hoodriverwedding
Hood River Oregon Wedding Crag Rat Hut
A venue offering one of the best views of Mt. Hood is Crag Rat Hut in Hood River and I had the opportunity to return there to be the DJ at Kim and Keenan’s wedding on Wednesday, July 3, 2024. Under a bright blue sky, the ceremony began at 3pm.
Hood River Oregon Wedding Ceremony Highlights:
- Wedding Party & Bride Entrance: Danny Wright – Canon In D
- Bride/Groom Exit: Saint Motel – My Type
A cocktail hour outside followed the ceremony before guests made their way upstairs for dinner inside on the main floor. This area has a small built-in sound system with a cordless microphone and receiver. For background music, I connected my iPad and played a variety of “Instrumental love songs” and personal favorites as suggested by the bride and groom. The same playlist also played via my main sound system outside during this time.
Hood River Oregon Wedding Reception Highlights:
- Grand Entrance: Guns N’ Roses – Sweet Child O’ Mine
- Cake Cutting: James Taylor – How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)
- First Dance: The Head and the Heart – Rivers and Roads (performed live by friends of the newlyweds)
- Bride and Father Dance: Leonard Cohen – Dance Me To The End Of Love
- Groom and Mother Dance: Il Divo – Mama
- Bouquet Toss: Beyonce – Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)
- Last Dance: Jack Johnson – Better Together
The dance floor opened to everyone just after 7pm. There was still quite a bit of daylight until around 9pm, but as twilight set in, the energy really picked up and guests had a great time dancing to a variety of songs that focused on recent hit selections until 11pm.
Congratulations Kim and Keenan and thank you for choosing PRO DJs.
Post Event Satisfaction Survey:
“We hired Rich for our July 2024 wedding and were very happy with his services. Any time we talked to Rich on the phone and in person, we knew that he would do a great job, which he did! On the day of the event he worked with our planner to cooorinate all announcements to keep things flowing and later kept the dancefloor going.” -Kim Stanley & Keenan Williamson
- Event Date: Wednesday, July 3, 2024
- Event Type: Wedding
- Event Location: Crag Rat Hut
- Event Staff: Rich Ellis
- Customer Service: Excellent
- Quality of Service: Excellent
- Responsiveness: Excellent
- Professionalism: Excellent
- Appearance: Excellent
- Flexibility: Excellent
- Would you recommend this service to others? Yes
Crag Rat Hut Wedding Hood River Oregon
Overlooking the surrounding valley with an incredible view of Mt. Hood, Laura and Sean’s wedding was held at Crag Rat Hut in Hood River, Oregon on Saturday, June 22, 2024.
The 5:30pm ceremony and dancing later were held outside on the large wraparound deck.
Crag Rat Hut Wedding Ceremony Highlights:
- Wedding Party Entrance: Radwimps – Katawaredoki (from “Your name” soundtrack)
- Bride Entrance: Joe Hisaishi – Reprise (from “Spirited Away” soundtrack)
- Bride/Groom Exit: Hoku – Perfect Day
Guests gathered for dinner inside the large event room on the main floor. This area has a small built-in sound system with a cordless microphone and receiver. For background music, I connected my iPad and played a variety of “romantic and fun, upbeat songs” as suggested by the bride and groom. The same playlist also played via my main sound system outside during this time.
Crag Rat Hut Wedding Reception Highlights:
- Grand Entrance: Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell – Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing
- Cake Cutting: The Four Tops – I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)
- First Dance: Rebelution – Settle Down Easy
- Bride and Father Dance: The Temptations – My Girl
- Groom and Mother Dance: Tim McGraw – Humble And Kind
- Bridal Party Dance: Cyndi Lauper – Girls Just Want To Have Fun
- Last Dance: Sixpence None The Richer – Kiss Me
- Exit Song: Semisonic – Closing Time
The temperature cooled down to the mid 70’s when the dance floor opened around 9pm and the guests did not waste any time enjoying their time outside as I played a little bit of everything… From classics like “Twist & Shout” and “Dancing Queen”, to more recent hits such as “Happy” and “Shut Up And Dance”.
The twilight with the mountain in the background made for a magical evening.
Congratulations Laura and Sean and thank you for choosing PRO DJs.
June Crag Rat Hut Wedding Hood River Oregon
With a stellar view of Mt. Hood on a perfect late Spring day, Lauren and Tad’s wedding and reception was held at Crag Rat Hut in Hood River, Oregon on Saturday, June 10, 2023. The ceremony and dancing later were held outside on the paver stone patio.
Crag Rat Hut Wedding Ceremony Highlights:
- Wedding Party Entrance: Gregory Alan Isakov – Amsterdam
- Bride Entrance: Hozier – Like Real People Do
- Bride/Groom Exit: Queen – You’re My Best Friend
Guests gathered for dinner inside the large event room on the main floor. This area has a small built-in sound system with a cordless microphone and receiver. For background music, I connected my iPad and played a variety of selections chosen by the bride and groom. The same playlist also played via my main sound system outside during this time.
Crag Rat Hut Wedding Reception Highlights:
- Grand Entrance: Father John Misty – Real Love Baby
- First Dance: Leon – Leon’s Lullaby
- Bride and Father Dance: Rascal Flatts – My Wish
- Groom and Mother Dance: Van Morrison – Days Like This
- Last Dance: 4 Non Blondes – What’s Up
There were 75 guests in attendance who were loaded with energy when the dance floor opened to everyone just before 9pm and the twilight with the mountain in the background made for a magical evening.
I played a variety of familiar hit songs including “September”, “Hey Ya” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, plus the newlyweds requests for Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy”, Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” and Rednex “Cotton Eye Joe”.
Congratulations Lauren and Tad and thank you for choosing PRO DJs.
Griffin House Wedding Hood River Oregon
Gemma and Jess’ wedding and reception was held at Griffin House in Hood River, Oregon on Friday, September 2, 2022.
This was my first time as DJ at this venue, a beautiful spot overlooking the majestic Columbia River Gorge with the ceremony lawn providing the best view to exchange vows.
Griffin House Wedding Ceremony Highlights:
- Jess Entrance: The Nationals – I Need My Girl
- Bridal Party Entrance: Rufus du Sol – Next to Me
- Gemma Entrance: LCD Soundsystem – Oh Baby
- Newlyweds Exit: Sonny & Cher – I Got You Babe
With the wedding, cocktail hour and dinner/dancing in three separate areas, three sound systems were required to make everything go as smoothly as possible. This included a lapel microphone for the ceremony officiant and handheld cordless microphones for the vows and toasts.
Guests gathered on the Welcome Terrace for cocktails and a welcome toast from the newlyweds before moving to the lawn + tent for dinner and dancing.
Background music was provided to me as Spotify playlists by Gemma and Jess and included a wide variety of selections from Death Cab for Cutie, Beyonce, AC/DC and more.
Griffin House Wedding Reception Highlights:
- Grand Entrance: Alvvays – Archie, Marry Me
- First Dance: Kacey Musgraves – Oh, What a World
- Gemma and Father Dance: Ella Fitzgerald – Cheek To Cheek
- Anniversary Dance: Nat King Cole – Unforgettable
- Last Dance: LMFAO – Sexy And I Know It
This was a fun group and the celebration really took off after the newlyweds returned from their sunset photos and glow sticks were handed out.
The dance floor was packed for nearly two hours with an amazing energy. I played everything from “One More Time” and “Love Shack” to requests for Madonna, Lady Gaga, “Disco Inferno” and more.
Early on, a beer shotgun competition with Gemma and her family also broke out in the grass behind where I was setup 🙂
Congratulations Gemma and Jess and thank you for choosing PRO DJs.
Post Event Satisfaction Survey:
“Rich was a huge part of our amazing wedding experience! He was professional, prompt, worked great with our other vendors, and most of all was so easy to work with on our end. The wedding was flawless. Thank you Rich for helping us to have a great wedding!!”
-Gemma Hobbs & Jess Sexton Wedding
- Event Date: Friday, September 2, 2022
- Event Type: Wedding & Reception
- Event Location: Griffin House
- Event Staff: Rich Ellis
- Quality of Customer Service via Telephone: Excellent
- Quality of Customer Service via Internet: Excellent
- Quality of Customer Service at Event: Excellent
- Friendliness of your Entertainer: Excellent
- Promptness of your Entertainer: Excellent
- Professionalism of your Entertainer: Excellent
- Entertainer’s Performance: Excellent
- Entertainer’s Appearance: Excellent
- System Appearance: Excellent
- Sound Quality: Excellent
- Overall Volume Levels: Excellent
- Music Selection: Excellent
- Incorporation of Your Requests: Excellent
- Lighting Effects: Excellent
- Equipment Appearance: Excellent
- Overall Customer Service: Excellent
- Planning Assistance: Excellent
- Entertainer’s Cooperation with Other Vendors: Excellent
- Overall Performance Rating: Excellent
- Would you recommend this service to others? Yes
August Hood River Oregon Wedding Reception
Kelsey and Brandon’s Hood River Oregon wedding reception was held on Saturday, August 27, 2022 at the Rockford Grange, located just down the street from the couple’s home where they exchanged vows and afterwards most guests could just make the short walk to the reception.
Hood River Oregon Wedding Reception Highlights:
- Grand Entrance: The Lumineers – Brightside
- Cake Cutting: Kings of Leon – I Want You
- First Dance: Alabama Shakes – I Found You
- Bride and Father, Groom and Mother Dance: Taken By Trees – Sweet Child O’ Mine
- Bouquet Toss: Shania Twain – Man! I Feel Like A Woman
Guests appeared to enjoy the variety of music played during dinner and when the dance floor opened around 6:30pm were partial to slow songs mostly until a little later when they had a great time dancing to “Brown Eyed Girl”, “Can’t Stop The Feeling”, “Fancy Like” and more.
Congratulations Kelsey and Brandon and thank you for choosing PRO DJs.
Post Event Satisfaction Survey:
“Rich was amazing. He was so great at communicating and had the best flow for the evening.” -Kelsey Ouellette & Brandon Barnard Wedding
- Event Date: Saturday, August 27, 2022
- Event Type: Wedding & Reception
- Event Location: Hood River
- Event Staff: Rich Ellis
- Quality of Customer Service via Telephone: Excellent
- Quality of Customer Service via Internet: Excellent
- Quality of Customer Service at Event: Excellent
- Friendliness of your Entertainer: Excellent
- Promptness of your Entertainer: Excellent
- Professionalism of your Entertainer: Excellent
- Entertainer’s Performance: Excellent
- Entertainer’s Appearance: Excellent
- System Appearance: Excellent
- Sound Quality: Excellent
- Overall Volume Levels: Excellent
- Music Selection: Excellent
- Incorporation of Your Requests: Excellent
- Lighting Effects: Excellent
- Equipment Appearance: Excellent
- Overall Customer Service: Excellent
- Planning Assistance: Excellent
- Entertainer’s Cooperation with Other Vendors: Excellent
- Overall Performance Rating: Excellent
- Would you recommend this service to others? Yes
