By Alan Dodson, “Wedding Wizard”
Many people grew up watching Mighty Mouse morning cartoons and remember his catch phrase. “Here I come to save the day!.” In the wedding business, professionals need to be prepared to deal with emergencies that inevitably arise.
If well prepared the vendor team can “save the day.” A good wedding planner will always have a stock of emergency wedding supplies, including items that the bride, groom and family wouldn’t think to have on hand. However, as wedding entertainers, we cannot simply rely on others to be prepared.
Many times, there is no professional wedding planner; it may be a family member or friend, or none at all. Being prepared for wedding day emergencies means anticipating any potential problems with the wedding party, the venue or even the vendors and having the necessary supplies to prevent or fix these problems before they negatively impact the wedding day.
It is my personal opinion that I have a responsibility to my wedding couple to do everything possible to make their day perfect. That obligation goes far beyond music and announcements for me.
One of the best ways to eliminate problems is through communication with all of the other vendors & suppliers. Not only at the event, but prior to the event! Call them and introduce yourself, let them know that you want to make sure that everyone is on the same page to create an outstanding wedding for your mutual clients.
The photographer is a key contact as they typically spend more time with the client on wedding day than any other vendor and they can be a great source of timing information and they have an opportunity to see impending problems. This step alone will make you stand out over 95% of all DJs!
EXAMPLES
At one wedding, in a remote location, the power transformer feeding the facility failed and with a party of 175, it went totally black. The venue had backup generators, but the auto-switch on one failed and so there was still limited power. I had the training, and tools with me to get the other generator running and ran extension cords to our photo booth and to the band at the other end of the building and the party continued.
DJ Brian Sparhawk had a power failure in a similar situation, with no generators, but he had a converter in his truck to connect his sound system to, and was able to shine his headlights in a way to light the room enough to continue the party.
DJ Mark Robertson had a wedding where the AC failed, so he turned the sound system out to the parking lot and continued the party outside.
Susan Leek tells a story of a reluctant groom that was having a panic attack on a hot day in a hot venue, mumbling “I can’t, I can’t”. She took him aside and assured him that he could get through the ceremony with a stern talking to. She then had the preacher shorten the ceremony and it all went well. Afterwards the groom thanked her for helping.
SUMMARY
I am not suggesting that you attempt repairs of things you are not qualified to work on, nor to take on any responsibility that you don’t feel capable of handling, however I do think you should do everything possible to “Save the Day,” it will make you a hero to your clients, and people will notice.
When you are ready, willing and able to do whatever necessary for your clients, you will be known as a DJ that cares. That will lead to more business and profits for you. I have assembled, what I consider to be, the ultimate DJ emergency kit. With this kit you will be prepared to solve just about anything that comes up, from a cut finger, to hiding stains on a white dress with white chalk!
Here is a link to the Ultimate DJ Emergency Kit: http://www.alandodson.net/docs/udek
