Wedding Fair Fashion/Catwalk Show...

[SC Events]

Hi all,

I have received a phone call today asking me if I wish to participate in a Wedding Fair taking place on Sunday. I said yes and then the big question was asked... "Will you set up a PA and lights for the catwalk show and also do the announcing?"

I have said yes on the condition that my cold has gone by Sunday, so I don't sound like a total tool and also because i've never done one before... or even a Wedding Fair!

Sound-wise, not a problem. I'll either use an RCF system or use the venues in-built kit. It's the lighting and music i'm more concerned about.

Lighting: There's not going to be a runway as such, as there's a semi-circular stage which the models will use. I was thinking about putting some LED Par 56's around the front of the stage angling slightly up towards the models, would this work? Also, colours, what would you suggest?

Music: Having never done one of these before, what sort of music is normally played and is it a different song for every model, or do I just go from one song to the next?

I'd like to be able to do it, for the experience and also maybe to use as a bartering chip at future Wedding Fairs, but at the moment I still haven't given a definite 'yes'!

Any help is much appreciated!

[Spirits High]

Scott, chilllll man;)

Lighting wise I would suggest if you go for your par cans around the stage area set them to the nearest you can to white (ie all LEDs on!) this will light up the dresses nicely and not give any false impressions with different colours etc.

Music well, the thing you need to know here is how many models, how many scenes, what type of dresses, is there a finale with all the models? Obviously speak to the bridal shops involved as they may have preconceived ideas of what music they would like.

And finally, give me a bell tomorrow and I'll let you know what I've done in the past. Currently Sunday is blank in the diary so if you want a hand let me know :D

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

I'd suggest trying to get in touch with the bridal shops and seeing what they have in mind.

Of the few I've done:

1 was happy to let me play whatever as long as it was "upbeat and modern" This was good in that it was easy enough to do, she gave me some quotes to read out "as and when I felt like it" and that was that and although it might not have been the most tied together run, I doubt anyone in the audience noticed.

Another was a model company who had a basic setlist (some of which I had to get but I looked upon it as a schmoosing tool) and wanted some basic - fade in for verse and chorus, fade into next tune for verse and chorus, fade in to next tune for verse and chorus, fade out at last chorus type cues. They also had a script to be read at specific moments but they were good in that everyone knew exactly what they were doing and the models were well rehearsed so it ran like clockwork and didn't take too much effort on my part as they'd provided everything I needed to get the job done except those few tunes.

Another one was a rather arrogant pushy woman (why considering her job consists of ordering sweatshop gear from China and doing a bit of stitching I'll never know...) who was like: "K I want 26 seconds of that one then a quick fade into this, NOT the original version, the album version, pull the volume right down at 3:46 then bring it back up, say this at this exact point etc..." Apart from being a prat and not nice to deal with, she was expecting me to go way over and above what I was expecting to be asked (or prepared) to do.

I politely told her that I was actually doing her a favour witht his so if she would like to bring in a mix on a CD or pen or pay me to premix her music and voice overs or give it the full bhoona live as I'd need to rehearse at home, that was fine, or else she could let me get on with it and do what I could and what I felt was fair on me. She went in a strop but at the end of the day, they need you more than them so don't let them rip it.

Simple uplighting is the way to go. If you can set it to white and have it to fade, pulse or strobe in s2l mode that might look pretty cool for the slow as well as the fast tunes. Gives you a chance to show off your uplighters too and you could put them on a set programme before and after the show so people can see what they're capable of.

[addoaddo]

For bridel wear I would avoid using LED PAR cans set to white as the white they produce is not a clean white with a lot of fringing which will not show off the dresses very well. Either use propoer white LEDs or normal PAR56 / 64s as these will give a much better light

[Daryll]

Par 56/64 , pointing up ward , not toward the models
XP5`s on slow rotation

The wedding fairs I do are smallish events , so the songs are as follows.

Adele - skyfall
Bruno mars - Marry you
Colbie - Caillat - I do
Van morrison - Moondance

If the fashion show is still going

Night Birds - Covered By Toshiki Kadomatsu (one of the best remixes I have heard)

On the rare occasion the fashion show is still going , and as I know the models , Robin S , Alex Party etc

Daryll

[DJDC]

Scott

Try and keep the LED washes for uplighting only when I photographed a wedding fair recently the LED lighting on white did affect some of the colours, and also created some bad multi-coloured shadows. Sometimes it works well other times as per the last one I was involved in it did not.

looking at the 360 tour of the room there's at least 5 Prism convex / fresnel lighting units and 2 source 4 type profiles (do look like source 4's), they all look like 575w / 1 kw units. Use them far easier. The bar looks like a 10 way IWB.

Barn door the 4 fresnels / PC's on their flood setting 45 degree angles from the stage is possible. Bring the 2 profiles in nearer the centre but set them either side and create a centre spot. Light the stage floor only with the fresnels and aim to get the front 1/2 of the stage lit from a model perspective to head height. By using the profiles to create a front centre spot the model can stand, twirl, and turn. As the lights are warm white, try a little colour temp correction or use a light steel blue to take the warmness off the lighting especially if you've got a brilliant white dress it will make it look creamy without some correction. If you don't spill light on to the back wall you can use your uplighters to compliment any colour in the dresses or sell your uplighting package!

I'm on training tomorrow but only 5 minutes away from the venue so depending on time etc might be able to pop in whilst your rigging :)

[SC Events]

Thank you to everyone who has replied to this thread with your advice, especially Paul and Darren for giving their time to speak to me at length on the phone today/tonight.

I am going to the venue tomorrow at 12:00pm to rig the theatre. After speaking to one of the resident techy's on the phone today, I may be able to use the in-house lighting - as Darren mentioned, they appear to be Fresnels and Source 4's, so providing this is the case, I will focus them to suit my needs and use the LED Par56's as Uplighting... looking at the room 4/5 units will do and i'll probably use a couple behind my stand.

I've designed and printed a type of Data Collection sheet for the people I speak to, to jot down their details so I can then contact them. Roller banner is ready, Flyers are ready and i'm just putting the finishing touches to a photo slideshow which will be playing all-day on a 19" flatscreen monitor.

I'm also thinking of having my website open on a laptop, so the 'guests' can have a look if they want and for anyone interested, I thought they might like to see how the Client Log In area works with DJ Event Planner... so i've set up a dummy account for the day just in case!

I've probably forgotten something, but i've got a couple more days to finalise everything.