Long in the Planning, Great Execution!
As you may know, September and October rival May and June for popular months to have a wedding, at least in St. Louis. Muggy summer days make for some uncomfortably hot wedding receptions, so many in this town opt for a cooler month for their nuptials. Hence, we are incredibly busy around this time of year, but that business provides some great material to share. My next few posts will be about some of these weddings, beginning with Rachel and Jeremy on September 12th.
The reason this wedding sticks out in my mind is that I was personally involved from the time I answered Rachel’s email until a couple of weeks after the wedding, when I got the link to the wedding pictures. I first got the email back in April. Rachel and Jeremy live in California, and were unable to interview DJs themselves. I remember patiently spending about 20 or 30 minutes explaining our service, and then booking her, and then saying “Yes, I can be the DJ if that’s what you want,” and then it was settled. Well, kind of. After that, I had to figure out what kind of custom package would fit their budget, and for that I had to actually talk to Rachel and Jeremy. Well, mostly Rachel.
Rachel, I came to find out, was hearing impaired. This would be my first time working with a client who had an auditory impairment, but it wasn’t really an issue. Rachel was an excited and nervous Bride, like all of my other clients, and in many ways was much easier to communicate with than many other Brides, since she checked her email on a very regular basis and was not afraid to tell me exactly what she wanted or to ask my opinion as a wedding professional. We had one phone call to seal the deal (using her CapTel phone, which assists her in communicating by phone, giving her text along with voice), which I later learned she was nervous about at first (no reason to be… it was like most phone conversations, but with a short delay, like in an overseas call).
Throughout this time, I talked to Rachel, Margy (Rachel’s Mom), and Jan (the event coordinator at the Museum of the Dog) on a weekly or monthly basis to make sure we were all on the same page. I visited the Dog Museum a couple of times to figure out my set-up for both the Ceremony (outside) and Reception (inside), and just to learn the lay of the land, since I hadn’t worked there before. While Rachel and I communicated, she dutifully filled out her planning forms and requests, as well as giving me access to her wedding website, where I was able to learn a little background about my clients. I wish every client would open up like this. It makes my job easier and more fun to know my clients on a more personal level. It just makes everyone more comfortable if they feel like they’re working with a friend.
Fast-forward to the wedding, and all the preparation pays off. I attended the rehearsal, because I was doing sound for the ceremony and wanted to make sure I had all my cues. I was able to set up my rig the day before as well, and I had some sub-woofers that weren’t being used, so I brought those out so Rachel could “feel” the music better. An intimate affair (about 100 people in all), it was also a blast. In lieu of the normal glass clinking to get the couple to kiss (which Rachel wouldn’t be able to hear), we had a “Kissing Tree,” a little tree with slips of paper hanging from it with questions or activities written on them. When a guest picked one off, they had to answer the question correctly or do the activity in order to get the couple to kiss. Hilarity ensued.
Dancing was great, especially for such a small crowd. Great energy all night, and more people dancing than not.
At the end, I got a huge hug (and a nice tip) from Rachel, and I left very happy, because I had seen this through for so long, and it really came together well.
Not every client utilizes my services to this extent, but I like them to know they can. It is very satisfying, to me and to them, when all of this planning can come together to make an incredible event!