You have likely seen the articles in bridal magazines about
how easy and fun it can be to have your iPod act as DJ at
your wedding. With little help from your friends you can have
total control over the playlist and add a personal touch to
your special day. Now, as I am a professional DJ that specializes
in weddings, you might expect the next tip to be on why this
is such a rotten idea. But if you are determined to do it
on your own I'd rather you take the challenge knowing what
you are getting into and give you some tips that will help
you avoid common blunders and perils.
Please note that this is not a tell-all because Ipods are
relatively new and people are still making mistakes every
Saturday with them, so I will address a "typical"
wedding reception of 150 guests or so held in a hotel ballroom.
First there is a dispute to settle with those know-it-all
wedding magazines and websites whose naive endorsement of
this fad is about as useful as suggesting that couples have
their 6-year-old niece blow into a metal tube as the cheap
alternative to a flautist during the ceremony. "iPodding"
your wedding is not for everybody, and it is NOT cheap and
easy. Suggesting otherwise is a terrible oversimplification.
This is not Cosmo in a pretty white veil. This is your wedding
day, and if you are going to do this right, you will have
to visualize every aspect of your reception and how you want
it to go, then prepare a plan to make it actually work.
Your plan is going to consist of a several crucial elements:
the music, the proper equipment, the timeline and itinerary
of the event, and the right person to pull it all together.
Background music for cocktails and dinner is the best place
for the "do-it-yourself" music programmer. Have
fun with it, but remember that your guests are trying to converse
during dinner. Instrumentals work perfectly here. Try to keep
the music mellow, but still upbeat. Start off easy and build
tempo and intensity. You want to see toes tapping and heads
bobbing as your dinner ends and the second half of the party
is ready to get underway.
You might favor a particular kind of music, but remember
that there are a lot of people at your wedding who might not
share your passion for Pantera or Hungarian Discotech Beats.
Weddings are not the place to show off musical prowess. Folks
tend to respond to music with which they are most familiar.
So while it seems cliché and 'everyone else has done
that', if you are hoping to have a hopping dance floor, your
safest bets early on are the good old wedding standards, at
least until people are warmed up. Then you can start being
experimental. Now, that does not mean you have to play YMCA
and the Chicken Dance, but remaining flexible for the enjoyment
of all your guests will help you reap the rich rewards of
a party that is fun until the end.
When you are planning the music, it's often hard to look
at a list of songs and envision them in the context of your
own wedding. But understand that some of the music that you'd
probably never choose off of a sterile list of alphabetically-ordered
songs will be perceived completely differently when played
to a throng of happy friends and relatives who have been celebrating
with you all afternoon. Suddenly, Play That Funky Music seems
like a lot more fun than you ever could have imagined. Hopefully,
you can trust your chosen DJ to know when or if the time is
right.
Song order is important. Try to create sets of music that
build in tempo or intensity. When you've peaked, drop in a
slow song or change to another type of music. Watch out for
songs with long, plodding introductions (the long talking
intro to Baby-Got-Back is a dance-floor bulldozer) and beware
of songs that last too long. If a song clears the floor, be
ready to switch gears again; there is no point in playing
through a song that's not working.
With regard to the equipment required to "iPod"
your wedding, forget about using the iPod. It's a clumsy and
wholly inappropriate tool for the job at hand. Use iTunes
or some other kind of software on a laptop. This provides
a far easier means of searching the database of songs, and
allows for changing playlists on the fly. And do yourself
a favor - rent a great sound system, not just a decent one.
The home stereo won't cut it. One magazine article suggested
that hooking into the venue's sound system might be a good
idea. THIS IS NOT TRUE. Ceiling speakers are for elevator
music. Believe me, if I could avoid carting heavy, expensive
speakers and amps around and just use the in-house sound system,
I would. Another important reason for using pro equipment
is that you will want to be able to run at least one mic along
with your music for toasts, announcements, etc., so you will
need a mixing board and someone who can carry this stuff and
hook it up successfully. The ideal location for the equipment
is right near the dance floor for a number of reasons, among
which are your hopping back and forth to keep the music going
and getting enough sound onto the dance floor without blowing
Grannie out of her wheelchair. Make sure you work out a floor
plan that accommodates your equipment and try it out beforehand.
The day of the wedding is no time for last-minute fumbling
with wires and speakers.
Hopefully whomever you deputize to run the show has some
idea about such things and can handle the music, MC tasks,
and light engineering duties. Choose carefully, as this person
will be your voice for the evening and will have to be the
kind of generous person who won't mind working throughout
your entire wedding for free.
When scheduling the day's events remember to ask yourself
"What's next?" For instance, not having a plan to
follow the exciting announcement of the bride and groom's
entrance into the banquet hall creates an awkward letdown.
Follow it immediately with a toast or speech from the bride's
father. Then, of course, don't forget to ask yourself, "And
what happens after that?"
I strongly suggest that you decide beforehand who will make
toasts and speeches, and when they will appear. Make sure
your MC keeps control of the mic. It's not uncommon for some
well-meaning uncle, filled with the spirit of the moment (or
some kind of spirit, anyway), to want to say things he'd regret
in the morning (if he could remember them). Another common
pitfall is the open-mic syndrome, when it seems most everyone
wants to toast the bride and groom while dinner gets cold.
It's hard for me, as a distant third-party, to control some
of these situations. I can't imagine how much harder it would
be to have to deal with friends or family in the same way.
Sounds like a lot of work, doesn't it? Remember: the best
wedding entertainers spend their entire careers learning the
ins and outs of what makes wedding receptions fun and seamless.
They put a lot of time and preparation into their song libraries
and equipment; they have learned how to keep even the most
finicky crowds out on the dance floor; they know how to conduct
a wedding reception and they have perfected the art of sounding
polished and genuine without seeming rehearsed.
I'm willing to bet that a great number of people who are
considering taking all this upon themselves are not really
keen on doing the work; rather, they are just trying to put
a more personal stamp on an already deeply personal time in
their life, and it just seems that they can do it better themselves
than trust a stranger to do it for them. Perhaps this describes
you?
If it does, then I have one more suggestion. Before you commit
yourself and your guests to the Ipod plan, take the time,
talk with a professional wedding entertainer and see if they
will listen to exactly what it is you want (and don't want)
at your wedding reception and then find a way to provide it
for you. Find out if they are willing to work with you to
develop playlists that suit your tastes. Find out if they
have helpful suggestions that will make your day more relaxing,
more fun, and more personal.
Perhaps you will find a new friend to whom you can trust
some of the most crucial details of your party - so you don't
have to.
