"DJPaul" Nuyens
- Oct 14, 2023
- 5 min read

A "Twilight" Wedding at Whistle Bear Golf Club, October 7, 2023.

This was our fourth time at the Whistle Bear Golf Club and the third time this year. This wedding was for Keanna and Richard. Whistle Bear Golf Club is located in Cambridge, Ontario and is part of the Pearle Weddings Group. For a list of all the Pearl Weddings Group venues, see the bottom of this page.

Whistle Bear has three main reception rooms, The Forestview Room & Terrace, The Rose Room & Terrace, and for this wedding the The Grandview Room & Terrace. We've done wedding receptions in all three rooms but The Grandview Room & Terrace is by far our favourite and is where we were for this wedding.

The Grandview Room & Terrace at Whistle Bear Golf Club

Some of the reasons why we love this room the best is access to the adjacent courtyard, it's also situated on the ground floor so there is no need for elderly people to use an elevator or stairs to reach it. The 20-foot mirrored vaulted ceiling with intricate wood-carved details and beautiful crystal chandeliers is just stunning, especially with our dance floor lighting. We also love the brick fireplace behind the head table.

Keanna and Richard had about 120 guests and although a little tight, the combination of round and rectangular tables made it feel warm and inviting. We also loved that there was ample room on the dancefloor without hiving to move tables.

Our day started with an easy load in from the main courtyard at round 2:30pm. We met the wedding planner, Nicole Moss from Eternal Bliss Events and got our marching orders and proceeded to setup. A little fiddling to make sure our rig wasn't in the way of the kitchen doors and within an hour we were all ready to go.

Starlight DJ Services main setup - Whistle Bear Golf Club

Whistle Bear has a beautiful glass Garden Chapel located above the main waterfall. At 4:30pm we were told we could head up and setup for the ceremony. We used one RCF speaker in front corner for good coverage and made sure it would be out of the way for pictures. We set up our ceremony system in the back corner where I could get a good views of the wedding party entering and still be out of the way. We used batteries and wireless dongles to minimize unsightly chords. We were set up and ready to go by 5:00pm for the 5:30pm ceremony.

Garden Chapel Whistle Bear Golf Club — Garden Chapel - Whistle Bear Golf Club

Keanna had asked met to mix the instrumental version of A Thousand Years for the wedding party march with the original vocal version from Christina Perri for her march with her dad. This was done and Keanna go to the end of the isle where Richard was waiting for her with no hick ups. It was requested that no pictures be taken during the ceremony, which is not new, but the officiant did give 30 seconds for people to take pictures before the ceremony started. I've never seen this before but really like the idea. Keanna and Richard turned and faced the guests and so everyone could get their Kodak moment. If you don't know what a Kodak moment is, I'm sorry, you were just born in the wrong decade.

Keanna and Richard - Whistle Bear Golf Club — Keanna and Richard - about to tie the knot

During the registry singing we played Turning Page from the Twilight Breaking Dawn movie and for the recessional we pumped up the volume for Love me like you do by Ellie Goulding. The ceremony lasted about 30 minutes from start to finish, both said "I do", they were married.

It was now time for cocktail. The original plan was to have cocktail in the courtyard while the wedding party take some additional pictures. Even with a tent, at only 9 degrees Celsius, it was just a bit to chilly for the the guests to enjoy the atmosphere outside so everyone migrated to the reception hall where it was nice and warm.

Keanna also got our video package which consisted of two 65" TV's. She put together a wonderful thirty minute slide show that all the guests loved watching.

Courtyard Tent whistle Bear Golf Club — Courtyard Tent

Grand entrance! At about 7:15pm I managed to get the bridal party organized for the grand entrance. The groomsmen were up first and came out in a group, they found their way to the dancefloor and tried a synchronized dance to Crank That (Soulja Boy). They actually weren't half bad and everyone enjoyed the performance. Next up were the ladies (brides maids) and they did the same thing only to Crazy In Love by Beyonce. The ladies nailed it! We were now ready for the main attraction, Keanna and Richard. They entered to I'm Good by Dave Guetta. When they reached the dance floor we transitioned to their first dance; Perfect by Ed Sheeran.

Brides Maids Bringing it to Crazy In Love

After Keanna and Richard's first dance we went starlight to the father/daughter followed by mother/son dance. Songs were: This Dance by Scott Thomas and You'll Be In My Heart by Brent Morgan respectively.

Father Daughter Dance - Whistle Bear Golf Club — Father Daughter Dance

Time for dinner! Dinner was served at 7:30pm and started with a backet of fresh bread and followed by a diecious pumpkin and squash with apple, spiced chickpeas and seedlings soup.

We had two groomsmen speeches from Rinel and Lucas and two bridesmaids speeches from Rachel and Domen.

Main course was Whistle Bear's famous prime rib with red wine jus, mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetable's. Yes, it tastes as good as it sounds.

The wedding party snuck out here to get some night pictures with Sparklers and made it back in just in time for the next round of speeches.

Up first we had Trevor a groomsmen, then the maid of honour, Keanna's sister, Kerissa followed by the best man, Richard's brother, Erik.

Our last course was desert. A beautiful Salted Carmel gelato with a vanilla Tart and fresh fruit.

Our final round so speeches consisted of Richard's mom, Rosemary, Keanna's parents Paula and Neil, a special speech from Keanna's grandfather, Jack and finally some nice words from Keanna and Richard.

It was time to put get the party into the next gear. We brought in our 65" TV from the courtyard and hooked it up to our DJ system so we could run music videos during the dance. We started with the anniversary dance. I aways do this in the reverse order as I want the dance floor packed with it's over. This wedding was not exception. My song of choice is always Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers. I the played some oldies to keep the older crowd on the dance floor, Runaround Sue by Dion and Sugar Pie Honeybunch by the four tops. Them moving to the late 70s with September by Earth Wind and Fire and Celebration by Kool and the Gang.

At 11pm we did the bouquet toss to Abba's Gimmie, Gimmie, Gimmie (A Man After Midnight). Keanna did an awesome job throwing the bouquet and not letting it hit the chandelier. It was caught by one of the brides maids and hopefully she will be next for a wedding.

At 12:50am we made the announcement that we had two songs left; I get to love you and Closing time.

It was a perfect wedding, despite the a little colder temperatures and a little rain. We wish Keanna and Richard all the best and are thankful they trusted us to provide the music and entertainment for their most special day.