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Forum: General Discussion

Topic: (Mini) Wedding Gig

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Next weekend I'm not only doing my first wedding, but it's going to be a 10 hour marathon session, so it's going to be a culture shock for two reasons, as I usually do Urban & Club mix-sets lasting between 1-3 hours.

I'm not in a mad panic over it, I'm strong when it comes to programming but I have a minor concern over the older music (my collection of 70's and earlier is very narrow), I'll be playing to about 60 mostly young guests (the bride and groom are early twenties), so they've requested I focus on modern party music, and specifically they don't want too many love songs, so it's a wedding with a bit of a difference.

That said, I don't want to totally neglect the older generation and the guests who will be expecting classic wedding music, so I'd like to ask if any of you experienced wedding DJ's, have any lists of typical and not so typical wedding style music?

In a nutshell, I'm very comfortable with dance anthems, Urban and recent cheesy party songs, going back to the early 80's. But I'm at a bit of a loss over what Elvis tracks I should play? and the tracks of any other major artist pre 70's/80's, Motown has popped up as a suggestion, any tips here?

Cheers for the responses.
 
Posted Sat 14 Jun 08 @ 1:13 pm
 
Bren I would get a Napster subscription and look at the charts for the years you want I think it goes back to the 50's. It is an easy way to get these tracks and get them fast.
 

Ask the people about 15 songs from the past till now that they like very much.
Also tell them the songs they choose must be big party hits.
Otherwise they come with songs that only they like, but maybe boring for the whole evening.
With the choice from them, you already have an idea what they aspect for the evening.
Don't play too long a genre, for example don't play 5 rock song but after 2 or maybe 3, play another kind of music like a summer song or whatever.
Watch the dancefloor and play some good uptempo songs.

Play some rock/roll, rock, dance, r & B, Latin, soul, dance classics.
From every kind of music, take the big hits and don't forget to play some songs where the crowd like to sing/scream together.
And also a good wedding dj can talk ( not too much) to get the people dancing or just for a little entertaining.

At last:

Start the wedding evening with just nice songs to hear but not really big party hits.
For example the first hour with songs like Mink Deville - Demasiado Corazon. Not really uptempo but good for start.
Keep the biggest and best song for the last 2 hours of the evening !!!


Wish you all the best.

 
uuuuuhhhhhh 10???? hours ?? why ?

usually after 3 hours they're pickled/embalmed ........

normally i would tell someone save the best for the end ....but i dunno if this can really go 10 hours .....you may need to play it by ear and play the best party trax when you have the crowd .......

speaking of which .....your contract should state that your fee is a set amount ,regardless of the number of hours ....

this is NOT a lesson in statistics or demographics ........every couple and group is different .....so don't expect to just run down a list of classics, get there requests

i'm headed out fer a gig .....i'll get back soon w/ some recommended tunes
 

Thanks for the feedback so far, lists would certainly be welcome.

It is due to the fact that this is a wedding, and the duration so long that I ask for a little input here, were this a shorter affair I would "skim" over many genres, just playing the tracks that everybody knows (like a typical wedding event), of course I don't want to play tracks that people don't know, but I need to cover those grey genres/years with a little more depth than usual.

I do expect a bombardment of requests, so I will need to expand my general collection of "golden oldies", cheesy party hits, motown, rock 'n' roll etc, as I'm usually a dance styles (but commercial) club DJ so my music collection heavily reflects this, only sporting a general overview of older chart music.

About the 10 hour duration, that is the amount of time the wedding hall is booked for (a double session), it wont be a thumping rave from start to finish, and it's likely that the event will end around 22:00 when the bride and groom retire, although its possible the event will go onto midnight (so 8-10 hours).

For the first 2-3 hours the music will be for the background, while people are eager to socialise and eat, I'll have VDJ playing in automix mode (from a list I'll create and re-organise to suite the mood of the day), I'm also a guest at the wedding, so I'll spend some of this time mingling.

So roughly 3 hours in or whenever it's deemed suitable, I'll increase the volume playing track after track actively, looking for but not forcing a dancefloor situation, I'll do this for a few hours, playing from a broad selection of party hits, from the 50's to current chart.

At 18:00-19:00, I'll do an upfront mix of 90's to what's current, playing R'n'B, Hip Hop, Soul, Pop and Rock, then building up into some 90's house/dance anthems, and taking it into ministry of sound territory. Dance music has been requested and this is the most suitable time to do it, but for how long obviously depends on the guests reaction, but most being young it should work.

In the final hours I'll slow it down, playing chill-out, r'n'b/soul and love songs.



 
Congrats on your first wedding! I checked those lists that were posted earlier, and really have nothing to add...except maybe the Association's "Never My Love," and maybe the Gap Band's "You Dropped a Bomb on Me (for your funk set, if you're doing one)." Your plan looks good, but the very last song should be upbeat for a lasting impression ;)
 
Hokay a few uptempo pre 70s crowd favs off the top of my head...

Chubby Checker - Lets Twist Again
Elvis - Jailhouse Rock
Jerry Lewis - Great balls of Fire
Beach Boys - Barbara Ann

And if thats working and as you're already up around that tempo maybe mix in Footloose, Greased Lightning, and Mambo Number Five

I would usually do background music up to and during the meal, then start the dancing with the Bride and Grooms first dance. Thats probably 8pm-9pm - play nothing too danceable until then as the first dance should really be when the dancing starts - you'll be left with less than four hours if you have a midnight finish so nothing but the biggest crowd favourites during that time and you'll be sweet ;)
 
I don't really agree with any of their selections personally...young couples wanna hear old school music...Baby got back, Can't touch this... haha Hard not to laugh when playing them... and some classic slow songs like Edwin McCain I'll be.... that's one of the biggest slow songs I play... also another slow one is wonderful tonight...Eric Clapton.. everyone likes that... no Elvis...no beach boys... yuk.... Stayin' alive... dropped the bomb maybe... some motown or mustang sally...Some kind of wonderful... Hustle first, later play Cha cha slide...then later later play the cupid shuffle.... .older people they also like .... Love Shack, mony mony are 2 popular upbeat 80's.... PLEASE DON'T PLAY MAMBO NUMBER 5!!! follow these steps you will be fine... make sure you play edited music..if you don't have any...then you better get some! people laugh at the strip club that I dj at because some of my music is edited...nothing is worse than an F bomb being dropped by the dj's music when the little kids are there! ;-) good luck buddy!
 

Again, thanks for the input and I'll be sure to post how it went with some pictures ;).
 
Umm yeah partyitupdj, except he was asking for pre 70s music and 90% of your suggestions are 80s tracks???
 
a few pre 70 are ok but not alot..... if you're gonna play Elvis...I'd play Can't Help Falling In Love...most of the older tracks you play are going to be slower mellow tunes........most of the tracks at the beginning in general. I'd stick with some Frank Sinatra Dean Martin kind of stuff with pre 70.... It's a good idea to have the wedding party fill out a wedding packet to choose the different styles of music they want at different times of the party... This will usually set you up for other ideas to play along the way.... I've done a all day party before...music and microphone for the ceremony then with 2 dj sets going at once.. one in the tent and one by the pool..... went about 10 hours.....2 until little after midnight... good luck buddy... oh yea and people like the 80's crap more then most other music....classic rock is good too...george thorogood, steve miller, and john mellencamp (he's kinda in between classic and 80's rock) l888rrrr
 
Well Bren, don't hold us in suspense..how did it go????
 
10 hour wedding(plus 4 hours for transportation setup and tear down), did that before and even if VDJ helped a lot, a gig like that drains me out, but made lots of money, anyway an event like that takes lots of preparation (btw drink lots of water, get power bars, get a good night sleep before the event and stay low on alcohol and caffeine), then you have to know your crowd before gets there, (attend to the rehearsal dinner),get a second dj and take turns MC-ING, Make sure you communicate well with the wedding planner and caterer, designate people to keep you in the loop with on the fly changes, anything could happen in that time
 
Well a few surprises guys..

Before anyone blasts me about not being organised/professional or whatever, I'll just say that I'm not a mobile DJ, and this gig was done as a favour to a friend getting married on a budget.

Firstly I arrived at the venue assured that they had a PA system installed, upon setting up my gear and doing a sound test I soon realised that all of the speakers in the hall had blown, and at any volume the sound was terrible, so with no obvious solution I hurried to the wedding at the register office.

I informed the groom of the situation and suggested that I dash home and get my home system (consisting of a £1000 Pio Hi-fi, although ten years old, and 2x acoustic floor standing speakers (225 watts), in the meantime my wife was playing music quietly as the guests were entering the reception, I got back in 30 minutes and managed to set-up before all the guests had arrived, the sound was comparatively awesome, to my surprise.

It gets worse before it gets better..

(main system: Vista Home, Mid-High spec, VDJ 5.1)

VDJ was operating in Automix mode, and when I attempted to take control of the software I got a white screen with VDJ's interface faded, and then a "program not responding error", when I re-opened VDJ every file was unscanned, all fav and filter folders had been removed and settings reverted back to default, I couldn't believe this was happening now of all times.., it never happened once during the beta session, but things always go wrong when you least need them to.

So now I commence play from my second more reliable laptop (much older, running XP), of course running this in a more simple manner. After a number of restarts and connecting my external HD (containing some, not all music) the database was found again and some of my old arrangements had been restored, although a number of my tracks had become "unscanned".

After this set back, things were running ok for so long, then I tried opening up a DVD folder from VDJ, which crashed the software. Later I opened it, loaded a song, and it only partially loaded before stopping, so the song ran out and the software crashed.

I also tried a regular audio CD in automix mode, from start to finish, and this caused a problem transitioning from track 1 to 2, as there were a few audio drop outs.

Later in the day after some joy, I got a "microsoft visual basic error" which for some reason I have sometimes, and this causes the software to crash, although you have the added convenience of being able to choose when (i.e when you click the box).

This gig, more than any other gig affirmed my belief in always having back-up, I'm so glad I did, it really prevented any embarrassing situations, although there were some audible faults.

As for the actual event, I feel I picked the right music although I was mainly picking 10 songs at a time and hitting automix, there was a lower than expected guest count, and it was a rainy afternoon, so only a few brides maids dancing, never anymore than ten, the gig ended up finishing 4 hours early, as this was when the bride and groom left.

Overall it was ok, but I would revise my set-up before doing this professionally, I felt I had more problems than what I consider acceptable, and I largely blame Vista for this, although I don't think VDJ was free of all blame. The hardest work I did was the lifting and carrying of the gear, and dealing with the conflicting requests of the guests, which is usually a bigger problem when dealing with smaller audiences.
 
Bagpuss wrote :
Well a few surprises guys.. The hardest work I did was the lifting and carrying of the gear, and dealing with the conflicting requests of the guests



Welcome to the world of the mobile DJ Bren...but I'm glad you got it sorted out in the end. Trust me when I tell you after a few you become very streamlined in transport and, set up and tear down. I am up and running in under 45, and down and out in under 40 minutes.

Your right, not every guest wants the same style of music, no matter what the happy couple tells you in advance.
 
Hey bagpuss

musicman here. Sounds like you did a good job pulling that wedding off. Good job. A bulk of my work is weddings and b-day parties.
Here's what I would suggest you keep on hand for your next wedding:

Country Music:
George Strait....Dwight Yoakum....Merle Haggard...Toby Keith....Etc

Old School:
Commodores....Earth Wind and Fire....Kool and the Gang.....

All line dances
electric slide...cha cha slide....macarena

Plenty of motown and 50's oldies but goodies

Crooner stuff
Frank Sinatra and the like

gaurenteed success with this group of music.

musicman
 
Wow, I feel for you there Bren... I HATE any kind of technical problem with the equipment when on a gig - even if you have a backup plan and the show goes on, it puts you on edge for the rest of the night; you can't relax and get on with your job when you're constantly wondering what's about to go wrong next! I carry a carry a laptop with the "bare essential" tunes, alongside my Herc MK2, just in case my main system were ever to fail. I also carry a spare amplifier. It's more stuff to cart around, but I'm SO much more relaxed as a DJ knowing that there is a backup system on standby.

You were unusually unlucky having that much go wrong in one gig though, well done for keeping your head! Bet ya can't wait for your next mobile booking now... ;-)
 
I thank you all for your input, especially to Terry who helped hook me up..

Whether I'll do any more mobile gigs is yet to be decided..

It would take some serious marketing, if I were to get the needed number of gigs per month to justify working part-time or even leaving my day job.

It strikes me as a business with big pluses and minuses..,

briefly:

Plus:
- Own Boss
- Less stress than your average 9/5
- Generally fun
- Relatively low investment to get a working business
- Potentially high earning

minus:
- unsociable hours
- constantly lifting and carrying equipment
- lots of microphone work at weddings etc (which I don't enjoy)

But it's always something to fall back on, if I needed the money..
 


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