I haven’t learnt to play the guitar or written that long-threatened novel, I have sought refuge in music, including probably my favourite band of all time, the criminally underrated Prefab Sprout. “Darling it’s a life of surprises. It’s no help growing older or wiser,” emotes Paddy McAloon on Prefab Sprout’s late ‘80s single ‘Life Of Surprises’ . Whilst he never explicitly mentions global pandemics in the lyrics (well, nothing rhymes with pandemic) he may have a point.
Nothing in my locker of experience has prepared me for this, but that doesn’t mean I can’t plot a course through it for my DJ business. I won’t pretend to have all the answers about when we’re all likely to be able to get back to the jobs we love, but I do want to create a vision of what weddings might look like in the medium term. I’m no Nostradamus – if I was, I’d have booked the year off! – but here’s what I think the new normal might look like and why it presents us with some opportunities.
The Guest Cull It’s very possible that when weddings are allowed to resume, they’ll be more intimate affairs with perhaps only 20 or 30 guests allowed at the venue to ensure social distancing. I’m sure we’ve all DJed at some intimate events over the years, I certainly have! In my experience, whilst the smaller numbers can present a challenge, they can actually turn out to be some of the most rewarding events, allowing you to really get to know the audience.
However, there’s every possibility that the format of the day itself will change so we may have to adapt to a very different sort of wedding day than we were previously used to. The Micro-Wedding I reckon it’s not just the guest numbers that will be shrinking but also the length of the wedding day itself. Compared with a lot of other countries, UK weddings are fairly epic affairs, typically starting at 1 or 2pm and coming to an end at midnight. We may see this change to a far more stripped back day with a lot more focus on the meal than the dancing.
I can foresee a timeline that would start with the ceremony at maybe 2pm, followed by an outdoor drinks reception, then the wedding breakfast and speeches, with the celebrations wrapping up at 8 or 9pm. This would give us DJs a much narrower window of opportunity to entertain guests and, if I’m being blunt, makes it more difficult to justify our involvement at all. It’s depressing isn’t it, to consider being erased from the wedding day? So whilst we were all looking over our shoulder concerned about the threat from Spotify, along comes COVID-19 and kills off the DJ!
Ok so maybe that’s a bit dramatic, but what are you going do to remain relevant until we can get back to normal? I’m going to use a word I’ve heard a lot recently in relation to business: ‘pivot’ . Pivoting, in the context of your DJ business, is about changing your service as a reaction to having the wedding rug pulled from under you and it’s something we all need to consider in order to survive this challenge and remain invaluable to our couples. Here are some ways you can work with your couples and their venues to adapt and stay relevant: Daytime Music I won’t dwell on this too much because countless other Pro Mobile articles have been written on this topic.
Suffice to say there are lots of ways you can add value with ceremony music production, drinks reception music outside and making the meal music more upbeat for your couples. Wedding Day Hosting Here you can add some real value for your couples. If the evening entertainment is curtailed then the meal is likely to become the focus of the entertainment. Having someone there, like you, who can pull everything together will be crucial.
So how are you going to keep guests engaged and entertained during the meal? I already offer my services as a wedding day host and regularly get involved in orchestrating things like speech sweepstakes, table games and advice cards for guests to share their wisdom and good wishes with the happy couple. I think this is an area where we are all going to have to innovate and develop if we want to be a part of wedding celebrations in the medium term. SOCIALLY DISTANCED SOCIALLY DISTANCED IF THE EVENING ENTERTAINMENT IS CURTAILED THEN THE MEAL IS LIKELY TO BECOME THE FOCUS OF THE ENTERTAINMENT those guests who simply aren’t permitted to be there, due to self-isolation or strict limits on guest numbers, feel involved in the day.
What if you could enable the ‘stay at home guests’ to be brought into the venue, whilst at the same time bringing the wedding into their homes. Wouldn’t that be a powerful thing? Technology will play a crucial role in connecting stay at home guests with the wedding day. The use of video conference apps like Zoom has risen exponentially since lockdown.
I’ve used it a fair bit in the past, but now it’s an essential part of my new-look client meetings. Imagine how something like Zoom could help connect guests on the wedding day itself. I don’t want to overload you with too much techie stuff. I will have already taken many of you out of your comfort zone by suggesting you take on the role of MC/Wedding Host so, to get on top of the video side of things, you’re probably going to need to call in some help.
Think about the contacts you’ve made in your time as a wedding DJ. I’m sure you must know some local videographers you could partner up with. I’ve already spoken to local videographers near me to look at ways to work together and bridge the gap between the wedding venue and the front rooms of all those remote guests. So how can we bring the wedding day experience into their homes?
Live-streamed video of the wedding day will ensure stay at home guests get to see all the highlights. I know venues who are already investing in their own permanent installations but an experienced wedding videographer should also be able to help with temporary setups. The Guest Book Reinvented Think about how you can use the skills you’ve built up as a DJ and transfer those to the new wedding landscape. One that springs to mind is audio editing.
I’m frequently asked by couples to edit tracks for things like the first dance or a mash-up bridal party dance. There are lots of different pieces of audio editing software out there, many of them free and fairly intuitive to use. Why not use these to help couples produce an audio guest book, enabling those guests that can’t physically be at the wedding to leave messages for the bride and groom that can be played back during the wedding breakfast? Admittedly, there’s a fair bit of co-ordination to be done here.
Guests could be encouraged to record messages on their phones or tablets and email these to you for compilation into an audio guest book. You could even set this to music of the couple’s choice to amp up the emotions as the messages are played. Not only would you be offering your couples something totally unique, you’d also be getting your name out to all the guests who’d have to send their contributions to you. The Armchair Wedding Guest One of the biggest challenges couples will face when planning their socially distanced wedding is making all SOCIALLY DISTANCED SOCIALLY DISTANCED HOW CAN WE BRING THE WEDDING DAY EXPERIENCE INTO THEIR HOMES?
LIVE-STREAMED VIDEO OF THE WEDDING DAY WILL ENSURE STAY AT HOME GUESTS GET TO SEE ALL THE HIGHLIGHTS SOCIALLY DISTANCED The Selfie Wizard Ok, so at the risk of this becoming a free advert for Toni Cavallo’s ingenious little box of tricks, I want to introduce you to the Selfie Wizard, if you aren’t already aware of it. I invested in one about a year ago when they were first launched. It allows my couples to have their own personalised Wi-Fi network at their wedding venue.
Guests can easily log in with their phones and tablets and share pictures and messages onto a big screen TV connected up to the Selfie Wizard. It has proved really popular with my couples and their guests, but now Toni’s developed it a stage further. The latest update of the software means that regardless of whether the guests are at the event or at home, they can share pictures and messages live to the wedding day. Mind blown!
This is a game-changer guys. Imagine the possibilities this could open up for you and your clients. One idea my wife suggested to me to make socially distanced weddings more interactive was for couples to share their wedding day food menu with the guests at home. Maybe even work with the caterers to come up with an ingredients list and cooking instructions!
Then encourage the guests to cook along at home and share pictures of themselves (via the Selfie Wizard) enjoying ‘the wedding breakfast’ from their dining rooms. Remote guests could also use voting apps like Slido to cast their vote on their favourite wedding speech or vote on what song should be played next. Collaborate and Share Now, more than ever, we need to come together and talk with other wedding suppliers and share ideas. I already mentioned how you can reach out and collaborate with videographers.
However, it’s important to get in contact with wedding venues too. I’ve already had a couple of fantastic Zoom meetings with some venues I work with, where I’ve presented them with my socially distanced wedding plan. I also see this as an opportunity to cement relationships with new venues that were already on my radar last year. Even if none of their couples buy into the idea of a day far removed from the one they imagined, just think of the good will you’ll generate from your local venues by being the DJ that came to them with some ideas to help them get through this tough trading period?
It can only be a good thing to be having conversations with wedding venues right n ow. Of course this is all hypothetical, I’ve no idea what weddings will look like when they are allowed to take place again. I’m groping around in the dark for answers just like you! One thing I am certain of is that we’ll all have to find creative ways to adapt and stay relevant to our clients.
Hopefully this has given you some food for thought… SOCIALLY DISTANCED SOCIALLY DISTANCED NOW, MORE THAN EVER, WE NEED TO COME TOGETHER AND TALK WITH OTHER WEDDING SUPPLIERS AND SHARE IDEAS
