Sometimes you can feel a wedding before it starts. We pulled up to Cavallo Point with the Golden Gate framed behind us, the bay glittering in perfect late summer light, and knew immediately that this day was going to be something. We were right.
Amanda and Chris got married on August 31st, 2025, at one of the most storied venues on the Bay. A hundred guests, legendary weather, and a couple whose warmth set the tone for everything that followed.
“Brandon is incredible and a phenomenal DJ! He can do everything and even sang live for our Cocktail Hour! Our reception dance floor was incredible and he made it a night I shall never forget. I was also able to find and book my Florist, Videographer and Photographer through Brandon which made the Wedding planning process seamless! You have to hire him!”
— Amanda, WeddingWire (Married 08/31/2025)
A Ceremony in the Chapel, Then the World Opens Up
The ceremony was held in the Mission Blue chapel with a string quartet leading the way. Our role began the moment guests spilled out onto the Callippe Terrace for cocktail hour with the bay spread out in front of them. That view does a lot of the work on its own. Our job was to match it.
Live Music on the Terrace
Cocktail hour on the Callippe Terrace was live. Sasha Rose and I performed together outside, guitar and vocals, with the Presidio spread out below and the Golden Gate visible through the trees.
A hundred guests spilling out of the chapel into that view, with live music already in the air. That is a different thing entirely from a playlist. You could feel it in how people moved, how they gathered, how the conversations started. The energy in the room later that night had roots in that moment on the terrace.
the reception
We had Callippe Ballroom pristine set, everything was literally perfect. My Moving Head towers were glowing majestically in the back of the room, inviting the celebration to come.
grandest entrance
Amanda & Chris wanted to make an ENTRANCE. That they did, in spades.
Then the ballroom doors opened, and we called the room to attention. On cue, every guest lifted a white napkin above their head and started waving. A hundred people, a sea of white swirling in the candlelight, the whole room in motion before the couple even walked in.
Then we dropped Calvin Harris’s “Feel So Close,” building from one drop straight into the moment their names rang out through the Callippe Ballroom. Mr. and Mrs. Milks. It was the kind of grand entrance that Amanda had been picturing, and it landed exactly right.
Toasts ran sharp and on time. Five speakers, fifteen minutes, all of them genuinely funny and loving. By the time Amanda called for drama and stories, the room was already primed.
A Team That Showed Up
It was a genuine pleasure to be back working with Daniel Neal on photography, Colin Pattison and the Featherstone Films crew on video, and Kate Hockett on florals. And as it turned out, coordinator Brenda Beamish remembered working with us from a few months back. She even asked how the surprise party for my girfliend went! That kind of personal connection, among vendors who have real history together, runs through a wedding in ways guests can feel even if they cannot name it. This one had that.
First Dance, Special Dances, and the Room Filling Up
The first dance was “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” by Frankie Valli, faded at the two-minute mark with a long reverb tail. Clean and cinematic.
Then came the father-daughter dance: Otis Redding’s “My Girl,” stopped after the first chorus so the moment stayed tight and emotional. Mother and son: “Stand By Me,” with guests invited to join in for the final third. That transition from a private moment to the whole room swaying together is one of the most reliable things in wedding energy, and this crowd leaned right into it.
The Dance Floor at Cavallo Point
The Callippe Ballroom has high ceilings and when the moving heads caught the upper registers of that room, the lighting transformed it completely. The dance floor lighting built in layers through the night, and by the final hour it was a different venue entirely from the elegant dinner room we had started in. That reveal, unveiling different levels of lighting as the energy climbs, is one of the things that makes a long night feel like it has real chapters.
Seventy tracks across the night, from Ben E. King for the mother-son dance through to Rufus Du Sol and Fred Again on the way out. The journey in between covered a lot of ground: Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Earth Wind and Fire, Beyoncé, Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, Aretha Franklin, Taylor Swift, Chappell Roan, The Killers, Journey, NSYNC, Bruno Mars, C&C Music Factory, Jamiroquai, Lizzo, and Darude into KISS into Sandstorm, which tells you everything you need to know about what kind of night it was.
One moment worth calling out: a mashup of Rick James’s “Super Freak” straight into MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This.” On the surface it is a crowd-pleasing party trick. But there is a real musicological story underneath it. Hammer built “U Can’t Touch This” almost entirely on the Super Freak bassline, leading to one of the most famous copyright lawsuits in music history. Rick James, who reportedly despised the song, eventually won co-writing credit and a share of the royalties. The irony is that James won his only Grammy because of it. And MC Hammer’s own lyrics reference touring “from London to the Bay,” which lands a little differently when you are playing it in Sausalito with the bay right outside. Playing both songs back to back lets the crowd hear exactly why the lawsuit happened, and they always feel it.
The music was 2000s energy threading into Fred Again, with the crowd directing things as the night went on. Amanda had been clear that she wanted stories for the next day. She got them.
The late night brought s’mores on the Callippe Terrace, bites in the foyer, and then the bowling alley opened downstairs for whoever still had something left. Some crowds wind down. This crowd relocated.
The Photo Booth
The photo booth ran from 7 to 10pm in the foyer with the Golden Leaves backdrop, guest book, and a fully engaged operator keeping the energy going throughout. At an event with a crowd this social, the booth was busy from the first hour. Guests took home strips. The memory book filled up.
Looking to add a photo booth to your celebration? See what we offer here.
Cavallo Point: A Venue That Earns Its Reputation
Cavallo Point sits at Fort Baker in Sausalito, just across the Golden Gate from San Francisco. It is a mix of historic lodge buildings and contemporary suites, all positioned so that the bridge is simply always there in the background. The Callippe Ballroom opens onto the terrace and across to the bay. For a summer evening with perfect weather, it is hard to imagine a better setting on the Bay.
The venue runs with real professionalism. Multiple spaces, a coordinated team, and an event infrastructure that makes the day-of feel much smoother than 100-person weddings often do.
See It for Yourself
Teamed up with The Celebration DJ & Co, Colin Pattison made this incredible full wedding film:
One Contract. One Team. Zero Hunting.
Amanda and Chris booked everything through The Celebration DJ’s Full Wedding Package, and their experience is a good example of what that actually looks like in practice.
One contract. One planning process. Access to a curated list of preferred vendors at discounted rates, all of whom we have worked with, trust, and can personally vouch for. No hunting through directories. No juggling five different email threads with five different vendors who have never met each other. Just a single point of contact, great options to choose from, and a team that already knows how to work together by the time your wedding day arrives.
Amanda put it simply in her review: being able to find and book her florist, videographer, and photographer through us made the whole planning process feel easy. That is exactly what this program is designed to do.
Daniel Neal, Colin Pattison at Featherstone Films, and Kate Hockett at Planted Floral Design are all part of that preferred vendor family. When vendors have a real working relationship and genuine mutual trust, couples feel it. The day runs differently. It ran that way for Amanda and Chris.
The Full Wedding Package is becoming a central offering from The Celebration DJ. If you are planning a wedding and want to talk through what bundling your vendor team could look like, reach out here.
The Dream Team
Every wedding like this one is a collaboration, and this vendor team brought serious craft to the day.
Photography: Daniel Neal Photography
danielnealphotography.com | @danielnealphotography
Videography: Featherstone Wedding Films
featherstonefilms.com | @featherstonefilms
Florals: Planted Floral Design by Kate Hockett
plantedfloraldesign.com | @plantedsf
Coordination: BB Event Productions by Brenda Beamish
bbeventproductions.com | @bb_event_productions
Ceremony Music: Sutro String Quartet
sutroquartet.com
Venue: Cavallo Point Lodge, Sausalito
cavallopoint.com | @cavallopointweddings
DJ, MC, Live Guitar and Vocals, Photo Booth, and Dance Floor Lighting: The Celebration DJ
thecelebrationdj.com | @brandonboschmusic | @thecelebrationdj
Planning a Wedding at Cavallo Point or Anywhere in the Bay Area?
If you are planning a celebration at Cavallo Point, or anywhere across Marin, San Francisco, or the greater Bay Area, reach out at thecelebrationdj.com. No pressure, just a conversation about what your day could feel like.
Brandon Bosch is The Celebration DJ, serving couples across California’s Bay Area, Central Coast, Napa, Sonoma, San Francisco, and beyond since 2006.
Services at this event: DJ, MC, live guitar and vocals, photo booth with guest book, dance floor lighting, uplighting, reception sound system.