Manage My Wedding Podcast

Your Wedding Music Matters with Andy from Ministry of DJs MMW 217

• Yvette Sitters • Episode 217

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We all want the perfect wedding atmosphere, don't we? With guests filling the dance floor and the music setting the mood for an unforgettable wedding. In today's episode, we're joined by Andy Kay, Events Director of Ministry of DJs. With over 15 years of experience, Andy is sharing all his expert advice.

We discuss:

  • How to choose the right mix of live and recorded music to suit your wedding day?
  • How to approach creating a playlist that caters to a diverse audience and keeps everyone dancing and entertained?
  • Some of the common mistakes couples make when planning the music aspect of their wedding, and how they can be avoided?
  • What advice Andy has for the MC so they can do their best?
  • From Andy's own eyes, what he sees that makes for the best weddings? 
  • Andy #1 wedding tip


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Yvette Sitters:

Today we're going to be talking about your wedding music. We're going to be talking about creating an epic atmosphere, picking the right tunes and touching on the MC role a little bit too. Today we're joined by Andy, who is a professional wedding DJ with over 15 years experience rocking wedding dance floors. Andy is currently the Events Director of Ministry of DJs, which is a boutique entertainment agency which is specializing in providing Melbourne and Sydney's finest DJs and musicians at weddings and events, large and small. So Andy has got so much experience. So I'm really looking forward to this conversation because I think it's all going to really going to help all of you with your wedding planning. So welcome to the podcast, andy.

Andy Kay:

Thank you for having me.

Yvette Sitters:

It's great to have you. What a fun job you have.

Andy Kay:

Look, I pinch myself sometimes, especially when, yeah, your office space is basically a dance floor and your viewing platform is everyone just going to be nice and having fun. So, yeah, it's a very fortunate to be doing what we're doing.

Yvette Sitters:

Yeah, I was watching. I think I commented on one of your Instagram posts last week and I think it was a corporate event and the dance floor it was going off and I was like I want to be there.

Andy Kay:

Yeah, look it's great. It's great Like music and entertainment is our passion and we're very fortunate to be doing what we're doing every day.

Yvette Sitters:

Yeah, and before you were doing, because you said 15 years, what were you doing before?

Andy Kay:

Yeah, so my professional background is event management, most specifically in the sports events side of things, and I was doing DJing as a sort of side hustle passion in volunteer event and yeah, I did all that in basically transformed a passion and hobby into a full-time gig. It's just where Ministry of DJs was formed and yeah, never looked back and now it's growing and growing in a great way and yeah, love what I do.

Yvette Sitters:

Basically, I'm one of the few people that can honestly say that, yeah, and it's good to have somebody like you who can help couples that has the background as well of the wedding planning part, that planning events and stuff, because that makes such a massive difference 100%.

Andy Kay:

Yeah, there's so much involved with weddings and, as a planner, there's things that people even think about. So having that experience is obviously valuable, because then you just come up with ideas or even suggestions or even things that you didn't think about that are needed. Yeah.

Yvette Sitters:

That's so valuable. So let's talk about first. I suppose a question that, and something that rises all the time as a question, is talking about that whole live music versus the created DJ music, and we want to talk. Everyone wants to create the right atmosphere, right. Everyone wants everyone to enjoy the music. Everyone wants everyone on the dance floor. That is the key. What advice do you have for couples in choosing that right mix of live and recorded to suit their wedding day?

Andy Kay:

I mean, when you say recorded, do you mean sort of?

Yvette Sitters:

Just a DJ. Are you having a DJ compared to having live band?

Andy Kay:

Of course. Yeah, it's a very great question and traditionally probably bands would more, I guess, than all. Now we're fighting a transition between four DJs and look, there's pros and cons with both at the end of the day. So I'm always going to try and push the DJ for the reasons of you get that constant mix of energy from start to finish. You get the variety of music, you get the live transition mixes, you cater for everyone's taste and if something's not working, the DJ can just switch it off. I love live music as well, so if the clients love live music, the band's for them. There's no harm in that, like there's a personal preference in the day. But we try and sell DJs as the ultimate entertainment package. It's a live mix of music and high tempo, high energy from start to finish.

Yvette Sitters:

Yeah, I love what you said. Then when you said the DJ can control the music and change it up and that's what I always say to bridal couples who are torn between the live and the DJ I'm like but the DJ can gauge really quickly how that's going on the night and if it needs to be changed to what list the bride and groom have given you. Or if the friend did the list, you can make that call and change everything Exactly.

Andy Kay:

I mean, there's so much genres of music, there's so much personal preferences as well, and there's good songs from every genre, whether it be R&B, house, 80s, 90s, whatever it is. So the beauty that I think there is, he can. He also can mash all that up and cater for everyone, basically.

Yvette Sitters:

Yeah, yeah, I agree, I had on my wedding day. We wanted a little bit of life, so we just had an acoustic player for the pre-reception drinks and he just covered that hour and a half, I think it was. And then the DJ took over once everyone came into reception and it was perfect and it was just enough and the DJ didn't have to move his stuff, which he can do, though Sometimes can't you?

Andy Kay:

Yeah, absolutely. It's not uncommon to have a ceremony with the DJ and then obviously move a small set up to the main reception centre.

Yvette Sitters:

Yeah, yeah, no, and we loved it. We loved it. We loved having a DJ, because people can go up to the DJ too and be like can you play this?

Andy Kay:

Can you do that? Exactly right. And as a DJ, it's good for us because we actually know what the crowd likes and obviously we always check with the writing group where couples before to see if they allow requests. But yeah, absolutely, there's no harm in going up to the DJ or even musicians or bands to say, look, can you play this song?

Yvette Sitters:

That's their event, so why not let's cater for them? Yeah, yeah, have some fun. Not all guests, though, as we know, like the same music. Everyone's got a different taste. How do you approach creating a playlist that caters to a diverse audience and keeps everyone, like, engaged and enjoying themselves? And it's changed.

Andy Kay:

Yeah, a lot of that's to do with the pre-work. So we always engage with our couples and find out what ultimately it's their wedding or their events. So we like to find out more about what they like, what they don't like, how they want it to be structured, and we work around that. So we always say less is more with weddings. Recent being is we don't know what the crowd's going to be like on the day. We don't know what they're going to react to. We don't know what they're going to like. And the beauty about having a DJ that experienced DJ there is. He or she can gauge the crowd. If something's working, like this, say, an 80s set, for example, he or she will continue playing that until it's not. So, yeah, that's everything's live, everything's done on the spot and it's all about just engaging, the currency, what works and keeping that momentum high and sort of energy all night.

Yvette Sitters:

Yeah, yeah. In your experiences, like of all the last 15 years, what are some common mistakes that you see couples are making when planning that music aspect of their wedding? How can they avoid it? It's a great question.

Andy Kay:

So my, from my experience, is the the weddings that are used at the challenging ones, both on the dance or on planning, are the ones that when we get pages and pages of song requests. Now, there's nothing wrong with giving song requests, we actually absolutely love it but when you give sort of three or four pages of song requests which goes for over five hours, let's say for argument's sake, and you've only got a sort of two hour or one hour dance bracket, it's always hard to work on that and they might, and a lot of songs that they might hear in the car and it's a slow song and particularly won't work. So we're honest with our couples and let them know what work, what potentially might not work, and what songs are better suited, for example, like the slow songs could be suited during the dinner bracket or the canapes, for example. So we like to be honest because at the day we want a lively dance floor and we're going to give our honest opinion on how we can create that for them as well.

Yvette Sitters:

Yeah, yeah, so so important. I know, like for me I'm like do not play the Macarena or the YMCA at my wedding. Like I think it comes from years and years of hearing those songs at every wedding.

Andy Kay:

I get it, I get it.

Yvette Sitters:

So I was like this is the genre I like, these are the key songs that I want the entrance song and the cake cutting song and the first dance and these are the songs I do not want you to play. Do you do that?

Andy Kay:

Absolutely so. We have a little personalized wedding portal which we send to all clients and they have those first sections in it the songs you want to hear, the must plays and also the do not plays as well, Because that I mean, everyone's different. Some people love the Macarena, for example, something we don't. Yeah, we're happy for whatever. So we're here to make sure the clients are happy, more for some fairness.

Yvette Sitters:

Yeah, yeah, I think. I think grandparents are always waiting to hear some of those traditional wedding songs too, aren't they? If you've got a few elderly there at the wedding.

Andy Kay:

Yeah, and they seem to work well with the stars. It's like, probably from my personal experience, the classics. When I say a classic like the 80s, 70s, 90s, etc. Yeah, they're all at the start of the event, because that's when I guess everyone likes, everyone's sort of familiar with themselves with that kind of old style music and then once you get the dance all started from the start, it's a good sort of segue for the rest of the night.

Yvette Sitters:

Yeah, yeah, what's? This is a really random question to ask and put you on the spot. What are you finding is the most popular first dance song choice at the moment?

Andy Kay:

It's a hard question to answer because every first dance song is different and, personally, unique.

Yvette Sitters:

I mean, if you were to ask me sort of.

Andy Kay:

Rieke Boyer, you could say anything against Sharon. No, yes, but now it's like, and it's just a personal song, and that's what I love about the first dance moment as well, because we might not have heard it before. I'm trying to start with Gwyneth, but at the end of the day it's the couple's special song. So there's no rule of thumb with this answer. If it's an individual preference, if you were to ask me sort of popular dance or songs, I can tell you straight away. But yeah, specifically, the first dance is such a unique and special song for the couple. It's usually different for each event.

Yvette Sitters:

Yeah, do you find it's the one partner is really the one really involved in the music, or do you find it's pretty equal?

Andy Kay:

I know it's usually yeah and there's no consistency with Bridegroom or Bride or whatever the couple is. There's always that one person that has the more of a say, I guess with the music, which is fine, Like, as long as we love that people are passionate about music and value it within a wedding.

Yvette Sitters:

Yeah, yeah, I remember my husband picked a song and I can't even remember the name of it now, but he was like I've always wanted this song for my first dance and he played it to me and I was like, oh my gosh, I wish I knew the name.

Andy Kay:

Was it your first dance?

Yvette Sitters:

Yeah, it was our first, it was a first dance song. I've always wanted this song, always known it, I'm known forever. And I was like that is from my father, opposite of what I would have thought he would ever pick, and it was by far the opposite of what I wanted. He's like I've let you pick every other song, this is all I want. And I was like okay, yeah, I just went with it. And I was like yep, no problem.

Andy Kay:

I did probably love it now, though, yeah.

Yvette Sitters:

I wish now I had the name of it. I could I forget it, because it's not a common song.

Yvette Sitters:

I'll send it to you afterwards and you can either laugh or not. But I do sometimes look back at like there's a video and I look back and I'm like you could tell some people are like what is this song? But he, my husband, loved it and you could tell he was so happy and that made me happy on the night I was like he's loving this. I'm just going to enjoy it and I did enjoy it.

Andy Kay:

I mean, that's the beauty about music as well. It's such an emotional journey that it takes you on, and everyone has had personal preferences with it. So, yeah, it's a beautiful thing.

Yvette Sitters:

Yeah, it is music. I mean music creates love, I believe, like I remember, when I met my partner and fell in love, we just that was all we would do at the beginning is just play music. That was just our thing, because it connects emotions on the wedding day.

Andy Kay:

Oh, 100%. And that's the music plays such an important role in within winning, because every key moment of the wedding involves a song, involves a sound. For example, like your entrance, bridal entrance, for example, bridal entrance is your first dance, even the sort of cake song, there's always a musical element involved and picking the right song for that just contributes and amplifies the actual moment or mini-event within the wedding.

Yvette Sitters:

Yeah, it does. My regular listeners know that I bang on about this a lot, but I'm like the best weddings, the ones that we remember the most, are because we have emotions attached to that wedding. You're emotionally invested that day and I'm always like what do they remember the most? And everything is connected to emotions. It's like they always remember the food, whether it's good or bad. They always remember if they could find a drink or not. Like if they could not find a drink, they will remember that.

Yvette Sitters:

They will always remember the music, always, and I'm always like that's because they all are emotionally connected. Everyone gets emotions from music and food, like it's just what happens, it's what brings us together and that's, I believe, it's what makes the best weddings. And I get upset and I know we've touched on this before we started recording when people leave the music to the last minute. I'm like no, it's important.

Andy Kay:

Look, I completely agree. Anyone that's been to a good wedding or a fun wedding will think back and say why did I? Why was it so good? And they'll walk out with a smile on their face because they dance with Nenner and pop to that song. They sort of break dance to this song, they jump up and down to whatever song it was. And you're right, they're all just emotions that come from music. And that's why it is so important to place a lot of emphasis on the music and the importance of music, because ultimately, you're going to walk away from a wedding thinking how good was that party, not how good the tablecloth was or the chairs were. They're all nice things, but it's still those emotive farm experiences that are so important.

Yvette Sitters:

Yeah, and when you talk about a wedding in four years time, no one remembers what the tablecloth was on the tables anyway.

Andy Kay:

No, and then I'm not saying they're not important or anything, but yeah, a wedding is a one giant party and without good music and good DJs, good musicians, you won't have that. Yeah.

Yvette Sitters:

How do you feel when people say to you oh, I'm just going to plug my iPhone in and play Spotify.

Andy Kay:

I mean it's a personal preference. There's so many risks involved with that, but ultimately that's their preference with their music and their style and their budget. We're all for that. We'll definitely expand the risks involved in that and the downsides of that, but yeah, it's their preference and then we can only support them.

Yvette Sitters:

What do you share? What are your couple of biggest risks? That are Because I'm oh, where do we start?

Andy Kay:

So I mean, the sound quality is probably not going to be this good because, yeah, you're probably using a Bluetooth speaker or some sort of substandard piece of audio device. There's obviously that gap between songs. There's what? If the song's not working on the playlist, then you got to wait for it to finish as well, and that's another thing. Having a DJ there will mean that songs blend seamlessly. You're not going to hear the full song unless you want to, or if it's a good song. The Spotify plays will just let the song drag, wait a couple of seconds, maybe put some ads on if it's not a pre-missus, and then yeah, yeah, there's your buzz and buzz gone from the wedding already.

Yvette Sitters:

Yeah, and people fighting over the song You're right.

Andy Kay:

You've invested so much time and money into a wedding. It's such an important event. Don't risk it.

Yvette Sitters:

No, I'm all for it. I'm all for it. In some situations I know that the wedding musician I've seen it happen time and time again may find themselves stepping in as that impromptu emcee if things aren't going as planned or the emcee's gotten a bit tipsy and have forgotten their job, or just it's not going great. How do you have that happen often? How do you handle these unexpected scenarios and what advice do you want to give the listeners around all of that?

Andy Kay:

It's a very good question, like thankfully I don't have it often because we yeah, usually the emcee takes their job quite seriously. We're going to be a family member of a friend, but we're always there to guide the bride and groom with a couple in terms of On the night, even before the night, on what things usually work within a run sheet. On the day things are over time or under time, or probably more over time. We can step in and check in with the MC, say just let you know the speeches are due to start and if they want to have a good time for the rest of the night, we're happy to chip in as well and do the final announcement. So, yes, we're here to support and guide the guys, whoever's doing the role as the MC. It's not an easy job and we do offer that as a service as well. The bride group or the couple just want to relax and not have to worry about that as well.

Yvette Sitters:

Yeah, yeah, I love that you add that as an additional service, if they want it, because it is nerve-wracking for the person that is chosen, no matter what, no matter how keen they are to say yes, it's a tough role, it's everyone's.

Andy Kay:

And some people are good at it, which is why they're selected, and some people, yeah, just don't want to do it. So yeah, it's where all of our DJs are and are trained as well, so we can do it on a good level and keep things in order as a corner to the run sheet.

Yvette Sitters:

Yeah, I can't remember the last time I went to a wedding and wasn't the MC I mean as a guest because they're like oh, can you be the MC?

Andy Kay:

You must be good at it.

Yvette Sitters:

You know what to do and you're like oh, just because I'm a wedding plan doesn't always mean I want to be the MC, but you know.

Andy Kay:

Look, ultimately you're just sticking to a run sheet. So as long as you can do that, you're happy there.

Yvette Sitters:

Yeah, totally, totally. So from your own eyes. What do you see at weddings? What do you think makes for the best weddings and what's the difference in those weddings that really stand out?

Andy Kay:

That's a really good question.

Andy Kay:

Having enough time allocated for all the key moments is a big good thing.

Andy Kay:

So ensuring that things flow for example, enough time for meals, enough time for speeches like, for example, 10 people want to just have speeches, not having them in the same bunch, for example, breaking them up, things like that so, yeah, having the right amount of time allocated for each event within a wedding is an important thing In terms of music, which is what we offer having a playlist that works.

Andy Kay:

So what I mean by that is working with couple to make sure we find out what they like, what their guests like, and having enough dance floor time to produce that as well. So anything from an hour to two hours is probably the minimum that we need for a good dance floor, but we have the same things run over time as well, and it just takes me organized as well. So having, yeah, making sure the check's done for the big event. We want couples just to go rock up on their wedding date, just relax and enjoy themselves and bring their dancing shoes and just have time with their lives effectively. So the more with events, the more planning you do, the better the events going to be effectively.

Yvette Sitters:

Yeah, yeah, I agree. And the thing that stood out for me the most thing was when you said leaving enough time for the dance floor, because that's where all the funds had and all the formalities and all the serious stuff's over. Everyone's getting loose on the dance floor having a good time and yeah, I'm always like I feel sad when people you find out they've got like 40 minutes left to dance on the dance floor.

Andy Kay:

You're like no, you've got to have more time because no one wants to go home then You're right, but there's always around that Like what, if we find a big trend coming of sort of that's been around for a while is having a little dance practice starts as soon as a brother grew up with a couple into the room using sort of 10, 15, 20 minutes to bring everyone together and have a little boogie at the start. That's a great initiative they're finding and it sort of breaks the ice as well with with gas and your wedding's. After a really good start, the blood's pumping within the body. They've had a little boogie and now they can sit back and enjoy their entrees.

Yvette Sitters:

Yeah, I love that. That's so fun. I remember doing a wedding once with their couple were introduced into the room and then the bride and groom came in last and then the bride and groom walked around dancing and they got everyone up and they took everyone to the dance floor. It was really good. It was so much fun. I mean getting them to sit down then for their entree Another story, but it's so true, and that wedding is one of the most memorable ones that I've run because of the atmosphere.

Andy Kay:

Yeah, so wedding is just one giant party, and that's what it should be. So it's a great celebration. You bring two people together with all their friends and family on loved ones, and that's what we're here to celebrate.

Yvette Sitters:

Yeah, and we don't have to follow traditions anymore. You do what you want.

Andy Kay:

Listen to the traditions, whatever you make it. So it's up to the couple what traditions they want to set, and we're here to facilitate that.

Yvette Sitters:

Yeah, I love that. Can you share with us now your number one wedding tip?

Andy Kay:

Why not more weeks here? Trust your DJ or trust your musician. Reason I say that is we're here to make sure everyone has fun. We make sure that our couples have fun, most importantly. So they do this week in, week out. They know how to read a crowd, this is what they pay to do, this is what they love as well, so trust that they'll deliver a service like no other. Yes, by all means give us as much ammunition information as possible, but we want you guys to just relax and enjoy your time.

Yvette Sitters:

I hate your wedding. Yeah, I love that. That's a great tip, and I always think, too when you can see that the DJ is having a really good time yeah you know the crowd is because everyone's buzzing off everyone's energy.

Andy Kay:

It's a really good thing and we're fortunate to have all of our DJs, musicians that share that passion, say anyone, all of our DJs, the administrative DJs.

Yvette Sitters:

they love what they do and I do this as a passion, more than anything, which we love. Yeah, yeah, that's great. It's good to know. Thank you so much for chatting to us today, andy. I've really enjoyed talking with you. I feel like I'm gonna be gone. Get my bookie on now. Tell the listeners where can they find you.

Andy Kay:

So we're all over socials administrative DJs entertainment where administrative DJscomau is our website and yeah, we're all I mean we're all businesses of Melbourne, sydney, but we're sort of branching out to Perth and Brisbane shortly as well. So, yeah, if you want to have a chat, hook us up. We're more than welcome to, more than happy to chat anything music or entertainment for any wedding or event.

Yvette Sitters:

Fantastic, thank you. I'll make sure I pop all of those links and everything in the show notes as well. So thank you so much for sharing.

Andy Kay:

You're most welcome. Lovely to chat to you. Have a great day.

Yvette Sitters:

You too. Thanks, Andy Bye.