April 23, 2024 • 35 mins
Ever pondered what sets the mood at weddings in a way that guests talk about for years to come? Join me, Kathy Piech-Lukas, and Jon Lattier from the Blue Water Kings band as we tackle the symphony of decisions behind choosing live bands over DJs for your big day. The pulse of live music can transform a reception, from budget-friendly band configurations to the kinetic exchange of energy that fuels an unforgettable night. Jon also reveals the charming dynamics of performing with his family and the prospect of his son taking up the mantle of music.
But it's not all about the limelight— Our conversation serves up a feast of anecdotes revealing the realities of mealtime logistics, the comic relief of infamous vendor meals, breaks and the evening timeline. Making sure every important person is in the room and engaged in the happenings at the reception is a must!
The crescendo of our discussion leads us to the orchestration of events and the pivotal role of the MC. The harmony between band, photographers, and videographers is paramount, ensuring that every poignant moment is captured without missing a beat. Whether you choose a live band or the precision of recorded tunes, tune in and turn up the volume on what goes into making weddings a harmonious hit.
To listen to more episodes visit www.yourdreamday.com
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We are making our own story as we go, as we go, as we
go.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hoping.
We are hoping that we'll go.
So happy ever after, happy everafter.
.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
I am your host Kathy Piech Lukas, with Your Dream Day
Wedding Planning, and today Ihave a very, very special guest.
(00:39):
I have Jon Lattier here fromBlue Water Kings Band, which is
my favorite band to work with atwedding receptions.
Jon, thank you so much forjoining us today, hi.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Kathy, how you doing.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Good, good.
One thing that I can't stressenough with bands versus DJs
which is what we're going totalk about today, the big
differences is bands are human.
You're only human right.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Absolutely.
I mean, a DJ is a human too,but like they're a human
operating a machine and we are ahuman expressing human emotions
at the deepest level.
So you know it's slightly, it'sa slightly different yeah take,
but yes, we are very much ahuman and and have to work
within those confines.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
One thing that I think bands do versus a DJ is
you create a very, verydifferent ambiance and
environment for the reception.
Do you want to talk a littlebit about what you see from the
band's perspective when you'reon the stage and you see the
guests and the energy?
How is it different?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Sure, yeah Well.
So I guess the number one thingis if somebody calls us to hire
us for their event, a weddingor whatever it is, it's very
intentional because bands arevery much more expensive than a
DJ and so most people who wantto hire a band specifically want
the experience of live musicand have made room in their
(02:09):
budget for it.
That is usually reflected bypeople who know that they have a
friend group or a family groupor both, who love music and love
the interactive nature of livemusic and just love to have a
good time and dance and singalong and celebrate, and we
really see that at most of ourevents.
(02:30):
You know 95% of our events.
We're playing to packed dancefloors all night with smiling
people dancing around.
They interact with us, we feeltheir energy and we're able to
channel that back to them and wecan have some fun with it.
I mean, anyone who's known mefor any amount of time knows
that I'm all about the dad jokesand in between songs I'll drop
(02:52):
a pun here and there andsometimes it lands.
Sometimes it gets a groan, butthe groan for me is a good thing
and that's all part of the funof it.
You get that you get the music.
You get people singing along.
Sometimes those singers holdthe mic out towards the crowd.
If people really feel it, it'sreally a palpable energy.
(03:16):
You can get full dance floors,sometimes with the DJ too, but
that's mostly because it's justa song that people like.
With us it's more than just thesong.
It's the pure, you know, kindof visceral energy of feeling
music performed by livemusicians, and we also get, you
know, a lot of interaction.
(03:36):
Especially when we bring outthe horn section.
People seem to love that.
I've seen people get down ontheir knees and wave their hands
at the horn players.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
It really kind of takes the party to the next
level, differently thanpre-recorded music would,
because everybody knows what toexpect with pre-recorded music.
With live music, that's just it.
It's live and it's a differentenergy and you may have a
different inflection on a notethan you did the last time you
(04:16):
performed it.
Or you engage the crowd withthings that are going to get
them on their feet and excited.
The big reason for the pricegap between a DJ and a band is
the quantity of people that arethere.
When you hire a DJ, you've gotone person.
When you hire a band, you couldhave anywhere from four to 12
(04:37):
pieces.
Pieces, meaning instruments.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
That's kind of the beauty that we do, and I know
some bands it's kind of like youeither get the band or you know
, and it's a flat rate and it'sthe same thing every time.
You know that's a good modelfor us.
We try to be a little flexiblewith budgets because we know
some people love live music.
You know, a lot of times we'llhave, we've played at musicians'
weddings before you know, andthey they a band obviously,
(05:05):
because it's what they do,either as a full-time or a
part-time job or sometimes evenjust a hobbyist.
But there's a stereotype ofmusicians not always having that
much money and so sometimesthey got to go with a smaller
group.
So we bring out a little fivesix-piece band.
It's just the rhythm section.
When I say rhythm section Imean the drums, the bass, guitar
(05:25):
and keyboard, because if we'replaying popular dance music
without those four instrumentsbacking the music, you can't
have that.
And then I always encouragepeople you want two singers to
get harmony, somebody's got tohit the high notes, somebody's
got to hit the low notes and wecan go from there.
You know, then, like Imentioned before, we add on the
horn players, after that theiconic three-piece horn section
(05:47):
of trumpet, trombone andsaxophone is great.
Sometimes, if we keep goingfrom there, you add a second
saxophone, usually a Barry sax,which gives you that big beefy
low notes of the horn section,which I absolutely love.
That sound you hear it in a lotof Motown Stevie Wonder.
It's this big, big honkingthing, uh.
And then if you want to blowout, we'll bring four or five
(06:08):
singers and we'll add anauxiliary percussionist.
Uh, my wife plays percussionwith us sometimes and it's
really fun.
Everybody says it's really cool, you can drive together to the
gig and I'm like you crazy, Igot, I got all my gear and all
her gear and we're gonna dropthe kids off.
You think we can both fit inone car.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
So here's the big question when are the kids?
When are the kids going to beold enough to get on stage?
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I tell you what my son's four right now and he's
already learning how to patch anXLR cable into a stage snake.
So you know, we're we'reworking on it.
We'll teach him how to wrapcables over under in a couple of
years and then I'll start.
Maybe I don't know once he's,once he's 10, he's probably
going to come out with me andhelp me set up and and things
(06:54):
like that.
We'll see.
I don't know, he may, he maynot really be that into music,
but I think it's unlikely.
Uh, given his uh, you knowupbringing.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
I was going to say, given his pedigree, it's almost
in there that he's probablygoing to at some point.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
He tells us right now not to sing along with songs
when we're playing music.
It's basically the little kidversion of who sings this song.
Let's keep it that way.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Well, and the other thing I think that is a little
bit different with a band versusa DJ is the timeline for the
reception.
Do you want to talk a littlebit about how different it is?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah.
So the main thing with the bandis, you know, back to the being
human thing, we do need acouple of breaks.
Back to the being human thing,we do need a couple breaks.
Now I know there is one band intown that offers a top to
bottom straight through threehour performance, but that is a
very expensive band and honestly, it sounds painful.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
My lips are like quivering just thinking of
having to play for three hoursstraight.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Here's the thing the only people in the band who are
actually playing for the entiretime are the drummer, the
bassist and the keyboardist.
Everyone else has moments wherethey're able to step off stage,
use the restroom, grab a drink,something like that.
But for the rhythm section now,fortunately, us rhythm section
players don't need our face toplay the instrument, so the
(08:25):
fatigue takes longer to set in.
Section Now, fortunately, usrhythm section players don't
need our face to play theinstrument, so the fatigue takes
longer to set in.
And the hardest part is threehours on your feet, moving and
getting into it, not juststanding.
A lot of people can stand forthree hours, no problem, but
three hours of really focusingand energy.
But that's a premium servicethat they offer.
Most bands most other bands usand a lot of the other groups
(08:47):
included usually play between 50to 70 minute increments.
We call them sets, and then forus we take 15 minute set breaks
.
So what I usually try and tellpeople to do is a lot for three,
at least three and a half hoursfor your dance portion of the
night If you want to get thefull effect of the music.
(09:08):
Because that gives us a chanceto play three 60 minute sets,
which is a good amount of music,then gives us two short 15
minute breaks and when we take abreak we put music on.
It's not just awkward silence,you know.
We, we keep it going, we play,we'll play things.
Uh, you know, sometimes, uh,people have certain requests,
you know, and not not to soundpejorative, but they kind of
(09:30):
want some of the ratchet stuffyou know, radio rap and and 808s
.
That is not really conducive tolive instruments you don't rap
come on.
Well, no, we have people in theband who can rap, but it's not
so much the rapping that's theissue, it's the beat, because a
lot of those beats are producedin a studio by a producer.
(09:51):
Oh, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
That makes sense.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah, it's basically like a studio DJ track instead
of real live drums and real liveguitars, things like that.
That is sometimes what we'llput on during our break.
Yep, and here's another thingabout the timeline with a live
band is a lot of times we willplay folks cocktail hours
(10:16):
because many of us, beingformally trained in music, we
can play a nice jazzyinstrumental.
We can kind of be flexible withthe kind of music we play and
put our own spin on songs.
If someone wants a set ofinstrumental Motown, we can do
that.
It's usually a smaller group ofpeople, sometimes in a
(10:38):
different location in the venue,and we'll do that.
And then we come in for thedinner and some folks want us to
play live through dinner.
And I always have to give acaveat on that because not that
we are an intentionally loudband.
We are actually very consciousof our volume, especially given
some of these cavernous,high-ceilinged rooms that we
(10:58):
play in that have terribleacoustics.
Not trying to call out anyspecific venues, but a lot of
them happen to be downtown.
They're just old buildings.
They're old buildings.
They weren't designed.
There's some venues that aremore modern, with lower ceilings
and a lot of carpet and a lotof wood they sound really good.
But in these older high ceilingvenues that that were around
(11:21):
before, amplified music was we.
We have to be conscious of howloud we are, because too loud in
a room like that is justdeafening and washy and
unpleasant for everyone.
But the volume is especially athing during dinner, which is
why we will usually take a breakduring dinner and put on soft
recorded music, because A itgives us a chance to eat our
(11:41):
vendor meals.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
That's actually another thing I was going to
bring up is that the one thingthat is different with bands is
most bands have in theircontract that they are to be fed
during dinner, and so that'ssomething you need to keep in
mind with your budget when youbook the band, because you're
booking them for, you know,depending on how many again, it
(12:04):
goes back to how many pieces,how many instruments do you have
.
I mean, most bands are going torange anywhere from, like the
lowest, 4,000 up to like 12,000.
And you have to also budget fora meal for each one of them,
and you do eat it during dinnerthe same time everybody else
does.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Yeah, in our contract we specify we need a hot meal,
and that's kind of something new.
Now we don't need, I know, somecaterers each meal.
If you're having a seatedplated meal, each meal can be
rather expensive and we don'tnecessarily require exactly what
they're eating.
But it can't be.
We call them in the industry wecall them bandwitches, which is
(12:45):
like which is, you know, a coldcut turkey, a cold cut turkey
sandwich with American cheese onwonder bread and then a bag of
chips like that.
That doesn't cut it, especiallyfor, you know, like the drummer
and the sound engineer, they'rethere.
I mean so sometimes for thesmaller band and you've seen me
do it, kathy I will run soundfor the band and I'm on stage
(13:08):
playing bass with the band.
That's like an 11 hour day forme.
You know I show up.
I usually show up to the venuearound 2 pm, spend three hours
setting up, then I'll play acocktail hour with the group and
then I sit down and eat dinnerand then we play and I'm
sweating my face off for threeor four hours playing music with
the band and then at the end ofthe night, after doing all that
(13:30):
, I got to tear down my soundsystem and load it in my car.
Yeah, a cold cut sandwich.
This isn't going to cut it inbetween that time.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
I am right there with you, because we actually have
it in our wedding planningcontract, cause our typical
wedding day is about 15 hours.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
The longest one I ever had was 21.
Yeah, After that I put a coupleof changes in my contract
because I was exhausted for thenext two days.
But we have it in our contractthat we are required to be fed
lunch and dinner and that wehave a 30-minute break to
(14:10):
consume them.
Because what was happening wasit was taking me three hours to
eat my dinner, because I alwayshave to pop up and down, up and
down, up and down because youknow we have to talk to the band
, or we have to talk to the MC,or we have to go make sure that
dinner's being served properly,or we have to make sure that the
champagne is being poured,because the toast is going to
(14:31):
start shortly after that.
And so you know there.
There are times where you knowI've been eating and I'll come
back and my meal's been takenaway and I barely even touched
it and you're like no eat myfood alone, and so we ended up
putting it in there that we have30 minute break that is
dedicated to consuming our food.
Like we had to get that specific.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
but yeah, that's ours , that's we do, I also in our
contract it does require a 30minute meal break and there are
some times where clients try andget around that and they'll be
like, oh well, we want you toplay cocktail hour and dinner.
And I'm like, well, everybody'sgot to eat.
And they're like, okay, well,the cocktail band can can eat
during dinner and the dinnerbank can eat during cocktail.
(15:11):
I'm like, well, usually thepeople playing are the rhythm
section players like me, youknow me and the piano player and
the guitar player and sometimesthe drummer.
So it's, you know we, we spent,we play a lot more music.
And and then also the MC.
Some people will be like, well,you know you can eat during this
, but the speeches happen 10minutes after everyone sits down
.
I'm like, well, mc and soundengineer have to be there for
(15:33):
that.
When are they going to gettheir 30 minutes?
So I always have to remindpeople and you know, sometimes
we do split it up, but most,most folks are accommodating
because 30 minutes over thecourse of a six hour or so event
, you know, for them at least,is not that unreasonable,
because there usually is thattime it gets a little little
tricky.
We've been.
(15:54):
These East Coast style weddingshave been becoming more popular
, where they want us to playlike little 20 minute sets, like
before salads, then in betweensalads and meals, and then after
dinner before the speeches.
I don't know if you've done oneof those yet, but apparently
that's how weddings go out inNew York and it's leeching its
(16:14):
way westward from there.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
It's fascinating Cause I had a a podcast a while
back with a company calledIsland Brothers Productions, and
they're a DJ company from theWest coast that recently
relocated to the Midwest, andthe topic that we talked about
was Midwest versus West coasttimelines, and they were saying
(16:37):
the same thing.
It's just it's like out thereit's a completely different vibe
than it is in the Midwest,whereas, like Midwest, you get a
lot of.
It's a very rigid timelinewhere you have, okay, first
we're going to eat dinner, thenwe're going to go to toast, then
we're going to cut the cake,then we're going to do a first
(16:57):
dance, then we're going to dothis, and out there it's more
about the club vibe and justpacking the dance floor and then
, like you were saying, witheast coast it's, it's a little
more broken up, even more thansure
Speaker 2 (17:09):
your typical midwest would be you know, don't, I
don't mind a loose event.
I'm sure saying that to you asa planner is is, uh, it's
probably it's, it's probablypainful to hear.
Yeah, that's that's what I tellpeople.
And you know, especially someof the most fun events we've
done is where it's a couple willalready be married and they're
like, yeah, so we're not havinga formal sit down dinner and we
(17:32):
just want people to dance andhave a good time, because
usually for those events, youknow, first of all, they're not
picky about when we take ourdinner break and then we can be
flexible about, you know, aboutall of our breaks in general.
I mean, we did one of those HydePark Country Club last year and
it was kind of a long night andwe stretched our breaks a
(17:53):
little bit, but we also got tomusically stretch out because we
had a big band, so we got tolet our horns, you know, rip
some some, you know, facemelting solos and in between
we'd take breaks and Iremembered they had the best
meatballs.
I don't know why thesemeatballs.
I still remember this is a yearand a half ago, this was August
2022.
I still remember thesemeatballs were so good.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
That's funny.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
You know, it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
You remember the best vendor meal you ever had and
the worst vendor meal you'veever had.
Isn't that true?
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Oh man, so there's a venue I'm not going to name
names.
It's a venue that I've heard isactually closing.
Is it the?
chicken salad oh, you know thechicken salad.
Oh, you know exactly what I'mtalking about.
Oh man, they were infamous forthat.
It was horrible.
It's funny because we we'd walkin and the bartenders would see
(18:48):
us and like, oh, you're in theband, we'll pour you a double,
but then we get this chickensalad.
I'm like you know, actually youcan like I.
I would rather to have a nicermeal and not have the bartenders
be so concerned about fillingup our drinks all the time.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Well, cause I eat low carb, and so I had to take the
chicken salad off the croissantand then one of my um assistants
was vegan, so she couldn't eatany of it oh, no, yeah, we oh my
gosh, it was we run into thatwe have.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
we have a handful of vegans and vegetarians in the
band.
We have one one actually adrummer, one of my favorite
drummers in the city.
He is a vegan but he's alsoallergic to nuts, and so that's
always fun.
When I got to tell people andit's more and more in the modern
era it's not really thatdifficult to accommodate, but he
did.
He got one.
(19:43):
It was just this past summeractually.
They brought him a meal thatwas accommodating for him and it
was literally like chopped uptomatoes on a bed of brown rice
and he just he always packs asandwich because he knows half
the time they're not going tohave something he can eat.
It's, it's it's.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
it's interesting, that's scary, that we both had
the same vendor meal, that weboth.
That is the worst one we everhad.
That is it's everybody in thebed.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Everybody on our roster who played that venue
always talks about it.
It's like an inside joke in theband at this point.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
I think the best meal I ever had was a surf and turf
where we had lobster and we hadfilet and the potatoes that they
had were just oh they wereamazing Like.
I'll never forget that that wasprobably the best meal, that it
(20:41):
might have been the best mealI've ever had, let alone just
the best vendor meal I've everhad.
It was just unbelievable.
It was a wedding that we had ata private estate up in the
Cleveland area on Lake.
Milton.
And this family had a beautiful,beautiful property, and so we
had the ceremony in the backyard, overlooking their pool, and on
(21:06):
their deck, and then, we had acocktail hour inside the house
and we had to clear out all thefurniture out of the house and
put it in a storage unit for theweek so that we could have
cocktail hour in there.
And then, yeah, and then we had, we put a tent up in the
driveway, in the front, and thatwas where we had the dinner
(21:26):
reception.
We, uh, we had valet forparking, so that was how we were
able to.
You know, keep the, keep thetent in the front, on the front
on the concrete and everything.
But, yes, hands down, bestvendor meal ever.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Nice, yeah, that sounds pretty good.
I remember having one.
This was February 2020, soprobably a month or so before
the great shutdown that killedour industry.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
That killed our industry.
That killed our industry, Idon't think people.
It was really bad.
(22:22):
I mean, I think every vendorlearned what the term force
means during the pandemic.
For those of you listening, thebig difference is an act of God
.
Is a volcano erupting or anearthquake occurring or a
blizzard happening.
How the government reacts to itis force majeure, and so the
(22:45):
pandemic itself, the virus, wasan act of God, but the way that
our government reacted to it wasforce majeure.
So if you're reading yourcontracts and you see that
clause in there, that's what itmeans.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
That's interesting.
I always thought those wereinterchangeable.
I did too, until the pandemic.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Then I learned okay, Kathy didn't go to law school,
Her husband did.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
There you go, all right, okay.
Well, I learned something thatI was today years old, well, and
you know, the other thing thatbands also incorporate into
their group of musicians is anMC, and the job of the MC is to
keep everything on track for theevening.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Yes, that's true.
Now I want to put this caveatup here because this has bitten
us.
I want to say twice now in thepast four years since I took
over management of this band weare an MC, we conduct the
ceremony, we run things.
We are not the planner.
And some people I love workingwith planners and most of the
time if people can afford a bandthey can also afford a planner.
(23:51):
So luckily we get to work withpeople like kathy a lot, which
is great.
But I want to say about 20 ofthe weddings we do don't have a
planner.
They'll have a day ofcoordinator who works at the
venue to kind of help keepthings along.
But there was definitely acouple instances where our emcee
because what our emcee does iswe check in we check in to make
(24:13):
sure people are ready.
We don't just say we're goingto start toasts now and the you
know the father and the bride isin the bathroom or something.
You know, we always check in.
You know we always check inbeforehand and I I can think of
one specific event where we gotyelled at for checking in, uh,
and they're like you have theschedule, you know what you're
(24:34):
supposed to do, just do it andit's just I'm like, uh, but what
if we had just done it andsomething wasn't right, you know
, or somebody wasn't ready, orsomebody was still eating, you
know, we, I just I want people,people to know that an MC is
different than a planner.
Granted, the MC does, you know,once it's time to go, we take
charge.
And also we check in with notjust the client but other folks
(24:56):
who might have, you know, stakein the situation.
So especially videographers andphotographers, because if
they're not there for a momentthat's about to happen, you know
that that could come back tobite them if they miss an
important shot of whatever'shappening.
So there's a lot ofcoordination happening.
So having a planner everyone isa great idea.
(25:16):
Just putting that out there.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
People don't realize all the stuff that we do behind
the scenes, like we preventcatastrophes from happening.
We keep things running smoothly, you know.
We make sure that nobody who'swho should be in the room.
Everybody is actually in theroom.
Like you said, I've had itwhere dad is disappeared in the
(25:39):
bathroom.
Or one time I had a client andthey had a band and what
happened was the mother of thebride had Alzheimer's.
She was getting to that stagewhere it was getting harder and
harder to hide.
I knew obviously the father ofthe bride knew when we were
about ready to go into the toastwas when she went into the
(26:05):
bathroom and insisted that thefather of the bride stand
outside the door.
He could not leave that post.
And so we checked in with himand said how do you, do you want
us to wait?
What would you like us to do?
And he said she could be 20minutes to half an hour for all
I know.
He said just go proceed.
(26:25):
He's like I'll just listen butproceed.
But it's important that we checkin because a situation just
like that could happen and wewant to make sure that everybody
who needs to be in the room isin the room because the
photographer needs to be in theroom, videographer needs to be
in the room, and then anyimportant parents people in the
wedding party needs to be in theroom, and then any important
(26:46):
parents people in the weddingparty made matron of honor best
man.
They all need to be therethat's.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
That's why I say you know, when it's time to do
something, we direct it.
We direct people and we'll givethem technical instructions.
All the mic, like this standover here, look at the couple
when you're talking, things likethat.
Um, but, yeah, we, we need tomake sure that all the vips,
both on the vendor side and theguest list, are there before
(27:16):
something can happen.
But, yeah, so the mc.
So, assuming that everybody'sin the right place and ready to
go when they need to be our memcee, we introduce, we well,
we'll do things like ask gueststo take their seats, announce
that champagne is being toured,announce when dinner starts.
We'll make housekeepingannouncements if we need to.
Somebody's headlights are on.
Whatever you know, our mainrole is to introduce the couple
(27:39):
and the wedding party, althoughyou know I'm finding a lot of
people are skipping the weddingparty now.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Yes, they're going right into the first dance.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Yes, yes, they'll skip the wedding party.
They just introduced the couple.
They go into the first danceimmediately.
Our emcee will obviouslyannounce that first dance, which
sometimes we play that live,sometimes we play the recorded
version, depending on theclient's requests.
I always tell people if you'redoing choreography, the
recording is the way to go,because while we can do a great
(28:08):
version of whatever song it is,it's going to sound different
and I don't want to mess up yourchoreography Now.
If you don't have choreography,I say go live band, because well
, what else did you hire us for,right?
And then after your dancethere's usually some formalities
, maybe a welcome speech, maybea blessing, something else.
Before dinner.
We'll introduce that.
We'll announce when dinnerhappens.
(28:30):
Then we get through that.
Then we go get our vendor mealthat we spoke about before.
We'll come back.
Then there's usually toastsafter dinner, not always, but
sometimes it's pretty common.
We'll announce those.
We'll announce any otherspecial dances, family, parent
dances, things like that.
And then, if there's otherthings, a lot of times at our
event usually a lot of thegimmicky stuff again, I'm not
(28:53):
trying to be pejorative aboutthat, but things like the shoe
game or the anniversary dance,or now there's a couple other
games I've seen before.
We don't do that as much and Ifind that usually when people
hire bands they they kind ofdon't want that kind of stuff.
But we can, our mc will do that.
We've done that before.
We've had, we've actually hadour mc.
(29:13):
Uh, we've hosted a coupletrivia games before it happens,
but that does seem, like I said,a little kind of a little
gimmicky.
Some people like that uh, but alot of times that kind of gets
uh relegated to the DJ events.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
Yeah, I would agree with that.
I would agree with that.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Because, again back to my initial statement, hiring
a band is very intentional andusually if they've got a live
band there, it's because theywant music to be the main
feature of the reception,absolutely.
But our emcee we are able toemcee any and all of those
things, and then obviously we'llannounce when the dancing
starts.
(29:49):
One last call for the bar is ifthere's a shuttle, we make
those announcements and then wesend everyone off at the end of
the night you want a band isdon't wait to book, because you
book up fast.
We do.
I've I've got inquiries, I'vegot several secured bookings for
(30:13):
2025 already.
I think my furthest bookingright now is October 2025,
especially if you're trying tosecure a band on a peak date.
Which peak dates?
And the wedding industry Forthose of you who don't know if
it's your first wedding May,june, september and October
Saturdays those are the busiestdays of the year for all wedding
(30:33):
professionals.
So if you want the vendors thatyou want, if you want a good
planner like Kathy and a goodband like us, you got to get to
us at least a year out.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
We're already.
There's another date in 2024,2024.
That's going to be a hot date.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
May 4th, may 4th, yep , may the 4th be with you.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Yep, it's a Saturday.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
It sure is, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (30:57):
That was that was one of the first dates that booked
out for me.
I was, and then they told me itwas a star Wars wedding.
And I'm like, oh, that's right.
And then they told me it was aStar Wars wedding.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
And.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
I'm like, oh, that's right.
I'm like, oh, it's a Saturday,this date is going to sell out
very quickly this year foreverybody.
Yeah, I love it, and that'salso the weekend of the Derby,
and usually we're very busy thatweekend too.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
That is going to be a busy weekend, that's normally
an extremely busy weekend for usand I know we're doing a
corporate thing down inLexington for a Derby party that
Friday.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Wow, Well, it goes to show you if you're going to
have a band, it needs to be inthe beginnings of your planning.
So once you book your venue, ifyou're getting a church, next
is your band.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
If you know you want a band.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
And most people who want a band, they know they want
a band going into the planning.
That's what I tend to see.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Yes, and I will say sometimes for us, because our
contract is a little flexibleeven if you don't have a venue
yet, if you're still kind oftossing up some ideas, we're
happy to give suggestionsBecause, as I mentioned before,
some venues a band sounds muchbetter in than others.
Again, we get a lot of bookingsin venues that just don't sound
(32:17):
all that great.
They look amazing but theydon't sound great.
So that's a decision, andobviously I'm not here to talk
poorly about any venues, becausemany of those venues have great
staff.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
But no, it's an important thing to remember and
it goes back to if you know youwant a band, you tend to lean
toward it in the beginning that,yeah, we want live music, we
want a band.
And I think it's importantbecause if you want the full
benefit of those musicians andthe art that they're performing
(32:48):
that night, if you have a placethat echoes, it's going to be
very difficult to reallyappreciate what's being played.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Absolutely.
I always say that to people.
So if somebody reaches out tous and 90% of events that book
us have already got the venueselected, but for those that
don't, I do have.
I always like to makerecommendations and obviously my
opinion I did.
It works actually.
One time somebody had a coupledifferent venues they were
looking at and I gave them my.
(33:15):
They had three possible venuesand I gave them my top to bottom
recommendation on that and theyended up picking my top
recommendations and I thinkthey're going to have a better
event because of it.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
That's wonderful advice, John.
How can people find Blue WaterKings Band?
Speaker 2 (33:33):
We are really easy to find because we've put a decent
amount of money into Googleoptimization.
So if you type wedding bandCincinnati, we will be one of
the top first five ways linksthat you'll see.
Obviously, that wouldn't be myrecommendation.
You can also find us atwwwbluewaterkingsbandcom.
(33:53):
We are on Instagram at BlueWater Kings.
We also have a Facebook page.
We're probably on TikTok too.
I'm an old guy so I don'treally do TikTok.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
And you do travel, you do travel.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
We do travel.
So the band that I manage outof Cincinnati we service Dayton
and even north of Dayton up toTroy and Piqua area.
We've gone as far north asToledo, although usually we have
another band.
So we have a band in everymajor city in the Midwest
operating under the Blue WaterKings band.
They're all friends of ours.
So there's one in Detroit.
(34:29):
So normally Detroit takes careof Toledo.
They were very busy one weekendand we drove all the way up
there.
We go down to Louisville,kentucky, lexington, kentucky,
dayton, ohio, any of the ruralareas In between then.
I know Miamisburg and Hamiltonhave some nice venues that we go
up to Lake Lindsay and whatnot.
So a lot of yeah, we'll gobasically anywhere within a
(34:54):
two-hour radius of Cincinnati.
Occasionally we'll go further.
In August we did an event downin Owensboro, kentucky.
That's about a three and a halfhour drive.
The drive home from that wasn'tsuper fun but the event was.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Wonderful.
So if you're interested inlooking more into Jon and Blue
Water Kings band, be sure tocheck out their website and all
their social media.
John, thank you so much forjoining us today.
Thank you for tuning into YourDream Day podcast.
Please subscribe.
You can visit us ondreamdaypodcast.
com or you can go onyourdreamday.
com where you can listen to ourpodcast on all of your favorite
(35:32):
outlets, including Apple, GooglePodcasts, Amazon, Pandora,
Alexa and everywhere else whereyou get your podcasts.
Thank you so much.
This is Kathy Piech Lukassigning off and happy planning.
We are making our own story as we go, as we go, as we
go.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hoping.
We are hoping that we'll go.
So happy ever after, happy everafter.
.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
I am your host Kathy Piech Lukas, with Your Dream Day
Wedding Planning, and today Ihave a very, very special guest.
(00:39):
I have Jon Lattier here fromBlue Water Kings Band, which is
my favorite band to work with atwedding receptions.
Jon, thank you so much forjoining us today, hi.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Kathy, how you doing.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Good, good.
One thing that I can't stressenough with bands versus DJs
which is what we're going totalk about today, the big
differences is bands are human.
You're only human right.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Absolutely.
I mean, a DJ is a human too,but like they're a human
operating a machine and we are ahuman expressing human emotions
at the deepest level.
So you know it's slightly, it'sa slightly different yeah take,
but yes, we are very much ahuman and and have to work
within those confines.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
One thing that I think bands do versus a DJ is
you create a very, verydifferent ambiance and
environment for the reception.
Do you want to talk a littlebit about what you see from the
band's perspective when you'reon the stage and you see the
guests and the energy?
How is it different?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Sure, yeah Well.
So I guess the number one thingis if somebody calls us to hire
us for their event, a weddingor whatever it is, it's very
intentional because bands arevery much more expensive than a
DJ and so most people who wantto hire a band specifically want
the experience of live musicand have made room in their
(02:09):
budget for it.
That is usually reflected bypeople who know that they have a
friend group or a family groupor both, who love music and love
the interactive nature of livemusic and just love to have a
good time and dance and singalong and celebrate, and we
really see that at most of ourevents.
(02:30):
You know 95% of our events.
We're playing to packed dancefloors all night with smiling
people dancing around.
They interact with us, we feeltheir energy and we're able to
channel that back to them and wecan have some fun with it.
I mean, anyone who's known mefor any amount of time knows
that I'm all about the dad jokesand in between songs I'll drop
(02:52):
a pun here and there andsometimes it lands.
Sometimes it gets a groan, butthe groan for me is a good thing
and that's all part of the funof it.
You get that you get the music.
You get people singing along.
Sometimes those singers holdthe mic out towards the crowd.
If people really feel it, it'sreally a palpable energy.
(03:16):
You can get full dance floors,sometimes with the DJ too, but
that's mostly because it's justa song that people like.
With us it's more than just thesong.
It's the pure, you know, kindof visceral energy of feeling
music performed by livemusicians, and we also get, you
know, a lot of interaction.
(03:36):
Especially when we bring outthe horn section.
People seem to love that.
I've seen people get down ontheir knees and wave their hands
at the horn players.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
It really kind of takes the party to the next
level, differently thanpre-recorded music would,
because everybody knows what toexpect with pre-recorded music.
With live music, that's just it.
It's live and it's a differentenergy and you may have a
different inflection on a notethan you did the last time you
(04:16):
performed it.
Or you engage the crowd withthings that are going to get
them on their feet and excited.
The big reason for the pricegap between a DJ and a band is
the quantity of people that arethere.
When you hire a DJ, you've gotone person.
When you hire a band, you couldhave anywhere from four to 12
(04:37):
pieces.
Pieces, meaning instruments.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
That's kind of the beauty that we do, and I know
some bands it's kind of like youeither get the band or you know
, and it's a flat rate and it'sthe same thing every time.
You know that's a good modelfor us.
We try to be a little flexiblewith budgets because we know
some people love live music.
You know, a lot of times we'llhave, we've played at musicians'
weddings before you know, andthey they a band obviously,
(05:05):
because it's what they do,either as a full-time or a
part-time job or sometimes evenjust a hobbyist.
But there's a stereotype ofmusicians not always having that
much money and so sometimesthey got to go with a smaller
group.
So we bring out a little fivesix-piece band.
It's just the rhythm section.
When I say rhythm section Imean the drums, the bass, guitar
(05:25):
and keyboard, because if we'replaying popular dance music
without those four instrumentsbacking the music, you can't
have that.
And then I always encouragepeople you want two singers to
get harmony, somebody's got tohit the high notes, somebody's
got to hit the low notes and wecan go from there.
You know, then, like Imentioned before, we add on the
horn players, after that theiconic three-piece horn section
(05:47):
of trumpet, trombone andsaxophone is great.
Sometimes, if we keep goingfrom there, you add a second
saxophone, usually a Barry sax,which gives you that big beefy
low notes of the horn section,which I absolutely love.
That sound you hear it in a lotof Motown Stevie Wonder.
It's this big, big honkingthing, uh.
And then if you want to blowout, we'll bring four or five
(06:08):
singers and we'll add anauxiliary percussionist.
Uh, my wife plays percussionwith us sometimes and it's
really fun.
Everybody says it's really cool, you can drive together to the
gig and I'm like you crazy, Igot, I got all my gear and all
her gear and we're gonna dropthe kids off.
You think we can both fit inone car.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
So here's the big question when are the kids?
When are the kids going to beold enough to get on stage?
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I tell you what my son's four right now and he's
already learning how to patch anXLR cable into a stage snake.
So you know, we're we'reworking on it.
We'll teach him how to wrapcables over under in a couple of
years and then I'll start.
Maybe I don't know once he's,once he's 10, he's probably
going to come out with me andhelp me set up and and things
(06:54):
like that.
We'll see.
I don't know, he may, he maynot really be that into music,
but I think it's unlikely.
Uh, given his uh, you knowupbringing.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
I was going to say, given his pedigree, it's almost
in there that he's probablygoing to at some point.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
He tells us right now not to sing along with songs
when we're playing music.
It's basically the little kidversion of who sings this song.
Let's keep it that way.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Well, and the other thing I think that is a little
bit different with a band versusa DJ is the timeline for the
reception.
Do you want to talk a littlebit about how different it is?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah.
So the main thing with the bandis, you know, back to the being
human thing, we do need acouple of breaks.
Back to the being human thing,we do need a couple breaks.
Now I know there is one band intown that offers a top to
bottom straight through threehour performance, but that is a
very expensive band and honestly, it sounds painful.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
My lips are like quivering just thinking of
having to play for three hoursstraight.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Here's the thing the only people in the band who are
actually playing for the entiretime are the drummer, the
bassist and the keyboardist.
Everyone else has moments wherethey're able to step off stage,
use the restroom, grab a drink,something like that.
But for the rhythm section now,fortunately, us rhythm section
players don't need our face toplay the instrument, so the
(08:25):
fatigue takes longer to set in.
Section Now, fortunately, usrhythm section players don't
need our face to play theinstrument, so the fatigue takes
longer to set in.
And the hardest part is threehours on your feet, moving and
getting into it, not juststanding.
A lot of people can stand forthree hours, no problem, but
three hours of really focusingand energy.
But that's a premium servicethat they offer.
Most bands most other bands usand a lot of the other groups
(08:47):
included usually play between 50to 70 minute increments.
We call them sets, and then forus we take 15 minute set breaks
.
So what I usually try and tellpeople to do is a lot for three,
at least three and a half hoursfor your dance portion of the
night If you want to get thefull effect of the music.
(09:08):
Because that gives us a chanceto play three 60 minute sets,
which is a good amount of music,then gives us two short 15
minute breaks and when we take abreak we put music on.
It's not just awkward silence,you know.
We, we keep it going, we play,we'll play things.
Uh, you know, sometimes, uh,people have certain requests,
you know, and not not to soundpejorative, but they kind of
(09:30):
want some of the ratchet stuffyou know, radio rap and and 808s
.
That is not really conducive tolive instruments you don't rap
come on.
Well, no, we have people in theband who can rap, but it's not
so much the rapping that's theissue, it's the beat, because a
lot of those beats are producedin a studio by a producer.
(09:51):
Oh, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
That makes sense.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah, it's basically like a studio DJ track instead
of real live drums and real liveguitars, things like that.
That is sometimes what we'llput on during our break.
Yep, and here's another thingabout the timeline with a live
band is a lot of times we willplay folks cocktail hours
(10:16):
because many of us, beingformally trained in music, we
can play a nice jazzyinstrumental.
We can kind of be flexible withthe kind of music we play and
put our own spin on songs.
If someone wants a set ofinstrumental Motown, we can do
that.
It's usually a smaller group ofpeople, sometimes in a
(10:38):
different location in the venue,and we'll do that.
And then we come in for thedinner and some folks want us to
play live through dinner.
And I always have to give acaveat on that because not that
we are an intentionally loudband.
We are actually very consciousof our volume, especially given
some of these cavernous,high-ceilinged rooms that we
(10:58):
play in that have terribleacoustics.
Not trying to call out anyspecific venues, but a lot of
them happen to be downtown.
They're just old buildings.
They're old buildings.
They weren't designed.
There's some venues that aremore modern, with lower ceilings
and a lot of carpet and a lotof wood they sound really good.
But in these older high ceilingvenues that that were around
(11:21):
before, amplified music was we.
We have to be conscious of howloud we are, because too loud in
a room like that is justdeafening and washy and
unpleasant for everyone.
But the volume is especially athing during dinner, which is
why we will usually take a breakduring dinner and put on soft
recorded music, because A itgives us a chance to eat our
(11:41):
vendor meals.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
That's actually another thing I was going to
bring up is that the one thingthat is different with bands is
most bands have in theircontract that they are to be fed
during dinner, and so that'ssomething you need to keep in
mind with your budget when youbook the band, because you're
booking them for, you know,depending on how many again, it
(12:04):
goes back to how many pieces,how many instruments do you have
.
I mean, most bands are going torange anywhere from, like the
lowest, 4,000 up to like 12,000.
And you have to also budget fora meal for each one of them,
and you do eat it during dinnerthe same time everybody else
does.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Yeah, in our contract we specify we need a hot meal,
and that's kind of something new.
Now we don't need, I know, somecaterers each meal.
If you're having a seatedplated meal, each meal can be
rather expensive and we don'tnecessarily require exactly what
they're eating.
But it can't be.
We call them in the industry wecall them bandwitches, which is
(12:45):
like which is, you know, a coldcut turkey, a cold cut turkey
sandwich with American cheese onwonder bread and then a bag of
chips like that.
That doesn't cut it, especiallyfor, you know, like the drummer
and the sound engineer, they'rethere.
I mean so sometimes for thesmaller band and you've seen me
do it, kathy I will run soundfor the band and I'm on stage
(13:08):
playing bass with the band.
That's like an 11 hour day forme.
You know I show up.
I usually show up to the venuearound 2 pm, spend three hours
setting up, then I'll play acocktail hour with the group and
then I sit down and eat dinnerand then we play and I'm
sweating my face off for threeor four hours playing music with
the band and then at the end ofthe night, after doing all that
(13:30):
, I got to tear down my soundsystem and load it in my car.
Yeah, a cold cut sandwich.
This isn't going to cut it inbetween that time.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
I am right there with you, because we actually have
it in our wedding planningcontract, cause our typical
wedding day is about 15 hours.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
The longest one I ever had was 21.
Yeah, After that I put a coupleof changes in my contract
because I was exhausted for thenext two days.
But we have it in our contractthat we are required to be fed
lunch and dinner and that wehave a 30-minute break to
(14:10):
consume them.
Because what was happening wasit was taking me three hours to
eat my dinner, because I alwayshave to pop up and down, up and
down, up and down because youknow we have to talk to the band
, or we have to talk to the MC,or we have to go make sure that
dinner's being served properly,or we have to make sure that the
champagne is being poured,because the toast is going to
(14:31):
start shortly after that.
And so you know there.
There are times where you knowI've been eating and I'll come
back and my meal's been takenaway and I barely even touched
it and you're like no eat myfood alone, and so we ended up
putting it in there that we have30 minute break that is
dedicated to consuming our food.
Like we had to get that specific.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
but yeah, that's ours , that's we do, I also in our
contract it does require a 30minute meal break and there are
some times where clients try andget around that and they'll be
like, oh well, we want you toplay cocktail hour and dinner.
And I'm like, well, everybody'sgot to eat.
And they're like, okay, well,the cocktail band can can eat
during dinner and the dinnerbank can eat during cocktail.
(15:11):
I'm like, well, usually thepeople playing are the rhythm
section players like me, youknow me and the piano player and
the guitar player and sometimesthe drummer.
So it's, you know we, we spent,we play a lot more music.
And and then also the MC.
Some people will be like, well,you know you can eat during this
, but the speeches happen 10minutes after everyone sits down
.
I'm like, well, mc and soundengineer have to be there for
(15:33):
that.
When are they going to gettheir 30 minutes?
So I always have to remindpeople and you know, sometimes
we do split it up, but most,most folks are accommodating
because 30 minutes over thecourse of a six hour or so event
, you know, for them at least,is not that unreasonable,
because there usually is thattime it gets a little little
tricky.
We've been.
(15:54):
These East Coast style weddingshave been becoming more popular
, where they want us to playlike little 20 minute sets, like
before salads, then in betweensalads and meals, and then after
dinner before the speeches.
I don't know if you've done oneof those yet, but apparently
that's how weddings go out inNew York and it's leeching its
(16:14):
way westward from there.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
It's fascinating Cause I had a a podcast a while
back with a company calledIsland Brothers Productions, and
they're a DJ company from theWest coast that recently
relocated to the Midwest, andthe topic that we talked about
was Midwest versus West coasttimelines, and they were saying
(16:37):
the same thing.
It's just it's like out thereit's a completely different vibe
than it is in the Midwest,whereas, like Midwest, you get a
lot of.
It's a very rigid timelinewhere you have, okay, first
we're going to eat dinner, thenwe're going to go to toast, then
we're going to cut the cake,then we're going to do a first
(16:57):
dance, then we're going to dothis, and out there it's more
about the club vibe and justpacking the dance floor and then
, like you were saying, witheast coast it's, it's a little
more broken up, even more thansure
Speaker 2 (17:09):
your typical midwest would be you know, don't, I
don't mind a loose event.
I'm sure saying that to you asa planner is is, uh, it's
probably it's, it's probablypainful to hear.
Yeah, that's that's what I tellpeople.
And you know, especially someof the most fun events we've
done is where it's a couple willalready be married and they're
like, yeah, so we're not havinga formal sit down dinner and we
(17:32):
just want people to dance andhave a good time, because
usually for those events, youknow, first of all, they're not
picky about when we take ourdinner break and then we can be
flexible about, you know, aboutall of our breaks in general.
I mean, we did one of those HydePark Country Club last year and
it was kind of a long night andwe stretched our breaks a
(17:53):
little bit, but we also got tomusically stretch out because we
had a big band, so we got tolet our horns, you know, rip
some some, you know, facemelting solos and in between
we'd take breaks and Iremembered they had the best
meatballs.
I don't know why thesemeatballs.
I still remember this is a yearand a half ago, this was August
2022.
I still remember thesemeatballs were so good.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
That's funny.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
You know, it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
You remember the best vendor meal you ever had and
the worst vendor meal you'veever had.
Isn't that true?
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Oh man, so there's a venue I'm not going to name
names.
It's a venue that I've heard isactually closing.
Is it the?
chicken salad oh, you know thechicken salad.
Oh, you know exactly what I'mtalking about.
Oh man, they were infamous forthat.
It was horrible.
It's funny because we we'd walkin and the bartenders would see
(18:48):
us and like, oh, you're in theband, we'll pour you a double,
but then we get this chickensalad.
I'm like you know, actually youcan like I.
I would rather to have a nicermeal and not have the bartenders
be so concerned about fillingup our drinks all the time.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Well, cause I eat low carb, and so I had to take the
chicken salad off the croissantand then one of my um assistants
was vegan, so she couldn't eatany of it oh, no, yeah, we oh my
gosh, it was we run into thatwe have.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
we have a handful of vegans and vegetarians in the
band.
We have one one actually adrummer, one of my favorite
drummers in the city.
He is a vegan but he's alsoallergic to nuts, and so that's
always fun.
When I got to tell people andit's more and more in the modern
era it's not really thatdifficult to accommodate, but he
did.
He got one.
(19:43):
It was just this past summeractually.
They brought him a meal thatwas accommodating for him and it
was literally like chopped uptomatoes on a bed of brown rice
and he just he always packs asandwich because he knows half
the time they're not going tohave something he can eat.
It's, it's it's.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
it's interesting, that's scary, that we both had
the same vendor meal, that weboth.
That is the worst one we everhad.
That is it's everybody in thebed.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Everybody on our roster who played that venue
always talks about it.
It's like an inside joke in theband at this point.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
I think the best meal I ever had was a surf and turf
where we had lobster and we hadfilet and the potatoes that they
had were just oh they wereamazing Like.
I'll never forget that that wasprobably the best meal, that it
(20:41):
might have been the best mealI've ever had, let alone just
the best vendor meal I've everhad.
It was just unbelievable.
It was a wedding that we had ata private estate up in the
Cleveland area on Lake.
Milton.
And this family had a beautiful,beautiful property, and so we
had the ceremony in the backyard, overlooking their pool, and on
(21:06):
their deck, and then, we had acocktail hour inside the house
and we had to clear out all thefurniture out of the house and
put it in a storage unit for theweek so that we could have
cocktail hour in there.
And then, yeah, and then we had, we put a tent up in the
driveway, in the front, and thatwas where we had the dinner
(21:26):
reception.
We, uh, we had valet forparking, so that was how we were
able to.
You know, keep the, keep thetent in the front, on the front
on the concrete and everything.
But, yes, hands down, bestvendor meal ever.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Nice, yeah, that sounds pretty good.
I remember having one.
This was February 2020, soprobably a month or so before
the great shutdown that killedour industry.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
That killed our industry.
That killed our industry, Idon't think people.
It was really bad.
(22:22):
I mean, I think every vendorlearned what the term force
means during the pandemic.
For those of you listening, thebig difference is an act of God
.
Is a volcano erupting or anearthquake occurring or a
blizzard happening.
How the government reacts to itis force majeure, and so the
(22:45):
pandemic itself, the virus, wasan act of God, but the way that
our government reacted to it wasforce majeure.
So if you're reading yourcontracts and you see that
clause in there, that's what itmeans.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
That's interesting.
I always thought those wereinterchangeable.
I did too, until the pandemic.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Then I learned okay, Kathy didn't go to law school,
Her husband did.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
There you go, all right, okay.
Well, I learned something thatI was today years old, well, and
you know, the other thing thatbands also incorporate into
their group of musicians is anMC, and the job of the MC is to
keep everything on track for theevening.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Yes, that's true.
Now I want to put this caveatup here because this has bitten
us.
I want to say twice now in thepast four years since I took
over management of this band weare an MC, we conduct the
ceremony, we run things.
We are not the planner.
And some people I love workingwith planners and most of the
time if people can afford a bandthey can also afford a planner.
(23:51):
So luckily we get to work withpeople like kathy a lot, which
is great.
But I want to say about 20 ofthe weddings we do don't have a
planner.
They'll have a day ofcoordinator who works at the
venue to kind of help keepthings along.
But there was definitely acouple instances where our emcee
because what our emcee does iswe check in we check in to make
(24:13):
sure people are ready.
We don't just say we're goingto start toasts now and the you
know the father and the bride isin the bathroom or something.
You know, we always check in.
You know we always check inbeforehand and I I can think of
one specific event where we gotyelled at for checking in, uh,
and they're like you have theschedule, you know what you're
(24:34):
supposed to do, just do it andit's just I'm like, uh, but what
if we had just done it andsomething wasn't right, you know
, or somebody wasn't ready, orsomebody was still eating, you
know, we, I just I want people,people to know that an MC is
different than a planner.
Granted, the MC does, you know,once it's time to go, we take
charge.
And also we check in with notjust the client but other folks
(24:56):
who might have, you know, stakein the situation.
So especially videographers andphotographers, because if
they're not there for a momentthat's about to happen, you know
that that could come back tobite them if they miss an
important shot of whatever'shappening.
So there's a lot ofcoordination happening.
So having a planner everyone isa great idea.
(25:16):
Just putting that out there.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
People don't realize all the stuff that we do behind
the scenes, like we preventcatastrophes from happening.
We keep things running smoothly, you know.
We make sure that nobody who'swho should be in the room.
Everybody is actually in theroom.
Like you said, I've had itwhere dad is disappeared in the
(25:39):
bathroom.
Or one time I had a client andthey had a band and what
happened was the mother of thebride had Alzheimer's.
She was getting to that stagewhere it was getting harder and
harder to hide.
I knew obviously the father ofthe bride knew when we were
about ready to go into the toastwas when she went into the
(26:05):
bathroom and insisted that thefather of the bride stand
outside the door.
He could not leave that post.
And so we checked in with himand said how do you, do you want
us to wait?
What would you like us to do?
And he said she could be 20minutes to half an hour for all
I know.
He said just go proceed.
(26:25):
He's like I'll just listen butproceed.
But it's important that we checkin because a situation just
like that could happen and wewant to make sure that everybody
who needs to be in the room isin the room because the
photographer needs to be in theroom, videographer needs to be
in the room, and then anyimportant parents people in the
wedding party needs to be in theroom, and then any important
(26:46):
parents people in the weddingparty made matron of honor best
man.
They all need to be therethat's.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
That's why I say you know, when it's time to do
something, we direct it.
We direct people and we'll givethem technical instructions.
All the mic, like this standover here, look at the couple
when you're talking, things likethat.
Um, but, yeah, we, we need tomake sure that all the vips,
both on the vendor side and theguest list, are there before
(27:16):
something can happen.
But, yeah, so the mc.
So, assuming that everybody'sin the right place and ready to
go when they need to be our memcee, we introduce, we well,
we'll do things like ask gueststo take their seats, announce
that champagne is being toured,announce when dinner starts.
We'll make housekeepingannouncements if we need to.
Somebody's headlights are on.
Whatever you know, our mainrole is to introduce the couple
(27:39):
and the wedding party, althoughyou know I'm finding a lot of
people are skipping the weddingparty now.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Yes, they're going right into the first dance.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Yes, yes, they'll skip the wedding party.
They just introduced the couple.
They go into the first danceimmediately.
Our emcee will obviouslyannounce that first dance, which
sometimes we play that live,sometimes we play the recorded
version, depending on theclient's requests.
I always tell people if you'redoing choreography, the
recording is the way to go,because while we can do a great
(28:08):
version of whatever song it is,it's going to sound different
and I don't want to mess up yourchoreography Now.
If you don't have choreography,I say go live band, because well
, what else did you hire us for,right?
And then after your dancethere's usually some formalities
, maybe a welcome speech, maybea blessing, something else.
Before dinner.
We'll introduce that.
We'll announce when dinnerhappens.
(28:30):
Then we get through that.
Then we go get our vendor mealthat we spoke about before.
We'll come back.
Then there's usually toastsafter dinner, not always, but
sometimes it's pretty common.
We'll announce those.
We'll announce any otherspecial dances, family, parent
dances, things like that.
And then, if there's otherthings, a lot of times at our
event usually a lot of thegimmicky stuff again, I'm not
(28:53):
trying to be pejorative aboutthat, but things like the shoe
game or the anniversary dance,or now there's a couple other
games I've seen before.
We don't do that as much and Ifind that usually when people
hire bands they they kind ofdon't want that kind of stuff.
But we can, our mc will do that.
We've done that before.
We've had, we've actually hadour mc.
(29:13):
Uh, we've hosted a coupletrivia games before it happens,
but that does seem, like I said,a little kind of a little
gimmicky.
Some people like that uh, but alot of times that kind of gets
uh relegated to the DJ events.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
Yeah, I would agree with that.
I would agree with that.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Because, again back to my initial statement, hiring
a band is very intentional andusually if they've got a live
band there, it's because theywant music to be the main
feature of the reception,absolutely.
But our emcee we are able toemcee any and all of those
things, and then obviously we'llannounce when the dancing
starts.
(29:49):
One last call for the bar is ifthere's a shuttle, we make
those announcements and then wesend everyone off at the end of
the night you want a band isdon't wait to book, because you
book up fast.
We do.
I've I've got inquiries, I'vegot several secured bookings for
(30:13):
2025 already.
I think my furthest bookingright now is October 2025,
especially if you're trying tosecure a band on a peak date.
Which peak dates?
And the wedding industry Forthose of you who don't know if
it's your first wedding May,june, september and October
Saturdays those are the busiestdays of the year for all wedding
(30:33):
professionals.
So if you want the vendors thatyou want, if you want a good
planner like Kathy and a goodband like us, you got to get to
us at least a year out.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
We're already.
There's another date in 2024,2024.
That's going to be a hot date.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
May 4th, may 4th, yep , may the 4th be with you.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Yep, it's a Saturday.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
It sure is, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (30:57):
That was that was one of the first dates that booked
out for me.
I was, and then they told me itwas a star Wars wedding.
And I'm like, oh, that's right.
And then they told me it was aStar Wars wedding.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
And.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
I'm like, oh, that's right.
I'm like, oh, it's a Saturday,this date is going to sell out
very quickly this year foreverybody.
Yeah, I love it, and that'salso the weekend of the Derby,
and usually we're very busy thatweekend too.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
That is going to be a busy weekend, that's normally
an extremely busy weekend for usand I know we're doing a
corporate thing down inLexington for a Derby party that
Friday.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Wow, Well, it goes to show you if you're going to
have a band, it needs to be inthe beginnings of your planning.
So once you book your venue, ifyou're getting a church, next
is your band.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
If you know you want a band.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
And most people who want a band, they know they want
a band going into the planning.
That's what I tend to see.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Yes, and I will say sometimes for us, because our
contract is a little flexibleeven if you don't have a venue
yet, if you're still kind oftossing up some ideas, we're
happy to give suggestionsBecause, as I mentioned before,
some venues a band sounds muchbetter in than others.
Again, we get a lot of bookingsin venues that just don't sound
(32:17):
all that great.
They look amazing but theydon't sound great.
So that's a decision, andobviously I'm not here to talk
poorly about any venues, becausemany of those venues have great
staff.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
But no, it's an important thing to remember and
it goes back to if you know youwant a band, you tend to lean
toward it in the beginning that,yeah, we want live music, we
want a band.
And I think it's importantbecause if you want the full
benefit of those musicians andthe art that they're performing
(32:48):
that night, if you have a placethat echoes, it's going to be
very difficult to reallyappreciate what's being played.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Absolutely.
I always say that to people.
So if somebody reaches out tous and 90% of events that book
us have already got the venueselected, but for those that
don't, I do have.
I always like to makerecommendations and obviously my
opinion I did.
It works actually.
One time somebody had a coupledifferent venues they were
looking at and I gave them my.
(33:15):
They had three possible venuesand I gave them my top to bottom
recommendation on that and theyended up picking my top
recommendations and I thinkthey're going to have a better
event because of it.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
That's wonderful advice, John.
How can people find Blue WaterKings Band?
Speaker 2 (33:33):
We are really easy to find because we've put a decent
amount of money into Googleoptimization.
So if you type wedding bandCincinnati, we will be one of
the top first five ways linksthat you'll see.
Obviously, that wouldn't be myrecommendation.
You can also find us atwwwbluewaterkingsbandcom.
(33:53):
We are on Instagram at BlueWater Kings.
We also have a Facebook page.
We're probably on TikTok too.
I'm an old guy so I don'treally do TikTok.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
And you do travel, you do travel.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
We do travel.
So the band that I manage outof Cincinnati we service Dayton
and even north of Dayton up toTroy and Piqua area.
We've gone as far north asToledo, although usually we have
another band.
So we have a band in everymajor city in the Midwest
operating under the Blue WaterKings band.
They're all friends of ours.
So there's one in Detroit.
(34:29):
So normally Detroit takes careof Toledo.
They were very busy one weekendand we drove all the way up
there.
We go down to Louisville,kentucky, lexington, kentucky,
dayton, ohio, any of the ruralareas In between then.
I know Miamisburg and Hamiltonhave some nice venues that we go
up to Lake Lindsay and whatnot.
So a lot of yeah, we'll gobasically anywhere within a
(34:54):
two-hour radius of Cincinnati.
Occasionally we'll go further.
In August we did an event downin Owensboro, kentucky.
That's about a three and a halfhour drive.
The drive home from that wasn'tsuper fun but the event was.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Wonderful.
So if you're interested inlooking more into Jon and Blue
Water Kings band, be sure tocheck out their website and all
their social media.
John, thank you so much forjoining us today.
Thank you for tuning into YourDream Day podcast.
Please subscribe.
You can visit us ondreamdaypodcast.
com or you can go onyourdreamday.
com where you can listen to ourpodcast on all of your favorite
(35:32):
outlets, including Apple, GooglePodcasts, Amazon, Pandora,
Alexa and everywhere else whereyou get your podcasts.
Thank you so much.
This is Kathy Piech Lukassigning off and happy planning.
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