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Our industry post-covid
I don't think there's any doubt Covid is here to stay. The stop/start of restrictions will be on the horizon for many years to come.
What will that mean for your service? What adaptions will you make? Are the days of the full-time wedding DJ numbered? What's your thoughts on the future?
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Originally Posted by
Shaun
Are the days of the full-time wedding DJ numbered?
I think the DJ that can adapt will be able to provide a service that gives them a full time income. But it might not be as a 'DJ' as such. Maybe a full time wedding entertainer would be a better phrase to use?
OK I'm going to throw something out there...
We've been told that social distancing and masks are here to stay for a long time - possibly they form our 'new norm'.
On that basis, selling the concept of a full dancefloor probably won't really wash. And I think it will be hard to charge the premium prices for a service that may no longer be possible to provide in the same way.
Will people be able to dance again at a wedding - I'm sure we'll see that again (just probably not this year).
However, there's still very much a need for what we do.
The 'all day' service that many of us have provided will still be needed. Playing music during the wedding ceremony is still hugely valued. As is providing the soundtrack through the drinks reception and wedding breakfast.
Additionally, if social distancing is here to stay, expect to see seating at the ceremony more spread out. Therefore a new opportunity arises - the microphone for the registrar. I've been doing this for all outdoor weddings, and for some of the larger indoor weddings, and it makes a massive difference. Typically it's fairly hard to hear the registrar at the best of times. But when they have a microphone attached, even Grandad will be able to hear what is being said. A second wireless mic attached to the Groom picks up both the Groom and Bride if placed correctly (I've decided I really don't want to go down the route of trying to mic up the Bride )
Here's an example at an outdoor wedding, filmed on my phone from my position right at the back:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ju68zSjeBCXApRwy8
Second, entertainment will switch from the evening to during the meal. Expect a longer meal - one that may continue through until 8pm. There will be no need for the room to be emptied early ready for a first dance at 7pm!
In between courses, some of the interaction we may have done during the evening, such as the Mr and Mrs Game can be conducted by ourselves. Putting together an afternoon of entertainment like this will be harder work than playing songs during the evening - we'll earn our money by helping to give some pace and entertainment to the meal.
The first dance will be a smaller affair at the end of the meal - guests likely remaining at their tables, with the dance straight after the cake cutting. Again, our sound system will be required, as will our introduction skills. This is another opportunity to add something 'extra' to the first dance with a bespoke, personalised intro.
Could we see the return of the Bride and Groom heading off from their reception immediately after the first dance? And not seeing this relatively modern invention of additional evening guests and a further evening buffet meal?
For the evening, I think a small disco is still possible - I'm thinking along the lines of a Maui 5 with a Gig Bar, with Virtual DJ running in Auto.
Why would it be running in auto? Because as the entertainer, you will be more valuable manning the photo booth. Yes, the thing I thought would soon die off once the novelty wore off is going to be back with a vengeance - because it will be one of the few socially distanced entertainment options available. Again, your hosting skills will turn a guests experience with the photo booth into a memorable experience.
Evenings will then slowly fizzle out - expect to see much more outside seating during the summer months, and guests doing more drinking and chatting - no big crescendo on the dancefloor at the 'end' of the evening.
It could be a great way to reinvigorate what we do (it takes us out of our routine).
The question is, do we need to change our 'titles'... we are no longer Mobile DJs, but Wedding Entertainers. Or at the very least, a Wedding Sound Engineer...!
For those who don't relish the prospect of being a wedding entertainer, the concept of providing the music during the ceremony, meal and small evening disco, plus appropriate microphones will still command a decent price because I don't think many will offer this service.
So there are certain avenues of opportunity ahead, but I think it could well look different for a while.
As for what 2023 brings... we may if we are lucky to see either some proper normality or by then we have to accept we live with a 'new normal'.
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Dinosaur
Originally Posted by
rth_discos
I think the DJ that can adapt will be able to provide a service that gives them a full time income. But it might not be as a 'DJ' as such. Maybe a full time wedding entertainer would be a better phrase to use?
Lucifer lad, brace yourself for a cold snap mate. It's gonna get chilly.
While I agree with oh so much of what Gavin says, I'm going to do the unthinkable, and say we won't be Entertainers!
( If Rob was still here, he'd be simultaneously amazed and vindicated).
Fear not Gavin, it's really only semantics. I'd prefer the word " Host " in this Brave New World. I think it more encapsulates the duties we're likely to have put upon us.
Other than that, I'm almost entirely in agreement with Gavin's forecast of this year's wedding discos. Almost. Since I don't offer any form of photo booth, I'd reckon I could be digging out the big telly on the overhead, and showing snaps of the day on that. I don't foresee much use of " Disco Lights ", but I do expect big demand for either uplighter wash, or Powerbar style colour wash, either static, or slow fade.
If I'm absolutely honest, I'd quite like it if events went along these lines, as I feel it would play to my strengths. I'd expect us to have to cut our prices ( compared to a current All Day Service + Evening Disco) for this, but that seems reasonable, as we could be finishing around 9pm, rather than sometime in the early hours.
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Resident Antagonist
I'm hopeful that the UK Wedding Taskforce has really gotten the concept of track and trace at weddings in the Government's mind. You know who everyone is, you know where they come from and where they are going - you could not wish for a better example of T&T in action. That in combination with only allowing guests to attend who have had a favourable lateral flow test result will make it one of the safest environments on the planet in 2021.
Oh...wait. I just used common sense. Sorry - I'll sit back down.
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Originally Posted by
Benny Smyth
That in combination with only allowing guests to attend who have had a favourable lateral flow test result will make it one of the safest environments on the planet in 2021.
Now this is the interesting area when it comes to wedding.
As a top line, lateral flow tests (quick testing) seems an obvious solution.
But what happens when the mother and father of the bride test positive on the morning?
It could lead to some interesting situations!
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Dinosaur
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Originally Posted by
rth_discos
Now this is the interesting area when it comes to wedding.
As a top line, lateral flow tests (quick testing) seems an obvious solution.
But what happens when the mother and father of the bride test positive on the morning?
It could lead to some interesting situations!
I started lateral flow testing through work yesterday - you need to wait 30 minutes before posting a result (and my first was void so had to do it again, since I'd had eaten and drank I had to wait longer before retesting so all in it took about 2 hours to get a valid result...) and it sounds like the result disappears pretty quickly so I really don't know how you would facilitate this - you're not going to herd people at a club / football match / wedding and have them wait 30 minutes for a result and you can't just tell people to turn up with a negative test as there's no way to tell if it's theres.
I'm 100% behind the idea of a vaccine passport, if for no other reason it would be karma for all the non-vax 5g empty ward conspiracy nuts who have totally disregarded how big a threat this is.
It's the simplest way I can see getting people back out into society and things to open up. There's always going to be scams and work arounds but in the context where you can go to a pub that is actually checking people are vaccinated and one that isn't - most folk will choose the former. Pre-vaccine people may just have gone wherever would let them in as it didn't make a difference.
As for changing how things operate.
I upped my priced quite a bit in January last year and I've stuck with them. The upshot is the price point of my evening disco is at a point where, push come to shove I could simply offer to transfer the evening booking to a daytime booking with early finish. I'd rather do the evening but if that's not possible or there's no market for it for the foreseeable then it is what it is.
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