OMG! I am caught up!!!

This is it people!! I am caught up on my blog posting!! I don't know about you, but I am proud of myself! I haven't been this dedicated to blog posting since my time in London 4 years ago! And then it was mainly for my mom... ha! This is for me...

As I embark upon this new adventure of marriage it is all too apparent to my how much I need to document my life and the first few years of marriage for my husband and I and for my kids. I love looking through old pictures of my mom and dad when they were newly married. As one of their kids it is hard for me to imagine what life was like before my brothers and I came along, so it is like looking at completely different people... I would hate to deny my kids the opportunity to view Aaron and I that way.

Granted they will probably not scroll through my blog, so this brings me to the next reason for my blogging... to more easily translate into photo albums! I am wanting to get back into photo album printing and so this is like creating a photo album! I will eventually take the pictures and these blog posts (OK, maybe not this one) and simply copy and paste my memories in to printable albums. It is what I did for England and I am ready to do it for this new season of life :)


So to truly bring you up to speed on life with in the Mertz family since our Australian friends left...

- we got home and settled back into life just the two of us

- I quickly realized I had raging insomnia... after trying many different things, I finally started taking Melatonin every night before bed and it has helped a lot

- We have truly started our post wedding hermit lifestyle! While most people go from a wedding to a honeymoon and then a good couple of months of doing absolutely nothing and just getting use to living with each other... not us. We got married, had a little honeymoon and then went into full holiday mode! We didn't even have time to move me in until 2 months later and that was quickly followed by house guests... so when Phoebe and Liam went home, it was the first time that Aaron and I had nothing on our plate!

- Granted it took some getting use to for me to not schedule every night of the week with some activity - from Worship practice and family dinners with both the Thompsons and the Mertz' and a lot of evening drinks and dinners to catch up with friends I hadn't seen since before the wedding. So Aaron and I had to learn to not commit to more than 2 things a week in the evenings... it has been so great for us.

- We have the best of friends!!! We have so many amazing people in our lives that we get to share this journey of marriage with. Friends who have gone before us and have been married for decades, other friends who have only been married a few years but have immense wisdom and perspective. We also have awesome single friends who pour into our hearts better than most. We are blessed people!

- With nothing on our plate, we have enjoyed dreaming of future plans (way several month into the future plans though)... we have several more Disneyland trips in mind before our annual passes expire in November. We have been 3 times since we started dating a year and a half ago and we have already booked our 4th trip... at the rate we are going we are hoping for at least 2, maybe 3 more trips before November! We also have plans for a trip to the east coast to visit Washington DC and New York! I have never been to DC and Aaron lived there for 6 months in college... Aaron has never been to New York and I was there 5 years ago, but it was on a tour with a high school group as a chaperone and so it was not a true New York experience. 

- Also along with our new hermit lifestyle we had started truly observing and learning how the other person lives... for example, I am messy, Aaron is clean, I like alone time, I don't like cooking or folding laundry, I have lots of home decorating projects in my head, we have a hard time committing to watching only one TV show at a time... we are currently part of the way through as many as 5 different TV shows and we need to learn to finish a series before we start another. ha!

- Communication, communication, communication... Aaron and I are learning a lot about communication. We communicate differently in a lot of ways and at different timetables. This has been very interesting and fun for us to learn... there have been tears and moments of silence... it will be a journey we will be on for the rest of our marriage, so we are learning to do it better each day.

- I have also learned that being married... even on the hard days... is still more rewarding and fun and exciting than when I was single... I wouldn't trade one second for the world!

In future posts I will probably elaborate on some of these wonderful moments and lessons in marriage.

Since you may remember my hatred of blog posts with no pictures, here are some images from the last few months of marriage...

Moving Day!! It was quite a process to settle my stuff into the house... it continues to be a process :) I am enjoying it however and love being able to sit and organize in complete focus for a while. Aaron was surprised at how organized I am and commented that our linen closet looks like a magazine! ha

 Fruits of home decorating and organization! The orange chair has won and will stay in the living room :) Aaron did not always love the chair, but after it sat in our living room for a couple months and everyone who walked into our house loved it, he has finally come around and appreciates its beauty!

Aaron and I eat out a lot! We keep telling ourselves that this won't always be this way, so we want to take advantage of the double income and enjoy the fun culinary experiences Phoenix has to offer.

Fuego Bistro in Phoenix!

Now that we are hermits, we have taken to watching a lot of movies and TV shows on Netflix! Our back room has become a movie room of sorts and we cuddle up on Aaron's old couch with blankets and low lights and it is like we are in a movie theater.

This is what love looks like... haha

In my pursuit of domesticity, I have realized my hatred for folding laundry... true hatred.

This was our Valentine's Day feast! We decided instead of spending a ton of money at Postino's, we would create our own cheese and meat board. We sat out on our back patio and brank wine and Apple Brandy (his gift from me) and enjoyed the beautiful weather. I don't know how exactly it happened, but I ended up reading to Aaron from some of my high school journals about my unrequited love for him. We laughed so hard we cried! It was awesome!

As the weather gets more beautiful in Phoenix, Aaron and I took advantage and rode our bikes from our house to downtown Phoenix (about 15 minutes) and had lunch. It was glorious! We even rode around one of the super nice neighborhoods near Encanto Park and dreamed of one day living in those beautiful homes... not gonna happen haha.

While Aaron and I are in no hurry to have kiddos of our own quite yet, I must say we have thoroughly enjoyed taking my nieces out on dates or having them spend the night with us! Elsie got a picnic in the park and she is quite smitten with Uncle Aaron now! Elsie is just so funny and talkative and silly and sweet! I absolutely adore her!

For Emolyn's 5th Birthday we had her over for a special sleepover! Her and I made cookies and pretended to have a cooking show. At some point in the "show" I told the "audience" that we would be having a special guest on our show when he got home from work - Aaron! She giggled and turned to me and asked, "Aunt Miranda, can I tell them the secret?" I was a bit confused, but said yes. She turned out to the "audience" and said "Aaron is actually UNCLE Aaron and he is Aunt Miranda's husband. They got married and it was beautiful and I was the flower girl!" My heart melted and I had to hold in so much laughter cause she was so serious! I love that little girl my heart could burst!

One of the perks of marriage is that Aaron is a great cook and enjoys it way more than I do! After a long week of crazy insomnia and stress at work, Aaron made me breakfast one saturday in our new Waffle maker complete with fresh blueberry syrup and fresh squeezed orange juice... yep! He's a keeper :)

And there you have it... a picture of my married life so far :)

Holly Jolly Christmas...

As I stated in a previous post, soon after the wedding, everyone started asking us about the holidays... even AT our wedding reception people were asking us what we had planned for Christmas... apparently it was going to be a big deal.

Lucky for us we have families that are awesome and understanding and accommodating and will to work with us on whatever worked best for US! I think that was important for me to remember through the process is that I couldn't please everyone and when it came down to it, I needed to protect my family first - meaning Aaron and I. I think the first thing we decided was that we wanted to spend Christmas morning just the two of us. We knew that when we had kids we would want to be a family during that time and so we firgured we would start this year and not risk the trouble of changing it later. So that was easy. What also made it a little easy was that my brother and sister-in-law decided that because they have 4 kids to haul around for the holidays that they would do one day with each family and not divide in the middle of the day. So they do Christmas Eve with my family and Aaron and I decided to do that too. So Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with the Mertz'.

The sad part was my younger brother... it was a really difficult realization that I wouldn't see him on Christmas Day. My older brother got married almost 9 years ago and despite the first couple of years where he and Nicole divided the holidays in the middle of the day, we have spent most of our Christmas Days just Tyler and I with my parents. We would stay up late talking and hanging out just him and I. This would be the first year I wouldn't see Tyler on Christmas Day! Luckily my new in-laws had the wonderful idea of inviting Tyler along for a Christmas Day evening event! We decided we would go see a movie and Tyler would come with us! Super fun :)

So here are some pictures of the lovely Holiday!

First stop the Thompsons! We woke up and went over to my parents for gift opening, breakfast, and some park time! I mainly got pictures of the present opening, but it was a lovely day at the park too so in your mind's eye imagine the sun shining, boys playing basketball and the the little girls sliding down both park slides over and over again.

Mr Mertz & I

The girls opened their gifts first so they wouldn't have to be bored with our present opening. They got the mother load of gifts! A Barbie House from Uncle Tyler, PJs and baby dolls from my parents...

Emolyn got a chalk board from Uncle Aaron and I! And Elsie got a piggy-bank filled with money... she had asked specifically for "money dolla's"

The theme of gift giving this year was Charity! We decided last year after I bought my whole family charity based gifts that we would start a gift exchange this year and only give gifts that gave back as well! Some highlights:

- Shawn got my mom a ring with dried forget-me-nots in it (like a locket, but a ring). It was for an alzheimer's foundation! She cried and cried of course because he dad pass away from Alzheimer's a few years ago right before Christmas.
- Nicole got Tyler a Tshirt made out of recycled plastic bottles - seriously it sounds weird, but it is the most comfortable shirt ever! She also got him headphones that also went to giving hearing to people who are deaf from ear injuries!
- I gave Shawn a To Write Love on her Arms shirt... and Nicole ended up getting him the same one. haha

Jonah & Nathan are now not the only twins in the family!

Emolyn and Elsie quickly took to the chalkboard!

Tyler had to work on Christmas Eve, so he left at 12p. After Shawn and Nicole left with the kiddos to put them to bed at home, my parents, Aaron and I went over to see Tyler and take him dinner, then Aaron and I went home for the night!


Next morning was our first ever lil' Mertz family Christmas!!!! I was looking forward to sleeping in a bit, but my husband was an excited boy and woke me up early too excited to wait any longer to give me my presents! We sat in front of the Christmas tree and gave each other our first Christmas gifts as husband and wife!

We did good this year! Aaron got me the entire Harry Potter BlueRay set! He also got me PJs and tons of snacks in my stocking!! I got him a keurig and a watch along with a wallet and legos and other fun treats in his stocking!

After we finished gift opening, we got dressed and ready and headed over to his parents house :) Three sets of gifts! I like this married business on Christmas :)

Me, Aaron, Ashley, and Jess!

So many fun gifts - Manicure/Pedicure gift certificate, jewelry from Ashley from her trip to Ghana, Christmas decorations, and much much more! We spent the rest of the day hanging out at the house and then we headed over to Aaron's grandma's house with the Mertz extended family. Such a big family!!!

Tyler met us there to go to the Christmas Day late night movie! We were planning to see Les Miserables, but when we got to the theater it was already sold out :( Instead we decided to see the last Twilight movie - Breaking Dawn 2. Jess was gonna kill us for making him sit through it! haha! The rest of us loved it and by "loved it" I mean it was beyond awesome, but so fun to laugh through!

All in all a great Christmas!

Bridal Showers!!!

Oh my gosh!!! It is actually happening!! The official wedding festivities have begun and therefore, it is getting more and more real and more and more exciting!!

I will admit the wedding planning has grown stale and become an obligation more than anything to get excited about. Having 4 stores to stop at on my way home from work, only to not accomplish a single thing at any of the stores is more frustrating than I could handle there for a week or two. I never actually reached the point in every brides wedding planning process where you contemplate the merits of an elopement, but I did feel heavy feelings of regret for not spending the money (which I don't even have) to have someone do all the wedding planning for me. However, just as everything was becoming stressful and bleak, the bridal showers began!!!!

I was the girl that dreams about details of her wedding - from the centerpieces to the shoes to the music playing as I danced with my father to the first kiss with my new husband! But, I was NOT the girl who really thought about my bridal shower! I love bridal showers as much as the next wedding-obsessed girl, but I knew that the bridal shower was for someone else to plan, and I had too much mental space dedicated to floral bouquets. So when it came time to planning my bridal showers, I was so incredibly thankful for my amazing bridesmaids, beautiful mother-in-law, and spectacular mom who happily offered to throw showers for me!!! I trusted these women so much and was so thankful that they had a vision for those beautiful parties celebrating Aaron and I. I was also so thankful that I was free from having to think one minute about a bridal shower and focus all my attention on my DIY wedding :)

I am one incredibly blessed and honored woman!!!

First up was my large bridal shower! I invited mostly woman near my own age - married, single, and from all groups in my life. It was so much fun having those women all around me! Each of them I love and cherish so much! It was held at SunUp Brewery in Phoenix. I know what you are thinking - a bridal shower in a bar?? How classy of you Miranda... But seriously this place is so cool! They have a private banquet room with red brick walls, no neon beer signs, and big windows with just a really cool urban vibe. I loved it! My guests had delicious desserts to eat and were able to order ciders, beer, and wine if they wanted.

I have been to literally hundreds of bridal showers! Not even kidding :) So when I walked into mine, it was this overwhelming realization that after all the waiting, it was finally my turn! It was finally my shower!! One of my good friend's asked me if it was hard for me to believe that it was really my shower, and I just wanted to cry at how excited I was!

My beautiful, wonderful, uniquely gifted, and precious bridesmaids did all the planning and worked together to create a lovely evening.

My beautiful bridesmaids!! (Left to right: Nicole, Elisabeth, Jeannette, Me, Kendra, and Ashley)

There was no strict agenda, which was awesome because it gave everyone an opportunity to hang out and spend time talking with each other. It also gave me the chance to make my way around the room and talk to as many people as I could.

Me and the moms! (Aaron's mom Laurie, Me, My mom Linda)

I get to do life with these amazing group of women! (Left to Right: Jeannette, Heidi, Nicole, Me, Tara, Meredith, Kelsie, and Jessica)

The whole night was free of agenda and a chance for me to mingle with my friends and open gifts! These women were so generous with helping Aaron and I supply our home and marriage with such fun things :)
Such a daze of excitement, overwhelming love, and celebration!




The next bridal shower was just for family! Laurie (Aaron's mom) was so amazing at planning a beautiful brunch shower in her home. I was so honored to have a group of women around me who had so greatly affected Aaron and my life.

Delicious food!

 Each guest brought a recipe to share with me and my mom gave me the precious recipe box to hold them all in that she opened at her bridal shower 33 years ago.

Nicole made me a shadow box for Aaron and I to drop the tokens of our first year into. Shawn (my brother) drilled a slit at the top for easy access to drop in movie ticket stubs, plane ticket stubs, Disneyland ticket stubs, and other articles from our first year as husband and wife! Such an amazing gift :)

I was given an array of heirloom gifts of glassware, blankets, and a handmade afgan from my Mamaw. Laurie gave me a family cookbook spanning generations of Aaron's family.

Emolyn was my special helper! I was so glad to have her there :)

My niece Emolyn was able to come and she was so excited to be at a real ladies shower! She also made a friend in Aaron's cousin Katie's daughter Tessa. They played princesses together on the floor while I opened all my gifts.

My Aunt Etna came to represent her family :) We missed Anya and Myra for sure!

Me and Mamaw with my dad. I was SO grateful Mamaw got to come.

My sister-in-law Nicole, Emolyn, and I

It was so much fun to have family around me celebrating Aaron and I during this time!! I can't believe how blessed I am by my family and future family!



One more shower to go, which will be held a week before the wedding and has been organized by my mom to be a prayer shower. I am so excited for this shower and to have the week before my wedding start off with prayer and affirmation from some wonderful older women and friends! This last month before the wedding will be such a time of celebration!

Just 3 more weeks to go!!!!!

P.S. My bachelorette party is this weekend and it is entirely a surprise! I have no idea what is planned, but I know I have amazing woman planning all the fun and festivities, so I have NO DOUBT it'll be a blast! I will post on that soon :)

Charity Shoes!

Many years ago my friend Laura and I went out to coffee together. I remember hearing her heart for giving money to charities and how she wished she could always do more. Then she said something that has literally played in my head over and over again ever since. She said "I don't have more money to give, but I figure, I need shoes, so why wouldn't I buy TOMs?" What an amazing idea! I immediately started looking at different charities out there and specifically looking at their stores that sell Tshirts, jewelry, shoes, and other accessories which give their proceeds to the organization. What I discovered was amazing!! There are countless places to buy one-for-one items or clothing that is for a good cause. Then you have the many many partner companies that will create a line of jewelry on Etsy just to donate the profits to a charity! You could nearly complete a wardrobe with the stuff that is out there and know you gave a bit of money to people who need it.
In addition you also get to tell people about charity you gave to. When people ask me where I got my favorite 31bits bracelet, I get to tell them about women in Uganda who make them and who get to have an education because of the money I spend. Or when people see my Charity:Water T-shirt, I get to tell them about how there are people who have never had a sip of clean water. Or when people comment on my Falling Whistle necklace (which Aaron and his sister Ashley gave me for my college graduation last year), I get to tell them how children in the Congo are kidnapped and forced into child armies.

Last Christmas I decided to give my families only gifts that were charity based because 1.) I thought they would love the stuff I found and 2.) I wanted them to hear the amazing stories I have heard! My family loved the gift ideas and I cried giving each one to them and telling the stories of the people their gifts were helping! Even for Elsie (who was barely 1 year old at the time), I donated money to World Vision to buy a family a goat in Africa and got a little stuffed goat in return! Elsie loved her stuffed goat! I even donated the remainder of my Christmas budget to World Vision to help other causes.
My family was so amazed by the gifts they got, so this Christmas we all decided to forgo getting each other regular gifts (movies, toys, etc) and instead give each other charity based gifts! I am so excited for my family to do this! I know for me the process of gift giving forever changed me!

So when it came to my wedding, I was wanting to do what I could to give back. First stop - my shoes!!!

This was actually a little selfish of me :) I had wanted Sseko shoes since I first heard about them from my roomie and friend Elisabeth! She went to college with the girl who started the organization. Click HERE to read the story.
They were so cute and after watching Elisabeth wear her's around Disneyland for a whole day, I was convinced they must be beyond comfy! (and I thought TOMs or Crocs were the only comfy enough shoes for Disneyland)

So without further delay - here are my shoes!! Champagne Pink straps :)




I love them!! I tried them on when I got my dress fitted and they are so comfortable. I am going to have fun styling the straps in different ways till I find the wrap I love :)




I will also be buying additional staps to wear them all the time afterwards!

They also now have accessories!!! So as you wrap the shoes you can have a clip to accessorize and style up your sandals!


I love that a piece of my wedding attire will help these women in Uganda and bring awareness. When people ask me where I got my shoes, I will get to tell them these women's stories. Such a sweet reminder on my special day!

If you are looking for some fun charity gifts for the holidays or upcoming birthdays... or just for yourself, check out some of my favorite store below!

Sseko
Sevenly (This place is amazing!! Every week there is a different Tshirt which gives money to a different charity! They are pretty stylish Tshirts too :) I have one for Mercy Ships and several times people have asked where I got my shirt or what it means, and I have raved about this organization and Mercy Ships alike!)
TOMs
31Bits (These pieces of jewelry are SO affordable and fun!)
Given (This is a clothing line associated with World Vision)
    World Vision is an amazing organization where you can also sponsor a child for a monthly donation. You can also check out the charitable donation that can give families anything from clean water, to a goat. You can also give money toward their efforts to rescue woman and little girls from sex trafficing. Powerful stuff!)
Love146
Chains of Grace (associated with Love146)
Roozt (this actually links to several different companies)
To Write Love on Her Arms
Charity Water
Invisible Children
Falling Whistles
Compassion International (This is another organization that allows you to sponsor a child financially)

There are so many more, so please feel free to share any in the comments section!!!

To DJ or not to DJ??

... That is the question. Whether it is worth the money and an risky amount of trust in someone you don't know to create the perfect ambiance for your reception and in the mean time take A LOT of work off your plate, OR to brave the task of coming up with hours of music and perfected playlists of your own, ensuring you have the music you like and pick someone you know to take on the duties of being MC....

When I first began planning my wedding I was on a soap box about how necessary it was to have a DJ for the wedding. Aaron ask why it wasn't possible for us to turn on an iPod and run the reception ourselves remembering to cut the cake and have our first dance. I laughed at his suggestion and thought that we DEFINITELY needed a DJ. Afterall a DJ can make or break your reception!! You need someone who will carry the ambiance of the reception and make sure people are dance, have the reception flow from one event into another without a moment of your guests sitting around being bored. It is up to the DJ to announce the bridal party, announce when they are cutting the cake, when the bouquet will be tossed, and when the toasts will be happening. You also need to make sure that this DJ isn't awkward and doesn't hog the spotlight, or make off color jokes to pass the time, and isn't timid with speaking up and making sure things happen.
Will all of this said,  in the recent weeks I have asked myself just how important all of that actually is, and here are my questions and alternative solutions:

1. Risky trust!
With all of the above responsibilities resting on the shoulders of one man, it is really uneasy knowing that I will have met this person once or twice before the big day and have probably never seen him actually DJ a wedding!! This is a big risk for me to take! With a photographer you can look through picture after picture... with a videographer you can see their video footage to get the gist of their portfolio. But with a DJ, you might have a 5 minute clip from one of their weddings and that is entirely based on the taste of that particular bride and groom... so how to you know if this DJ will pronounce your best man's name right, or won't be annoying and talk too much, or won't pick awful songs to dance to and alienate a chunk of your guests cause he plays too much rap or too much Journey (note, I want to stop believe Steve Perry, I really really do).
With the way our wedding is shaping up, we have all of our friends involved in all the details. It is truly a community effort. From the photographer, videographer to the minister and caterer, they are all people we know and love! It is amazing how generous our friends and family have been. So with hiring a DJ, he would be the ONLY person there that we don't know, and we is the most vocal throughout the reception.

2. Music Selection
I am a big music person! I have the soundtrack of my wedding in my head and have specific songs I want to have playing during dinner, and during dancing, and before and after the wedding. I also have a do not play list so long I can't even begin to remember every song I hate hearing at weddings, so if I forget to put it on the "do not playlist" and then it starts playing, I'm going to be thinking in the middle of my reception - oh jeez, now people are going to associate My Endless Love with my wedding (note that is an awesomely bad cheesy song that I love, but will not have at my wedding - sorry if any of you had your first dance to this song). So with all these preferences, how realistic is it of me to expect me be able to give my DJ a playlist and say "play this and only this" and deny him the creativity of what he does. And with this desire to have more control over the music selection, wouldn't it just be more affordable to do it all myself from the get-go.

3. There's an app for that
Surprise!! The iPhone has an actual wedding app with allows you to control your wedding's music from start to finish!! You basically put music on your iPod/iPhone/iPad and assign the playlists to the different sections of the wedding - Pre Ceremony playlist, cocktail hour playlist, and dancing playlist. You also can assign specific songs to - Group Processional, Bride Processional, Recessional, Father/Daughter dance... etc. It even knows with certain special songs that it needs to pause afterward to give plenty of time for someone to turn the app off during your ceremony. Plus we have a friend who has a TON of sound equipment we can use from microphones, sound boards, to dance floor lighting.

4. What type of wedding are we REALLY having?
As Aaron and I have been thinking through our reception and planning our wedding, we have realized we may not be having the traditional reception like everyone else. We are having a backyard style wedding, which means, we are having fire pits, lawn chairs, and the dance floor is under a covered patio in the corner of the yard. Also since Aaron and I have basically grown up together most of our friends and family already know each other... so this will very much feel like a huge hang out party in someone's backyard! And we like it like that :) We definitely want dancing, but more than that, we want people to feel comfortable and relaxed. A DJ constantly telling you to get on the floor won't lend to that atmosphere. Also the dance floor is off in the corner, so if no one is dancing, it is not like people will notice a huge void in the middle of the room.

5. But how are you gonna make sure that people DO keep dancing?
Good question, I'm glad you asked :) The secret is.... DON'T PLAY SLOW SONGS!! Here is what happens with slow songs... people either take the opportunity to leave the dance floor to get a beverage or go to the bathroom or end up leaving to talk to people. OR they are single and it is awkward as heck to be standing in the middle of the dance floor after just having had a blast rocking out to Michael Jackson, now watching all your friends pair off and oh yeah, you're reminded that you don't have anyone to slow dance with - WORST PART OF A WEDDING RECEPTION!!! Believe me, I have been that sad person. So either way when a slow song hits 50% of the dance floor makes a pilgrimage off the dance floor and so when the next fast song comes on, you have a hard time getting people back out there. The answer is to keep the tempo fast and fun! People will leave for sure when they need to, but more people will join in as soon as their "jam" comes on! My friend Kendra just did this at her reception and it worked like a charm! People were dancing the whole time!
The no slow song rule of course does not include the first dance, father/daughter dance, and mother/son dance... all of which will be slow, but will happen before the fun dancing starts!

 I don't think I need to offer anymore of a case for my decision... and please hear me when I say that a DJ is invaluable if you decide to go with one. My advice is to definitely take the time to research and give yourself enough time before your decision needs to be made in order to meet with a few different DJs to make sure it is the right fit. If you have even more time, see if you can crash a wedding the DJ is playing at and so you can see him in action. Also decide what atmosphere you want to have at your reception. Do you want a dance party? or do you want dancing to be an option, but not the focus? This will help you decide if a DJ is necessary.

Sorry for the no post... to make up for it... here are some pictures of my inspiration for Centerpieces: