The day of the DJ – and I mean Disk Jockey, not Dinner Jacket or any other variation – has passed. No more the heavy boxes of records or even CDs, no more enough equipment to start a radio station. Today’s recorded music “introducer” comes equipped with two I-Pods, a minute mixer and a couple of speakers.
In fact, even this DJ is becoming a thing of the past. Not a few couples are creating their own playlists on their I-Pods, hiring an amplifier and providing precisely their own music.
At the same time other entertainers are appearing at weddings. Clowns and Balloon Benders for the children, casino tables with professional croupiers for the Las Vegas theme and even live bands playing everything from the hits of the 60s to the current chart music.
For my money the best value are the Singing Waiters – and I use the term generically, just in case there’s an act by that name.
We recorded one group of three tenors at a wedding we recorded at Elvetham Hall in Hampshire last summer. The singing was good, the choice of music ideal, in fact only an occasional lapse in microphone technique made the group anything but perfect.
What impressed us particularly was the way the waiters/tenors made sure they were seen and identified as serving staff before their act started. They wore the hotel’s uniform neckties and helped to serve the wedding breakfast and clear the empty dishes along with the regular staff. Thus when the leader introduced himself as Signor Barberoi, the Catering Manager, the guests, who knew nothing of the surprise, were ready to believe.
Twenty five minutes later the audience had been transformed from a polite wedding winding down after a dignified and beautifully staged wedding into party people ready to dance the night away.
Obviously a big part of the act depends on keeping the audience wondering as long as possible whether they are real waiters or real tenors. A measure of their success occurred in the kitchen as the cooking staff handed five plated meals to each server to take to the tables. So convincing was the ruse that the kitchen staff were taken aback when a waiter protested that he was a tenor not silver service and carrying only two plates was his limit.
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