. The video definately shows off the lighting we had done for the ballroom at Stonegate. More to come.

A picture is worth...

2008-10-06T18:19:00.003-05:00

Let there be light! The back ballroom at the Aldredge House shows how much more dramatic a little light on the subject can be.

Emily & Jake Brown(Robertson) 7-26-08

2008-08-04T12:47:00.010-05:00

DJ/MC Mark Pederson rocked the house again this week at the Fort Worth Club. The event was the wedding reception for Emily and Jake Brown(Robertson)along with 300 friends and family. Mark shared the stage with a great group of guys, "The Crawfish Band". Mark hosted the evening as well as providing music during cocktails, dinner and the band's breaks. Mark says, "I knew the evening was going to be fun but I had no idea the crowd would be as outgoing as this group was! Things started great with the introductions and Emily and Jake's first dance, but then we followed with Emily, Jake and their parents performing a choreographed routine to "Steppin' Out With My Baby" by Tony Bennett. We had the entire room cheering them on!"

Read the review below!

Dear Ron and Mark,

I just could not let this weekend pass without letting you both know how much we appreciated (loved) the music at the reception!!! I can't tell you how many of the guest commented on the music and how fun the party was. You both kept us dancing the night away which was EXACTLY what we wanted. The combination of the band and DJ worked perfectly and achieved the goals of 1) keeping the party going during band breaks and 2) allowing for some different music styles during the band breaks. THANK YOU for a great party!!

The Robertson's (bride's family)
Larry, Susan and Emily

LUMEN is having a SALE! Now through August 31, 2008.

2008-08-03T23:06:00.006-05:00

LUMEN is the lighting side of our company. Unveiled at the Dallas Bridal Show on July 12th and the Fort Worth Bridal Show on July 19th, we're having a sale!

Now through August 31st, 2008, purchase our $1000.00 minimum and receive a free custom monogram projected at your wedding reception. The monogram and it's projection are a $450.00 value.

If you haven't had a chance to see what lighting can do to totally change the atmosphere of a room, look at the galleries on the website.

Add splash to the room--accent the walls with color or totally tansform the room by washing it with color or texture (or both!) Make your floral centerpieces pop off the table by lighting them with more than a candle. Transform your dance floor with color or exciting lighting. The designs are endless.

For the typical wedding reception of 100-150 guests, our $1000.00 minimum will give you accents of color around the room, allow us to light your cakes and put that beautiful free custom monogram on either your dance floor or a wall in the reception room. Call us at 214-206-1724 or 817-410-8399 to schedule a consultation.

Review: 06/21/08 Stephanie & Phil Boriak (Bazik)

2008-07-22T12:21:00.000-05:00

Mark Pederson, fellow disc jockey and the newest employee here at Randal Stout Entertainment was the master of ceremonies and disc jockey for Stephanie & Phil Boriak (Bazik).

You can read the review here.

Their reception took place at Winfrey Point out on White Rock Lake in Dallas. The catering was provided by Stephanie at Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?. The party went into overdrive and Mark ended up with two hours of overtime.

Review: 05/23/08 World Brahman Congress Cattle Auction & After Party

2008-07-20T12:08:00.001-05:00

We received the review for our efforts at the World Brahman Congress Cattle Auction & After Party. You can read the review here.

Dr. Kevin Bryant hired us to help produce an auction unlike anything ever seen here in the states. We were to provide lighting similar to what you might see on a television show such as "American Idol" and keep the excitement up as each of the cattle was auctioned with a musical soundtrack and heartbeat. This is very common in other countries, but had never been done in America. This was the first auction for the brahman breed in the U.S. as well.

For the after party, we provided uplighting around the Renaissance Worthington's Grand Ballroom, which changed in color throughout the dancing portion of the evening. Randal acted as the disc jockey and played opposite the band that was on stage. Behind the stage we hung our beautiful white drape and lit it with high-powered LED color changing fixtures. Above the dance floor, we hung eight moving-head fixtures to keep the dance floor lit like you would see in a night club and washed the dance floor with LED par cans.

The auction was spectacular and the after party was exquisitely decorated. Kudos to Dr. Kevin Bryant and the team that he hired.

Pictures will be posted soon.

Review: 04/05/08 Renee & Roderick Capelo (Lorenz)

2008-07-05T10:39:00.000-05:00

I received my review from Renee & Roderick Capelo's wedding. You can read the review here.

What a wedding! The reception was held at the Adolphus Hotel in the Grand Ballroom. Roderick had planned a surprise for Renee--he sings opera and after their first dance, got down on one knee and sang "O So Le Mio". The photographer that evening was Humza Yasin, who gave me some pictures that are a part of a gallery on our lighting website, Lumen.

For the reception I was the master of ceremonies and disc jockey. For the room we provided accent uplights all around the Adolphus Grand Ballroom, pinspot lighting for the table centerpieces and cakes, and a custom monogram that said "Renee & Roderick" on the dance floor.

Review: 03/29/08 Jessica & Chris Hudak (Johnson)

2008-04-15T10:31:00.000-05:00

My review from Jessica & Chris Hudak's wedding was received from them. Their wedding was great! Over 250 people at Timarron Country Club. To read the review, click here.

2007-11-15T14:13:00.000-06:00

Our new lighting website is now up and running! Everyone please check out www.l-u-m-e-n.com. We have posted several galleries showing the different types of lighting we offer.

Randal and lighting are bringing sexy back.

2007-10-04T12:45:00.000-05:00

There are so many people now watching shows such as Platinum Weddings and Who's Wedding Is it Anyway?, which is great. The shows incorporate many high-end ideas such as event lighting, which is a new arm of my company.

On September 1, 2007, Julie & Josh Ng got married at the Four Seasons. Their reception looked stunning. Here are a couple of pictures from that event. The pictures were provided to me by Edward Ramirez, who is a great guy to work with.

This logo was created by one of their friends and sent to me in Photoshop .PSD format so that we could get it turned into a "gobo", which in this case was a glass negative that we insert into a special theatrical light to project the image.

The next picture shows how stunning the ballroom at the Four Seasons in Las Colinas was for their reception. For their event, we provided twenty LED uplights, pinspot lighting for thirty tables, dance floor lighting and we displayed their logo over the head table.

The LED lighting is computer controlled and at different points during dancing, we changed the color of the room with a touch of a button. Every time we changed the color, an audible "ooooh!" could be heard from the guests at the hotel.

Current Trends for 2007

2007-05-08T09:48:00.000-05:00

If you have ever read the magazine Wired, there is a section where they talk about things that are "expired", "tired" and "wired". Thankfully event trends move a little slower than consumer electronics, but here are the trends I am seeing for 2007:

Expired: The Chicken Dance, Tired: The Cha-Cha Slide, Wired: 80's Dance Sets

Expired: The Dollar Dance, Tired: The Generations Dance, Wired: Live Photo Montages

Expired: Dimmer Switch, Tired: Cheesey DJ Lighting, Wired: LED Color Changers & High-End Computer-Controlled Lighting

Expired: Receiving Line, Tired: Plain Introductions, Wired: Personal Introductions

Expired: Men Who Don't Dance, Tired: Men Who Drink And Watch Women Dance From The Side Of The Dance Floor, Wired: Men Who Dance

More to come...

Merry Mixer Coming Wednesday, July 18th, 2007

2007-05-03T14:48:00.000-05:00

Peter Merry is someone I've had a chance to get to know through the years at the Mobile Beat DJ Convention in Las Vegas. During my time founding and being on the board of the local DJ association, Peter was the President of the American Disc Jockey Association.

We had previously invited Peter Merry to speak to all of the wedding industry professionals in the Dallas/Fort Worth area a few years ago. He was received very well and did a great job in helping influence the minds of even the most seasoned DJ's in our market.

Since that time, Peter has been working on several projects and has recently finished a great book titled "The Best Wedding Reception Ever". The book is aimed at brides as well as wedding professionals and is a great course in knowing what it takes to put together wonderful entertainment for your wedding reception. Click on this link to go to the book's listing on Amazon.com.

Tommy Evans has decided to host the Merry Mixer on Wednesday, July 18th, 2007. Brides and grooms and wedding professionals are all invited to join us (yours truly is helping sponsor) for a wonderful evening of information presented by Peter Merry. For more information, click on the following link: http://www.merrymixer.com.

Rock Star 80's Prom

2007-04-13T13:01:00.000-05:00

For their holiday party last year, the Dallas office of Resulte' Universal brought in Rock Star, my new interactive show. Rock Star will have it's own website soon (these things take time, effort and money). Rock Star features a full set which encompasses the dance floor filled with tons of lights synchronized with the music, plasma screens showing music video and live feed of the party on the dance floor, and even has the option of up to eight "Party Enhancers"--people hired specifically to get your guests out there and dancing even more than normal!

The party's theme was an 80's prom, and everyone involved played it up! My office mate Cory Morrison of Cocktails and Caviar was hired to make it awesomely 80's, which included so many stars and mylar streamers, we felt like we were in the set of "Footloose." I hired a great photographer named Eddy Guevara to capture the evening. He took candids and also take "prom photos" in front of a set that Cory had created. Rock Star played up the 80's Prom Theme by playing all types of totally 80's music videos and we even had a "couples skate" slow-song at some point during the evening. Resulte' played up the theme by everyone dressing the part and they even named the Prom King and Queen. This theme will be so hot this next year too!

Resulte' had their holiday party at the beautiful Stonebriar Country Club in Frisco, TX. Susan Moore did a fabulous job making sure everything was taken care of!

Click on any of the links below to view more pictures of Rock Star at this event:

Pic 1 Pic 2 Pic 3 Pic 4 Pic 5 Pic 6

Lori & Keith Minarik (Davies)

2007-04-13T12:24:00.000-05:00

Last year Lori and Keith Minarik hired me to help them with their wedding reception held at the Renaissance Worthington Hotel in downtown Fort Worth. Lori's parents lived here in the DFW area, but she met Keith in New York and the guests at the wedding were going to be from all over the country.

Their styles ended up being reflected in a wedding reception that flowed so much differently than what Texans might consider status quo. Following dinner, the party went into overdrive and we finally ended up calling it quits after a six hour reception!

At this reception I had a chance to work with a great videographer named Brian Cdebaca of Reflections Multimedia. Brian told me that he had put together "something special" highlighting my performance from that evening. Brian said, "I put the camera on the DJ and 99% of the time, I get a wave or a grin." Well, we were having a great time, so I showed Brian just how bad of a dancer I really am...

The caveat to watching this video is to understand, it was exactly the type of atmosphere that Lori and Keith wanted for their friends and loved ones. For those wishing to know what my lighting is capable of, this shows both lighting on the dance floor and uplighting around the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Worthington.

Enjoy the laugh, visit Brian's website because he's a great videographer, and I will post the "highlights" portion of this video soon to show you that the reception was just as formal as it was crazy.

Click either the picture above or this link to view the video. The video is in Windows Media Player format.

Choosing The Right Disc Jockey

2007-03-08T15:16:00.000-06:00

The internet is the new yellow pages. If I want to find a company that sells something in my area, the first place I look is the Yahoo Yellow Pages. I don't have time to go find a phone book or hope that someone who advertises in the phone book placed a big enough ad so that I can find them.

So it is with people who are looking for people to help them with their wedding or other special event. And so here you are, on my website, finding out more about disc jockeys, maybe me in particular. There comes a point where you have read a website and feel satisfied that you have enough information and then you send an e-mail and ask the dreaded question, "How much do you charge?"

I know because I get these e-mails all day long. It's a valid question. But I'm going to let you in on a little secret: for a disc jockey, it doesn't matter how much they charge. It matters if you like them. Now for the sake of budget, I do realize that somehow the person you want to hire has to charge a reasonable amount, but disc jockeys are not a commodity. If you believe that all disc jockeys are created equal, save yourself the money, get an iPod, load it with songs and have it be your disc jockey. For the person who is looking to spend less than $500.00, this is definitely going to be your best bet.

Now here's the right question to ask a disc jockey: "What do I get for the price that you charge?" I'll be happy to answer this question all day long--on the phone. One thing I've found is that you cannot judge a personality over e-mail. The disc jockey industry is a personality-based industry. Ask anyone what experiences they've had with going to an event such as a wedding reception that has had a disc jockey, and they'll gladly tell you what was good or bad about the experience. The bad experiences are always related to personality and the good experiences are always related to personality.

Take the time, call us. Make sure that you have a love connection with your entertainer. Find out all the services that they offer for the price that they charge. Then choose the person that is right for you.