Beyond the DJ Booth
Brian B and Joe Bunn tackle questions about the private event DJ industry, share music, gear/gadgets, and stories from their events.
Beyond the DJ Booth
When Wedding Planners Act Like Partners: Lessons for Working DJs
Ever had a planner ghost right when the dance floor opens? We’ve all been there. In this episode, Brian B and Joe Bunn unpack the night-and-day difference between vendors who simply “show up” and planners who actually partner with DJs to create seamless, unforgettable events.
Brian shares three back-to-back gigs that illustrate how strong communication changes outcomes:
- A Disney-themed ceremony-to-dinner sequence that demanded a mid-set rescue to reignite the room.
- A 290-guest after-party where sharper sequencing was the fix after a band’s dated closing numbers.
- A 30-guest outdoor dinner where five dinner courses became five distinct genres, each keeping the mood fresh and intentional.
Brian spotlights planners who do it right: vendor-specific timelines, shared drives, and quick pre-event check-ins that prevent “he said, she said” chaos later. The takeaway? Collaboration isn’t just nice, it’s a professional advantage.
From there, they pivot into practical business strategy:
- How to structure your team for consistency during multi-event weekends.
- What to do when photographers and videographers leave early.
- A quick gear pick and a Patreon update with new coaching tools, weekly Top 10 bangers, and early-access drops.
Whether you’re a working DJ, planner, or creative pro in the private event DJ industry, this episode is your blueprint for smoother collaboration and better nights on every level.
🎧 Subscribe, leave a review, and share with a vendor who actually gets it.
RESOURCES & LINKS
Our website. Please leave a review! - https://www.beyondthedjbooth.com/
To book Joe Bunn: https://bunndjcompany.com/
To book Brian B: https://djbrianbofficial.com/
Joe’s Gear Finds on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/shop/djjoebunn
Brian’s Gear Finds on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/shop/djbrianbofficial
DJ Event Planner free demo: https://www.djeventplanner.com/signup.php
Brian B's Coaching Options: Https://www.thdjscreativeedge.com
What's up, guys, and welcome back to Beyond the DJ Booth Podcast. I'm your host, Joe Bun, with my other co-host, Mr. Brian Bonacisi. It's here. And um it's we're back. We're back. We took a 15-minute break. We're batch content, ripping it out today. Tons of good info, tons of good episodes. Let's keep it rolling with this one.
SPEAKER_01:So when this drops, yeah, it'll be the Wednesday after our conference, the DJ Collective.
SPEAKER_00:DJC Recharge. Right? That's basically the rebrand now, right? DJC Recharge. For the time. DJC stands for the DJ Collective.
SPEAKER_01:So I'm sure we'll do a recap episode of it. I'm sure we will. But heading into it, is there anything that you're looking forward to? I mean, you've seen some of the names, you've seen the the schedule, or just anything you're excited to try out, do differently. I don't know. What are you looking forward to?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, man. I think um I thought we had a really good recharge in February in Arizona. I still can't believe that was this year.
SPEAKER_01:It seems forever ago. Doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I mean, I I saw something the other day, like I was going through my tickets, uh plane tickets for the year, and I the NAM show was this year. I felt like that was a hundred years ago. Um, but we had a really good one in Arizona. I think we had about 50 people. We were gonna have very close to 100 people, I feel like, for this one. I think I am looking forward to uh the fact that it's in our hometown. You live here now in Raleigh as well. Um the the attendee list looks incredible. Lots of first timers. Lots of first timers, which I'm always excited about to introduce them to our our world, our culture, this this totally different experience, you know. Uh I'm looking forward to more personal connections. I think we I've said this before, man. I think we kind of lost our way at a couple of the conferences. They just got so out of hand, out of hand, so big, so much money, so much talent. Over the top. I just feel like it got a lot bigger than the 10 people in an Airbnb in Austin, Texas, real fast. It did. And it was highly risky. It was an incredible amount of time.
SPEAKER_01:We had a good run with that.
SPEAKER_00:Dude, we had a great run. I I I don't I will always forever say that there's nobody that's ever had anything close to what we pulled off. Uh in Atlanta and and in and in Nashville and in Arizona. Yeah. Those those big conferences were legendary. Legendary. Like a talent pool was insane. Every time. So uh, but I love this recharge uh style, and I think that as an attendee, if I was just coming, I think that I would leave with much more knowledge and connections than I ever would from what we did at the big shows.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I agree. And and and less less of a hangover. Although there are some good opportunities to get a hangover.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. I would agree. And we're What about you?
SPEAKER_00:What I mean, uh how how are you excited about Robin? Yeah, man. You seem really hyped this year about I I am. I think every time I see you in person, you're like, dude, I'm I'm stoked about the recharge.
SPEAKER_01:I am. I like the the the way that we've done the schedule.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um, I think we've had a tendency to I don't know, over program. I'll just say it, call it that. Yeah. And I think that wasn't, you know, necessarily the move. Yeah. I we were doing it because the price point was pretty significant, and we wanted to make sure people were walking out with with value, right? So I that was always my fear. I would never want somebody to go, hey, I went, I spent all this money, got nothing out of it. So I always would err on over-programming than under-programming.
SPEAKER_00:Same thing I did when I launched the DJ's vault. Yeah. It's too, it was almost too, it's still too much information, probably. You know what I mean? But I was always worried of somebody logging in going, man, I've seen all this or whatever.
SPEAKER_01:Right. So this one I feel is a little bit more relaxed in the schedule. I'm hoping, that's my hope, is that people feel comfortable with that kind of format. Yeah, and that they go, man, there's nothing else like it.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, listen, dude, we didn't pull that out of a hat. I mean, you and I have done ad nauseum surveys, exit surveys, uh pre-uh event surveys. Like people say, hey, a little less content, a little more time to get to know these people that are here that are going through the same things that I am, that are that are uh, you know, a level above me, and I want to get there. How do I get there? Right. I want to be able to ask them that, you know, sitting there having a drink out in the lawn on a beautiful fall day in North Carolina. Yeah, and that's what we're trying to achieve this time. And I think we're gonna do it. So let's spill some tea. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Speaking of price, you mentioned price. Um, we'll have the graphic right here. Yeah. So you guys can see the location, which is called the Maxwell.
SPEAKER_00:Yep. The Maxwell. So that is our uh next wedding venue that we have chosen for for DJC 2026. Recharge. Recharge. The DJC recharge is going to be at the Maxwell. It's about five minutes outside of downtown Raleigh. So most people will probably stay in some of the hotels that we'll list, obviously, on the website for people to stay at. Um but we are going to offer the lowest price we've ever offered for any event we've ever put on, ever. And it's going to be$8.95. Today is Wednesday when this comes out. It will last until Sunday, which is November the what, Brian?
SPEAKER_01:Um 22nd. 22nd, I think.
SPEAKER_00:It will be valid until November the 23rd at midnight. So when it strikes midnight on the 23rd, this offer goes away and it's going to go up. And I'm not sure how much. So if you want to go, if you got FOMO, you saw the videos uh and the stories from yesterday from wrapping up this conference and all the stuff we're going to put out for the future. Do not miss this. You've got Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday to go ahead and pull the trigger.$8.95 is going to be the lowest price you'll ever see for this. Lowest price it's ever been. Those big shows that we were just talking about, Nashville and Atlanta, were$2,500. I was thinking$2,800 at one point. I'm telling you, this is not to be missed at this price. It will only go up. Every couple of months, we're going to go up, up, up, up, up until it's going to be close to$2,000 or it sells out. Right. 100 people. Uh, we had a bunch of people. I guarantee, you know, I know we're filming this in advance, so I don't want to jinx it, but we will have a bunch of people sign up at the end of the conference tomorrow. So you're already in a short window to get in for$8.95 or before it hits 100 people. That is the cap. All right. So you've been warmed. All right. Cool.
SPEAKER_01:Let's pause this episode and show them the recap video or the hype video for we'll insert it into the episode for DJC. Yeah, here it is.
SPEAKER_00:Let's do the gear corner. The gear's here. The gear, the gear. Is here, is here, is here, is here, is here, is here, is here, is here.
SPEAKER_01:So this little box, a little bad boy. It was uh an anniversary gift to me. My wife knows what I like. Like this year? Yeah, this year. Uh it just happened October 2nd. Sharper Image. This isn't the Tera gun, but it's close. Okay.
SPEAKER_00:I'm worried. I'm like.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Ooh. This is the mobile massager gun. Okay. By Sharper Image. Yeah. There's a couple of different non-Amazon purchase. It actually is on Amazon. Okay. All right. It's got a couple different kneading options. Yeah. That silver one is hot and cold. Huh? Yeah, hot and cold. And you just pop it in. Literally just pop in. Okay. You don't even have to. It just pushes in. And then you just go with it.
SPEAKER_00:What do you mean hot and cold?
SPEAKER_01:It's temperature controlled. So you can go hot or cold. So I'll let you give it a shot. I mean, it's good. You definitely will feel it. You gotta have what I did notice about it, you gotta have somebody do it to you. Okay. You don't want to do it to yourself. It's not a self-applied situation. But have you seen those Theraguns? Yeah. And they're expensive. They're about This wasn't expensive. This was about the the Theraguns are between$400 and$800. They range depending upon Oh man. God damn I sh it gets in there. It gets in there.
SPEAKER_02:I lost the chip-off.
SPEAKER_00:It's right there. I lost the chip off. Dude, but wait, why is this any different than a Theragun? I mean just a cheaper version. It's just as intense.
SPEAKER_01:It seems like it. Yeah. I don't know the differences. I'd have to look at the thing. What do you think that that goes for on Amazon?$69. No, it's$179. It is a definitely investment. But I like the case. The case for it's nice. The case is premium. You know, it's got the little, it's right by your shoe. Sorry, dude. Uh, you're good.
SPEAKER_00:I launched it.
SPEAKER_01:Anyway, I've used it a few different times. Solid. I like it. I think you should get it. So if you're looking for something for recovery, the massage foot thing, everybody is was going April. Well, this is called the PP Pro Plus. Yeah, I'll put it in the email. Okay. So there's that. I like it. Anyway, gear corner. Grab it if you want on Amazon. We'll have the link in the email. Yes, sir. Good shit. Let's uh go to story time.
SPEAKER_00:Um, story time.
SPEAKER_01:What are we talking about today? So I'm gonna share the stories from those three gigs I mentioned. Well, we thought I thought we'd talk about that. No, we just talked about the travel aspect. We didn't actually talk about the gig.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:So Disney.
SPEAKER_00:Holy moly. Did you you I mean, I know how you are. You're Mr. Prep. I mean, you knew this going in.
SPEAKER_01:Going in, but I didn't realize it was gonna be throughout the entire night. Well, time out for one second. I thought it would be I thought it would be ceremony, some uh Disney instrumentals, which they're it was all Disney instrumentals. Time out one second.
SPEAKER_00:Was any part of you during the initial sales call thinking about I should not?
SPEAKER_01:No, I kind of looked at it as like, oh, that's interesting.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, okay, all right. It's found Barry Brian B.
SPEAKER_01:It wasn't like overtly expressed how much Disney was gonna be involved in this way.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, okay, okay.
SPEAKER_01:No, we didn't have Mickey and Minnie there. Right. There was no caricatures.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I'm surprised.
SPEAKER_01:Uh what about like attire? No, but the music was just so over the top with it. All of the ceremony music was all prelude and formalities, yeah, all Disney stuff. Right. Then when we started talking about dinner, I'm like, you know, what are we thinking about for dinner? And they're like, we want to go all Disney. I go, like, what? What are we talking about here? We're talking about movie themes, we talking about like, you know, she goes, all instrumental. I want to keep the same vibe as the ceremony. And trust me, I tried to talk her out of this because I thought it was a terrible idea.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:We had played it all of ceremony, and then we go into cocktail, they're gone a boat taking pictures. I'm playing it for an hour. Live or just off playlist? Live because we were in the reception room where that was taking place. So, I mean, I tried to find different instrumental versions. She wasn't very particular about what kind of vibe it was, but like, so I played classical, obviously, covers of Disney instrumental stuff uh for the ceremony. When we got to cocktail hour, I found some jazzy covers, believe it or not, of this stuff. Did you know the song titles or did you just get ish? Oh no, she didn't give that to me. She just told me the vibe.
SPEAKER_00:Wow, okay.
SPEAKER_01:I did research. Yeah, okay. And then for dinner, I'm like, what's left? We've done jazzy, we've done classical. Like, so I just found some like, you know, some karaoke versions, some instrumental read redoos. But I'm like, listen, I can't went up to her about halfway through dinner. I'm like, we've got to change it. I feel like this is the time for us to change into it. And I had already prepped her on this beforehand. I'm like, listen, if I feel like it's getting sleepy, and because she didn't, she wanted people to talk. I go, people talk over music that has words. We can do that. 100%. Yeah. Yeah. But I'm like, if we don't turn this, this we're not gonna have a dance for because it's just gonna take forever for us to get that energy to where the seat is. This seated dinner.
SPEAKER_00:Damn.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. So that was night one, right? Right. Go to this after party. They had a band.
SPEAKER_00:No, wait, wait, wait. You didn't talk about the dancing, though.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, the dancing eventually turned out fine.
SPEAKER_00:No, but I mean there was no Disney themed dancing. No, thank God. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Thank God we got to regular stuff.
SPEAKER_00:But I'm like, it was I'm like, dude, I didn't know where he was because like a Moana remix coming into that show. Although there was Lion King.
SPEAKER_01:There was uh I actually I think I opened with that. You did? Yeah, I think I did just to get it. Yeah, there's like something in there. Um, but it was just hard to. I guess my point with that whole story is it was hard to like turn. It's a hard left turn. Yeah, you know what I mean? Yeah. You're like trying to just get out of this stuff. So don't recommend the Disney themed instrumental. Rough. So then we go to the after party.
SPEAKER_00:Couldn't be any different. The next day. Different crowd.
SPEAKER_01:Different crowd. Yeah, right. This is the biggest wedding I have seen in a while. Oh, I know. 290 people at this thing under a tent with a band.
SPEAKER_00:Behind the Gasparilla in.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:The thing was minimum 800 a night, by the way.
SPEAKER_01:And I was shocked they didn't have a planner. They had what? They did not have an outside planner. The planners were from the venue. Shocking. Gasparilla. Yeah. Wow. And I asked them, I said, Do you guys do this? And she's like, Yeah, typically we do all of them ourselves. We don't have I got married down there. Did you? Yeah. Wow.
SPEAKER_00:Not at the Gasparilla. Okay. No, no, no. I mean, it definitely has its We did not have Gasparilla budget, but it, but yeah. No, we got married in Boca Grand.
SPEAKER_01:And the band was decent, but I just thought it was just really interesting what they're playing, peak hour, you know.
SPEAKER_00:Like, give me an example.
SPEAKER_01:Still Juice by Lizzo. I'm like, who is playing that song still? Not me. I mean, I I had its moment. Right. You know what I mean? Right. Then they went into get lucky, and some of the other ones, I'm like, but the the timing just seemed weird. Like we're in, then they go into uh some more Motown stuff, and this is like towards the end of like the party of the main party. I'm like, you have 30 minutes left. That's kind of how you're programming it. It just seemed kind of off. Right.
SPEAKER_00:But I was there for about Did they have people going? Did it feel like people were into it?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean, they had 290 people. You're gonna it doesn't matter if you lose 100, you're still gonna be good. Good point. But they that gave me a lot of wiggle room because I knew coming into the after party, I'm like, oh, this is gonna be an easy slam dunk. I'm playing for two hours, yeah, basically. Right. So they walked in ready shit faced. But and ready. Like I they held, I mean, I'm shocked they drank as much as they did all weekend, yeah, and still had it together by 1 a.m. It was 11 to 1. And uh that's a cool bar though. Oh, it's a great bar. Yeah, and the sound in there is it feels packed. Yeah, yeah. Um, I'll put it. I didn't know they let people play in there. I've never seen a DJ in there. I couldn't believe it either. Yeah, but shout out to Malik's guys. I mean, Rich, Johnny Rich. Johnny Rich was awesome, but also just the uh they had another lighting person who kind of did the lighting. It was great, everything was good. So then I go to this North Carolina one, right? Right. 30 people at this uh I forgot the name of the venue now. The Bradford. The Bradford, yeah. Have you played there before? Yeah, yeah, yeah. A million times. Interesting spot. Yeah. Um you didn't like it? I thought it was interesting. Very uh, so she was looking for a European style dining experience. I don't know what that meant. I didn't know what that meant. I'm like, okay, and I could kind of see it. They had the cafe style lights, the building's older. So they had everything out on the lawn, nothing indoors. Oh, interesting. All outdoors. Interesting. So they had the front lawn, which is where they had the ceremony. Yeah. Then the back lawn. Yeah. That had the cocktail. Under the stars. Under the stars, no tent, no tent. And then so it was hot. Oh boy, and it was hot. That's balls. There's no wind tunnel in that spot. So that fan saved me. Yeah. Um, but the I had never done a wedding like this before, where it was five courses, five straight up courses where they're like all of the people come in, they set it all down. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so to keep it interesting, I'm like, we got five courses. This is like almost a two-hour dinner for 30 people.
unknown:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:So I'm like, and they pray and like and the planner sold them on the Brian B experience.
SPEAKER_01:Uh and you know what? She's seen me at Engage, she saw me play not a party. I don't think she's ever seen me play a party before. Actually, she has seen me play a party, but not at Engage. Yeah. I think she was so impressed with the programming. Yeah. So she's like, This guy is not gonna play your standard dinner stuff, and he'll come up with ideas.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So we get on a call, and I'm like, listen, if we gotta do two hours of dinner, we gotta keep it interesting. And even me playing some of the stuff we've played on the show or on the podcast, like, I can't play that for two hours. Right. It's gonna feel off. Like we gotta have movement. So I said, Why don't we theme every course with a different style of music?
SPEAKER_00:Right?
SPEAKER_01:I can't wait to hear this. So she loved the idea. The client did, and so did the planner. And so she goes, the first course was you know, some kind of salad or whatever, but it she said, I really want a European stuff. So why don't we go Bridgerton vibes? Like almost like vitamin String Quartet, Brooklyn duo. They weren't doing that for the ceremony anyway. So I said, Why don't we just go with that kind of theme? Uh-huh. The second course was like a pasta dish. So I'm like, why don't we go Italian standards? You know, like, you know, all the Sonatra Rot Pack stuff, all that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:The third one, they love country, and they were having like a meet. So I'm like, that was like the main. So I was like, oh no, there was some kind of other one in between. I can't remember. Um, so we went a different style. Then we went to country music. Yeah, I liked country, and then we went to like a more modern pop era for all five, right? Pretty dope. Yeah. So it actually, like, I don't even know if people got it that we because I mean you were playing it live. I was playing it live. I mean, the planner didn't even realize that she had forgotten that we had talked about this. And then she came up to me and she's like, Um, so the music's changing so much. I go, Yeah, yeah. Remember we had that call, we're changing it. She goes, Oh, yeah, I totally forgot that. I bet they don't even remember that they said that because it would the call was so long ago that we had had.
SPEAKER_00:Oh then did you feel like it fell upon deaf ears, or do you feel like it helped? I think it helped.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, a thousand percent helped. I mean, if we stayed in one genre or a mix of genres for two hours. Right, right. And then I was worried about the dancing. I'm like, oh, this is gonna be interesting to see if we can get 30 people up here because they were a mix of older on a Sunday, non-holiday. Were they drinking? Yeah, but wine, you know, it wasn't like you know. But although that one we did, they got turned up on wine.
SPEAKER_00:Go ahead.
SPEAKER_01:So they did it. Uh, I mean, they got out there, they danced for a little bit. It wasn't a long dance set because we had two hours of dancing and noise ordinance. I'm sorry, of dinner, yeah. So we had noise ordinance. Yeah. So we had maybe 45 minutes, was the which was about the amount of time we needed.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I was about perfect, completely sustainable, totally perfect, small crowd, Sunday night. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Crowd, uh, the bride and groom said this is exactly what we envisioned.
SPEAKER_00:Right.
SPEAKER_01:You know, yeah, but it couldn't have been three different types of shows so different from one another. But I wanted to hit this point, and I don't we talked about planners a couple episodes ago, the negative.
SPEAKER_00:No, hold on. Before we don't, I don't, I'm not, I don't want to pigeonhole and stereotype all planners into the disappearing act, by the way. I'm giving up and I did say I love working with planners, as do you. I do. I don't want to do that shit ever again. Right. Because when we were in that low, you know, 795 range, yes, you're doing all we did it all.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I had the best experience with this planning group. Wow. Um, out of anybody I've worked with, this probably ranks in the top three. And I I just was blown away by all of it. So, first thing I wanted to share was that I got an email two weeks prior with like, here's the final everything. Yeah, right. So I put the email and we'll put it up here. But basically, it was just again two weeks early, so not week of, because sometimes some planners send stuff week of, and you're like, dude, we're three days beforehand, and you're sending me this thing, and it's a 16-page email. You know, I gotta go through it all. Right. This was like, hey, here's a hyperlink, find details here. So I click this, and then we go to the next slide. Um, it's a Google Drive. They have day of timelines, design, yeah, layouts, everything individualized so that I don't have to go through a 16-page document to pull out all the stuff. So I thought, okay, cool. At least we got the timelines in one folder. So I click on the timelines folder if we go to the next one here. These were all individualized for each vendor.
SPEAKER_00:Dude, I was about to say, mine last weekend was like this. Incredible. She it said full timeline and then bun timeline.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So this is done by category for each person. So if we go to the next slide, I kind of broke it out. So they literally what would have been like a 16-page thing, and you go to the next one was um two pages. Yeah. And if you go to the next slide, and then they had at the bottom all of the vendor contacts with their Instagram, yeah, all their phone numbers. So if I need anything from anybody, yeah, it was right there. Right there. So I just off the get, I was like, this is incredible. This is how every planning service should put it together. Absolutely. In my opinion. Yeah. 100%, man. 100%. I get an email. I'm sorry, I get a text on the Friday before. So I took a screenshot of it if you want to go do it. So this is from the assistant. Yeah. She's like, hey, Brian, Ally and Lauren here from the planning company. You're not gonna shout out the planning? Yeah, we can. Lionhouse. Um why would we not shout out? I don't I have nothing against. I think they're great. I know. I just want to make sure you were on Friday. We're so excited for this wedding. If you need anything at all, just let us know. I mean, they sent this to my guessing here, but every vendor on their thing. Yeah. And just like the time it takes to actually have to craft something, even if it's a copy and paste, just to be able to send, yeah. I thought that was such a huge thing. So, anyways, they sent this out two days before. I think that was the biggest takeaway for me was the fact that, hey, I'm not getting this day of, I'm getting this two days ahead of time. So if I need to have any conversations with them, I have a direct text message to the things that we're talking about, like in the previous episodes about planners where I'm saying, hey, message them before the end of the night to go, hey, what are we supposed to do? I'm already, I'm already in a text thread. Yeah, yeah. You're already down there.
SPEAKER_00:Right, right.
SPEAKER_01:You know, and then they did a rehearsal the Saturday before, or so the the night day before she goes, Hey, um, the the the bride really wants to come down at this time. Do you think this is okay? Like asking my uh take on how the the processional song is gonna go. And of course, I'm like, I trust you with whatever you think is gonna happen. But again, I just love the fact that they're including the DJ in some correspondence ahead of it. I have her information, and then just doing it as detailed as it is.
SPEAKER_00:I was just blown. I remember talking to you the day after on that Monday, and you're like, man, I was blown away with Lauren and her team. Like the killer. Like we were even talking about getting them to help us with some stuff. Yeah, yeah. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01:And I just told and I, in fact, I told Lauren, I said, listen, I've worked with some pretty heavy hitters.
SPEAKER_00:You have if if anybody can say they've been around the country and work with some absolute hitters, it's you.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And I said, you are operating at that level for this area. You should be, you will be killing it because there's no reason you can't. Your vendors are gonna love you because you're treating them in such a professional manner and you're not re-reducing them to just a vendor. You know what I mean? Like you're making them partners, literally, creative partners. I love it. So wanted to shout them out, but also just say that like it can be this positive of an experience, right? You know, for folks. Nice.
SPEAKER_00:I love it, man. Let's hit the question. All right, all right, booth heads. We made a move and it's a bold one.
SPEAKER_01:We officially launched a Patreon. We've got two tiers: one for$5.99 and one for$19.99. Basically, the cost of a coffee or a cocktail, depending upon how you roll.
SPEAKER_00:Listen, this isn't some support us or we disappear kind of thing. You actually get some things that are useful that we think that you're gonna need to run your DJ business.
SPEAKER_01:Like early access to batched episodes, bonus episode that we couldn't post publicly, maybe, and our weekly top 10 banger lists, songs that absolutely crushed at our events this week. You know, the stuff that you really want to steal from us anyway. But if you want to go deeper, jump into the booth backroom at$19.99 a month.
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SPEAKER_00:So stop texting us asking what remix was that and get in the booth for real.
SPEAKER_01:Patreon.com forward slash beyond the DJ Booth Podcast. Choose a tier, grab your spot, and let's keep building. Booth heads, you know where to go.
SPEAKER_00:Question of the day. All right, today's question comes from Instagram, which again, our Instagram is at Beyond the DJ Booth. Is it at the Beyond the DJ Booth podcast or at Beyond the DJ Booth?
SPEAKER_01:I think it's just at Beyond the DJ Booth.
SPEAKER_00:Now I'm now I have to pull out my phone and make sure because I don't want to steer these folks the wrong direction. Let's see. It is at Beyond the DJ Booth, right? So if you want, so what you're gonna want to do is go to at Beyond the DJ Booth on Instagram to see all the clips from the show, ask us, graphics from the show, ask us questions, um, make sure you're following that account. Anyway, from Austin on Instagram, how do you feel and what do you do when photographers or videographers say they are leaving at a set time? For example, the dance floor opens at 7 30 p.m. They leave at 8 p.m. The reception ends at 10 p.m. How do I feel about it? I hate it. And what do you do? I don't do shit. I'm not gonna I'm not I mean, unless I am implicitly told by the couple to change the direction that I'm normally gonna play, I don't give a shit that you're gonna leave. You're gonna miss the best party ever.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But I'm not gonna tailor my dance set because your contract is short. Yeah. I mean, what what say you here? What's going on?
SPEAKER_01:No, I I the only thing I was thinking of, and he didn't ask this in the question, but maybe I just took it this way. There's been times when a photographer is like, you don't know this information sometimes. Now I do, but early on in my career, I would not get this intel sometimes until I show up at the venue. And they're like, hey, we're only here till right after the dinner, so we need to rush all of these formalities. And I who said that? Who told you that? The photographer. Nah. And I'm like, listen, I'm sorry. Yeah. You know, but but now I ask in my pre questionnaire, like, how long do you have the contracted um not only videographer, photographer, but also content creator for? Yeah. Do you have all three of those if you have those services till the end of the night?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So I know ahead of time what I'm running into. Right. But yeah, if they leave early, I mean, it seems like all that stuff's done if they're they're staying till eight o'clock. Right.
SPEAKER_00:To be honest, man, I I mean, are you seeing that often? Not much. I'm not either. No. We used to, and it may be in his market, I'm not sure where Austin is. Um we're not seeing it that that often, are we, Saquon? Um, yeah, usually they stayed a whole time. Yeah. That's what I mean. Even last, even at that 46-person wedding, yeah, we were all sitting there getting a bite to eat, and and they were like, um I I was just we were sitting with the videographer and the photographer, and I was like, uh, you guys here the whole time. And they were like, yeah, 10 o'clock, right? It was an early window. We were like, yeah, 10 o'clock. I was like, cool, you're gonna see CO2, you're gonna see, you know, private last dance, you're gonna get everything. Because now so many are doing private last dance, or they are doing glow sticks, right? They are doing a CO2 game. And if you leave, you're gonna miss some absolute gold footage.
SPEAKER_01:I had one Sunday where they did leave early. And I think where it kind of was a little bit frustrating was the dinner was delayed. Yeah. Which threw off the schedule. Yeah. And she's like, I leave. And we hadn't done formality dances yet or anything. And so she's like, I leave at whatever. And I'm said, Well, I'm gonna check with the bride and groom, see if they wanna rush into that or if they just want to enjoy dinner and capture it on their phones. I I don't know yet. Let me ask.
SPEAKER_00:Why would the provider, the photographer, videographer, or whoever needs to leave early, not just walk over and go, hey guys, I know we got a little bit behind. You know, uh for an I can stay another hour. It, you know, it'll be 200 bucks and I'll send you an invoice.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Is is it that big of a deal? Like what where are you trying to go? Your day is cooked. Yeah, you know, like I I just I can't imagine walking out of somebody's wedding. Listen, now, if it's in the middle of dancing and you think you've got some good dance footage and whatever, sure, okay. And your contract's over, maybe you gotta go.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But I mean, if you haven't captured like her dancing with her dad or or him dancing with his mom, like uh there's there's no part of me that as a shooter I'd be able to just be like, yeah, I'm done. Yeah. I'm sorry, man. I don't care how long I've been there. How hot I was, what my contract said, I would figure out a way to make it another hour.
SPEAKER_01:And that's that's how I feel about DJing too, though. Like exactly. Why are we nickel and diming these people for an extra hour? Like, why not just add it to like are is the margins that thin where you feel like you would lose the sale if you added in, let's just say you were gonna stay an extra two hours to the package price or whatever the quoted price. So that that way you can cover their entire stuff.
SPEAKER_00:You know what I mean? That's kind of the way I am now. It's like here's the price for me to come out and do it. I'm bringing all this stuff. Right. You know what I mean? It covers the ceremony, cocktail hour, CO2, all the lights, sound, blah, blah, blah. It covers the day. Here's my price.
SPEAKER_01:And if they they do an after price separate, but obviously with this, I'm like, if I go over 20 minutes, am I gonna send them an invoice for a hundred dollars?
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely not. It just seems it's it's it's petty, it's childish, and it's just juvenile pricing. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Anyway. There we go, Austin. I hope that helps, man. So well, let's thank our sponsor here. Uh yeah, you do it this time.
SPEAKER_00:You thank the sponsor. Yeah, I think I love DJ Event Planner.
SPEAKER_01:Actually, um, we're doing uh in my coaching group, we're doing a uh review of planning forms. Yeah. Um actually, shout out DJ Shine again, man. He did his. I was shocked. I haven't been using it for my planning. His planning form on DJ Event Planner pimped out. Like colors, I mean, all of it. I mean, I don't know who he used to do.
SPEAKER_00:There are a couple of third-party integrators that will go in there and like reprogram your I mean, for as much hate as they get sometimes for looking kind of dated, yeah, it's possible to make that look good.
SPEAKER_01:Nice. And I was really impressed. So if you're looking for a CRM and you don't have one yet, you should get one. Um I would definitely consider it. Uh and DJ Event Planner has been a staple in this industry. So we use it, uh, been on it for 20 plus years. Definitely recommend it. Thanks for supporting us on the pod. Yeah. Uh DJ Event Planner. And for you, the listeners, if you're digging this, please share it. Leave us a review. Do that anywhere you can. Uh, and yeah, we'll see you guys on the next episode.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. And also, one more thing if you're not a part of the Patreon, you've heard the ad during this, uh, check it out. Patreon.com slash beyond the DJ Booth Podcast. Thank you, y'all. Peace. Later.
