Mr Entertainment

This week we talk all things entertainment with Matty Ross from Mr Entertainment! He talks about singing his wife down the aisle, how to get your guests pumping and a little bit of nudity on the beach...

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to the bridal. Brief My name is Stephanie
Fitzpatrick from Beautiful Illusions Event Styling.
And Ruth Ryan from Ruth Ryan Photography.
The purpose of the Bridal Brief is to help you before, on and
after your wedding day with our advice plus.
Bringing on a few friends along the way.
I'm really excited about today'sepisode, Ruth.
So am I. How are you going, Steph?

(00:20):
I'm good. How are you?
Oh. Not too bad.
Much better this week. We've got some fun things that
we're talking about today. We do.
This is probably like a really fun episode.
This is this is this. Is where the funds at?
Yes, we're going to talk about everything music.
So DJ, bands, solo artist, duo, MC, everything.
We are, and we're really excitedabout our guest today, Mr

(00:42):
Entertainment himself, Maddie Ross.
Welcome. Guys, how are we?
We are really excited to have you.
Here. Yeah, me too.
I've been excited. As soon as you told me about it,
I'm like I am in. I've got so much knowledge I
wanna share with the community. So yeah, I'm stoked.
Thanks for. Having I know we are happy to
have you here to share with us. Yep, because I I have
experienced you talent. Yeah, yes.

(01:03):
And it's great. And unfortunately, 'cause I
don't get to stay for the wedding, I only get to ever hear
the warm up. Yeah.
Ohh, that's yeah. And as soon as the songs go on,
I ignore everything else and I'mjust dancing so.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that's a sign of a good,
really, really good DJ, so. Yes, but we're excited because
Maddie can cover all aspects here.

(01:24):
DJ live music, MC, the lot. He's got all the information.
Yep. But before that.
Well, Steph, what did you do foryour wedding?
I had a DJ with a live live performance.
You did too, didn't you? I did.
My cousins performed my That WasBeautiful Wedding, my first
dance song. Yep, yes, yeah.

(01:46):
Would have had Maddie, but I hada great deal from like.
Another DJ that I met years ago when I got engaged a good.
Deal, yes, right. And I, he was around when I got
engaged. Yeah, yeah.
So like he was like your weddingand he came out of retirement
for. Me.
Oh, that's a hero right there. To hear those words, I'm coming
out of retirement for you. Is that not a little?

(02:08):
Bit of reason I haven't done it.I definitely would have
contacted daddy. How?
Long ago are we talking? Only last year I got.
Married. You got married last.
Year, yeah, but I had been engaged for 10, 1011 years,
yeah. So he's never right.
That's what he meant by getting out of retirement.
Yeah, Yeah. Yeah, he was waiting the whole
time for you. Yeah, definitely.

(02:29):
Yeah. What about you, Ruth?
What did you have? I had a DJ, but for the ceremony
I just had an iPod. Just an iPod and the iPods were.
In that cool. So that was just the very first
iPods out there. Probably.
I mean, I was basically a child bride, so we had no money and
you know, we just had a friend press play.

(02:50):
I mean, there's nothing wrong with that.
You get the songs you want. Absolutely.
And he was. Were you nervous about that at
any stage? I was a little, yeah, but the
guy that we had pressing play onthe on the iPod, you know, he
had done some DJ ING. So, you know, if I was ever
gonna trust anybody out of our group, it was gonna be him.
Yeah, yeah. So that's not too bad.
Yeah, but we had a great DJ as well who did a lot of the MC ING

(03:13):
too, so that helped. Yes, yeah, definitely.
It's good then. Yep.
Oh, well, that helps. That.
And now we want to hear about you.
Maddie. Tell us about your wedding
story. Yeah, what was your wedding
like? So let's go back middle of COVID
when weddings were a top hit. Yes.
So the reason, I mean, my wife and I had been together for

(03:36):
quite a few years, probably no, maybe maybe five years.
And she'd previously been married.
We got two kids, we tried, we bought houses and it was a
mission to try and get our houses because, you know, she
had a different name. The kids had my name and we're
like, let's just do it. It was middle of Covad 2020 and
we're like, well, what are we gonna do?
You know, there's big restrictions.

(03:56):
We can't have a big, elaborate, fun wedding.
She didn't want to anyway, because she'd already done that.
And I'd I'm in the wedding industry.
I didn't want some. I didn't need any of that.
I just wanted close, fun, intimate family.
I've got five brothers and theirwives and their kids and and.
They're all great too. I.
Know a lot of them, yeah, yeah, actually, you grew up next to
my. But once you invite those
immediate people, yeah. And then it kind of like that's

(04:18):
already a lot. Yeah.
So we've got a little shack overat Stratty and I'm like, well,
what better place? There's this little, there's
this little spot on Stratia Point Lookout that back in the
day or the indigenous used to have all their ceremonies there,
which I found out after my wedding.
So we had our wedding ceremony there 11:00 in the day, middle
of summer. Silly idea, but we had this tree
that was kind of fallen over andit was like shading the family.

(04:42):
I had this big idea of because it was only intimate family.
I just had this idea of digging this beach bar.
So basically dig out the seats and then I sit up up the top up
on the high section. All the families sit either side
and then there's aisle for my wife to walk down to.
Oh wow, I know a bit. It sounds beautiful, it sounds
really labouring. There was a.

(05:02):
Lot with the shovel. Yeah, and I, I've got five
brothers. I'm like, that's do it, boys.
And it was just too windy. I'm like, if we're sitting down
there, I'm gonna be fine, but all my family just gonna get
blown and sandblasted in the face.
So. True.
Well, I just decided not to do that.
I was luckily enough to be good friends with the event planner
on Straddy. Yeah, that's great.
Donna from Strawbrook Island event.
So she said, Maddie, come and grab what you need.

(05:25):
I'll grab this nice driftwood timber arbour, a mat for the
ground. And we just did it on the
ground. We sat on the beach.
So it was a it was a trying to get the song out for my wife
though. So obviously we had all the
family. I had a couple of friends, a guy
from the Gold Coast, he's an amazing one man band, Benny D

(05:45):
Williams. I got him to come over and do
some music for it. But that's lovely.
Obviously I wanted to sing my wife down the aisle.
Yeah. But my biggest thing was even
even for me, when I'm, if I connect with a couple, when I'm
singing a bride down the aisle, if I look at the guy or the
bride, sometimes I get that lumpin my throat mid song and I'm
like. You can't help, but I do the
same thing as. Yeah, and if I'm mid mid singing

(06:07):
and I was like, this is my wife and I said, look, I'm going to
look away. I'm going to sing you down the
aisle when you get to me, you know, at the wrong time.
I've turned, I've seen my wife, my daughter was only like less
than a year old. They're in the same dress and
I've just gone big lump in my throat and I'm like, alright,
just start the song. And then it's like, it was the

(06:28):
most muffled, wobbly, gross effort for a song.
But she loved it, obviously. Yeah, I loved it.
They loved. It they.
Knew it was this little. Touch and.
Then we made everyone else. Tear up a little bit so as soon.
As one person goes, you know they're all starred.
Yeah, so it was, it was the toughest thing I've ever done
when it was when it comes to to singing a bride down.

(06:49):
So do it if all though. Or would you would you have
someone else do the singing? Oh, look, I've, I've thought
about because we didn't have a big, big wedding and we only had
a really small reception. I've thought about doing, you
know, maybe five year, which is that's this year about renewal,
Yeah. And then having a party and just
going, hey guys, this is we're out of Covad now.
Like this is what I I wanna justhave all my closest friends and

(07:10):
family around and do a party. So maybe I would just do the
song or writer a song and try itagain.
But might might not be any need for it.
I feel like that's. I think she would have
appreciated it. Absolutely right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That would have just.
Yeah. And it.
Would have been a big a bit of ablur for her as well.
You know, like when you're walking down the aisle, you
know, you're thinking a billion things.

(07:31):
Yeah, every bride's the same. I say to that, to the bride's
I'm singing down the aisle. I say you're probably not even
gonna hear the song I'm singing you anyway.
You're gonna be in tunnel so much things going on and you're
not even gonna hear the song half the time.
So yeah. Did she get a video of it?
There's video of it. I've looked back on it.
And so my son was wearing the same hat and outfit is what I
was wearing. And then Sage and my wife were

(07:53):
wearing the same thing. And then we came together.
We sat, we all just sat down on on the on the ground because it
was really comfortable. I had male Lithgow.
She's a a wedding celebrant. She did our ceremony.
It was beautiful. And then straight after the
ceremony everyone came because they're little where our place
is. I just got Stradbroke Isle
events, some tables, some littlehigh bars, tiki bar like bar

(08:14):
tables and stuff. It was awesome.
Just had the friends fair. Just just family, Couple of
local guys from the island put their hands up, said, hey, look
who's cooking for you. So one guy supplied the fish.
Yeah, another guy. And then we got prawns and, and
meat and burgers. And so my, they just said all
the cooking on the side just forsome friends.
But they got to hang out with us.
It was really, really cool. Yeah, that's nice.

(08:35):
I think that is nice and like inthat time it was difficult and
you managed to pull it off. Absolutely.
Yeah. Well, we just, at the end of the
day, we just wanted the same name so we could didn't.
I had to send my wife down to Sydney to get a birth
certificate to buy a house. It was like it was a mission.
So we're like, right? And obviously we're in of like.
Yes. Just married.
If you were singing her down theaisle, we know that.

(08:58):
Yeah, yeah, we are in love. Yeah, Yeah.
No, it was a great, it was greatmemories and the only thing I
would change, well, not I wouldn't change anything, but I
would possibly like to do a vow renewal because I can't even.
I wrote the vows the morning of.Yeah, Yeah.
As most blokes do. Yeah.
Any blokes listening to this? Don't.
There was a lot of pressure happening with, like, Steve's
vows. Yeah.

(09:19):
Yeah. Oh, just have you done them yet?
Have you done them yet? Do you need help with them?
Yeah. And I, I listen to vows like
I've, I, you know, 100 plus weddings a year and I'm
listening to these vows so I could write the best vows in the
world. But then it was like.
You need, but you got to personalise it.
Absolutely. Yeah, Yeah.
You can't AI this stuff, no. No, right?

(09:40):
You can't AOI your heart, right?No, that's right.
So as Mr Entertainment, your business, how long have you been
doing that? So I started my first wedding I
ever did. I wasn't Mr Entertainment at
that stage. I was just got asked to do a
friend's wedding, a friend's brother's wedding back in 2005.
So what was that 2020 years ago?Yeah, yes.

(10:02):
Yep. So there you go.
That was my first wedding down at Burley N Burley Surf Club.
And then I, I, so with that, theNorth Burley Surf Club
coordinator, she said, oh, do you do this all the time?
I said, oh, no, just do it for, you know, friends, bit of fun,
you know, a little bit of, you know, carton of beer or a bit of
cash or whatever. And she's like, oh, you know, it
was a really great performance. Like if you want to be on our

(10:24):
preferred vendors list, I'm like, oh.
Oh, OK, suddenly you have a career.
Suddenly there and then, so it was maybe once a month.
I was a mechanic in, in Capalababack in the day.
So that's my background. I was a mechanic and then I
started doing a few weddings on the side and then I was running
a few workshops and then decidedto travel Australia for a little

(10:44):
while. Ended up working in the mines as
a miner, as a exploration driller.
And then I, I just hit rock bottom.
That industry is so toxic, right?
And my only saviour was like, occasionally I'd come back, I'd
do two weeks on, one week off, you know, and if, if a wedding
would fall into that time off, when I, I'll do someone's

(11:05):
wedding, you know, a friend or afriend of a friend or wouldn't
really advertise or, you know, the surf club would get me in
again. And then just one day I hit rock
bottom real bad. And I'm just like, what am I
doing with my life like this? I just want to do that was.
And I just come back from my break and I just done an
awesome, fun wedding. And I think they gave me an
extra $500 tip. And I'm like, what am I doing
with myself? Yeah.

(11:27):
So then that was that breaking point.
I jumped on the Internet and I was like, Matt Ross
Entertainment. I'm like, oh, there it is sweet.
It's it's there. And then underneath it was Mr
Entertainment. I was like, Mr Entertainment,
Matt Ross. That's my and I was like.
I did not associate that at all,right?
I'm like. I'm a genius and it was and and

(11:47):
perhaps to have Mr Entertainmentavailable and this is 2011 or
2012 and it was there and I juston that I just pressed go paid
my money and that from that moment it was done.
It was, it was on. And then I was able to to, you
know, start promoting myself, but it was only I'd.
Build such a great business. Yeah, well, it was only lie.
I was only DJMC and Combi transport because I've obviously

(12:11):
built that. Yeah, 1974 combi, that's a
wedding car. Yeah.
So that was just mates wanted meto take them to their weddings
and do their music. So the Combi is now a full time
wedding vehicle. So that's yeah, that's been a
big part of my identity and my business for the whole time.
The live side of things. I was always way too nervous.
I was that guy that sat around the fire.

(12:32):
People would hand guitars around, I'd sing songs.
Yeah. And so many people going oh, can
you sing at my wedding? Can you sing at my wedding?
I'm like, no, I'm wait, that's way too.
That's not, no, I do weddings. I DJ them.
I but that's too much. Well, that's too scary.
Yeah. And then I don't know, I moved
to the Gold Coast and start a little three piece band and we
start getting gigs in like live gigs in places and I start

(12:55):
getting my confidence up. And then I think I did like a
canopies or something like that just to I was just background
acoustic and I'm like, this is actually pretty good.
And then I thought the live scene for me just took off.
I started doing a lot of live gigs and absolutely just started
loving live music over the DJ. Yeah.
So that's where that came in. And then, you know, won won

(13:16):
quite a few awards for my live ceremony music and live
entertainment at weddings. And it's just been a journey of
just bouncing and progressing every single year.
And since 20, I think 2013, I did my first mystery
entertainment wedding. And then from then, I think
2016, I went full time, gave up everything else in life and

(13:38):
become just purely, solely, yeah, wedding and events,
entertainment. It does take a while, I think.
Doesn't have to build that name.You've got to you sometimes.
Yeah. I mean, I worked another job for
a long time. Yeah, before I could go full
time in house. Yeah, it does.
I think it is hard to take that leap of faith.
It is, but when you do it, everything changes.
So rewarding. It's just and then it's and then

(13:59):
it's working out that whole selfworth.
What? How much are you gonna charge?
What other people and you never charge enough at first?
Are you good enough? You know, like there's all these
monkey mind things that happen when you're performing and it's
crazy and then there's. You gotta have that faith in
yourself. Yeah, yeah.
So why weddings? What do you love about weddings?
Well, I love it because I mean, for me it, it's, it's everyone's

(14:21):
like got so high stress. It's fast paced, but for me it's
actually a slower pace and say, if I was going to do a live
show, you know, in the city, 4 hours, the pay's quite dull, you
know, and, but you're on and it's like heavy work for you.
You're performing heavy for fourhours straight, taking, you
know, 1015 minute breaks. When you're doing a wedding, you

(14:44):
do a little bit of like acousticstuff while your while your
ceremony is on and then, you know, sing the bride down the
aisle is obviously the most scariest thing that you do.
I still get butterflies no matter how many times I've done.
I still poop my pants when I'm about to sing a bride down the
aisle. The second my mouth opens, all
that drops away. So I trust that.
But yeah, weddings and then it'sa few, you know, 45 minutes to

(15:07):
an hour, some live music, but there's pace in between.
It's not. And then I'm moving equipment.
And there's stops for things like speeches.
Absolutely. I, I, yeah.
And then we enter them into the room.
So there's pause there. Then I'll do some live dinner
music. And then, you know, I, I quite
often will sing a, a bride and groom's first dance.
Yeah. And then bit of upbeat because
I'm a one man band as well. So I I integrate live looping

(15:31):
like Ed Sheeran, foot percussion.
Did you do harmonica? So it's a whole ray of fun,
isn't it? It's fun.
I've never wanted to be that guy.
Just strumming. So yeah.
That's fair. Weddings, I love it and, and you
know, it does. If I'm going out for the night,
I wanna, I wanna maximise what Ican earn and what I can give to
someone. And the loves there, yeah,
people are so lovely. And he is.
There's never any dramas at weddings.

(15:53):
Rarely any. Dramas at weddings?
Any dramas? Really do.
You have any funny stories from any of?
Your I, I do. So it was a couple of years ago
this couple decided to have a straddy wedding, a beach
wedding. Beautiful.
Like, I I do a lot of straddy weddings, obviously.
Yeah. Having a place over there.
Yeah. For those that don't know,
Straddy is an island just off Brisbane.

(16:15):
Stradbroke N Strabroke Island, the the indigenous call it
Mingeriba Island, but so I grew up there.
I've got a place there doing this beach wedding and this
weekend that I did this wedding was there's this thing called
the Island Vibe Music Festival. So it's like Byron Bay and
Nimbin. So if anyone doesn't know,
they're like our hippie community.
That's our like big hippie community.

(16:36):
So like if Byron and Nimbin cometo Straddy for a big music
festival, right? So it's really, really fun,
quite cool music, you know, really vibey sort of music, but
people tend to not wear many clothes.
No. It's so, yeah.
This. And I warn that bride take no I.
Warn this bride that I was goingto be naked because I'm a hippie

(16:58):
now I'm. Kidding.
Yes, I warn this bride, I'm like, you are having a ceremony.
Like there's a there's a music festival 100 metres away and
it's, it's this entrance, music festival entrance onto the
beach. And that's where she was having
a ceremony. She's like, it's all good.
I'll add to the fun and I just remember just panning my as I do

(17:18):
panning my phone around. She'd already walked down the
aisle. They were standing there
together just panning my phone around and straight behind the
bride and groom. It just sees 2 chicks completely
butt naked, 1 chick bends over and the bride and groom.
It just looked and it was just like the whole guest, all the
crowd, just it was just super funny because they.

(17:39):
All got my burst into laugh. Or it wasn't horrific, no.
It was, I think there was a mixed, it was a mixed bag, but
it was really. It always be grandma going oh
God oh. Look at the rig on that.
I had a body like that once. But it was really, it was a
really funny moment because the bride and groom kind of just
looked and they because I'd warnthem they were really cool with

(18:00):
it. And then at the end of it, like
everyone had a really good chuckle throughout the whole it
was it was just a focal point for the whole wedding.
Well, do you see those people walking naked?
And it was just constantly people walking behind the
ceremony, just not even looking at the ceremony do us doing
their everyday thing. But imagine that.
Just imagine that photo album. Oh.
Like as a photographer, That naked face dream wedding.

(18:20):
Yeah. Yeah, and I I didn't realise
until I I'd put it on my socialsand some and my I think it was
my mother in law or someone said, you know, there's naked
people in that video you put I said no, they're all that
serious. Yes.
The blurf couldn't get away withthat now with AI like
monitoring. It absolutely.
So yeah, to me that was, I mean,I've had tonnes of other stuff,

(18:42):
but I feel like that was a bit of a highlight.
Yeah, that's hilarious. Yeah, it's a bit of fun.
Do you have any most common sortof terms and conditions that
people don't read that they really should?
Yeah. So as you can imagine, as a
wedding singer, right, Some, if they, if they hire you as a
wedding singer, right. In my email and contract and

(19:03):
stuff I sent to them, I always say to them, you know, if you've
hired my live full day live DJ MC package, I'm happy to learn a
song for a special element being, you know, ceremony first
dance or whatever in that underneath it.
I've got in there providing I don't have to be classically
trained and I put a little bit of funny towards it.

(19:24):
Classically trained on a banjo or you, you know, yeah, or, or
have to do it as an instrumental.
Cause an instrumental is basically the, the, the melody
and rhythm of the song and the vocals all on the guitar without
any singing. So it's quite complex.
Yes. And I'm a singer, guitarist,
vocalist, performer. I'm not an instrumentalist.
Yes. So they get, you know, and I

(19:45):
give them, I tell them in there that four months you got to give
me at least if you do want me learn a song, I need about four
months just so I can nail it, get it perfect, put it into play
at a live gig and make sure it'sbang on for your wedding.
But a lot of people don't realise that.
And then we get to their meetingand they're like, oh, yeah.
So just wondering whether, you know, obviously we want this
song, this song, this song live.Yeah.
Like, I mean, I, I meet with them six to six to four to six

(20:08):
weeks out. And I'm like, I'm really sorry
to burst your bubble, but it's, it's I've, I've sent you a list
of all my live songs. I've given you an option.
To you got a week before the wedding, Yeah.
I just, I, I'm so sorry. I'm not like I'm not, to be
honest. Some people I actually go, you
know what, like I just recently did a chick one or two songs
mashed together. I didn't know them, but I was
like, I will use those again. So I'm actually going to put the

(20:31):
time and effort in to learn them.
Yeah. But then you get some that are
just some songs. I'm just like, that's not even
me. I will butcher that, Yeah.
And so they take it pretty hard sometimes because they've got
this heart set. I'm walking down to this live
song but didn't look at the. Yeah, they need to look at what
your style. Yeah, that's right.
Yeah. Or my performing and it's it is

(20:52):
hard to tell them that, but that's probably the biggest
thing that they don't look at when it comes to my sort of
work. Yeah, which is interesting for
people to know. You should make sure that you
read the terms and conditions for your entertainment or be.
Or be transfer to be very like obviously give yourself give the
give the musician tonnes of time.
Yeah, if if you are heart set ona song that you want live then

(21:14):
make sure that you let them knowbecause it is some songs.
Do you have like a music list? Yeah, so I've got a set list.
There's tonnes of songs in there, all genres from, you
know, your cruisy, Jack Johnson,Xavier Rudd through to your pub
classics, country love song. So I've got, I've got quite a
big list and I, I do like the pressure of learning a song
because someone says I really want, I really want you to learn

(21:35):
this song. And I look at it, I'm like, I
will use that again. And I really like that song.
So it's gonna push. Me.
That's probably the difference and.
I really like, but then there's some songs you like, you just
can't connect with it or they haven't given you enough time.
And that, that's what kind of grinds me, is when they just
don't give you that time or theyhaven't, you know?
Yeah, and not, not all voices are the same.
I mean, really, they might give you a musical theatre song and

(21:56):
you're a singer songwriter. I mean, when I picked out, I
picked a song that I knew that my cousin would just, yeah, nail
because of the type of singing that she does.
Yeah, yeah. You know, so you know that, I
guess. And I was never gonna hear it
beforehand because she lives, you know, Interstate.
Yeah. I mean, I was trusting her.
And Tim, like to he was gonna learn the guitar for it.

(22:18):
Yeah. And she was gonna sing it.
And I was just trusting them. But you did something that was
in her realm. Yes, and his like the song, like
I sent them an example of what Iwanted to just pray, but it was
amazing. Yeah, and I mean, usually we do
try to tailor it to suit. Yeah.
Any song that I do, if I I even say to him, you can choose a, a
punk, a popular punk song, if it's got good lyrics and I'll

(22:40):
bring it down to a beautiful love story song so you can walk
down the aisle to it and and people love that.
That's not being flexible, but it's just giving him that time
to do that as well, like. Yeah, yeah, you need time, yeah.
Reads for terms and conditions. Absolutely.
Yeah, Yeah. All right.
Favourite time celebrities? Do it really what you got?

(23:03):
Well, John Lennon, start that again.
John Legend saying all of me to Chrissy Teigen.
That's really sweet. That is beautiful.
I love that. Yeah.
And All of Me is a. That's a bit of a classic, Yeah.
Wedding song, isn't that. You probably sing that a lot I
imagine, or have to play it a lot.
It's it's gone. It's it's left the scene a
little bit. Yeah.

(23:23):
OK. I've no songs do that kick.
I'll come back again. Yeah.
But it might be on a movie or something that's coming up and
then people will remember it. So it'll come back.
OK. Yeah, yeah, Justin Timberlake
saying it just could be all downthe aisle.
Oh that would be nice. That.
Yeah, yeah. That, that, that that's
beautiful, I think. Yeah.
And I think he's got a voice that, I mean, it's obviously

(23:45):
it's very poppy. Most of his songs, yes, But I
think he could tone it down. Yeah.
And I would love to actually hear him sing some ballads.
Some ballads, some love songs. Yeah.
Is that a curiosity? Would be interesting.
Yeah. Robbie Williams.
Awesome. He's just awesome.
Yeah, he had a big sing along toangels at his wedding to Ada
Field. So that's really.

(24:07):
Cute, that would you? Imagine.
Can you imagine having a sing along with Robbie Williams?
Yeah, yeah, I had one when I went to his contest.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you would.
Have you were my winery. It wasn't even that one.
It was like the one that from years ago back.
Along with $20,000 when that song was.
Big. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No. Amazing.
Classic song. Classic song.
OK, so we'll go through some, we'll go through some details

(24:30):
here because I think Maggie's going to be able to give us a
lot of input over things like like, so the first thing we're
going to discuss here is choosing a DJ or band, right?
So you've got few options here. You've got the live music solo
artist duos, right? So you would matter.
You probably agree with this. Live band creates a totally
different atmosphere. Absolutely.

(24:51):
It does. It really does.
Yeah, Because it's like, you know, you're almost out of
personal concept. And you're putting that that
artist is putting themselves out.
They've taken the time to learn.It's not just pressing play.
Right. That's right.
Yeah. So sound quality is also, it's
just more immersive, I think, Yeah.
Yeah, that's right. And they may take requests with
if it's in their repertoire and they know the song, things like

(25:13):
that. So that's great.
But you definitely need to pick one that matches your energy.
Absolutely. And matches your what you want
to create at your wedding. Yeah, yeah.
Where it because it's not a DJ who can just kind of switch it
up if needed. Yeah, definitely.
Yeah. OK.
And solo artists. So if someone said to you,
Maddie, for example, though, that they wanted to have like a,

(25:33):
a female voice with you, yeah. Would you have people that you
could call in for that or that'sjust not something you?
Do look, it is, it is something I've done in the past, like I've
had people go, hey, look, my cousin is a phenomenal singer
and she wants to sing our first dance or whatever.
And do you reckon you guys couldchat about what you can do?
And, and I, I love that because that's, that's someone that's

(25:55):
going to bring connection and love.
Yeah, it's a family member or a friend.
And they know that that's a really special moment.
So I like to honour that. And I've done it many times
where I've done duos with chickswhere I'm, I'm playing the
guitar and then she's singing. And then we, you know, and then
we're like, all right, let's do a song together or do two or
three songs together and we'll. Just nice.
Yeah, but for me, I ring that person.

(26:17):
I gotta make sure they're quite seasoned and it's not going to
be a bit of a butcher. Embarrassing.
I completely get that, yeah. So I'm like, let's send me some
samples and then and then tell me what key it's include.
Got to make sure I had a bride one day say, hey, Maddie, can
you start the song? Might have been even all of me,
was it? Baby.
Can you start the song, start singing, and the second verse,

(26:38):
I'll pull a microphone out and I'll sing myself down to the
second verse. And I'm like, Yep, you're gonna
have to come to my place and we're gonna have to rehearse
this. So we get it and we nail it
pretty well. So.
And it was beautiful and I love that.
Yeah, it could be disaster if she's been practising it in a
female key and you come out withyour male key.
And so different ball. Game we when we had Ramana come

(26:59):
on. Was that Ramana telling us about
a microphone down the dress in the middle?
Yes, between boobs, because she had nowhere to put it.
Oh, wow. Right.
Right. So she did just.
Yes. She's hung it in there the way
she went. Yeah.
Awesome. Yes.
She was so sad. Yeah.
Actually, funny you say that about the season thing, though.
Yeah. Because when I told Ron, our DJI

(27:20):
said, oh, I just want my cousinsto sing the best dance.
Do you think that you could provide, like, because they're
coming from Interstate, he'll have a guitar, but like, do you
think you can provide the microphone and stuff?
Yeah. Yeah.
And his scare factor on this. Yeah.
Just trusting me was like, Are you sure?
Would it be OK if they came for a sound check earlier in the

(27:40):
day? And I'm like, that'll be fine,
I'm sure they'll do that. And yeah.
And it was all fun after that. But until that moment, I think
he was slightly concerned. He was like, should I bring an
extra guitar just in? Case it's too.
Dry or like, And I was like, oh,I don't think that's necessary
because he doesn't know my cousins.
He doesn't know because they perform at Christian concerts.

(28:03):
Yeah, yeah. You know, So they, they're quite
good at it. They do it all the time.
And he doesn't know. They don't.
Know that and it is hard. My biggest no no is my guitar.
Hmm. I've just had someone 11 time
before. I'm like, yeah, OK, you can jump
on, little bit drunk, but stood up with the guitar strap and
then pounded it straight into the microphone and put a nice
big dent into the guitar. And then it was so from then it

(28:25):
was just that one person's put that in my mind because I'd use
the guitar the next day and it was just not the same.
Yep. So there's those things.
I mean, I always honour that. I just say look, I'll happy to
do set the microphone up, you know, sound check.
You put a bit of reverb if you want for a female, whatever it
is, but if you want to play a musical instrument, bring your
own. Yes, that's my only that's my.
That's completely fair. Yeah, and I mean, I've, I've

(28:48):
done other ones where is is pretty cool.
I've sung the bridesmaids down down the beach and I've gone and
pre set up some pianos, microphones and then they've
sung the bride down the beach. So it was cool.
I like me start them. And then I was like it was
they'd already been married. I was the mock celebrant and MC
celebrant, which is pretty cool because they would have fun with
it. But things like that, I, I

(29:09):
encourage people to do, do things like that because it, it
differentiates them between their, between them and anyone
else that does weddings. Yeah, yeah, that's right.
Do you? And if you've got someone that
can bring a bit of love and vibe, there's some amazing
singers and bring them out in your in your wedding.
Yeah, part of your part of your family, part of your friend
group. Yeah, if you've got them 100%

(29:30):
use them. I mean, I have looked at my
friends that probably would haveliked to.
Some of them left a nice messageof singing on my audio guest
book. Don't know what you're talking.
About, but I probably wouldn't put them behind a microphone.
Yeah, yeah, I love you too, Ruth.
So I mean a. Lot of bands generally won't
allow other people to jump up. As a solo person.
I kind of. You're a bit more flexible.

(29:52):
I I can be flexible, but yeah, Imean it's.
Just nice to have some notice, yeah?
And. I think, yeah.
And I think for weddings it's a different story.
It's not like you doing it at the pub.
Obviously they're not gonna let you up on stage.
Yeah, but a wedding is, it's more about the couple and as
long as I think you've got thumbs up from the couple.
Yeah. And you had that bit of a
practise? Absolutely.
So what about a DJ then? What do you think?

(30:14):
Obviously that's a different ball game.
Totally. They offer a bit more
flexibility in terms of music selection, can handle a probably
a wider variety of genres. And I guess if somebody has a
random song on the night that they want to play, it's a bit
easier to just pull that up. It does depend too, I guess, on
the on the size of the wedding party or the size, the size of
the crowd. The venue is a massive thing.

(30:36):
Like you think of somewhere likeSmoke Garage in in the Valley,
right? So they're set up to have 20
piece band if you really want to200 people and everyone pumping
on the dance floor. That's pretty pretty known that
they have big live bands there. If you've got a smaller crowd,
you know, like the I mean I I can I can handle a 200 piece of

(30:58):
purple person crowd anyway, yes,because I'm a one man band.
I can you know, I can just do the cruisy nice acoustic stuff,
but then ramp it up with all thefoot pedals, the live looping,
bringing all the other instruments and make it sound
full with those fun pub classic songs.
But some and then transition obviously into the DJ.
But as you said, DJ, you got to what you've got everything.

(31:20):
If, if you, if you see, you know, 9 year old grandma over
there, you can put a bit of Elvis on, you know, just to keep
her happy. You've got a wide selection.
So one of the biggest things I see with bands when people hire
a band, not every band that might seem at the pub, but not
every band has that in between music sorted.

(31:41):
So then they've got this, they've got this fun pump and
then they take their break and then they've lost their crowd
and then they've got to try and bring that back again.
So it's really important if you do get a band like that, the
they there is someone within that band that's got a good
knowledge of music and can create a playlist in between.
So that's why I find my live DJ,my live one man band DJ package

(32:01):
is super popular because I'm ammo there.
I've got everything. Ready to go rest of both worlds.
Yeah. And then if I'm if I'm, if that
crowd's not vibe and live music,it's a young crowd and they're,
you know, they're they're wanting some Calvin Harris and
some pub pumped up music. Then I transition, I'll just
transition to DJ. Yeah, so that's great.
But yeah, very flexible as a DJ.It's yeah, I think that's great.

(32:23):
I think the combo's great, Yeah,yeah.
And then we have the final one that we're on our list here, the
playlist me with that. IPod.
Yeah, I do find, and I mean, I'monly going by parties I've been
to that people do this with thatpeople tend to use a phone and
they don't put that phone on flight mode.
Yeah. So every time they get a
message, yes. Or they've got Spotify that they

(32:47):
haven't paid for, so the. Ads.
Yes. Or they got YouTube Premium and
it, I mean, they don't have YouTube Premium and the ads come
up. Or yeah.
Or they put on some karaoke and got sinking.
Yeah, yeah. Or like they don't they, they
just forget that they have to bring a power source and they
go, the phone goes flat. Yeah.
Like I feel like there's a lot that can go wrong.

(33:07):
There's a lot that can go wrong.There is some horror stories and
I get it all the time where people at the last minute will
go look, I you just spoke to people that had an iPad, an iPod
at their wedding and it just turned sour.
There was almost a fight becauseyou know, the boys, one of their
music, the girls, one of their music song was stopping

(33:27):
starting. For me, it's a professional DJ
and like I said, I've been doingthis for 20 years.
For me, it's even for two hours to three hour window of a crowd
on the dance floor. That's a lot of work.
My brain that's the most like tense I get is when is when I'm
deejaying is because you've got so many like you're in a if

(33:49):
you're in a club scene, boom, boom, boom, that's your beat the
whole time. You're just changing songs.
Whereas you're at a wedding, you're going between Footloose,
you're going to Calvin Harris, you're going to you know, so
there's a wide range that you got to go through and to keep
that crowd on the dance floor. And there's also that motion of
45 minutes is usually people's. That's when I start getting

(34:12):
tired right on the dance floor. I always say the couples two
hours on the dance floor is a great amount of time because
then that's kind of two sets. We're in the middle.
I can bring it down. We can do a flower toss.
We can break it up a little bit.Give people time to have a
break. Go, go to the loo, grab a drink,
freshen up, get back on the dance floor because it's just
you can't do that with a playlist, right?
Playlist is on. You can't.

(34:34):
So this is this is all these bigthings that DJ's have to do
within that time frame of the dance floor, Yeah.
Or even for the whole night, really, and reading that crowd
and bringing that. Good.
Advice, isn't it? It is good advice.
Yeah, dinner, music. Like I won't have an iPod again,
I promise. Well, yeah, you can.
It is. I run a risk, yeah.
And like I said, it is, it's a, it's, it's a weddings are.

(34:58):
Fun. And it depends on your crowd,
but if you get your crowd at thestart, you got them.
And if that playlist is in the wrong time for dinner, like you
say, you don't want to have thisheavy dance music happening
during dinner. Yeah.
Yeah. And so and you don't, as soon as
people find out there's a phone there, then they start adding in
their own. Music.
Absolutely, yeah. So it's like you're gonna have

(35:20):
to hide it. But I'm not mocking.
Not everyone can't afford a DJ and so it is an option.
Absolutely. And like some venues you can
plug straight in and Yep, you know, they have that option.
So like they're, you know, it isdefinitely an option for people.
Yeah, and I've had, I've had people hire say hey Maddie, can
I hire some gear off you? So I've got some gear that I
hire, you know, my old DJ equipment, people will hire it

(35:43):
from me. And I'm like, would you like 3
playlists? I'll give you like a nice cruisy
afternoon sundown playlist and anice dinner playlist and then a
playlist that's a generic keep everyone on the dance floor
playlist and they're like, yeah,awesome.
So then I then I sell that as well.
I sell that like so it but it's cheap.
You know, they can get this whole package for and they get

(36:04):
all this music that they don't have to sort out.
So that's really cool. That a little little thing I do
as well. Yeah, that's a note for.
A party that's definitely. And it's like it's a third of
the price of hiring a person to physically be there.
And all that sort of stuff. Obviously you gotta have your
contracts in price in case they break.
Anything, of course, because yeah, yeah, I understand that
I'm a high company. Absolutely yes.

(36:28):
Alright, so there's a few other things that we probably also
need to consider when it comes down to the entertainment, the
venue, the size and acoustics ofthe venue can obviously impact
the volume and the type of musicthat gets played.
Absolutely. Yeah, right.
Because. Some venues that we probably all
work at, like Redland Bay Golf Club, Yep, they have certain
restrictions on if the music is facing a certain way over the

(36:49):
golf course and it's facing the other way.
Yeah, yeah, because they have neighbours.
Yep, fair enough. Yeah, and there's a lot of
venues now that have neighbours.Yeah, absolutely.
Well, all the wedding venues aregetting, you know, surrounded by
houses. I mean, I just did a, a wedding
is a place called Donna Chang inBrisbane and it's like a
restaurant, but you can hire thetop section for like corporate
events, very small rooms. And it was, it was very odd

(37:12):
because I, they had all their music on downstairs, but I had
to kind of have my music at a really low level, just enough to
fill that room with just those people.
I couldn't have my DJ decks, just an iPad or stand.
So that I worked with and I worked with the coordinator.
She was very nervous about them when they said they have a
musician, a DJ coming into this small space that's also a

(37:35):
restaurant. But then I'd worked with this
lady previously, so she knew it was me.
I chatted with her and said, look, I can strip this right
back and I'll just work with you.
You're the venue. I want to come back, potentially
general track. I don't want to wreck a
relationship with you guys. I also want to keep the couple
happy. So let's all come together, have
a chat about what we can do to create this amazing wedding, but

(37:56):
stick within the restrictions. And I'm big on sticking with
sounds restrictions with the venue.
That's one of my biggest things within my business.
So I feel like any DJ or musician should be that
professional. They should go to the venue and
find it out. But if not, like the couple
should find out and they should definitely notify.
Yeah. Because otherwise they you don't

(38:17):
want to find out on the day thatyou can't have.
And it happens. That many speakers or.
It definitely happens. Like I mean, somewhere, like I
said before, Smoke Garage, you can go to Midnight and as loud
as you want. It's in the middle of the
valley, there's nightclubs and stuff everywhere, so you can go
wild. So a lot of people choose that
for their, you know, big DJs andlive bands and stuff.

(38:37):
And then you've got some of these Hinckland ones.
I know some places in northern NSW, in Byron Bay, they charge
the musician $1000 before they even start as a bond and if they
go over the decibels they don't get their bond back.
Oh yeah, careful. So you have to be careful to
putting it back on on the on thevendor.

(39:00):
Which you understand. Absolutely, yeah.
Absolutely, but like if it was me I wouldn't become what it
paid. For yeah.
And, and you know what, like there is a lot of ego throughout
my industry, right? You've got a lot of DJs and
entertainers that think they're hired because their big bass,
their big system, their big noise, because that's what they
do, right? But it's not about that in the

(39:22):
wedding industry. You've got to really hone into
the the venues. So and that comes down to the
the couple choosing the right venue.
That's right. I mean, you don't want a small
intimate room, but then have a five piece rock band.
Absolutely. You know, Yeah, yeah.
Look at what you're doing here. We'll.
Find out that you know you've booked this five piece band and
then down the track the venue says, hey, you can only have a

(39:43):
soloist. So I think it's really important
that couples they need to communicate.
They need to communicate like obviously have their venues in
mind. I always offer before I do a
quote or anything, I always liketo chat with a couple.
I'm like, can we chat over the phone?
Before I do anything, I always ask them the venue size of the

(40:03):
crowd, you know that basically what they like and then.
I can give them that advice and like, just so you know, oh, this
is nothing on that venue, but you're got a pretty wild crew
that venue is. It's not the right one.
It's not the right one for you because you're going to get
you're going to be very disappointed at the end of the
day. And I've been to wedding, I've
done weddings where you know, I've had to remind them like or

(40:26):
people are turned up, turned up and I'm like, I don't have the
volume control. I've got mine turned up right
all the way. The venue is controlling the in
house music. Some venues require you to plug
into their system so they control the sound.
Yeah, OK, so good. And that's.
Good. Yeah, a little bit of extra
insurance I guess for them that they're thinking.
Yeah, so match your size of yourcrowd to your venue for your

(40:51):
music. Yeah, yes, yeah, 100%.
And I guess personal preferencesare other considerations.
So the music needs to reflect the couple's tastes and
personalities. I think this is a given.
Most people are going to choose the songs that they want.
Yeah. Yeah.
But if you are really into heavymetal and you think there's not
gonna be like not everyone at the wedding is gonna be into

(41:11):
that, Yeah, maybe do consider your guests a little bit.
Yeah. Yeah, I have had that recently
where the giant of a groom, he was the biggest guy I've ever
seen in my life. He was a head.
He's a he's a head security guard.
I won't say where, but massive and him and his and his boys
were into heavy metal, right. So his wife to be said.

(41:31):
Look, OK, I know you love heavy metal.
It's not the I've got family there.
The the best time, the only timethat you can have it is when I'm
not there when I'm wait when when you're waiting for me to
turn up at the ceremony. So.
It's an interesting Can you imagine that?
You know people, Granny, come and sit down.
We were just, we, we, we were talking about how, you know,

(41:52):
like in a previous episode, I think we were talking about how
music at the start is like kind of people's entrance to what the
weather, what the weather is. Set the tone of the thing so.
This was nerve wracking for me as you can imagine.
So I said to the the gentleman. I said just send me through 10
of your favourite heavy metal songs.
Try and keep them as as as a little bit as least explicit as

(42:14):
possible just because of where we're at.
So this was ready Bay Golf Club.And I said to the coordinator, I
said, Are you ready? She's like, what do you mean?
I'm like, boom, everyone's sitting groom standing up there.
Everything was beautiful heavy metal.
Come on. The whole crowd just turned and
looked at me. As if you as if it was.
As if I made a mistake and I just kind of stood there with my

(42:34):
hands crossed with a bit of a like bit of a smirk on my face.
And then they've all turned backand they've just seen the groom
and these groomsmen because they're all security guard, love
the. And they're all just like, yeah.
And so he was frothing on it. The crowd obviously knew that he
liked it. And so then the vibe was it
matched it, it just, it worked. OK, yes.

(42:55):
But I wouldn't be say, if I'm onthe, if I'm doing a DJ set at
the end of the night, dance floor's pumping, got the girls,
we've got 90s R&B. And then someone comes up and
go, hey, bro, can you play some Slipknot?
Yes, That's my hardest thing, right?
And I say look I. Must be hard to say no.
I've got nothing against your song choices, but right here,
right now, out in this. Scene time it's.

(43:15):
Not the time. And I've had people get so angry
at me, yeah. Because once they've had a few
drinks, they don't care. They get violent and angry.
Play my robs on me, yeah? And you just know that you're
gonna destroy your dance floor you've worked hard for.
So yeah, it is. And and for me, I always that's
why before I even quote a couple, I it's in my thing to

(43:36):
chat with them first because I get a bit of an idea.
What are you into? What sort of music you into?
Yeah, live DJ and then are. You open to not having that kind
of yeah and then. And then I kind of make that
decision in my mind to go, am I the right person for this
person? And I'll be honest with them.
I'm like, look, to be honest, I'm not the person for your
wedding. Like, this is my style.
I mean, I I never shy away from a wedding, but you just know,

(43:58):
there's been a handful of times where I've gone look, I'm not
the guy for your wedding, but here's someone that I reckon
would just do do that. Awesome.
Particularly if they want that live aspect right, you could
say, look my live stuff is not really that far, but the DJ
stuff I could definitely. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, if someone, if someone'sgot like a house background
where there's no real lyrics or anything, it's just house music,

(44:19):
I don't know that genre. And if that's like a big key
element to their wedding, I'll kind of put them onto someone
that I know that can perform thehouse side of things, so.
It's good to be honest. It comes down to that because I
don't want to, at the end of On the Night, look like a fool.
And I don't want to disappoint. I don't want to disappoint, it's
my reputation. So if.
Their wedding, you know you don't want to disappoint them.
And then another magic thing. You can always tell when someone

(44:43):
gives you their lineup of their ceremony music.
They might choose Luke Holmes and Morgan Wallen, country
singers, so you know there's a country vibe in there.
They might be an older couple, choose some an old older style
song. There might be younger crew that
want something fun and upbeat. You can kind of gauge it off
their ceremony music sometimes. But in my meeting I'm always I
always say between now and your wedding day, send me through

(45:05):
think sit down together, have a drink drive in your car,
whatever. Sit down and and think about
your mum, your dad, your kids, if they're there, all your
guests, your friends, your family and just throw a random
list together just so I know where I can go with your music
for the night. I'm not just going to sit down
and press play and walk away. I want to know where I can go.
I'm a professional crowd reader.I can just, you know, zone those

(45:28):
into the right times. But gives me an idea because
sometimes if they don't send a list and then you get there and
you you didn't pick him to be a blink 182 fan and the bride
comes up Danfalls pumping and she's like, oh, can you put some
blink on? I'm like, see you.
Why sent me this? Why?
I get a bit of a a wide range and I really like that 'cause it
kind of helps my night, it helpsme connect quicker.

(45:50):
It's a really. Poor Ron.
I was like, playlist for this, playlist for this in Spotify.
Yeah, these playlists. And I was like, playlist, share,
share, share. So he's like, Oh my God.
I looked at my phone and it was just like slowly Spotify
playlist. And I was like, I don't know how
else to give it to you in a way,because I was like.
Well, it's the best way, right? Like because on the night you

(46:11):
can, I've got my DJ equipment and I've got my iPad there that
I can press open Spotify and it's all lit up.
It's all there. Some people people try and print
it out and then it's if you're in low lighting and there's flat
and you're trying to read what the so Spotify places.
And I say to that to people like, like use it to your
advantage. Just send them through and I can
that way. I've got a guide.
Yeah, and you also know, 'cause you know, like some of the songs

(46:32):
now particularly like, like, forexample, like someone might have
a walking down the aisle, but itmight be an upbeat song, but
it's been turned into. An acoustic, yeah, Or an
acoustic, yeah. All the time, which which is
what like I had for like my first dance.
It's like an acoustic version. And so at least a Spotify
playlist because you can send the song to you, but maybe yes,

(46:53):
right. So that, you know, what sort of
yeah version of that song we want, you know?
I nearly came unstuck a couple of weeks ago because I knew the
bride wanted to walk down to this specific song.
They were very into their theatre kind of stuff and movies
and music from movies. And there was this song and then
she we're in our meeting. She had texted to me, but I

(47:14):
didn't have her number saved. I had his number saved and then
obviously I wrote the song name down or whatever.
And then so I the day before I put all their music together
that's booked down the old song.I was just deejaying.
I wasn't playing live, put all their music together.
And then I was, I was in the combi going to pick them up.
And I had this thought, I'm like, I wonder if that's a song?
And I pulled over and I double checked it.

(47:36):
And then I checked the client details form, checked her
number. And I'm glad I did because it
was a really lovely piano version of the song that she'd
sent, but I had the wrong one ready to walk her down the
aisle. So that was an intuitive thing
that happened to me. And I was like, all right,
always. Whenever I get that sign, I'll
always stop. Yeah.
Double check if I've got to makea film myself and ring the bride

(47:57):
or chat to the bride. You'd prefer to do that.
Prefer to do that. So yeah, it's it's it's all
about connecting with them, figuring out what they want, get
their vision, Yeah, and then deliver.
That's right. That's fair.
For me that's. What I.
Love, Yeah, yeah. I like, yeah, there's a few I
guess. Do's or don'ts.
Really though, for the whole wedding music.
Probably wedding songs with explicit lyrics you don't want.

(48:19):
Don't want any swear words if you can avoid it.
Absolutely. Too many slow songs in a row.
I mean, it's nice to spot with the dinner music.
It may kill the dance floor. The dance floor.
And I guess songs with the air negative messages.
Absolutely. Yeah, yeah.
Don't want that. And it's and and it's not.
With Granny there. Comes back to reading that
crowd, you know, like really knowing that crowd.
So I'm reading the crowd. The second I get to that

(48:40):
ceremony, I'm looking through all those rows of people,
alright, that chicks gonna be the one that's gonna be the wild
one. That dudes probably, you know,
that's great. They're smokers.
That's they're gonna be outside most.
They're not sorry. They're so the DJ game.
Yeah, I kind of like get a bit of a gist of it leading through
the whole night, so yeah. Yeah, that's cool.

(49:00):
Different songs, fun ideas for music.
Yeah. OK, so you can obviously
personalise the entrance songs. Yeah.
You might wanna do a lip sync battle or a dance off just to
get the crowd going. And then fun songs.
Now I wanted this at my wedding but we didn't do fun songs like
the chicken dance and the keep. The DJs cringe worthy?
Yeah, I bet. Yes.

(49:23):
Nutbush comes on. I think there's probably a lot
of DJs that just go, oh, what amI doing with my life?
That's another big question in my in my meeting with them
before their wedding, I've got like must plays.
Is there anything that comes to your mind now that I must play?
Yeah, for something that's. Gonna be definite.
You could have been at your bridal party, at your what do
they call them? The girl?

(49:44):
The hens. The.
Hens right and the and the Bucksparty and a song come on, he's
all got up and did something funand crazy.
They're the songs that I wanna know about.
They're those must plays as wellas the ones that come to mind
so. Do a must play?
List Yep and then there's the don't play.
So it might have been a funeral song.
I don't wanna be upset in anyone, No feel like, you know
songs. Yeah, especially these days, you

(50:04):
know, a lot of funerals can havesome upbeat songs that they've
used that, you know, it's maybe one person's favourite.
Song Wedding Songs about being married.
Before 234. Five times, but there's a few
songs they're gonna. Do that's true.
Do not play songs. Is a good idea.
So that's a big one for me making sure.
But yeah, party songs is a good one.
If they can come up with things that represent them that can

(50:26):
have fun. I mean, there's a song that's
pretty fun that they do. What's the the Cha Cha slide?
It's it's more of like a UK kindof thing.
So I know when I've got a UK wedding, like people fuck all
coming over from UK. Why do you want to do the Cha
Cha slide? Or, you know, there's certain
songs that I know will work withdifferent.
Yeah, with a different like. Different culture, Demographic
culture, Absolutely. And it's also reading the

(50:48):
culture of a wedding. So if I've got a majority Kiwis,
and I know the Kiwis love that bit of reggae and that's their
style of music, so I'll blend tosuit that, yeah.
Or I'll bring the didgeridoo in because it's something that
these cultures haven't really heard too much of in the live.
Performance. Love it.
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, definitely.
That's great. All right, so let's look at what

(51:09):
sort of songs that you actually need on a wedding day.
Yes, yeah, Big. That's big.
Yeah, there's the pre wedding ceremony, there's the parents
entrance, the bridal party entrance, the brides
processional. That's always their book down
aisle song, a signing of the register.
I think a lot. Of people come.
Get this one sometimes. Sometimes.

(51:30):
I always say 2. Yeah, 2 is a good idea and it's
I think it's always nice to justhave 1/3 on backup.
Just I've done 4. Yeah.
Photographers like Yeah. Sometimes they run slow, so
yeah, the hymns. That's if it's required, I
guess. Yeah, some ambience music, so
sometimes. People like it, like, in the

(51:51):
background of the ceremony, right?
Just really lightly, yeah. That can be off putting from a
videographer's point of view because they are trying to
capture like behind the vows. I had to do that on the weekend
and behind the Vows. She wanted this song, so I
played it very lightly. But then the celebrants looking
at me and then the crowds looking at me and then the
videographer's looking at me. It had been coordinated between

(52:12):
myself and the bride and groom, but it threw the ceremony off.
A. Little bit it is difficult I
guess for they Yeah, because youcouldn't edit it very well if
like as a videographer or a content creator, yeah, you do
tend to mash up the video. So yeah, that.
Is true. Great.
For the photographer. So keep that in mind if you

(52:33):
think you want to do that. It is beautiful, but yeah, be
mindful of it. Yep, Yep, recessional.
So everybody sort of leaving. Leaving the altar, yeah.
The altar. Upbeat, always upbeat and fun.
Yeah, else was finally you. Know finally yes happened yeah
because. We were engaged with someone.
Awesome, I had someone do Oops, I did it again because it was

(52:55):
his second marriage. I love that too.
A cocktail hour. I guess this is a good time for
some, you know, a lot of acoustics and.
Some, you know, singer. Songwriter time start.
I love that cocktail hour as well.
Bridal party arrival. This is always fun first dance.
You could have lots of differentideas for first dance.

(53:17):
Yeah, a lot of people, some people do mashups too.
I've been asked to do some DJ mashups.
So can you like do this really slow, soppy song, but then RIP
it into this and then RIP it into this and then let's go
hard. And it's a really cool.
Transition, especially because alot of people don't want to have
a first dance that lasts for theentire 3 1/2 minutes of the
song. They they want to dance for. 20
seconds by themselves, yeah. Yeah, yeah, if you had to do

(53:38):
anything more than me. Absolutely, yeah.
But at least maybe if it comes on then you can Just Dance for
the 20 many seconds and then invite people up.
OK, you don't want the attentionon you for 3 1/2 minutes.
Absolutely. And with that, I always tell
couples because that's the biggest thing I've noticed.
That is a huge moment that people are really scared of,
right? So I always say to them, why are
you scared about it? Because we've got to stand there
and sway. We're not dancers.

(53:59):
I said, well, it's not about that.
If for you guys, some people have a full choreographed dance
for their first dance and that'sawesome, that's their style.
But if you're not that centre ofattention kind of person, the
reason behind the first dance isto take the focus of everything
else that's happened. Ceremony dinner, get everyone up
out of their seats, get them to the dance floor so the
entertainer can then drag everyone on.

(54:21):
So it can literally just be 10 seconds sometimes for yourself.
You want to get that really niceshot, so I do.
It's 20. It's like I always say, if you
can last the verse up to the chorus, yeah, the photographer
and a videographer can get the beautiful shots that they
require and then we just drag everyone on.
You won't even know what's happened.
It'll. Be that quick.
I think just, yeah, just after that chorus is a nice time.

(54:41):
You've had the nice verse. You've had the nice chorus that
you've obviously chosen. Yeah, for a reason.
Yeah. And then you can.
So I encourage that, that every bride and groom do not let that
be a make a cringe. Yeah, yeah.
Fair enough. Yeah.
Then we got the father daughter dance.
There's lots of beautiful songs out there, lots of tears.
In Eyes, I deliberately picked one that would suit my dad's

(55:02):
genre. Yeah.
Yeah, because it was easier. Absolutely.
I got my dad to pick. Yeah, I tell brides I'm like,
give that homework to your dad. You've had enough homework with
this wedding. I mean, I had to pick it, but I
only wanted something he was going to remember because of his
dementia and, you know, like, itwas a song that he knew really
well. Wow.
Yeah. So music.
Exchange for people. Yeah.
Yeah, and I guess mother son dance is also sometimes it's

(55:24):
yeah, it is a big thing. Sometimes it happens.
I've noticed halfway through a father daughter dance is the
father. And I mean they kind of the
mother and son will come up cakecutting.
I think it's probably always good to have a couple for that
as well. Yeah.
I mean, it usually only goes one, yeah, but.
It's. Usually, usually like the punch
of the song or yeah, yeah. The bouquet and Garter toss.

(55:46):
If you but if you want somethingspecial.
Yeah. Yeah, so I've got a few games
which I can tell you about laterthat I switch out for that old
route, Old Ritual. Yeah, some new stuff, having
fun, and then the last dance. Yep.
Yep, that's always the. Last dance, the exit.
I mean, some people will give you that closing time.
I'm like, you can't do that. It's been done.

(56:07):
It has been. Done.
Yes, it has been done and then we've got what to look for, I
guess in an MC. Yeah, so maybe today we'll leave
it on that note and we will comeback at this on our next
episode. That's a good idea.
Yes. Whatever.
Yeah. OK, so we're gonna keep Maddie
here and we are going to come back at you with MC stuff.

(56:29):
But for now, I think we're gonnaend it with that today.
But Ruth, do you want to do yourfavourite topic?
Do 5 fast questions? Yes.
Excellent all. Right.
Kay rode in and asked. Do I have to turn down the music
by a certain time? That's a that's a venue specific

(56:50):
thing. So some venues are like by 9:00
decibels have to come down. So that's that's a venue
question. And then that's up to the
entertainer to adhere to that. Absolutely.
Alright, fair enough. Yep, Sarah said.
Will a DJ be able to do a mash up of both of our two favourite
songs if we can't choose? I guess that's what you just
saw. Absolutely.
So I can do that live, I can do that as a DJ, Absolutely.

(57:11):
Alright, but I guess check with the DJ or?
Check with the DJ and make sure the band.
To make sure that is. Because some 22 songs sometimes
don't mash together very well, so it takes a lot of work so.
Yeah. Yep, Yep.
Jasmine said Can I book a DJ anda band?
So how would that work? What if they were separated?
Like what you do the DJ? If they wanted a band.

(57:33):
A different band. Absolutely.
If they're having a, if they're having a big band and they want
to put the trust in a DJ to bring that vibe in between and
afterwards, absolutely. Yeah, you can work.
I can work hand in hand with. It obviously you're still, just
remember, I would say and I you can correct me if I'm wrong, but
you're still gonna have that DJ there for the whole time.
So you need to be prepared that the cost is gonna be there for

(57:54):
both. Yeah.
I mean some people do do the live band up until say 10:00 and
then they want the DJ from like 10:00 to 11:50, yes.
So 2 hour set. So I don't personally do that.
I focus on full day package. I wanna be there for the full
day. I wanna experience this whole
thing. Yeah, there are deejays out
there that will just do those two hours.
But absolutely, yeah, it is a hand in hand.

(58:15):
Or you get a one man band that is a DJ.
Yeah. Or you get you get a band that
has a DJ within it. So do your research.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's yeah.
Caitlin asked. Can we reuse songs from the
ceremony for the reception? You know I.
See why you couldn't? I can't.
See why you couldn't? But I do have a lot of people
that sort of say that to me all.But we want this song later on
in the night, so maybe we shouldn't use it at the

(58:36):
ceremony. Well, I don't.
I mean so. Unless it's a key one, I guess,
like your first dance being the one that walked you down the
aisle. Yeah, so I've done recently.
I sang a bride down the aisle too.
I think it was simply the best. My slowed down, really cruisy
ceremony cover and then their very last song at the end of the
night was the same song, but it was Tina Turner.

(58:59):
Oh yeah. So it was.
That worked really, really well because it's me performing and
that so you can. Go.
That's good. I think that's fair.
Yeah, that's good, Danny said. How do I know if the DJ I want
to book is experienced? Yeah.
Is there any telltale signs? Award Shows.
Experience Awards. Reviews, like check how many

(59:21):
reviews they got, read their reviews, like go for that.
That's that's the biggest telltale sign.
Not every entertainer is on the socials and post every single
thing that they do for us when we're in, when we're doing our
job. Last thing I want to be doing is
chucking the camera on to show how everyone how amazing this
wedding is. I get snippets of it, but it's
the reviews, it's the awards, it's that's where it's at.

(59:43):
I mean for Someone Like You, youalso do live gigs so they could
go check it out they. Can come check out a live.
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
Come and see me in action. And I say that's people.
Hey, end of the month I'm playing at the Elysium.
Come and see me. See me live in action before you
actually book me. Yeah, yeah.
Good idea. That's great.
Yeah. Thank you, Maddie.
I really appreciate you coming in.
Yes, there was lots of insight there.

(01:00:04):
Yeah, very much so. I learnt a lot.
Cool. Yeah, absolutely.
And hopefully we brought something to everybody
listening. That's right.
OK, so. People can fire me on on the
socials that Mister Mr Entertainment AUS is on
Instagram. Mr Entertainment weddings and
events is Facebook. I've got over 655 star reviews

(01:00:25):
through the ABR. It's amazing.
So they've got the wedding industry awards.
I've just last year, got first for DJ, second for live, 2nd for
MC, 3rd for transport. Huge and then voted for by
brides. This is voted by brides.
So that makes it more special. In a big wedding industry.
And then there's one, there's the national one last night.

(01:00:47):
So I don't quite know how I wentin that one just yet.
So. Stay tuned, stay tuned that's.
Crazy, but we will post the linkto Maddie's information on our
socials as well. Perfect.
OK, great. Thank you so much.
Bye. Coming up on the next episode,
we will welcome back Maddie Rossfrom Mr Entertainment to talk

(01:01:08):
about being an MC. Do you need one professional
versus personal friend and building your run sheet?
That's all for today. Thank you for joining us for the
bridal brief. If you want to hear more, don't
forget to click follow on our podcast.
Please send us any questions youneed answered or contact us
directly at the [e-mail].

(01:01:29):
Or through our social media pages.