Your Dream Day Wedding Planning Podcast with Kathy Piech-Lukas
Your Dream Day Wedding Planning Podcast with Kathy Piech-Lukas
Unveiling the Secrets of Outdoor Ceremonies and Wedding Reception Timelines with Upbeats DJs
Ever imagined how crucial experienced professional DJs can be for your outdoor wedding ceremony set-up? Wonder no more! Today, we're giving you an exclusive backstage pass to the world of wedding planning from the DJ perspective. This episode features an enlightening chat with Doug Stempley, a seasoned pro from Upbeat DJs, and host Kathy Piech-Lukas, wedding planner with Your Dream Day. We share crucial tips on how to have a smooth processional, avoid potential hiccups, finding the right vendors based on references and reviews, and the importance of the rehearsal with the wedding party. You'll also learn why wireless microphones and unassuming speakers are your best friends for a safe and pleasing outdoor ceremony experience.
The excitement doesn't stop there. Doug highlights the pivotal role of a DJ, beyond just playing music. With four decades in the business, Doug knows his stuff. He'll enlighten us on how a DJ can help keep your reception's timeline moving smoothly, coordinate the buffet line, and even provide interactive entertainment to keep your guests amused. Prepare to be captivated and informed, as we journey together into the heart of wedding planning.
To listen to more episodes visit www.yourdreamday.com
We are making our own story as we go, as we go, as we go. Hopin', we are, hopin', that we'll go, so we'll be ever after, ever after. Hi, I'm Kathy Peach Lucas and welcome to your Dream Day podcast. I am here today with Doug from Upbeat DJs, and you have been doing DJing for a long time.
Speaker 2:I have been DJing for a number of years I usually just state 20 plus years but actually started this month in 1984.
Speaker 1:Oh my goodness. So if you do, the math. Wait a minute, that's a long time.
Speaker 2:That's 40 years.
Speaker 1:So next year your Dream Day will be in the 20 plus club, but I got a long ways to go to be in the 40 plus club. But that's amazing and you're still around to obviously you're doing something right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I enjoy doing it. It started as a hobby right out of high school for the most part, and I enjoy seeing people have a good time, and I did it back in the day for free beer that was about it.
Speaker 1:Isn't it amazing what we did in our youth for pizza and beer? Not when I was 18.
Speaker 2:When I was 18, it was like hey, I'm at a party and everybody's having a good time and I'm playing the music for it, so it's like that was the joy of it then. And then you started. People were like, hey, come and DJ our party, we'll give you a free food and beer. And I'm like, okay, sure.
Speaker 1:But that got you the experience to take it to the next level, and that's like one thing that you do see on Facebook with vendors. And we actually have another podcast that will be scheduled in the future. It's going to talk about Facebook and finding your vendors on Facebook, because there are some legitimate people who are charging very, very, very, very little or next to nothing because they don't have any experience. But there's also people out there that are looking to take advantage of you and scam you, take your money, ghost you and then you never see them again.
Speaker 1:Or hear from them again. And then the next thing, you know, you've got your wedding in two weeks and you don't have a DJ because they've ghosted you. And so I mean, it's just. I can't stress enough. It's so important to hire professionals this is what they do that have experience, because you do get what you pay for and you pay for experience.
Speaker 2:And you look at references, feedback, reviews. Are they insured, are they an LLC? All kinds of different things to kind of validate your search if you're wondering if this person is going to scam you or not.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely, absolutely Well, and we had a wedding together last month and we had an outdoor ceremony and before we started recording, we're like you know it's not just as easy as going into the woods and pressing play. There's a lot involved in setting up for an outdoor ceremony.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's obviously planning a couple months beforehand to get set for the ceremony and the reception celebration as well. But the ceremony portion, getting ready for it, understanding who all is part of the ceremony. Who all is going to be, you know, formally coming in. Are they going to have a soundtrack for their entrance? Is it going to be individual soundtrack? Is it going to be the same soundtrack for everyone? So there'll be music changes throughout the ceremony as well as having sound support, and all of our sound support is battery powered, so there's no need for a generator or extension cables. That's a mile long.
Speaker 1:And that's actually a big, that's huge. That's bigger than you realize because I have had DJs who have run 100, 200 foot extension cords and guests can trip on those.
Speaker 2:And it takes away from the actual visual aesthetic part of being outdoors. You might see an orange cable running across the yard. That's to me. You're damaging photo opportunities.
Speaker 1:And generators. Depending on the kind of generator you have, they're loud.
Speaker 2:Oh yes.
Speaker 1:They're very loud.
Speaker 2:Even the quiet ones you can still hear.
Speaker 2:At a ceremony it's usually quiet so, plus, we have wireless microphones for the efficient lapels for the bride or the groom or both, so everybody can hear what's being said. A lot of times they're repeating their vows or they've written their own vows and it's cool to let the guests hear what they're saying, right? So instead of just the front row, we like to keep the speakers back and away from the photo eye, so we kind of go into the back outside part of the seating area so everybody can hear but we're not seeing, and a lot of times we try to hide behind trees or some natural coverage and that way it's not. The speakers aren't even in the site. So it's some planning and you got to know your venue when you get there, even though you may be in the woods. You know it's always good to show up at the rehearsal, which we do, and being there you're more prepared for the wedding day and you understand you get to meet everybody. You get to meet the wedding party instead of seeing them the day of.
Speaker 1:It's funny you bring that up. I tell my couples that at every rehearsal I said I say I'm allowed to make mistakes today because I'm rehearsing tomorrow as well. I'm learning who goes with who. And it's so true because when you have the little ones like Flower Girls and Ring Bearers, I would say at least more than half the time they're the child of somebody who's in the wedding party, and so you have to designate somebody for those little ones to go to after they walk down the aisle, and you have to think in terms of a three-year-old for them to walk down a long aisle. Think of a cathedral.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of people.
Speaker 1:To a three-year-old, that cathedral aisle is probably like you and me going down a football field. It's long, it's scary, it's overwhelming and it's important to give them that mental rehearsal so that they can build the confidence for the next day to get down the aisle without crying, without that fear and getting excited about it During the rehearsal.
Speaker 2:you understand who the point person could be. It could be mom, dad, grandma. It's like go to them instead of because sometimes that's the longest gap out of ceremony is getting the kids up front.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Well what we do when we direct a rehearsal. We'll have them go down the aisle and then we have a designated go-to person, Like it can be grandma, it can be Aunt Judy, it can be cousin Fred, it could be whoever it is, but we have them planted in an aisle seat, usually the third row, and they walk down and if they're under the age of seven I'll tell them if you want to go and sit with grandma, that's totally fine, you don't have to stand up here, and every now and then the girls usually just go straight to grandma, but the boys you could tell they want to be one of the big, proud boys, and so they try to be. You know, stand up like I'm a big boy too, and then eventually they're like my legs hurt. I'm going to go sit with grandma.
Speaker 2:But ceremonies are the reason why everybody gets there. It's the shortest formality portion of the entire wedding day. It feels like and you look at the overall entire day but everything is kind of like magnified. And I tell the couple when I meet with them. I said if things mess up, no one knows that it's a mess up because they don't know what they don't know.
Speaker 1:Exactly Unless you react to it.
Speaker 2:Then they're like oh, something happened.
Speaker 1:Well, and that's the thing. There will be things that happen on your wedding day. They're not mistakes, they're memories. Those are the things that you will talk about 20 years from now and laugh at and Giggle at. You know, you might be a little mortified at the time. It's happening, but it's adorable.
Speaker 1:Later on true story I had a Ring bearer who I think was three at the time and then he had like a one-year-old sister who was a flower girl and he was not going to go down the aisle and so his father had the daughter in one arm, had the ring bearer holding his hand in the other. The ring bearer has the pillow on his face the whole time he's walking down the aisle and then when he got to the altar he took the pillow and threw it at the groom. It's precious because when they're that little, that's just them being adorable, they're just being so sweet and so cute and so so genuine. And you know now, if you, if you tell, if you were to tell that little boy who's probably like 10 or 11, he'd probably be like, oh my gosh, I can't believe I did that.
Speaker 2:He's like I don't want to see that but it's so sweet to reflect back.
Speaker 1:Oh, yes, I remember that that was so cute and so you know they'll be. They'll be things that happen on the wedding day and it's okay. I mean you just that's why you have a good vendor team in place. That's what your vendors are there for. They're there to you know, pivot when they need to, and you know they're there to cover for you and Everything is seamless. I mean it like you said. The guest has no idea that something wasn't supposed to happen.
Speaker 2:Then we covered it and it, just don't react to it, just, you just keep going, you just keep going and and keep that confidence smile.
Speaker 1:And because the ceremony is.
Speaker 2:It's supposed to be intimate, but yet you're sharing it with everybody, right? So right you know, don't, don't be worried, and you know, Tell the groomsmen to shift their legs so they don't lock their knees and pass out all kinds of little things like that.
Speaker 1:Yep, my big thing with with the wedding rehearsal is I Tell the groomsmen I said I don't care which one, but pick one. And I say at ease, which is where they, you know, stand with their legs apart and arms at the side, or what I refer to as fig leaf, where it's one hand over the other, you know, in front of you, and they always get a kick out of that because they know exactly what I mean when I say that. I would say 90% of the time they go with option number two. But the big thing is just that consistency and just making sure that you know when they go down the aisle, they know when to go and you know ladies are always on the left. So you know the bride is on the left, the bride's maids are on the left, the bride's family, at least in the first couple rows, is on the left and they just know where to go because a lot of people they don't know the the overall wedding ceremony or reception protocol.
Speaker 2:You know they've not been married before. Most of the time it's like they're it's their first wedding, right, so they lean on the vendors and planning and the end of the ceremony. We we like to do something a little different where we continue the support, because usually the guests are asked to go back to the reception, that area for cocktail hour, happy hour and the family and the couple on the wedding party usually stays. Sometimes they'll release the wedding party but stays for final photographs. I gather a I'd say a half a dozen Kind of up tempo songs from the couple, but not danceable but not sleepy songs, to still continue to play in the background at the ceremony site, just lightly playing, so it's not super dead quiet as Everyone's heading back to the cocktail hour. Plus, you know me and my team will go back and we'll just let the sound system run For that time that they're out there so it gives them a little bit more Something to add to the comfort.
Speaker 1:Now Do you bring multiple sound systems to the wedding day?
Speaker 2:Usually three, because we'll have a cocktail hour, we'll have a ceremony and then we'll have the reception Celebration sound system, which is a bigger sound system for dancing.
Speaker 1:That's a lot of equipment.
Speaker 2:I, most of the team of, fits everything in their vehicle. No trailer. I got one, one DJ, that does have a trailer. Mm-hmm but I've got a Chevy Traverse. Everything fits in the set Chevy Traverse.
Speaker 1:Wow, but that's that's gonna make it so much easier on you because you when you arrive usually the DJ arrives, what like two to three hours ahead of time and you set up the ceremony site, get that, do the sound checks and make sure everything is good to go in there. And then you set up the cocktail hour and the dinner reception sound system, make sure everything is good to go there right and it takes time to get all that set up and sometimes it's Logistics getting into the spaces.
Speaker 2:You know it might not be an easy roll in. You may have to go up a couple floors, or you may be in a different banquet room for For dinner and then dancing is yet in another area. So then we have some remote speakers and different rooms which are wireless remote. So again, no wires going from one place to another, mm-hmm, and then you've got lighting and effects and special, special items that we have. That's our add-ons, you know, like the cloud dance or spark boxes, or up lights, monograms, all kinds of different things.
Speaker 1:So these are some cool. Well, actually kind of transition here into the reception. These are other neat elements that people can add to their reception. What is a cloud dance?
Speaker 2:Oh, you've probably seen it where, like the first dance, it's a low-laying cloud that it mits out really quick. It doesn't last very long because it's basically dry ice and it's the effect of dry ice and hot water and it just Clouds out of our machine. Really, we direct it to where it's focused on the dance floor, and a lot of times We'll have an LED Light or one of our tube lights to kind of like glow the cloud to make it Blue or magenta or red or whatever color they would like.
Speaker 1:And that is not the same thing as a fog machine Correct.
Speaker 2:It's completely different fog goes throughout the whole air, and most venues have banned fog machines because of their fire detection system.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's good to know. What are some other things that you find DJs will bring along on the wedding day, as far as, like I hate to call them accessories, but like we were talking about the lighting and and other things, up lights are a really big.
Speaker 2:A lot of DJs have a variety of different up lights. Usually they're the lights around the walls of the venue and the good DJs will have them hooked to remotes and it will dance to the music or they can change the colors throughout the celebration to to match the mood or Set the mood or go along with music, and then they may change colors to the Speed of the music around the whole room and then in some DJs just have static up lights where it's just one color the whole night. Mm-hmm so it's different varieties.
Speaker 1:Check with your vendor that you're working with to see if you can get one or both of those options and up lights make a dramatic difference in the room, especially if you have lighter walls, because you can Change the atmosphere very dramatically just with light and it highlights like if you have a column in a In a venue there may be multiple columns and you can highlight those columns with the up lights and bring, Bring that out.
Speaker 2:That's in the room already right, right.
Speaker 1:Well, and with, as far as like, the timeline goes on for the dinner reception. What do you find are the key components that you consistently see in timelines?
Speaker 2:like the formalities there there are. There are a lot of formalities in a reception, I would say. There's like 13 or 14 that you can pretty much have plugged into your celebration. That's a lot of moving parts and you want to keep. You want to keep things moving, so you don't want to have 14.
Speaker 2:Formalities to drag your guests through right, you know, maybe five, six or seven, but some of the most popular ones, the traditional ones, are like the cake cutting the first dance, the toast. Those three are really like the stable Formalities for any couple. You know, I would see Some of these formalities, such as the garter toss. We haven't done the garter toss, I haven't been seeing that.
Speaker 1:I haven't been seeing less and less. I've been seeing the garter toss. Okay, I still see the bouquet toss but it's teetering a little bit. Yes, yes. I actually just had a tie-down meeting yesterday with for a wedding that we have in a few weeks and they're debating whether or not to have a bouquet and garter. Still, I think they're going to decide that night.
Speaker 2:What a lot of DJs and couples are doing now and event planners are suggesting is, after the formal introduction of the couple or maybe even the wedding party, go right into your first dance.
Speaker 1:That's what we always recommend, because you've got a captive audience. It's so classy.
Speaker 2:Everybody's looking at you. Anyway, it's a cool segue after the introduction to slow it down, get everybody calm and then kind of move into a welcome or maybe a prayer before the main course is served. Then you can trickle into your other formalities, like your toasting afterwards, cake cutting. I've even seen the cake cutting move to right after the first dance.
Speaker 1:Then they really can get all the formalities out of the way.
Speaker 2:Yeah the catering staff can take care of the cake and have it ready and served or plated somewhere right after dinner.
Speaker 1:Well, and the advantage too is when you put all the formalities up front. Because you put all the formalities up front, your photographer doesn't have to stay as long, because all those formalities are done already. After you do your father daughter dance and your mother son dance, and if you decide to do the bouquet and garter after that, your photographer can take off because you're not waiting on that additional first dance.
Speaker 2:That could be $500 savings.
Speaker 1:It's huge, it's huge. We just gave you a tip.
Speaker 2:The big thing with doing some of the formalities early. You've got to consider the guests have been waiting a while for dinner. They're hungry. You want to balance it out to save some for after dinner, so you're not delaying the meal for everyone.
Speaker 1:No, that makes perfect sense. That makes perfect sense. Then a couple has a buffet. How does the DJ participate in releasing tables to the buffet?
Speaker 2:That is an option on our itinerary builder, on our website, that there's a couple different options. Option one the caterer pretty much does a captain's call and they've got a captain and they'll go around. Or a major D and they'll go around and dismiss tables to the buffet If they choose not to. Or the catering staff a short staff the DJ is kind of like a default. Or an event coordinator might step in. Or maybe the coordinator said will you help us out? We all work together as a team, all the vendors. The second thing is the DJ would be the major D and walk around at the dismiss tables. Or there's some interactive things that we've done before and it's on our itinerary.
Speaker 2:We've got a list of different fun activities to play. This is one where we'll do you have to sing a love song to the bride and groom to have your table dismissed? Oh boy, it can just be the chorus of the song. We're not going to accompany it with any music, but think of a love song that you know and there could be eight or 10 people at the table. Between those, they can come up with a chorus of a song. So they're raising their hands and I'll run over with the microphone and have them sing and then they're dismissed and then I'll get ready for the next table once the buffet is ready and I'll ask. I said who has a song next and you know I have two or three tables raising their hand quick and I'll have to make a decision. So it's a fun, interactive way, or we'll do music trivia or name that song. We'll play a song and the first person to raise their hand guesses the song. You know it's kind of like name that tune.
Speaker 1:Ah yeah, so they're like icebreakers basically.
Speaker 2:It's something fun and it's choices that the couple can decide, you know, do we want to be, you know, more classy, more elegant, a little bit more cheesy, more fun, more interactive, all kinds of different flavors.
Speaker 1:And those are the things that you talk about with your DJ at your final planning meeting.
Speaker 2:And we start 60 days out from the wedding to begin planning and we have a detailed itinerary that has a timeline. Down the left side it has bullet items with basically what we're going to say. So they get an expectation on how we're going to represent them throughout the celebration. Not that we're going to read it verbatim, but it gives them an expectation and it shows all the other vendors, because we'll share this after our final meeting with all the other vendors and email them a copy so they see what we're going to be doing. And sometimes the vendors use our copy to follow along so they know when they're going to do certain things.
Speaker 1:Well, I know, as a planner, like what I'll do when I work with DJs is I'll go to that final planning meeting just to kind of be that ear of consistency, because you don't necessarily get to go to the catering walkthrough or the meeting with the photographer and there may be some things that we discussed with those vendors that you would have. You would not be privy to that.
Speaker 2:I highly encourage that. There's a couple venues that they have day of coordinators at the venue and I know some of the venues coordinators and I invite them. So when I know some of the vendors or the coordinators or event planners, I invite them to the final meeting because we'll do a Zoom call and do it like on a Monday or Tuesday of that wedding week and then finalize everything, make sure everything's set in stone and we're good to go and we're set for that weekend.
Speaker 1:Oh, perfect, Perfect. Now the other thing I've been seeing a lot is a private last dance. Have you been seeing that a lot too?
Speaker 2:There's a couple formalities that are probably a year, maybe two years old, but the private. We call it the private solo dance and we clear everyone out of the ballroom space or the reception space and no one's in there. We even step out. As a DJ, we'll step out and let them have that special moment all by themselves at the end of the night and a lot of times it's a good opportunity, if you're going to have a sparkler or some kind of special exit, to get everybody out there in preparation for that and then a couple can have that three-minute dance and then come out to their exit with all the guests.
Speaker 1:And that's actually a special moment for them too, because they don't. As a couple, you will not get a lot of private time on your wedding day, because everybody wants a piece of you. They're so excited for you and they want you to pose for pictures and they want you to smile and they want you to hug. They want a hug and you don't get much downtime.
Speaker 2:And you got to introduce one to the other because they might not know your fiance or your wife or your husband. They're like this is my Uncle Bob. For the first time I'm introducing you.
Speaker 1:And that's all those things Right, and it's nice to just have that three minutes of time.
Speaker 2:It's at the end of the night and you can kind of reflect on everything that's happened and just kind of look at your wife or husband and, like we actually did it.
Speaker 1:Well, we did it here today with this podcast interview. How can people find you, Doug?
Speaker 2:There's multiple ways Facebook you can see us on Facebook at UpbeatsDJ. You can find us on the web at upbeats-djcom, and you can. All of our contact information is there and, yeah, socials are pretty easy. Ig is at UpbeatsDJ, so easy to find.
Speaker 1:Yeah, wonderful it's.
Speaker 2:Upbeats, you know.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm Upbeat, are you Upbeat?
Speaker 2:Always.
Speaker 1:All right, doug, thank you so much for coming on today. Thank you for tuning in to your Dream Day podcast. You can visit yourdreamdaycom to review past episodes and we look forward to you listening to our upcoming episodes. This is Kathy Peach Lucas. Happy planning.
