Aaaaand back to wedding stuff I’ve taken a break from planning but now that the wedding is less than a year away, I’m starting to think about it more and more!

I am happy to say that we’ve finally secured our dream Vancouver wedding DJ, Austin Beaver! We’re so excited! I’ve interviewed over 20 different DJs in Vancouver, Seattle, Vancouver Island… and Austin is by far the most highly recommended and reviewed DJ I’ve found. He made a fantastic impression on us.

Austin is an award-winning DJ and MC, and has performed at celebrity weddings and Fortune 500 events. I think what I’m most excited about Austin is that he actually DJs on the turntables… rather than just playing off an iPod playlist like most DJs I’ve found so far. He’s also very authentic, funny, and can figure out and play to the vibe of a party.

What I’ve realized from talking to all our friends and family about what makes a wedding “fun”, is the people and the party. No one really remembers decorations or all the little details. Those are important to me too, but we decided that the DJ is a huge component of the fun factor of a wedding. What do you think?

I’m also happy that Austin has kindly offered a discount to any of my readers… if you’d like to book Austin for your event or big day, if you mention VancityAllie to him he will give you a big discount of $200 off his services! Woohooo! You can also follow him on Twitter for wedding suggestions, music picks and advice for the groom.

Lastly… I’d love your recommendations on wedding music!

What kind of music makes a wedding fun? What song is a MUST-PLAY at a wedding? Thanks for your help!

This one’s going to be a bit of a mixed post to cover my Sunday.

First it was off to the Shark Club to watch the Canucks play St. Louis for Game #3 in the first round of the playoffs. Pics at the end of this post.

I received an e-mail from the street team leader of the Dills telling me to go out tonight to watch Sage perform at Metropole in Gastown. So Allan, Amy, Mandy, Tara, John, Ranelle and myself headed out to Metropole to check it out around 10:00. Sadly it was SUPER dark in there (much darker than the 100 Monkeys) concert and all my photos turned out dark and blurry. A real shame.

Sage from the Dills was awesome! She had a great voice, both chill and uptempo songs, and her song “Dawn” was great… it should really make it into New Moon! Unfortunately her guitar broke at the beginning of the show so she had to borrow the opening performer’s guitar.

Although her band wasn’t there, she had the “Phantom Dills” play in the background and sang and played her guitar for the fans there. She told a lot of great stories and kept a chill vibe going the whole night. She looked stylish in a green striped blouse, black high-waisted trousers and knee-high black boots.

I asked her if I could take photos of my show and she said that was cool. Nikki Reed herself came out and sat right in front for half the show to take photos of her friend, support her music, take videos, and dance along to the music. What a great friend! They were talking/shouting to each other during the show the entire time, and Nikki was giving song suggestions.

Here’s a video of Sage performing. It’s really dark but you can still hear the great music. During the flashes you can also see Nikki and Taylor Lautner.

Near the end of the night, Sage serenaded and sang to Taylor. It was really cute. Taylor looked very casual and cool in a plaid shirt, distressed jeans, and rockin’ plaid sneakers.

Nikki, Taylor, and Kristen (with those fabulous glasses) kept in the roped off area for the most part.

Kristen and Taylor didn’t pose for pictures and left at the end of the show, I’m guessing to keep the spotlight on Sage.

Sadly this photo of Sage didn’t turn out, I had turned the autofocus off on my camera and forgot that I did, so half my photos (including the photo I am in with Nikki) were blurry.

Nikki looked awesome in a white and black striped shirt, a gray scarf (popular with the Twilight cast it seems!), blue jeans, and ankle boots, with a long brown leather jacket.

Both Nikki and Sage posed with fans for 10 minutes. Nikki picked up Sage’s guitar for her, and they both eventually took off out the side door.

Fun night! It was really good music and it was the perfect way to end the weekend. Here’s a picture of Mandy, Ranelle, Amy, myself, and Tara (from L to R).

Here’s some pictures from the Shark Club earlier…

We cheered on the Vancouver Canucks to a 3-2 victory over the Blues, taking the Canucks to a strong 3-0 series lead. Canucks looked pretty shaky in the first period, and were lucky Luongo kept them in the game. Second and third period they looked a lot better, even without Mats Sundin. Impressed with the Canucks penalty kill.

It was Kyle and Lindsay‘s birthday so we had a good-sized group out and made a little noise at the bar.

And that’s the end of the weekend!