I got the pictures back Tuesday of the Saturday party from Studio 6 Photography, in Englewood, NJ.
David, the owner & photographer, gave me the best deal – I get all the digital photos and the raw video CD. If I want pictures or finished video later, he’ll produce them at a very reasonable charge. I got them fast and at a great price. (It generally takes 2-3 times as long to process the videos and photos as it does to take them.) Best of all, Dave is such a great photgrapher that all but 2 out of 411 were already framed beautifully, perfectly exposed and completely in focus. (One of the two he repeated the shot immediately and the second was during an action scene of the murder mystery – simple cropping will make it perfect.)
I run a lot of events and was a bit bored with the candle lighting/testimonials of the typical kid coming-of-age party. In this case it was a Bar Mitzvah but I’ve done these for a Sweet Sixteen and seen them at Confirmations and Bat Mitzvahs too. Plus, my son hates to dance.
I decided to experiment. First, instead of the typical event hall, I held it at a local restaurant – The Harvest Restaurant in Closter, NJ. I’ll go into much more detail later, but their food and service were the best I’d ever seen. Not only were they incredibly nice and helpful – many guests reported that their meal arrived hot and perfectly cooked. These were not polite compliments – these people help me run charity auctions (or I help them) and we are well aware that the far tables get food a bit overdone.
 Remember that I said that my son hates to dance? (Too many Barclay Dance lessons in his youth?) A DJ was out. A friend recommended a murder mystery by The Killing Kompany . They’re based in NY but they cover the whole tri-state area. Five actors mingled with the guests and put on the funniest show between courses. They involved people from every table, turning the lamest responses into witty repartee. Nothing was the least embarrassing (well, except for one young man who had an encounter with the vamp – I hope he’s not traumatized for life – I think I’ll give his mother the video clip of it for his wedding.)
Great food and novel entertainment aimed at the entire family (not just the kids) made this the best party ever. I’ll write more on the details later but this was definitely a winning formula.
