November 12, 2024 • 23 mins
Get ready to uncover the secrets to a wedding ceremony that’ll leave everyone talking! In this episode, we're joined by DJ Gumby from Gaines Entertainment who's here to spill the beans on everything from mastering sound to adding those personal touches that make your ceremony truly yours. Get the lowdown on how a wedding DJ does way more than just play tunes – we're talking venue acoustics, microphone magic, and how to make sure every "I do" is heard loud and clear.
We'll also dive into the art of picking ceremony music that’s as unique as your love story, while sneaking in those crowd favorites (hello, Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect”!). Plus, we’ll chat about the pressure to create viral wedding moments and why it’s way more important to focus on authenticity and connection. This episode isn’t just about flawless planning – it’s about celebrating what really matters on your big day.
If you enjoyed this episode, hit that subscribe button and drop us a review! We’d love to hear what you think!
Want us to chat with your favorite vendor? We’d love to! Shoot us an email at marco@tipsyguest.com and let us know who you want to hear from! Your top picks could be the stars of our next episode!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Tipsy Guest Podcast.
I am your host, marcoBuenrostro, and every week I'm
here with the top industryexperts, amazing clients and all
my vendor BFFs to bring you thebest tips, advice and juicy
behind-the-scenes stories tomake wedding and event planning
a breeze.
So grab your favorite drink andlet's get this party started.
(00:40):
You here, I've been looking foryou for a while.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I don't move around as much as you do.
I move around in the city rightand and I stay pretty much 1604
downtown.
I do my thing, you're, you'relike oh, I'm, I'm in brazil
today, y'all, oh I'm, I'm in,I'm in italy you know funny that
you mentioned that.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
You know people always send me that meme that I
don't know if you've seen it.
That says rich friends be like,hey, let's go to Africa this
weekend.
That's you.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
You're like I got the Airbnb.
It's going to be $1,300 aperson.
Who's in?
That's you.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
And it's me when it comes to hey, let's go somewhere
this weekend, not the rich part, just a let's go to Africa this
weekend this weekend, not therich part, just let's go to
africa this weekend.
I'm not, I'm not mad at it.
Though I'm not mad at it, Ilike to travel.
What can I say?
No, I, I got kids.
You know, that is that is sodifferent.
How many kids do you have?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
I have two kids.
Um how old are they?
One is seven, that's my oldest,and then my youngest is um
three and she just startedpreschool.
So it's been a it's been a nicelittle journey for them and
just trying to, you know, getthem acclimated to new schedules
and whatnot, but it's beengreat yeah, I always, I always,
you know, see the the horrorstories or hear about the horror
(01:54):
stories about kids goingstarting school.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I guess does she cry like crazy, like everybody does
yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
So the youngest she just went in um, maybe three
weeks ago.
As we're recording this, shejust started preschool and she
walked in and she was cool, butthen, all of a sudden, like the
energy in the room changedbecause all the kids just saw
her and they got excited likefresh meat, Like let's go right.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Oh my God.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
And they just ramped up.
Once they ramped up like that,she was like yo, what the hell
is this?
And then the tears startedcoming and it wasn't like a big
cry, like ah, help, it was justmore like yo, what the hell is
going on.
Because it was a lot Somethingnew yeah.
But after two or threedrop-offs she's like all right,
let's get it.
She's like I got this.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
That's her.
I mean I don't have kids, but Imean I have two dogs.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
You take them to the daycare and I take them to the
daycare and I feel like they getwild.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
I mean one of them, the little one.
He is crazy, so I know.
They always give you the reportcards or whatever at the end of
the day and it always has thesame.
Marlo was super social and heloved making new friends.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
I marlo was super social and he loved making new
friends.
I'm like, oh yeah, it's thesame thing.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
All right, kids, dogs , I mean, they're all the same.
In a sense some people are notgonna like that, but who cares?
This is the tip to guess.
We talk shit, let's go, let'sgo, I'm with it, but anyways.
So today we're gonna be talkingabout I mean, I know you as a
DJ, you know we normally.
You know, when people hearabout DJs, they normally think
(03:30):
about like yeah, hey, the party,let's make people dance.
But today we're going to changeit up a little bit.
We are going to be talkingabout the ceremony.
Yeah so basically, you know wewant to make sure our listeners
know what a DJ is going to dofor them during a ceremony.
So I guess, if you want to walkme through the process, you
(03:52):
know what is it that you do forthem during the you know before
they're getting married, asthey're getting married, and
then, of course, right afterthey get married yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
So, uh, one of the key components of the wedding
and I mean this should besomething that everyone knows
off top is is the ceremonythat's.
I tell all my couples this whenI meet with them for the first
time everyone is there for that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I I just find it reallycrazy and and very surprising
(04:24):
that most couples now we're in2024, most couples now are like
breezing right over that when itcomes to, uh, the meetings and
the conversations with you know,planners and us and av and all
that stuff.
They're just kind of like allright, and then we get to the
dance floor and I'm like yo pumpthe brakes.
The ceremony is like that's thething.
If we don't do that, then therethere is no reception, right?
(04:46):
So my first thing that I always,you know, try to look at first,
first and foremost of allthings.
I want to know where the hellare we doing this?
Because that plays a huge rolein the equipment I'm going to
use, how we're going to mic you,all kinds of things.
So that's first and foremost,and then from there we start to
talk about how you guys aregoing to make this more of an
(05:06):
individualistic thing, right,like, how are you going to make
this unique?
How are you going to make ityou?
I'll be honest with you, mostcouples now are just like well,
what does so-and-so do?
And I'm always the guy that'slike just trying to challenge
them a little bit and like, hey,how about we shut this meeting
down?
Yeah, go watch some movies orgo, you know, like go on a walk,
(05:27):
go do something and think ofsomething, because we're not
going to do this, like, oh,you're just going to walk down
the aisle.
So here comes the bride andthen, like you're married, we
don't want to do that, we wantto do something.
That's you, and I think that'swhat's that has me.
That's what has me excitedright now about today's couples
is that there are no rulesanymore for ceremonies.
Flower boys, we're seeing,right.
(05:49):
We're seeing grandmas as theflower girl.
We're seeing couples or notcouples.
We're seeing guests beinggreeted before they get to their
seats with shots of tequilawhich, by the way, you have one
right now.
I took mine before you got here,but you have weddings now where
you pull up to the ceremony andas soon as you get there
there's something right and it'snot the whole stuffy in a
(06:12):
church, and I got to sit thereup tight and it's 45 minutes
long.
You know what I mean.
Like everything's not so cookiecutter anymore, which is great.
But as far as we're concerned,my job in a sense is to make
sure that you understand whatwe're going to do for you first,
and then try to build somethingmore creative around your ideas
and like what makes you as acouple.
Let me take this one.
(06:32):
Take your shot, yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
So so that is one of the things that I that I like.
I think every time I see youposting on on on social media
about your weddings, I alwaysnotice that you are so involved
with the couple like I see you.
It's um 818 by kendall jenner.
Okay, maybe she wants tosponsor this episode.
I didn't even know about thatokay, yeah she, she got a lot of
(06:55):
heat, uh, when she firstreleased the tequila line.
Uh, you know, because it's akardashian.
But who cares?
I love the k Kardashians.
People know that it is good.
So I drink their tequila.
It's good, so yeah, so everytime I see you post on social
media about your weddings, Ialways see you having so much
(07:16):
fun with the couples.
There's a very specific photothat I love on your social media
and I think you even use it onyour flyers.
I've seen it more than once yeahand it's where I think, um,
it's, you're like jumping inbetween the couple or they're
jumping with you, they're doingsomething fun, and I'm like
that's how it should be.
You know, you're supposed toget along like great with with
(07:38):
your couples.
They're supposed to like you,they're supposed to like connect
with you and I think that photogives the your vibe that that
is who dj gumby is?
Speaker 2 (07:48):
that's, that's me in a nutshell.
Um, on a wedding day is I try?
I just try to be different fromwhat everyone else is giving
off, because I mean, in on yourside of the tracks you usually
get to like kind of pop in, setup, up, leave for a bit and then
you come back when it's funright.
For photo booths For me.
When I get there I see hair andmakeup team and they're like
(08:12):
tense.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
They're trying to make a deadline.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
I see the officiant, which I do wanna talk about
officiants in a second.
I see the officiant gettingthere like with 15 minutes to
spare, and they're uptight,right, and they've walked back
down the aisle and we're, youknow, just trying to do that
circle around to where we'retaking some cocktail pictures
and maybe having a drink, or soI'm greeting my couple with a
(08:39):
drink.
Yeah, even if they don't drink,I'm like yo, I got a margarita
for you.
I don't drink, cool, I can goget you some water, but here, if
you want it, right, whatever.
In the same sense, after Icircle back from getting them a
drink, I'll go back up, I'll dosomething with equipment, put
some stuff away, but I come backdown just to change it up.
Right, because at that pointthey've been taking pictures for
(09:01):
about 20, 30 minutes withfamily and friends, which can be
a thing.
Right there You're trying tofind Joe.
Joe's already drunk and you'retrying to tell Joe we need to
take more pictures.
Dad's done taking pictures andhe's annoyed, so he's not giving
you the right energy.
Maybe the groom didn't knowpictures were going to take this
long, so he's not giving youthe right energy, right?
So, like there's, there's allthis stuff going on and you want
(09:21):
to get all these pictures in,but at the same time, it should
be a happy thing exactly, yeah,like you don't want them
stressed yeah which a lot of thetime.
They seem really really verystressed, and I think as a, as
an industry, we need to reallyhone in on that aspect of the
day, which is that littletransitional phase from end of
(09:41):
ceremony to the end of cocktailhour.
The couple should be having fun, like I understand you, you've
been booked for ten thousanddollars to take these photos,
but your couple shouldn't bepissed off about you know, like
that's just weird, yeah.
So so what I do?
I literally do this.
I show up after that 20, 30minutes of me doing other stuff
and I'll either come back with atowel, an appetizer, something
(10:04):
more to drink or just me, andwhen I show up, I usually have
my belt, my wwe belt, whichyou've probably seen I've seen
it.
Yeah, check it out on oninstagram and it just breaks the
ice and it changes the energyright.
And then from there I say, hey,let's take a fun picture,
because at that point they'vejust been taking pictures where
they're, you know, like theformal stuff yeah it's like
portraits and I'm like yo, allright, can I get two minutes?
(10:26):
Like, loosen up a little.
Most photographers this is acool little like inside scoop.
Most photographers love itbecause they understand what I'm
doing.
The smart ones understand that.
I'm like actually breaking upthe monotony of this picture,
picture, picture and giving somedifferent energy.
Some of them hate that shit yeah, I mean they hate it because
(10:48):
they feel like I'm taking awayfrom their portrait time, which
really I'm not.
I'm just trying to get onepicture and I'm trying to just
switch gears a little bit forthe couple so they can think
about fun instead of, just likeyou know, deadline, deadline,
deadline.
But yeah, that's one of thethings I like to do during
ceremony time.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
I like that.
It makes it different and I'msure it's a great experience for
the couple, for the guest andfor you as well.
I mean, you're there for a longtime, so you want to make sure
that you create a funenvironment for everyone,
including yourself, of course,For sure.
When it comes to the music, theequipment right now earlier
(11:24):
that you mentioned, you know youneed to know where it is so
that you know what equipment tobring.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Oh, yeah, so do you bring?
Speaker 1 (11:31):
I guess the microphones Like what type of
microphones do you bring?
I guess the microphones.
What type of microphones do youbring, I guess, for the
officiant, for the couple, howmany setups or how many
microphones?
I'm not really sure.
I guess the term that I need touse here.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
No, you're good you educate me on that.
No, it can get complicated andthat's where I come in with a
couple and I just explain tothem that for me, and just to be
quite frank, my price point isalmost double than all my
competition in the area.
So when I get to a meeting withmy couple and they start
talking about ceremony, all I dois I say I got you, Don't even
(12:05):
worry about it, because I'mgoing to bring you what you need
.
That's, that's what I tell them.
Now, for my mid range, my, mymid range DJs, I tell them what
you're going to get is A, B andC.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Right.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
And that's always dependent on the location.
For example, if we're at I canname drop this one because it's
just true If we're at the AllenFarmhouse, there's a little bit
of a wind tunnel that is createdin their chapel.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, beautifulchapel, right and, and the
backdrop is amazing.
But if there's a little bit ofa breeze on any given day,
(12:39):
you're going to get a lot ofwind that comes through there,
whether it be sideways orvertical, what, what have you?
Uh, so we have to make surethat the lapel is either is
either tucked under the shirt orit's.
You know, uh, we have a, um,what we call a.
It's almost.
What is it called?
It's like a muffler, whateverthe thing is called, it's one of
these windscreens a littlefluffy thing, yeah so, depending
(12:59):
on where we are, it kind of youknow, dictates what we're going
to bring.
Uh, if we are doing a wedding of, you know, 200 guests and we
know that a lot of people arecoming from out of town,
everybody on your guest list isgoing to be there.
If you have a lot ofout-of-town guests, where else,
where else are they going to beright?
If you have guests that arecoming from down the street,
(13:20):
they're probably going to belate because they have a life
and they have other stuff.
You know what I mean.
Like it just works out that way.
So for the 200 person wedding,where everyone's coming from out
of town, we need to bring morespeakers because we need to
cover it more.
If everybody's coming from intown, we might get away with one
speaker because you might have30 people that aren't at the
ceremony.
Make sense?
Yeah, no for sure.
For sure so all that stuff kindof plays into like what you're
(13:42):
going to bring.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Uh, last thing I'll touch on is you know, I think a
lot of people are really um,honed, we're okay, we can use a
wired mic and it's totally fine,I promise you I was just gonna
(14:05):
ask that, yeah, you beat me toit yeah so yeah, because most of
the time you know you're I, Isee you know them with little
microphones and but I mean, likeyou said, you know wired
microphones are okay and okayand I guess that brings up my
question how do you deal withsituations where one person is
louder than the other?
(14:26):
Because I know we werediscussing this earlier I'm
really loud, like I need tocontrol myself sometimes.
I need to control myselfsometimes because I get excited
and I get really loud yeah soare I mean, do you have like a
control station where you are,you know, like making sure that
everything sounds about the same?
How does that work?
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Yeah.
So that's a good question, andthis is every month that I do a
ceremony.
The three people that are upthere at the altar quote unquote
completely different.
Everybody, right From top tobottom.
Usually and this is just mespeaking, based on texas usually
the bride is louder than thegroom and the efficient is the
(15:10):
loudest of the three.
So what I what I do is I makesure that during the ceremony
I'm not back there like checkingscores from college football.
I'm like I'm dialed the fuck inbecause I want to make sure
that these levels sound nice andthat everyone that's, you know,
five rows back can understandwhat's going on.
Because that's that's actuallythe biggest complaint I hear
(15:31):
from other couples.
When they come to me, they saywell, when I was at so-and-so's
wedding two years back, I didn'thear any of the vows.
I'm like yo, that's not, that'slike the best part.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Yeah, I mean, it's debatable depending on what chad
gpt gave them.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
I had a guy one time he pulled out.
He pulled out three pages.
I'm not making this up.
He pulled out three pages.
And then when we got to her, oh, she had a note card.
She was like, well, I shouldhave went first.
That's funny, but but anyhow,that's, that's our job.
You know, there's a bit of anunderlying like saying or
(16:15):
thought that when you, when youhire a DJ in this world, you're
you're getting entertainment andAV, and that's really true,
whereas if we're in theconference world I'll just
switch gears a little bit youwould be paying one individual
person to monitor the mic levelsthroughout the entire event,
right?
So why do we not have that muchattention going towards
(16:37):
ceremonies?
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
This is a once in a lifetime moment, so you should
definitely not be on your phoneplaying minecraft or whatever
you'd like to do in your sparetime.
You should be locked in forthat 20 minutes and just make
sure that everything's tight,and that's what I do okay, I
like that, I like that, and uh.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
So when it comes to the music that's played during
ceremony, do you ever have anyinput on what songs, I guess?
Do you ever makerecommendations, or do most of
your couples already come to youwith a very specific song in
mind?
How does that normally workwith your process, I guess?
Speaker 2 (17:14):
It really does depend on the background of the couple
.
Some of the couples I work withthey're like the third wedding
in their friend group or they'rethe second sister to get
married in two years.
So they kind of understand it.
You can do whatever you want,but some um, excuse me,
sometimes they do need directionin which you know I have to
kind of like take the handcuffsoff a little bit and say hey,
(17:36):
you don't, you don't have to doEd Sheeran Perfect Bye.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
I mean it's, it's it, that's a very common one.
Yeah, that's a very common one,very common such a pretty song.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
It is a pretty song.
I love that song.
That's my guy.
But you don't have to do thestring quartet version of the ed
sheeran song you heard on uhbridgerton, like just because
you saw it on social media.
Yeah, and that's that's anotherthing I can go on.
A tangent about is you do nothave to go viral.
Yeah, I won't say that again tothe camera.
You don't have to go viral.
(18:08):
It's your wedding.
Stop trying to go viral, justbe you.
Back to you, okay, that is theperfect advice on today's
episode.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Yeah, because a lot of the time people come to at
least, for example, with me likethey come, you know, when they
want a photo booth, and theycome to me and they're like, hey
, we saw this video, and theysend me the video and they're
like we want exactly that, canyou make it happen?
And I'm like, well, I'm justbringing the camera, can you
make it happen?
Can you make it happen?
Because it takes two to tango.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
And also and I'm sure you're a smart guy, you you
look at the venue, the guestlist not the guest list, but the
guest count time frame andyou're like I don't, I don't
think this glam bot is going tobe the right fit for your rustic
wedding, exactly that doesn'tmake sense.
So, to my point, stop trying togo viral because you saw
something.
Just just have a, just try toplan, make it's meaningful to
(19:02):
you two as a couple and go fromthere.
But just to backtrack on yourquestion, I give input 10% of
the time because most people, bythe time they're done meeting
with me, they've already caughtwhat I'm saying.
Yeah, which is the push I'mtrying to give them, a push of
like hey, whatever you think isgoing to work, it's going to
work because I'm going to helpyou make it work.
And if it's something I thinkis not going to work, it's going
(19:27):
to work because I'm going tohelp you make it work.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
And if it's something I think, that is not going to
land like something they thinkis going to be funny.
I reel that in all the time too.
Nice, I feel like your meetingswith clients are fun.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
I just try to just be the opposite of what everyone
else is doing.
Um, I never, I never tell acouple congratulations okay I
just you've heard that 40 timesby the time you you what?
Speaker 1 (19:50):
what would be your instead of congratulations, like
what would you say to them?
Speaker 2 (19:53):
there's no alternative.
You know, congratulations iscongratulations and I know
everyone appreciate it,appreciates that very much.
But on a wedding day I'm notsaying congratulations, I'm
saying we got it done, I'msaying yo, it's over, like in a
in a positive way yeah, no, ofcourse it's.
How many times are you gonnahear congratulations even
through the booking process?
Yeah, as soon as.
(20:14):
Uh, as soon as a first emailresponse congratulations
congratulations on your weddingand in the girl response.
I'm actually the cousin it'shappened.
It's happened to me before,yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Sometimes I deal with , you know, like a friend or
somebody gifting the photo boothto them.
Yeah, yes so yeah, it's anawkward moment when you say
something like that yeah, and Idon't think there's.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
I never try to downplay a wedding at all,
because these are actually myfavorite events to do by far.
And I think a lot of people inour industry say the opposite
wedding at all, because this is,these are actually my favorite
events to do by far.
Yeah, and I think a lot ofpeople in our industry say the
opposite, like they lean moretowards, uh, upscale social or
conferences and corporate stuff.
But I love weddings becauseit's once in a lifetime.
There's no do-overs, so I justtake everything serious in
(20:57):
regards to the ceremony becauseI think it sets the tone, uh,
for the rest of the day.
I don't care what anybody elsesays.
We can argue to the top of themountain, like the ceremony is
the key to the rest of that day,for sure.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
That is awesome.
Well, thank you so much.
I think we are reaching thattime where we got to wrap up.
No, let's keep going, but thisis your open invitation to come
back.
I mean, I feel like we can talk, for hours.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Oh yeah, this is to come back.
I mean, I feel like we can talkfor hours.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Oh yeah, it's, it's a light work, it's easy, yeah,
yeah, so can you um?
Let our listeners know wherethey can find you on social
media.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Um, I mean, they gotta go see your work,
absolutely so.
Um, if you want to see uh, myteam as a whole, you'll go to uh
Instagram.
That's where we post everythingand do all the funny stuff and
all the pretty stuff as well.
That's on Instagram at gainsentertainment.
Gains it's spelled like chipand Joanna gains.
If you don't know who that is,you've been living under a rock.
Also, for me personally, if youwant to check out what I'm
doing and see my kids and allthat jazz, you just type in DJ
(21:57):
underscore Gumby.
You got to get that on theireditor.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Perfect, and we'll also have your handles on the on
the show notes and blog for theepisode.
Thank you so much.
I'm sure we will have you again.
So to our listeners, I, againand again and again, I'm always
going to, always going to say itMake sure that you tell your
BFFs about the tipsy guests.
We're here to give you advicefor your wedding date.
(22:21):
So, Tipsy Guest, we're here togive you advice for your wedding
date.
So if you're the bride, ifyou're the groom, make sure you
send us your questions, makesure you send us a specific
topic that you want us to talkabout, or, if you have a
favorite vendor, let me know whoit is and maybe we can have
them on next.
Until next time, cheers.
Thanks for listening to theTipsy Guest podcast.
(22:41):
If you know someone who couldbenefit from these tips, spread
the love and share it with them.
Don't forget to subscribe andleave a review.
Next round's on us, same time,same place, cheers.
This podcast is brought to youby MBP Photo Booth, the number
(23:02):
one photo booth rental companyin San Antonio, austin and
Central Texas.
Welcome to the Tipsy Guest Podcast.
I am your host, marcoBuenrostro, and every week I'm
here with the top industryexperts, amazing clients and all
my vendor BFFs to bring you thebest tips, advice and juicy
behind-the-scenes stories tomake wedding and event planning
a breeze.
So grab your favorite drink andlet's get this party started.
(00:40):
You here, I've been looking foryou for a while.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I don't move around as much as you do.
I move around in the city rightand and I stay pretty much 1604
downtown.
I do my thing, you're, you'relike oh, I'm, I'm in brazil
today, y'all, oh I'm, I'm in,I'm in italy you know funny that
you mentioned that.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
You know people always send me that meme that I
don't know if you've seen it.
That says rich friends be like,hey, let's go to Africa this
weekend.
That's you.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
You're like I got the Airbnb.
It's going to be $1,300 aperson.
Who's in?
That's you.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
And it's me when it comes to hey, let's go somewhere
this weekend, not the rich part, just a let's go to Africa this
weekend this weekend, not therich part, just let's go to
africa this weekend.
I'm not, I'm not mad at it.
Though I'm not mad at it, Ilike to travel.
What can I say?
No, I, I got kids.
You know, that is that is sodifferent.
How many kids do you have?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
I have two kids.
Um how old are they?
One is seven, that's my oldest,and then my youngest is um
three and she just startedpreschool.
So it's been a it's been a nicelittle journey for them and
just trying to, you know, getthem acclimated to new schedules
and whatnot, but it's beengreat yeah, I always, I always,
you know, see the the horrorstories or hear about the horror
(01:54):
stories about kids goingstarting school.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I guess does she cry like crazy, like everybody does
yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
So the youngest she just went in um, maybe three
weeks ago.
As we're recording this, shejust started preschool and she
walked in and she was cool, butthen, all of a sudden, like the
energy in the room changedbecause all the kids just saw
her and they got excited likefresh meat, Like let's go right.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Oh my God.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
And they just ramped up.
Once they ramped up like that,she was like yo, what the hell
is this?
And then the tears startedcoming and it wasn't like a big
cry, like ah, help, it was justmore like yo, what the hell is
going on.
Because it was a lot Somethingnew yeah.
But after two or threedrop-offs she's like all right,
let's get it.
She's like I got this.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
That's her.
I mean I don't have kids, but Imean I have two dogs.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
You take them to the daycare and I take them to the
daycare and I feel like they getwild.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
I mean one of them, the little one.
He is crazy, so I know.
They always give you the reportcards or whatever at the end of
the day and it always has thesame.
Marlo was super social and heloved making new friends.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
I marlo was super social and he loved making new
friends.
I'm like, oh yeah, it's thesame thing.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
All right, kids, dogs , I mean, they're all the same.
In a sense some people are notgonna like that, but who cares?
This is the tip to guess.
We talk shit, let's go, let'sgo, I'm with it, but anyways.
So today we're gonna be talkingabout I mean, I know you as a
DJ, you know we normally.
You know, when people hearabout DJs, they normally think
(03:30):
about like yeah, hey, the party,let's make people dance.
But today we're going to changeit up a little bit.
We are going to be talkingabout the ceremony.
Yeah so basically, you know wewant to make sure our listeners
know what a DJ is going to dofor them during a ceremony.
So I guess, if you want to walkme through the process, you
(03:52):
know what is it that you do forthem during the you know before
they're getting married, asthey're getting married, and
then, of course, right afterthey get married yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
So, uh, one of the key components of the wedding
and I mean this should besomething that everyone knows
off top is is the ceremonythat's.
I tell all my couples this whenI meet with them for the first
time everyone is there for that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I I just find it reallycrazy and and very surprising
(04:24):
that most couples now we're in2024, most couples now are like
breezing right over that when itcomes to, uh, the meetings and
the conversations with you know,planners and us and av and all
that stuff.
They're just kind of like allright, and then we get to the
dance floor and I'm like yo pumpthe brakes.
The ceremony is like that's thething.
If we don't do that, then therethere is no reception, right?
(04:46):
So my first thing that I always,you know, try to look at first,
first and foremost of allthings.
I want to know where the hellare we doing this?
Because that plays a huge rolein the equipment I'm going to
use, how we're going to mic you,all kinds of things.
So that's first and foremost,and then from there we start to
talk about how you guys aregoing to make this more of an
(05:06):
individualistic thing, right,like, how are you going to make
this unique?
How are you going to make ityou?
I'll be honest with you, mostcouples now are just like well,
what does so-and-so do?
And I'm always the guy that'slike just trying to challenge
them a little bit and like, hey,how about we shut this meeting
down?
Yeah, go watch some movies orgo, you know, like go on a walk,
(05:27):
go do something and think ofsomething, because we're not
going to do this, like, oh,you're just going to walk down
the aisle.
So here comes the bride andthen, like you're married, we
don't want to do that, we wantto do something.
That's you, and I think that'swhat's that has me.
That's what has me excitedright now about today's couples
is that there are no rulesanymore for ceremonies.
Flower boys, we're seeing,right.
(05:49):
We're seeing grandmas as theflower girl.
We're seeing couples or notcouples.
We're seeing guests beinggreeted before they get to their
seats with shots of tequilawhich, by the way, you have one
right now.
I took mine before you got here,but you have weddings now where
you pull up to the ceremony andas soon as you get there
there's something right and it'snot the whole stuffy in a
(06:12):
church, and I got to sit thereup tight and it's 45 minutes
long.
You know what I mean.
Like everything's not so cookiecutter anymore, which is great.
But as far as we're concerned,my job in a sense is to make
sure that you understand whatwe're going to do for you first,
and then try to build somethingmore creative around your ideas
and like what makes you as acouple.
Let me take this one.
(06:32):
Take your shot, yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
So so that is one of the things that I that I like.
I think every time I see youposting on on on social media
about your weddings, I alwaysnotice that you are so involved
with the couple like I see you.
It's um 818 by kendall jenner.
Okay, maybe she wants tosponsor this episode.
I didn't even know about thatokay, yeah she, she got a lot of
(06:55):
heat, uh, when she firstreleased the tequila line.
Uh, you know, because it's akardashian.
But who cares?
I love the k Kardashians.
People know that it is good.
So I drink their tequila.
It's good, so yeah, so everytime I see you post on social
media about your weddings, Ialways see you having so much
(07:16):
fun with the couples.
There's a very specific photothat I love on your social media
and I think you even use it onyour flyers.
I've seen it more than once yeahand it's where I think, um,
it's, you're like jumping inbetween the couple or they're
jumping with you, they're doingsomething fun, and I'm like
that's how it should be.
You know, you're supposed toget along like great with with
(07:38):
your couples.
They're supposed to like you,they're supposed to like connect
with you and I think that photogives the your vibe that that
is who dj gumby is?
Speaker 2 (07:48):
that's, that's me in a nutshell.
Um, on a wedding day is I try?
I just try to be different fromwhat everyone else is giving
off, because I mean, in on yourside of the tracks you usually
get to like kind of pop in, setup, up, leave for a bit and then
you come back when it's funright.
For photo booths For me.
When I get there I see hair andmakeup team and they're like
(08:12):
tense.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
They're trying to make a deadline.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
I see the officiant, which I do wanna talk about
officiants in a second.
I see the officiant gettingthere like with 15 minutes to
spare, and they're uptight,right, and they've walked back
down the aisle and we're, youknow, just trying to do that
circle around to where we'retaking some cocktail pictures
and maybe having a drink, or soI'm greeting my couple with a
(08:39):
drink.
Yeah, even if they don't drink,I'm like yo, I got a margarita
for you.
I don't drink, cool, I can goget you some water, but here, if
you want it, right, whatever.
In the same sense, after Icircle back from getting them a
drink, I'll go back up, I'll dosomething with equipment, put
some stuff away, but I come backdown just to change it up.
Right, because at that pointthey've been taking pictures for
(09:01):
about 20, 30 minutes withfamily and friends, which can be
a thing.
Right there You're trying tofind Joe.
Joe's already drunk and you'retrying to tell Joe we need to
take more pictures.
Dad's done taking pictures andhe's annoyed, so he's not giving
you the right energy.
Maybe the groom didn't knowpictures were going to take this
long, so he's not giving youthe right energy, right?
So, like there's, there's allthis stuff going on and you want
(09:21):
to get all these pictures in,but at the same time, it should
be a happy thing exactly, yeah,like you don't want them
stressed yeah which a lot of thetime.
They seem really really verystressed, and I think as a, as
an industry, we need to reallyhone in on that aspect of the
day, which is that littletransitional phase from end of
(09:41):
ceremony to the end of cocktailhour.
The couple should be having fun, like I understand you, you've
been booked for ten thousanddollars to take these photos,
but your couple shouldn't bepissed off about you know, like
that's just weird, yeah.
So so what I do?
I literally do this.
I show up after that 20, 30minutes of me doing other stuff
and I'll either come back with atowel, an appetizer, something
(10:04):
more to drink or just me, andwhen I show up, I usually have
my belt, my wwe belt, whichyou've probably seen I've seen
it.
Yeah, check it out on oninstagram and it just breaks the
ice and it changes the energyright.
And then from there I say, hey,let's take a fun picture,
because at that point they'vejust been taking pictures where
they're, you know, like theformal stuff yeah it's like
portraits and I'm like yo, allright, can I get two minutes?
(10:26):
Like, loosen up a little.
Most photographers this is acool little like inside scoop.
Most photographers love itbecause they understand what I'm
doing.
The smart ones understand that.
I'm like actually breaking upthe monotony of this picture,
picture, picture and giving somedifferent energy.
Some of them hate that shit yeah, I mean they hate it because
(10:48):
they feel like I'm taking awayfrom their portrait time, which
really I'm not.
I'm just trying to get onepicture and I'm trying to just
switch gears a little bit forthe couple so they can think
about fun instead of, just likeyou know, deadline, deadline,
deadline.
But yeah, that's one of thethings I like to do during
ceremony time.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
I like that.
It makes it different and I'msure it's a great experience for
the couple, for the guest andfor you as well.
I mean, you're there for a longtime, so you want to make sure
that you create a funenvironment for everyone,
including yourself, of course,For sure.
When it comes to the music, theequipment right now earlier
(11:24):
that you mentioned, you know youneed to know where it is so
that you know what equipment tobring.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Oh, yeah, so do you bring?
Speaker 1 (11:31):
I guess the microphones Like what type of
microphones do you bring?
I guess the microphones.
What type of microphones do youbring, I guess, for the
officiant, for the couple, howmany setups or how many
microphones?
I'm not really sure.
I guess the term that I need touse here.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
No, you're good you educate me on that.
No, it can get complicated andthat's where I come in with a
couple and I just explain tothem that for me, and just to be
quite frank, my price point isalmost double than all my
competition in the area.
So when I get to a meeting withmy couple and they start
talking about ceremony, all I dois I say I got you, Don't even
(12:05):
worry about it, because I'mgoing to bring you what you need
.
That's, that's what I tell them.
Now, for my mid range, my, mymid range DJs, I tell them what
you're going to get is A, B andC.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Right.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
And that's always dependent on the location.
For example, if we're at I canname drop this one because it's
just true If we're at the AllenFarmhouse, there's a little bit
of a wind tunnel that is createdin their chapel.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, beautifulchapel, right and, and the
backdrop is amazing.
But if there's a little bit ofa breeze on any given day,
(12:39):
you're going to get a lot ofwind that comes through there,
whether it be sideways orvertical, what, what have you?
Uh, so we have to make surethat the lapel is either is
either tucked under the shirt orit's.
You know, uh, we have a, um,what we call a.
It's almost.
What is it called?
It's like a muffler, whateverthe thing is called, it's one of
these windscreens a littlefluffy thing, yeah so, depending
(12:59):
on where we are, it kind of youknow, dictates what we're going
to bring.
Uh, if we are doing a wedding of, you know, 200 guests and we
know that a lot of people arecoming from out of town,
everybody on your guest list isgoing to be there.
If you have a lot ofout-of-town guests, where else,
where else are they going to beright?
If you have guests that arecoming from down the street,
(13:20):
they're probably going to belate because they have a life
and they have other stuff.
You know what I mean.
Like it just works out that way.
So for the 200 person wedding,where everyone's coming from out
of town, we need to bring morespeakers because we need to
cover it more.
If everybody's coming from intown, we might get away with one
speaker because you might have30 people that aren't at the
ceremony.
Make sense?
Yeah, no for sure.
For sure so all that stuff kindof plays into like what you're
(13:42):
going to bring.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Uh, last thing I'll touch on is you know, I think a
lot of people are really um,honed, we're okay, we can use a
wired mic and it's totally fine,I promise you I was just gonna
(14:05):
ask that, yeah, you beat me toit yeah so yeah, because most of
the time you know you're I, Isee you know them with little
microphones and but I mean, likeyou said, you know wired
microphones are okay and okayand I guess that brings up my
question how do you deal withsituations where one person is
louder than the other?
(14:26):
Because I know we werediscussing this earlier I'm
really loud, like I need tocontrol myself sometimes.
I need to control myselfsometimes because I get excited
and I get really loud yeah soare I mean, do you have like a
control station where you are,you know, like making sure that
everything sounds about the same?
How does that work?
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Yeah.
So that's a good question, andthis is every month that I do a
ceremony.
The three people that are upthere at the altar quote unquote
completely different.
Everybody, right From top tobottom.
Usually and this is just mespeaking, based on texas usually
the bride is louder than thegroom and the efficient is the
(15:10):
loudest of the three.
So what I what I do is I makesure that during the ceremony
I'm not back there like checkingscores from college football.
I'm like I'm dialed the fuck inbecause I want to make sure
that these levels sound nice andthat everyone that's, you know,
five rows back can understandwhat's going on.
Because that's that's actuallythe biggest complaint I hear
(15:31):
from other couples.
When they come to me, they saywell, when I was at so-and-so's
wedding two years back, I didn'thear any of the vows.
I'm like yo, that's not, that'slike the best part.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Yeah, I mean, it's debatable depending on what chad
gpt gave them.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
I had a guy one time he pulled out.
He pulled out three pages.
I'm not making this up.
He pulled out three pages.
And then when we got to her, oh, she had a note card.
She was like, well, I shouldhave went first.
That's funny, but but anyhow,that's, that's our job.
You know, there's a bit of anunderlying like saying or
(16:15):
thought that when you, when youhire a DJ in this world, you're
you're getting entertainment andAV, and that's really true,
whereas if we're in theconference world I'll just
switch gears a little bit youwould be paying one individual
person to monitor the mic levelsthroughout the entire event,
right?
So why do we not have that muchattention going towards
(16:37):
ceremonies?
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
This is a once in a lifetime moment, so you should
definitely not be on your phoneplaying minecraft or whatever
you'd like to do in your sparetime.
You should be locked in forthat 20 minutes and just make
sure that everything's tight,and that's what I do okay, I
like that, I like that, and uh.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
So when it comes to the music that's played during
ceremony, do you ever have anyinput on what songs, I guess?
Do you ever makerecommendations, or do most of
your couples already come to youwith a very specific song in
mind?
How does that normally workwith your process, I guess?
Speaker 2 (17:14):
It really does depend on the background of the couple
.
Some of the couples I work withthey're like the third wedding
in their friend group or they'rethe second sister to get
married in two years.
So they kind of understand it.
You can do whatever you want,but some um, excuse me,
sometimes they do need directionin which you know I have to
kind of like take the handcuffsoff a little bit and say hey,
(17:36):
you don't, you don't have to doEd Sheeran Perfect Bye.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
I mean it's, it's it, that's a very common one.
Yeah, that's a very common one,very common such a pretty song.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
It is a pretty song.
I love that song.
That's my guy.
But you don't have to do thestring quartet version of the ed
sheeran song you heard on uhbridgerton, like just because
you saw it on social media.
Yeah, and that's that's anotherthing I can go on.
A tangent about is you do nothave to go viral.
Yeah, I won't say that again tothe camera.
You don't have to go viral.
(18:08):
It's your wedding.
Stop trying to go viral, justbe you.
Back to you, okay, that is theperfect advice on today's
episode.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Yeah, because a lot of the time people come to at
least, for example, with me likethey come, you know, when they
want a photo booth, and theycome to me and they're like, hey
, we saw this video, and theysend me the video and they're
like we want exactly that, canyou make it happen?
And I'm like, well, I'm justbringing the camera, can you
make it happen?
Can you make it happen?
Because it takes two to tango.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
And also and I'm sure you're a smart guy, you you
look at the venue, the guestlist not the guest list, but the
guest count time frame andyou're like I don't, I don't
think this glam bot is going tobe the right fit for your rustic
wedding, exactly that doesn'tmake sense.
So, to my point, stop trying togo viral because you saw
something.
Just just have a, just try toplan, make it's meaningful to
(19:02):
you two as a couple and go fromthere.
But just to backtrack on yourquestion, I give input 10% of
the time because most people, bythe time they're done meeting
with me, they've already caughtwhat I'm saying.
Yeah, which is the push I'mtrying to give them, a push of
like hey, whatever you think isgoing to work, it's going to
work because I'm going to helpyou make it work.
And if it's something I thinkis not going to work, it's going
(19:27):
to work because I'm going tohelp you make it work.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
And if it's something I think, that is not going to
land like something they thinkis going to be funny.
I reel that in all the time too.
Nice, I feel like your meetingswith clients are fun.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
I just try to just be the opposite of what everyone
else is doing.
Um, I never, I never tell acouple congratulations okay I
just you've heard that 40 timesby the time you you what?
Speaker 1 (19:50):
what would be your instead of congratulations, like
what would you say to them?
Speaker 2 (19:53):
there's no alternative.
You know, congratulations iscongratulations and I know
everyone appreciate it,appreciates that very much.
But on a wedding day I'm notsaying congratulations, I'm
saying we got it done, I'msaying yo, it's over, like in a
in a positive way yeah, no, ofcourse it's.
How many times are you gonnahear congratulations even
through the booking process?
Yeah, as soon as.
(20:14):
Uh, as soon as a first emailresponse congratulations
congratulations on your weddingand in the girl response.
I'm actually the cousin it'shappened.
It's happened to me before,yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Sometimes I deal with , you know, like a friend or
somebody gifting the photo boothto them.
Yeah, yes so yeah, it's anawkward moment when you say
something like that yeah, and Idon't think there's.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
I never try to downplay a wedding at all,
because these are actually myfavorite events to do by far.
And I think a lot of people inour industry say the opposite
wedding at all, because this is,these are actually my favorite
events to do by far.
Yeah, and I think a lot ofpeople in our industry say the
opposite, like they lean moretowards, uh, upscale social or
conferences and corporate stuff.
But I love weddings becauseit's once in a lifetime.
There's no do-overs, so I justtake everything serious in
(20:57):
regards to the ceremony becauseI think it sets the tone, uh,
for the rest of the day.
I don't care what anybody elsesays.
We can argue to the top of themountain, like the ceremony is
the key to the rest of that day,for sure.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
That is awesome.
Well, thank you so much.
I think we are reaching thattime where we got to wrap up.
No, let's keep going, but thisis your open invitation to come
back.
I mean, I feel like we can talk, for hours.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Oh yeah, this is to come back.
I mean, I feel like we can talkfor hours.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Oh yeah, it's, it's a light work, it's easy, yeah,
yeah, so can you um?
Let our listeners know wherethey can find you on social
media.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Um, I mean, they gotta go see your work,
absolutely so.
Um, if you want to see uh, myteam as a whole, you'll go to uh
Instagram.
That's where we post everythingand do all the funny stuff and
all the pretty stuff as well.
That's on Instagram at gainsentertainment.
Gains it's spelled like chipand Joanna gains.
If you don't know who that is,you've been living under a rock.
Also, for me personally, if youwant to check out what I'm
doing and see my kids and allthat jazz, you just type in DJ
(21:57):
underscore Gumby.
You got to get that on theireditor.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Perfect, and we'll also have your handles on the on
the show notes and blog for theepisode.
Thank you so much.
I'm sure we will have you again.
So to our listeners, I, againand again and again, I'm always
going to, always going to say itMake sure that you tell your
BFFs about the tipsy guests.
We're here to give you advicefor your wedding date.
(22:21):
So, Tipsy Guest, we're here togive you advice for your wedding
date.
So if you're the bride, ifyou're the groom, make sure you
send us your questions, makesure you send us a specific
topic that you want us to talkabout, or, if you have a
favorite vendor, let me know whoit is and maybe we can have
them on next.
Until next time, cheers.
Thanks for listening to theTipsy Guest podcast.
(22:41):
If you know someone who couldbenefit from these tips, spread
the love and share it with them.
Don't forget to subscribe andleave a review.
Next round's on us, same time,same place, cheers.
This podcast is brought to youby MBP Photo Booth, the number
(23:02):
one photo booth rental companyin San Antonio, austin and
Central Texas.
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