The Paul Otten Band: Testimonials

Paul and Brian,

We heard it over and over again from various guests..."this was the best wedding I've ever been to!" Yes, the food was great, the venue was nice, and we had perfect weather but we knew what they meant - "That band was awesome!" As soon as we got engaged, our first order of business was booking The Paul Otten Band. In fact, your availability set our wedding date. Your pre-event communication was outstanding and you even humored me for a little while when I had illusions of joining you on stage for a guitar solo. (Upon reflection, that was definitely a good call to not let me do that!!) At any rate, we knew you would keep the dance floor packed all night because we had seen you perform many times in the past going back to my days at Xavier University. But bringing you to Cleveland and introducing your talents to family and friends on the north coast was tremendous. Our wedding coordinator, who primarily does weddings in Michigan, remarked in her blog how impressed she was with your ability to "read the crowd" and mix in the right songs at the right moments. As a result, you may be getting future requests to play that Michigan fight song during introductions!

I will end by saying - thanks to you, I have the indelible image of my dad jumping around to 'Rocky Top' with all of my buddies. Thanks to you, teenagers and grandparents alike gladly danced the night away until the reception venue hit the lights and called it a night. Thanks to you, I did not hear any cheesy DJ's attempts to get the crowd on the dance floor (no chicken dance, electric slide or 70's disco!). Thanks to you, I now have the most amazing photographs of all of our guests swaying, arms around each other, and singing along to 'Piano Man', which closed out the night. Thanks to you, Chrissy and I had the wedding of our dreams. Bias or no bias...that was the best wedding we've ever attended and that band truly was awesome!

Dave and Christina Vitatoe (July 5th, 2008 - Cleveland, OH)

davidvitatoe@yahoo.com

"We had seen the band perform a number of times, including one wedding. So we both knew what we were getting when we hired the Paul Otten Band for our wedding -- or so we thought. The band exceeded all of our expectations from the moment that we hired them. They were great with returning messages promptly and helped make a stressful process a lot less stressful. Paul and Brian are both extremely professional and easy to deal with.
As far as the actual reception, the band's performance was phenomenal. I have never been to a wedding reception where the band had people of all ages out on the dance floor for such an extended period of time. The band is great about sticking to the set list that you choose while still mixing in some other songs to please everyone. My wife and I both had several people who were unfamiliar with the band come up to us and ask about them and how they could book them. Our wedding day would not have been nearly as special without Paul Otten Band - it's as simple as that.

If you are thinking about hiring the band to play your wedding, do it. They are worth every penny."

Chris and Andrea Connelly cconnelly1975@yahoo.com

"Having the Paul Otten Band perform for our wedding reception was the best decision we made throughout our whole planning process. They absolutely MADE the reception. For weeks after the wedding we received compliments on their
performance. The dance floor was packed the entire time and nobody wanted them to stop playing. My grandmothers were even dancing! Several friends and
my sister have either inquired about or actually booked The Paul Otten Band for their own weddings. I HIGHLY recommend this band. They know how to play for a crowd."

Lindsey and PeteThaler (937) 475-1612
leingalk@notes.udayton.edu

"For the two of us, choosing the evening entertainment was one of the biggest decisions we made concerning our wedding. We knew going in to the planning process that the music at a wedding reception tends to decide how a wedding can appeal to the guests and based upon our previous experience at weddings we knew that a live act like the Paul Otten Band would definitely make the difference. Not only do they play music that appeals to all ages, and play it exceptionally well, but they are very good at working the crowd and know how to get the crowd up and dancing. The best part about the Paul Otten Band was the fact that unlike some larger live acts, they know how to create and perform a great show, without taking the attention away from the reason of the evening, the wedding couple; and they do so with just a two man band. They are very easy to work with and their song list is quite extensive. We got so many compliments on The Paul Otten Band from wedding guests saying that our band was the best band they had ever heard at a reception and it was the most fun they had ever had. We were more than happy with the Paul Otten Band and can easily admit that choosing the Paul Otten Band to play at our wedding reception was one of the best decisions we ever made."

Kirsten and Craig Glazier craig.glazier@ey.com

"We could not have been happier with The Paul Otten Band and the entertainment they provided for our wedding. The band was professional and flexible to work with, arrived promptly the day of the wedding, and most importantly delivered the most fun wedding experience I could have ever hoped for.
Nobody remembers the flowers or the invitations, but guests do remember whether the wedding was fun or not. We wanted to include a band (vs. a dj) at our wedding so those who weren't dancing would have something to watch; however, everyone was dancing. When I look back at my pictures, grandparents, college friends, and family are all dancing together. When people who don't even know each other are all dancing together, that is a sign of a great time. As soon as the band began playing, the dance floor was flooded. I can't even believe I was worried if people would dance at the wedding. I received so many comments about how great the band was throughout the night as well as after, comments like 'the best wedding band I have ever seen,' 'I've never had so much fun at a wedding,' and 'I needed to leave the dance floor, but couldn't tear myself away.' I could not have asked for more from The Paul Otten Band. In my opinion, their performance single handedly made the night so much fun."

Jennifer Rogers jenniferlrogers@aol.com

"Choosing the music (band or DJ) for your wedding is one of the most important decisions or at least it was for us. As my dad would say, "It makes or breaks a wedding reception," and choosing the Paul Otten Band made our wedding a blast! Fun was had by all age groups. Everyone from our 80 year old grandmas down to our 4 year old nephew LOVED the band and their play list. You will be guaranteed a crowded dance floor all night long with the Paul Otten Band.

Since we got married in the middle of the summer wedding season, we wanted our wedding to be one people remembered and not blend in with the many other weddings they had attended. The Paul Otten Band created the perfect atmosphere at our wedding, it was unique and unforgettable. It has been about a month and people are still talking about how great the band was and how our reception was different from other weddings they had attended. Paul and Brian are extremely talented and professional. They made the planning extremely easy and stress free by returning messages in a timely manner and being a pleasure to work with. We can’t thank Paul and Brian enough for making it an unforgettable night for us and our guests. " Kent and Katie Dreier katiedaly@yahoo.com

"Of all the decisions my husband and I made when planning our wedding, the most well received by our wedding guests was our band. We had seen the Paul Otten Band play at bars and it always signaled a good night. When we thought about the kind of music we'd want at our wedding, we knew we had to call them. The mix of music was perfect, it ran the gamut of the oldies everyone knows, the newer music that all our friends love and a perfect number of slow dances, so
everyone gets on the dance floor at least once. They
created exactly the mood we craved, and we were given
an astonishing number of compliments on their
performance. The biggest compliment, however, was by
far the fact that the dance floor was not empty for
one second that the band was playing. That's exactly
what we wanted for our wedding, and the Paul Otten
Band provided that...along with the most fun night of
our lives.

Thanks guys!" Kelly Delaney kelshamrock@yahoo.com

"Hi Paul!
I wanted to thank you for helping make my wedding be the most perfect day ever! Everyone loved dancing to the Paul Otten Band and we've received numerous compliments of what a great band we had performing at our wedding. It was non-stop dancing and fun by all the whole night and from my understanding some of our friends tried to get you all to play even longer! :) The music arrangement was perfect and you all played even better from what I remembered when we would go hear you play at Miami University and in Cincinnati. Ross and I couldn't of picked a more perfect band to play at our wedding reception! We will definitely recommend you to all of our friends and family and hopefully we'll be
able to have you play at another event we throw in the future!
Thank you again for everything!"

-Aileen Kleiman gasparap@yahoo.com

"Paul,
I just wanted to take a minute to thank you for all of your work on our wedding. The extra effort that you and Brian put in to learn a couple new songs for us meant a lot, and is appreciated by Annemarie and me, as well as our family and friends. It was an absolute blast having you play the reception, and we have had so many compliments on you and Brian, from our guests (some that even said they want you to play their weddings.) A lot of our friends have told us they intend to go out and see you in Mt. Lookout now, as Annemarie and I plan to continue doing so. The version of Carolina In My Mind by James Taylor was phenomonal, and to me was the highlight of the reception, seeing Annemarie and her dad dance to that song. Once again, I would just like to say thanks, and good luck on all of your musical endeavors." Mr. & Mrs. Travis Wollet architech2006@yahoo.com

"My husband and I have been fans of the Paul Otten Band for years so we knew that we wanted them to play at our wedding in October of 2004. It was definitely the right choice. They covered everything from the announcements to playing live. We didn't tell Paul what we wanted them to play beforehand and we didn't need to. They played a great mix of music, songs that all ages wanted to dance to. They did an amazing job and everyone had a great time. I would highly recommend the Paul Otten Band to play at your wedding."

Megan Dotzauer megsriley@yahoo.com

"The Paul Otten Band was nothing but a pleasure to work with. We were so pleased with how easy they made our planning...we didn't even have to provide a song list! They played the most unique yet popular set list that had every single age group up and dancing. I was very impressed. We had so many compliments on the music through the night. They took charge and lead the reception from the moment we arrived through the toasts and long into the evening. They did everything possible to make the night run perfectly. I can honestly say that if we hadn't chosen this band we would have missed out. They created the atmosphere that we wanted at our wedding. During the reception a friend of mine went ahead and booked The Paul Otten Band for their upcoming wedding! We couldn't be happier with how everything turned out." Stacey Kouse stacey.leingang@gmail.com

"Thank you guys so much for a wonderful, memorable night. You did such a great job getting all of our guests on the dancefloor. I am so pleased with the way the reception went...from you MC'ing the hightlights of the night to you guys playing all the songs we wanted to hear. Dancing with my friends, family and new husband ALL NIGHT will be something I will never forget. My parents and their crowd had an awesome time as well. They had so many comments about how great the band was. Thanks, also, for being so easy to get along with. It shows that you like to make people happy on their wedding night and I really appreciate you listening to what I wanted. I had multiple friends tell me that our reception was the best and most fun wedding they had been to. For any event in need of a band, I would recommend you guys and I am so glad we had you play at our wedding. My number one goal was for everyone to have fun and I didn't want to have to worry about it. You took care of providing the fun, so thank you! You guys were GREAT!!!" Jen Gluff jengluff@hotmail.com

"Dear Paul and Brian,
Thank you so much for helping to make our wedding unforgettable. Matt and I are both Miami graduates and enjoyed watching you play in Oxford as well as in Mt. Lookout in the years since graduation. As soon as we heard you played at weddings, we knew it was a perfect fit for us as well as our guests. It was a resounding success as all our guests, young and old, danced the night away! Everyone was impressed by your performance and your playlist resonated with all our guests as you play many timeless songs. After hearing you play at our wedding, three of our friends booked you for their weddings. Music is a very important part to any wedding reception - thank you for making it perfect!"
Matt and Christie Reckman christielauer@hotmail.com

"We were extremely pleased that you could play at our wedding. Out of all of the decisions we had to make, having you provide the music was the biggest no-brainer. Neither of us had ever been to a wedding with live music before, but based on the countless times we'd heard you play around Cincinnati, we were sure you guys would make our reception a party that everyone would enjoy and remember for a long time. Many of our guests told us that our reception was the best they'd every attended, and a few have asked for your contact information in order to book you for their events. When you can get everyone from ages 3 through 80 on the dance floor, you know you're doing something right.

From a professional standpoint, we found you to be very accomodating and easy to work with. We let you know what we wanted, and you ran with it. We thought you made good song choices from our long list of requests, and our dealings with you were the easiest of any wedding vendor we worked with. Finally, we found your price to be much more reasonable than other "lesser" bands offered by our coordinator.

All in all, a job very well done! Thanks again for everything."

Josh and Rachel Tracy