April 2015 was a great time for an intimate wedding celebration at Chateau Tongariro as it turned out. A week of rain and storms made way for a stunning clear day just in time for the ceremony in front of the large viewing window with Mount Ngauruhoe in the background. After the sun set, guests moved from the cocktails and canapés in the conservatory to the reception in the Tongariro Room, which looked wonderful lit up in the bride’s favourite colour, blue.

 

The service from Raj and his Chateau team was perfect and the guests enjoyed a sumptuous meal followed by dancing, some interactive fun and a wonderful feeling of celebration. More information about celebrating your wedding at the Chateau can be read on their wedding website.

The next wedding I entertained at The Chateau was for Glenn & Rebecca, who sent me some photos and wrote;

Hi Richard, just a few snaps of you! Thank you for doing such an AMAZING JOB! The dance floor was packed the whole night and we are pretty sure that was your doing I also loved your intros it was such an amazing night so thank you, thank you, thank you!
Glenn & Rebecca

 

What could be more romantic than a stay in one of the most elegant and timeless hotels in New Zealand? Surrounded by elegance and grandeur, nestled in a world heritage area and in the presence of three mighty volcanoes. The breath-taking majesty of Mother Nature, along with the complete comfort and refinement of the Chateau Tongariro provide the most fitting backdrop for any special celebration.

Even descendants of earlier couples who were married at the Chateau Tongariro have had their wedding there! The Chateau Tongariro Hotel can accommodate up to 140 function guests in the Tongariro Room for dining.

If you would like to hire the Chateau Tongariro for your exclusive use, the Ruapehu Lounge can hold up to 250 people. Functions can also be held in the Conservatory (up to 80 guests).

Outdoor ceremonies and receptions under large marquees are stunning, with three majestic mountains providing a beautiful backdrop.

East End Surf Lifesaving Club, New Plymouth

DJ Richard has entertained a couple of times at this great waterfront, inexpensive venue. Both weddings were fairly informal and a lot of fun. Here are a few photos from one of them.

Wai-Iti Beach Cafe, New Plymouth

The wedding DJ Richard entertained at this wonderfully rustic and typically Kiwi beach-feeling venue was a truly relaxed day, with a slightly hippie/hipster flavour. The wedding vows were shared under an archgola fashioned from flax and driftwood and the backdrop was the Tasman Sea.

Puke Ariki is a combined museum and library at New Plymouth, New Zealand. It also includes a visitor information centre and cafe. It is the world’s first purpose-built, fully integrated museum, library and visitor information centre. It also makes a great wedding venue. I entertained a large wedding (around 300 guests) for a well-known local family there, and the night was a complete success.

Because of the layout and acoustics of the room, I can’t imagine any better audio solution for the space than the Bose L1 speaker systems that I used on the day, although in this instance the client had hired in some additional conventional speakers for the speeches, which now would not be required, as I bring another sound system and wireless microphone for this purpose where appropriate. I have a handful of pictures here from that celebration.

 

Back in 2007, Richard was the DJ for a wedding in the wonderful and incredibly unique building that housed the Sarjeant Gallery in Whanganui (formerly known as Wanganui).

Unfortunately the Sarjeant Gallery is considered an earthquake risk meeting only 5% of the current New Zealand Building Standard. Until recently the collections were mainly stored in the Gallery basement. As well as the risk posed by earthquake collapse, the basement was not designed as a storage space for works of art with difficult access and no environmental or temperature control. Changes in temperature can lead to cracking, flaking and warping of works which is very expensive to repair. The absence of environmental or temperature controls in the Gallery spaces also mean the Sarjeant was unable to attract national and international touring exhibitions because it failed to meet stringent requirements.

To protect public, staff and the collection, the Gallery relocated in the first quarter of 2014 to a temporary home at Sarjeant on the Quay, 38 Taupō Quay, Whanganui. The redevelopment plan will create purpose-built storage facilities to the north of the existing domed Gallery together with additional exhibition space, education facilities and events space. This will enable more of the permanent collection to be seen than is possible at present as well as looking after the collection for the future. The original Sarjeant Gallery will be strengthened against the risk of earthquakes through the use of base isolation. At the same time the environment throughout the public and storage spaces will be controlled to preserve collections on display and allow major touring exhibitions to come to Whanganui.

The photos here show the historical building and the wedding that took place that day in February. To say that it presented an interesting acoustic and aesthetic challenge would be a substantial understatement.

Wedding at Stunning Huka Lodge

The final wedding of the 2009/2010 season was Robert & Ruth’s lavish ceremony and reception at the glorious and prestigious Huka Lodge in Taupo. Since 1936 Huka Lodge has played host to a remarkable list of notable people including royalty, celebrities, top sports people, actors, singers and every other type of VIP. Huka Lodge’s guest list ranges from Pink Floyd and Billy Connolly to H.M. Queen Elizabeth II and H.M. Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands.

The Lodge was stunning, the staff incredible and the grounds immaculate. The only thing not absolutely perfect was the weather, which was wet. It certainly didn’t dampen the spirits of the friends and family gathered to celebrate the occasion and the happy couple kicked off their married lives in impeccable style. It was an honour to entertain at Huka Lodge and a pleasure to help Robert & Ruth celebrate their wedding.

Here’s their testimonial:

Hi Richard,

Thank you so much for your services. We had an excellent night, and your role in streamlining the evening played a vital part in making the evening such a success. It sure was a beautiful venue, and we loved all the extra details you put in, such as our names projected on the dance floor before and during the first dance… surely something that not many people have had done for them at Huka Lodge!

It was a great event, your equipment was superb, just as described, and all the effort you went to to ensure that the song for the first dance was perfect for us – despite it being a clip from a movie, with no recognisable artist or title!!!

We hope you enjoyed the night – it’s one we’ll never forget!

All the best,

Robert and Ruth

Stormy wedding day at Huka Falls Resort, Taupo

The weather in early March was so foul that the rugged Iron Man multi-sport event was cancelled in Taupo. Mother Nature’s tantrums on the day didn’t stop Paul, Andrea and their guests celebrating a wonderful wedding at Huka Falls Resort though. With a strong Australian contingent, the trans-Tasman rivalry was at an all-time high.

As DJ, I enjoyed keeping the guests entertained playing a great range of New Zealand and Australian party hits and the dance floor was busy all night. I acted as Master of Ceremonies for Paul and Andrea also and we really celebrated their fabulous stormy day wedding in style.

I was thrilled to receive a follow-up email from Andrea a couple of weeks later, saying this;

Hi Richard,

I just wanted to say thank you so very much for all your hard work on our wedding day!  We had an absolute blast and so did all of our guests.  Your choice of music was spot on and your mc skills are amazing, the evening flowed so smoothly and I didn’t have to worry about a thing!  You picked exactly the right amount of humour to ensure the speeches were over quickly but still entertaining – and thank you for reminding me to talk about my handsome husband!!!

It was a magical day – and a few sore heads the next morning, myself included!!

Here is a sneak peek of some of the photos from Brendan.

Here are some of my pictures from the day.

Another wedding I was delighted to be involved with was Phillip and Cheryl-Lee’s. Here’s a video montage of their day, which was shot by the incredible team from Moving Films and shows what a wonderful location Huka Falls Resort truly is.

Here are some more pictures from celebrations Richard has entertained at Huka Falls Resort.

DJ Richard entertained for David & Jennifer’s wedding at the Hilton Lake Taupo when it was under previous ownership and was known as Terraces Hotel. It was a lovely venue and a pleasure to be at.Nestled among the epic scenery of Taupo on New Zealand’s North Island, the hotel was originally built in 1889 as The Terraces Hotel. In addition to wonderful facilities, you can experience awe inspiring natural beauty and stunning blue water as well as the best trout fishing in the world when staying there.