Here’s a scenario a DJ might experience that you’ll be thankful you’ve hired a DJ…

The dance floor is dead. Ugghh. You thought for sure everyone would like to hear Beyonce “Single Ladies” you had cued up on your mobile device. You knew for sure the place was going to light up light a Christmas tree at the first of December. Not this time. Yikes!

Now if you had a Pro DJ, he or she might simply have 3 other songs cued up 1) a slow one, 2) a hip-hop and 3) a country swing. Your DJ notices a lot of couple in the room who don’t want to be out there with everyone staring them down (at least not yet). DJ hits the slow song. Good choice. In less than 20 seconds the dance floor is packed with loving couples. Maybe we should have another slow one lined up in the next cue, just in case we need the double whammy.

Okay you ipod jocks out there… how are YOU going to handle it?

photo credit: Landii

I’m just getting setup using Posterous for my DJ web sites, blogs and social media. I used ping.fm before, but feel that Posterous is the way to go!

This coming week I’ll be doing a wonderful wedding for a really nice couple down in San Clemente at the Casa Romantica. Reception and Ceremony all in the same location. .

Lauren & Anthony Alvarado

I would like to start with apologizing that it has taken almost a year to write this email.

I wanted to say thank you for such a great job u did at our wedding. You really helped make the day go as smooth as possible. Also thanks for your help with the fake record skip for one of the dances. You will definitley be kept in mind for any future dj needs.

Thanks again, John and MacKenzie Brittingham

As a brief description, this is where you have designated song clips for each member of the Bridal Party as they are announced into the ballroom. They are short snippets, say 10-20 seconds each. If your DJ is on the ball, he will have each song prepared to the perfect moments in the song that’s most suitable for that announcee. It may be the chorus of the song or the part that’s well known for its dance routine on a music video. It all depends on the song and the individual.

Sometimes it’s done with couples which are matched up. Say, Joe and Julie were tango dancers… slip on a little tango thing, or a Shakira song. Maybe John is a science-fiction freak. You could play the Starwars theme or some such track. Maybe your Flower Girl is really into Taylor Swift. You could have a section played from “You Belong To Me” or “Love Story”. You get the idea.

Of course this means that the Bride and Groom are going to require an extra powerful moment when they are announced in. The DJ should save the extra volume of the music for the main attraction. If there are colored lights, they should certainly be turned on at that moment.

… I hope this sparks some fun ideas for you. Enjoy!

Transcript:

Of course, at a Wedding Reception, the first thing that happens generally, after the cocktail hour and after everybody’s settled in, is the Grand Entrance. This is where we invite the Bridal Party into the room and make it all exciting for everybody.

We will line everybody up and get them ready. We want to make sure the Bridal Party members are in the correct order and that they know what is expected. When they come out of those doors they need to know what they’re going to do. It’s a nice big show production. That’s why it’s called the Grand Entrance.

The video below shows us lining up the Parents, Flower Girl, Ring Bearer, Bridesmaids and Groomsmen, leading up to the Best Man, Maid of Honor, then the Bride and Groom. We made it really big for everyone.

And then if the Groom and/or Bride are up for it and feel comfortable talking on a microphone, it’s a nice touch to have the them welcome the guests. It adds a little elegance. You consider that the Bride & Groom have been invited into the room, it’s really big, everybody is standing up, it’s exciting. It just seems appropriate to have them say hello and thank all of their family and friends for being there.

Transcript:

At an event, there is usually a Dinner Time, and as many people know, there are different ways to serve dinner. One of the ways is with a Buffet. Another is a Sit-Down. Then there’s also the Family-Style meal too. A lot of times you’ll find at Asian weddings will have the Family-Style with a lazy susan in the middle of the table.

But there are different ways to start. If there is a buffet, and you want to have some fun, what I recommend doing is a Bridal Trivia (for a wedding): the Bride and Groom would give the DJ a list of questions and answers about how they met, where the honeymoon will be, where the Bride was proposed to… that sort of thing… questions and answers. The when we go to release tables for the buffet, what we do is have the DJ ask a question and the first hand in the air with the correct answer – “your table’s next in line!” It makes it kind of fun.

Another way to introduce a meal (if it’s a Sit-Down), could be with a cute recorded introduction, such as the Mission Impossible Theme or some other clever idea.

View Don’s video on Dinner Announcements to see the “Be Our Guest” routine…