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I love reading these reports and especially the bits about running late as is often the case too here in Ireland. For example, my wedding on friday. I arrived at prearranged time of 9.45 to setup with the band and we didnt get access to the room until 11.50. The band started at 12.50, I started at 2 and finished at 3.20!
Right, I haven't posted on this thread for a while so.......here goes.
I had two weddings this weekend and they were like chalk and cheese.
FRIDAY NIGHT.
I got a call Wednesday night from another DJ asking if I could cover this wedding for him as some family stuff had arisen and I was free so, why not. It was in a small hotel and I had to wait for the turn around to set up. Because the usual happened with the timings (running late) I spoke to the B&G and warned them that I would get set up as quick as I could but I would be about 30 minutes later than the original time. The couple were very laid back and said," No problem, take your time", which immediately took the pressure off me. I had received a play list in advance and it certainly wasn't the usual wedding stuff. As I just finished setting up and waiting for everyone to wander back into the room and the Best man came in and asked if I had any Cure, Stone Roses or Echo and the Bunnymen, so instead of the usual background music, I played one from each band and him and another couple of blokes were dancing from the off!
First dance song was If You Were The Only Girl In The World And I Were The Only Boy by The Chelsea Pensioners and the second song was by Kiss- I was Made For Loving You. The rest of the list consisted of groups/singers like Squeeze, Elvis Costello, ELO, Bowling For Soup, The Jam, Johnny Cash, Van Morrison, 10cc. Anyway, to cut a long story short, there was not a time that the majority of the crowd wasn't dancing, even the kids and teenagers, to everything that I played
SATURDAY NIGHT.
This was a totally different kettle of fish. They booked me a year ago, through a very good friend of mine (who I owe a few favors) and I was determined to do an extra special job as my friend was supposed to be paying for it as a wedding present to his nephew (the groom). The layout was I would set up in the hotel room that the ceremony had just taken place and the room with the buffet was in a room just opposite to the room I was in, so that meant people would be in and out all night. As I was setting up I had to tell some kids not to play on my trolley (that was in the middle of the dance floor) with my flight cases and bags, as they playing too rough and was going to damage something. After the forth time of telling them to leave it alone I asked their parents to make them stop, as they could get hurt. "Oh.....yeah......they could do that, couldn't they?" said the Mother of the delightful urchins. Next I had a kid of around 11 (who was a page boy) ask,
KID: what have you got?
ME: Pardon?
KID: what have you got?
ME: music wise do you mean?
KID: yeah
ME: I got most things. What songs do you like?
KID: I dunno.........What you got?
ME::doh:
Then he noticed that I had CDJs.
KID: are we going to be able to use them tonight?
ME: what? My gear?
KID: yeah. Me and my brother coz it's my sister's wedding.
ME (totally lost my patience):AND WHY WOULD YOU THINK THAT?
It takes a lot to make me mad but it was just the arrogant way he was asking me questions that got to me. The kid just wandered off and I was ready by 6-30 as planned. I briefly saw the B&G, offered my congratulations and asked what time they wanted the first dance. They said around 7 o clock and I then told the photographer and video guy the arrangements and the B&G wandered off, while I played background music for the 10 or so people in the room. After about 10 minutes of background music, some "geezer" came bowling into the room and shouts at me from 20 yards away, "turn this :Censored: off and put some bangin tunes on, you :Censored:"....Very nice.
I ignored him and kept it nice and gentle until 7 o clock and then I went to find the Happy Couple for the first dance. I couldn't find them but I did find the video guy who informed me that the first dance would now be at 8 o clock, to give the groom time to sober up a bit because at that precise moment he was chucking up on the grass outside. The demon drink was to blame. Once again,.......Very nice
I played a mixture of tunes (old and new) and asked the 30 or so people in the room if anyone had any requests (leading up to the first dance), which got no response from the adults. The kids came up and asked for Gangnam every 5 minutes or so, so I played it and 5 or 6 kids were dancing with their mums. I was then approached again by the Bride's little brother.
KID: this is :Censored:. turn it off
ME: are you asking me or telling me?
KID: just turn it off, no one likes it.
I just pointed to the dancefloor and he wandered off again. Eventually it got to 8 o clock and again myself and the video guy tried to get the first dance out of the way, as he and the photographer had been there all day. This time it was put off until 8-30.
At 8-30 it managed to take place and then the groom asked me to play Gangnam Style for him and his boy as the song after the first. I did as instructed and the groom, his brother and his son were the only ones dancing to it.
I think in total there were around 50 guests but I couldn't be certain as everybody was walking in and out of the room all night. I did spot a couple in the corner who couldn't be bothered to go outside to smoke and would only put their cigarettes out when told to by the bar manager. The music of choice that night was Old Skool, garage, R&B and anything "BANGIN". By 11 o clock I hadn't seen the B&G for an hour so when their 8 year old came up to ask for Gangnam again, I asked where his parents were and was told that they had gone to bed! As I was instructed to play till 12-30, the last hour and a half, I was playing to anyone who wandered in and occasionally no one in the room at all. The groom surfaced at around 12 o clock and I asked him where his uncle (my friend who was paying for my services was, as I hadn't seen him).
"Don't have a clue mate"
:(
I finally finished the night to a grand total of 3 people and the Bride and Groom no where in sight. As I was packing away, I got talking to the bar man who told me that there had been three fights (not witnessed by me), some people reported by hotel guests snorting away in the public toilet and two people arrested for abusing first the hotel manager and then the police called to calm them down. I went to the car park to get my van and noticed that it looked like someone had tried to siphon the diesel from my van, as the cap was off. I loaded the van up and the groom and 4 blokes and 3 or 4 boys were sitting on the steps at the front of the hotel, watching me load up, while still drinking. Finally it got to the time when I needed paying. I tried to call him over, away from the others but he was quite comfortable where he was and asked, "how much mate?" I told him and my "friend" the kid was earwigging and said.
"HOW MUCH. Cor that's a lot of money just for playing music. I got to be a DJ for *** pounds". At that moment I honestly wanted to hurt the kid, I was that angry. The Groom searched his pockets and was a little bit short of what I was asking. He asked the others if they had any money and they all just laughed. I had had enough. I told him I would come round his house tomorrow and we could sort it out then
I went round his house the next day to collect the remainder of my fee but even now I am still fuming and upset with the whole night.
Sorry for the length of this post.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dj foureyes
Nightmare. Sounds like a ned-fest.
Get your money before the date and then you don't have to chase up drunk half wits on the night.
My 2nd wedding of the weekend was also a good one but a very different vibe to Fridays.
It was in a palatial house and each room was essentially that: a room. Meal and buffet was in one of the drawing rooms, I was set up in another drawing room and the bar was in another. Really nice venue and the perfect size for the amount of guests (I think they had about 40 all in)
He was from down South and she was from Belfast so the families set up shop in the bar room and left the more inebriated Scottish folk in the main room. Plenty of dancing going on throughout the night and both sets of families couldn't have been nicer.
One girl was completely hammered and I was worried about her knocking a speaker over but she was fine. Another guy (who turned out to be her husband) asked me to play Penny Arcade. I told him that I didn't play any football related songs and even showed him in black and white on my planner where the bride and groom had said "no football songs" He went off to harass the bride and groom to see if they'd let it be played. They told him to gtf but I was like - why would you do that on someone's wedding day? As I was loading out he was going: Man that's a big case are you going to Ibiza? Man that's abig bag are you going to Benidorm. Hilarious.
There was another girl who was quite drunk that started moaning "I'm a primary teacher :rolleyes: and I'd have been better showing folk how to do the turn in the Gay Gordon's."
I replied: "I bet you don't have a mic in one hand and a drunk guy in the other whilst you're doing your instructing..." and that shut her up.
So a couple of minor annoyances but nothing too bad. Got weeeeeeeeeeeeks off now as I'm away on holiday tomorrow. And on that note, I really need to pack and get money sorted :o
Brilliant wedding for me last night!
It was a longer one than usual with a 01.00am finish but the time flew by (always a good sign).
I posted the requests on another thread and I also mentioned a few other things too (Mother of the Bride being a potential problem).
I set up in the morning (thankfully as it was baking hot) and as I was doing so, I met the Best Man. He was told to come and introduce himself. One of the first things he said was "Everyone is really looking forward to tonight, we've all heard that you're good!". That was a nice compliment but for some reason it made me really nervous throughout the day.
What with the weather being so nice, I knew that it could potentially be a bit of a task getting people on to the dance floor......I was wrong!
When I arrived at the venue, the room had been turned around and the dance floor was put down. All of the guests were sat outside drinking Pimms on the grounds and they looked like they were having a great time. The Bride spotted me and shouted out to me and everyone cheered!! A nice touch and one that put me at ease straight away. I started off with the chilled out tunes and background music and I had people coming in and giving me the thumbs up. It was really nice. I was playing to an empty room yet people could hear the music outside and the vibe was really cool. I'm glad I took my clip on fan with me as it was seriously hot in the room.
The first dance saw everyone come inside and I kept them all there for around 45 minutes with some of the 60s and 80s requests. Then I had to announce the buffet and guests grabbed their food and went to eat outside. I was really enjoying the whole vibe. A little while later I started chucking on some of the more Indie/Alternative requests and guests started getting into it big time. I could see how hot they were getting and didn't blame them for going outside from time to time. From around 10.00pm - 01.00am, the dance floor was packed solid. I had 2 requests all night and these were Radiohead - Lotus Flower and Erasure - A Little Respect (the latter went down a storm with everyone singing along).
Every now and then I would be playing a song and there would be a cheer and people would give me the thumbs up. I couldn't seem to do anything wrong. I was mixing up stuff, playing mash ups and doing loads of different things and it just worked. The Bride came over at one point and just hugged me and said "This is amazing!". It's funny isn't it how you can do weddings every weekend and play a full range of music to please everybody and sometimes get a mediocre response yet another time you do something where they are specific about the music they like and they are really complimentary. It means so much more to me. I am in my element at bookings like this. I don't want that to come across as egotistic because it's not supposed to.
At the end of the night a number of guests went back outside to have a last drink as I started packing up. They wouldn't let me pack down the equipment without having a drink with them first. I sat there for a while with them sipping on a pint of water and again, they were very complimentary.
One of the best compliments however was from one of the staff at the venue. She said that it was really good to hear something different for a change but also said that the wedding the night before was totally different as most of the guests stayed outside all evening and the DJ was playing to an empty room most of the time.
I used the RCF subs too and at times it was really kicking. Disclosure - White Noise, sounded awesome pumping out!
I have a question about the RCF's which I'll ask in another thread.
Week off now and I think I picked the right one!
I hear that, I was pretty much in the same boat. It's difficult playing to an audience who aren't in visual range - how on earth can you guage reaction?Quote:
Originally Posted by Shakermaker Promotions
I'm a huge Radiohead fan, but even I wouldn't want to play that one! Did anyone get up to it? My favourite from the album is Seperator, which is just as mellow but very uplifting.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shakermaker Promotions
The other thing is that it doesn't get dark until 10pm, so who would blame anyone for sitting outside on such a lovely summer's night? I'd do exactly the same, no matter the music :beer1:
The Radiohead track actually packed the dance floor. I agree, I wouldn't normally play it myself BUT.....There was a reason for it.
Early on in the evening a guy came over and asked for it and said that the Groom would love it but he didn't say why. He kept coming back asking when I was going to play it. I had a busy dance floor at the time and honestly didn't think it would work. Over the next hour or so, around 8 guests asked for it and it was only the last girl that requested it that told me that it was the Groom's username on a Radiohead forum and that was how the Bride & Groom met.
Wow... that's really something, isn't it? Probably the only way you'd fill the floor with a Radiohead track :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Shakermaker Promotions
Did my first wedding for about 3years on Saturday night. I don't usually do weddings because they are just not my cuppa tea. However this specific couple asked for me, the gig was local so I thought why not.
Arrived as planned at 6.30pm to be set by 7.30pm but they were just starting their main course. I got the gear outside the room ready. I eventually loaded in at 8.30pm, I was set up and changed by 9.15pm. First dance at 9.30pm. Played until midnight.
Only 40 or so guests who spent most of the time outside, older crowd so I played lots of 60's and and the bride and her friends like reggae (Janet Kay, Althia & donna, UB40 etc). The hotel staff were lovely, fetching me cold water all night and the bride and groom and their guests were such nice people, it was very refreshing actually. Home by 1am eating a kebab!!
Overall a excellent gig last night BUT..
The bride and groom booked me last year for a high end wedding, This would include Mobile Disco, Led Curtains and Uplighters.
When they sent me the booking forms back they stated there may be a band playing. I stated from day one there would not be much room because of a fire door in the way because i have done this venue before and there is just enough room for me (5metres x 2 metres)
Well 1 month before i had a email from the bride and groom stating there was a ska band turning up. I emailed straight back stating my terms and conditions about room, sockets and no bands could use my equipment. They said fine they would sort it..
2 days before there wedding i send them the normal email stating all there details like access times, starting and finishing times etc and they said it was all correct.
They also said that the band would set up while guests was in the room around 7.30. This straight away thought it was weird and unprofessional and i thought there would be trouble.
As i thought i was correct. Band arrived at 7.40 and he said he was going to plug into my sound system (they never asked, they told me). I said no chance i have guests on the dancefloor and no one uses my equipment. The band member then said fine he would go home then and told me to :Censored: . I could not believe how rude he was.
5 mins later he came back over and said he would have to use my plug sockets. I said i have got a extension lead they could lead and there nearest plug sock was 4 metres away. He said that no:Censored:good and he started unpluging some uplighters to make room.
I plugged them back in and he said he already had enough and was going home. My response was have a word with the bride and groom 1st before leaving cause its very unprofessional.
Anyway soon enough he admitted defeat and started setting up his own equipment with a extension lead from the other socket.
Bride came over and said they would start at 9pm. At 8.50 without warning they did a sound check while the dancefloor was busy and straight away guests was looking at me as if it was my fault.
Anyway the band done there 2x 45 min slots and it went done ok. At 11.15 i was back on, The the bride came over and said could i play new chart music for the last 45mins (midnight finish). I replied yes fine. Well dancefloor was packed and the groom came over at 11.55 asking for Stone Roses and i said ok i will play it next and it would be the last one. He replied ok great.
I wish it was that easy. I finished at midnight and the groom came back over and he said he wanted 1 more indie song. I told him i was booked till midnight and i have already gone over and i had to be out of the function room before 1am. He would not have it. He said i have paid you a lot of money for tonight and you will do what i want. I said 1 more song and thats it.. I then played 2 more songs and finished at 12.15. The groom rushed back over saying i had to play 1 more. I said i have already turned equipment off and we had finished. He was not happy and the bride came over and calmed it down.
While i was packing away all i could hear from the groom was i am going over to the dj in a minute and knock him out (yes he was slightly drunk). When the bride left the room he came over and threatened me but i kept cool and just asked him with short answers to his questions. This went on for 15 mins until some of his friend decided enough was enough and they taken him away.
Its the first time something like this as happened to me really. I hope its just the hot weather getting to peoples head
Hmmm definitely something in the air last night then, I had a few problems with 4 or 5 guests complaining about the music choices I was playing last night. Bride and Groom wanted more indie/rock type stuff for the last part of the evening, Arctic Monkeys, Blur, Killers, etc etc. Said the bride and groom chose this type of music, wouldn’t have it, cue usual "Your :Censored:", play something more commercial cause this is :Censored:. Politely informed them sorry but it’s the bride and grooms day and this is what they would like. "But no :Censored: is dancing (30 odd dancing at this point + b&g).
Then they decide to go take it out on the bride and groom. I couldn't believe it, I’ve never had guests do that, usually I explain they are the b&g choices and they go away happy. I admit I did smile when the bride firmly told them to :Censored: off lol. Did feel sorry for them though, it’s their day, is no need for rudeness because you can't get your own way. Maybe the 35c heat in the marquee wasn't helping.
Have to finish at this venue at dead on 11.30, no excuses. Council is extremely hot on it. Finished up on last dance as requested by b&g, at bang on 11.30. Cue "one more song" from the drunks. Sorry Music has to be off by 11.30. "Well your a :Censored::Censored: :eek: charming. Had great pleasure in saying "well you definitely aren’t having a song now!
Amazing how people can go from being so nice to complete :Censored: once had a few drinks. First wedding in a very long time I’ve had abuse from people.
Hey ho, Today’s another day. BBQ and lots of beer this afternoon I think :)