Take It Easy

Easy Events with Jake and Jenn Fontana…

The love story between Jake and Jennifer Fontana started back in 2011 at the Red Lion in Redding. Jenn was working for United Way of Northern California and helped plan a “Celebrity Waiter Night” fundraiser in which local personalities served the guests. Jenn hadn’t met any of the local celebrities before the event, but that day, she introduced herself to each one. That’s when she met Power 94.7 DJ Jake Easy.

“I’ll never forget that moment. I knew there was something between us by the way he shook my hand and the way he said my name,” Jenn recalls. However, she was in a relationship at the time, so nothing more came of the interaction.

Fast forward to four months later when Jenn became single and ran into Jake at a bar where he emceed. She was with someone else at the time, but that initial spark between Jake and Jennifer was still there. “I ran into her at Johnny’s with a date and I recognized her immediately. I wanted to get to know her more, knowing she was single. That’s when I really fell in love,” Jake says.

“He offered to buy us a drink and in a short amount of time he stole me from my date. It didn’t take long for him to steal my heart after that,” Jennifer recalls.

Jake and Jenn got married in Cancun in June 2014, and soon after that the newlyweds’ love blossomed into a business. After they came back home to Redding, a friend asked if they would consider DJing their wedding. Their mutual friend DJ Jose Ochoa was supposed to work the event, but the popular fellow Power 94.7 DJ had suddenly passed away and the engaged couple didn’t know what to do.

Jenn had experience and education in this space. She graduated with a degree in social work from Chico State University and began working with nonprofits in Redding, which is how she got the Red Lion “Celebrity Waiter Night” gig. Jenn soon realized that she had a passion for planning, coordinating, decorating, DJing, hosting, and even doing floral arrangements for events.

Soon after Jake and Jennifer got married and fell into the DJ gig at that couple’s wedding, Easy Events was born.

Now, 10 years later, Easy Events has worked close to 150 events, helping other couples have their perfect day. Jenn explains that she’s always putting the couple front and center of every decision, always considering what will make it easiest for them and what they will enjoy. When working with a couple, the Easy Events owners give them a list of 250 questions and have a meeting that can last two or three hours.

“Couples are like, ‘Aw, we feel so much better’ walking out of the meeting with a detailed timeline and everything discussed ahead of time,” Jenn says. “Our number one goal is to not ask them one question on their wedding day.”

“Jenn’s really good at the meetings, dialing down to make sure everyone knows their job,” Jake says.

When asked about the most requested songs or genre of music, the Easy Events duo say it’s all over the place. “That’s where Jake is so amazing and what Easy Events is built off of. Jake is able to see a crowd and play to it. There are older people there and younger people and not everyone likes the same thing, but he can get everybody dancing,” Jenn says.

Throughout their 10 years of working together, Jenn and Jake have also learned some things from other couples. “On such a big day you realize what’s important to the individual or the couple,” Jake says. “Sometimes it’s the vows, partying before the ceremony or even the desserts,” he adds. They both laugh, sharing a story about how a couple tolerated some wedding crashers on their big day, until they started eating the fancy desserts. That’s when the bride had Jenn kick them out.
“We really center the day on the couple. We want to

give them whatever they want. We encourage couples to not pay attention to what anyone else is doing, just imagine their perfect day and we’ll work out how to make it happen,” Jenn says. “We built this business on word of mouth. Truthfully, a lot of people know us just from being in love, and we’re excited to grow this.” •

Easy Events
(530) 921-8310 www.easyevents530.com