An Epic Wedding Toast

We’ve all seen wedding toasts.

Some bring a tear to your eye.

Some make you wish you had brought a pillow to catch a quick nap.

Some just make you cringe.

No one wants to be responsible for a cringe-worthy speech - here are some tips and tricks to make sure your wedding toast is memorable for all the right reasons.

#1. Prepare (and Practice).

“I do better without a script” “I’ve got an idea what to say, I’m just going to let it flow”

We’ve all been there. The stress of a situation gets the best of us and we don’t prepare like we should. This is one of those times you really need to. In most cases the person doing the toasting doesn’t speak in public often or use a microphone - not to mention adding alcohol and an emotional day to the mix. I do both for a living (minus the alcohol) as an MC/DJ for weddings and also on the radio. Without question, I do better with a script. A script keeps you centered, and keeps your toast moving along - hopefully in the right direction. It doesn’t mean you have to, and it will be better received if you don’t, read it word for word. That’s where the practice comes in. Practice your toast enough that you are comfortable with it. That will allow you to ad-lib a little while you are speaking. The more confident you are with it, the better you will be able to present it.

#2. Short & Sweet

We’ve all seen the over prepared parent or Maid of Honor. You know, the one that comes up with a half dozen or more typed pages. On occasion those toasts can be quite good, but more often than not they drag on with no real point. I’m not saying not to tell a heartfelt story or two, but most guests don’t need or want to listen to your entire childhood story. Keep your speech light, fun, and loving - everyone will appreciate it.

#3. Keep it Clean

“We were at this party back in High School - you remember that girl and…” Please don’t.

Your toast is not the time to recount stories that make your buddy blush. Before you tell any story, ask yourself if you would tell it with the bride or groom’s grandparents sitting around the kitchen table - sober. If the answer is no, steer clear. Focus on happy, G to PG memories that you’ve shared. Your wedding toast isn’t a time to try to embarrass anyone or bring up unpleasant memories. Keep it clean, and avoid getting the hook.

#4. End on a High Note

All speeches should have a natural structure to them. An introduction (please don’t go with the cliche “for those of you that don’t know me” or “I wrote this on the way today”), a body (your main content, stories, etc), and a conclusion (where you tie everything all together). This is why it’s important to write your speech ahead of time and use a script. By putting all the pieces together, putting in the practice, and keeping your toast to around 3 minutes you are sure to have a great toast that everyone will love.

But wait, there’s more!

Above I’ve covered tips for writing a good toast but being a MC/DJ it’s part of my job to help you sound good too.

#1. The Microphone is Your Friend

One of the most common thing we see is people who are afraid of the microphone, or think they “talk loud” so they don’t need it. Unless you are giving the toast in a quiet room with 20 or less people, you need the microphone.

#2. Keep It Close

I always tell my toasters to think of the microphone like an ice cream cone - both work better when they’re close you your mouth. If you are holding the mic, hold the microphone nearly horizontal and 1 to 2 inches from your mouth. If it’s on a stand, make sure the head of the mic is at the same height as your mouth and stay within the 1 to 2 inch distance.

#3. Project

The microphone is a great tool, but it has it’s limits. You can audibly hear those limits when the speakers experience feedback during your toast (that loud screechy sound). Many times as DJs we experience feedback when trying to turn up the volume to hear what a soft-spoken toaster is saying. I always tell people using my microphone to speak like they’re trying to talk to people at the next table. Doing this, and keeping the microphone near your mouth, eliminates most microphone issues.

#4. No Pacing Please

When we get nervous, we pace. We fidget, wonder, and gesture. It’s important to not do these things (especially if your mic is on a stand). The more moving you do, the more likely it is that you’re moving the microphone around as well. Your toast should be around 3 minutes long, when you stand to give your toast, find 2 or 3 focal points around the room to keep you focus (and you) from wandering.

#5. Don’t Drop It

Who doesn’t love a big ending with a mic drop? The DJ, that’s who. Mics are sensitive, and pretty expensive. Not only can you destroy a microphone by dropping it, but you can also damage or destroy speakers when the sound of the mic hitting the ground is amplified through them. Did I mention microphones are expensive? The mic I hand to my toasters is about $500; each speaker is around $1000. Intentionally damaging someone’s equipment will not only hurt your wallet, but it could also disrupt the wedding if a speaker were to be destroyed and no back up was available. Yes, we have back up equipment at every event, but please don’t drop the mic.

The Perfect Wedding After All

Every couple has a vision of their big day - sometimes for years before they actually get married. Krista and Jacob were no different as they spent months choosing their venue, their vendors and everything that they wanted.

And then COVID hit.

They were thankful that their wedding wasn’t until August, that should leave plenty of time for things to return to normal. And for a time, they did. They worked with their venue on numbers with indoor restrictions. They were able to add a tent outdoors so they didn’t need to change their guest count. We offered to include sound in the tent so everyone in the two spaces were still connected, and everything was progressing.

Then came the mask mandate.

It was at that point that Krista and Jacob decided their perfect day needed a new location. So nineteen days before their wedding, they asked Krista’s parents if they would host it in their back yard. Krista’s dad, Tim, recounted their conversation during his speech calling his decision to say yes one of the quickest he had ever made. They immediately started the process of finding a tent, tables, chairs, caterer, and all the little things you take for granted when you have your event at a traditional venue.

By the time their wedding day rolled around you would have thought it was exactly what they had planned. The tent was beautiful and fit their yard perfectly - right down to the portable dance floor set up on the lawn. The whole neighborhood got involved. One house helped by running extra power from their deck and garage, another volunteered to have the portable restrooms set up in their’s. Everyone pitched in to make Krista and Jacob’s day memorable for all the right reasons.

Dinner was served from the garage. Guests toasted the new bride and groom with drinks from the bar set up in the garage. And then we danced.

The look on Jacob and Krista’s faces say it all. So much love between the two of them, and all around them. About 200 people came out to celebrate with them and we could tell from the beginning that this crowd was ready to party. The energy level only went up from this point - and kept going all night long.

We had a beautiful Anniversary Dance - and finished with a lovely couple who had 55 wonderful years of marriage. His advice? He decided to let his wife answer. Her advice? Saying “I love you” every day, no matter what.

At one point Jacob’s father and new father-in-law approached me asking what songs we had for a “ball and chain”. They had fashioned “the old ball and chain” from an actual chain - one to keep in your vehicle when the snow starts flying - and an old bowling ball. They had great fun attaching it, and Jacob played along and had fun dancing and dragging it around the dance floor for the next couple of songs. When it came time to take it off, they couldn’t. The bolt they used to attach it got stuck - so they had to search for tools before they could get it off.

We did hit one little bump during the evening - we received a visit from the local police department asking us to keep it down a little. I guess you really can have too much fun.

Other than that, the night was perfect. People danced, laughed, and were really living their lives - all to help to celebrate Krista and Jacob’s love.

For me personally, it was a great first wedding of 2020 - #thankscovid - and reminded me why I love what I do, and has me all the more energized and anxious to celebrate with the rest of my 2020 couples.

You have to check out this great video shot and produced by Andrew Legatt!

A Step in the Right Direction

Governor Walz on Saturday relaxed his restrictions on ceremonial and religious gatherings, which was a big win for weddings in Minnesota. Unfortunately, the order applies only to wedding ceremonies, not the traditional reception that typically follows. While that’s disappointing for us as an entertainment company that specializes in making your reception amazing - it does allow us to help make your ceremony successful and enjoyable for all.

Flamingo Event Services celebrates 15 years of service this year - and for almost all of those 15 years, we’ve been helping couples produce their perfect ceremony. A lot of companies say they provide ceremony sound. In most cases, that means they provide a single speaker and a wireless microphone. Sometimes that’s all you need, but we like to be prepared.

What’s the most important part of your ceremony? Making sure all of your guests can hear. That’s never been more critical that now with the current social distancing restrictions. Flamingo Event Services always uses 2 speakers for ceremony production (and can add additional if needed), if for no other reason than having a built in back up. Should one speaker fail for some reason, the second will continue uninterrupted.

With our more robust system, we’re able to accommodate not only microphones for your officiant and you, but also for your reader or vocalist. Having a live musician? We’re set up for them to plug in (or mic them up depending on the instrument) and provide the correct amplification for your ceremony.

Did I say plug in? That goes for videographers as well. We have a variety of outputs available for your videographer to capture your vows and everything that goes into making your ceremony uniquely yours.

One other thing that Flamingo Event Services offers is that our owner is ordained and can also officiate your wedding ceremony.

We hope that we’ll be back to helping you celebrate your love with a big party soon. Until then we hope you will consider Flamingo Event Services to help make your ceremony everything you’ve been dreaming of.

Contact us today to learn more!

It's Time to (Virtually) Party!

What’s that thing they say about when life gives you lemons? When you realize that the business you’ve spent years building and improving isn’t “essential” - and neither are the amazing events that we get to celebrate at - you are left with 2 choices.

Quit or Innovate.

So innovate is where I’ve decided to focus my energy. Some of the things we offer, like our officiant services are unaffected, but our main service is, and has always been DJing and providing Master of Ceremony services for weddings and events. So after lots of learning, practicing, and the occasional choice word or two when the technology just won’t cooperate we’re ready to bring our DJ service online for virtual parties.

We are able to use either Zoom or Twitch to stream your favorite songs - with real time requests - and our fun light show in the background. Using Zoom is a great option. It’s free for your guests to download and everyone can see each other. I have a pro account to host the party - once we set up the party you’ll get a copy of the invite to send to all your “quests”. Then you can get a small group together and connect to your blue tooth speaker to enjoy the night. Twitch isn’t quite as interactive as Zoom, but another good free option with a nice chat feature to talk to each other and request songs.

We all know that virtual parties will never replace the real thing. There just isn’t anything that compares to the way it feels when the music is pumping and the crowd is having a great time on the dance floor. Right now though, with the restrictions put in place by Governor Walz of groups of no more than 10 people, having a party together over Zoom is the best we can do until we can all be together again. (We’re preparing for that too - check out our previous post about some of the changes we’re making as part of our COVID-19 preparedness plan.)

Contact us today to talk about your party!

COVID-19 Safety Update

The Governor's message Wednesday doesn't do a lot for us as a business. With events limited to 10 people, I imagine there will be very few wedding receptions. We are however putting measures in place to limit exposure when we are able to perform at in person events.

Until further notice...

- Microphones, used by anyone other than Flamingo Event Service staff, will be placed on a microphone stand and will be adjusted for each user by a staff member. Each microphone will be sanitized between uses.

- Enclosed photo booth will no longer be an option; all photo booth packages will now include our "open air" style booth.

- Photo booth props will no longer be included in any photo booth package.

- Flamingo Event Service staff members will wear masks during the event at the request of our clients.

- All planning meetings will be conducted over Zoom, unless an in-person meeting is requested/required.

- Although Flamingo Event Service typically works as a pair, during this time of guest restrictions, Flamingo Event Service can work individually at the client's request.

We're hopeful that event restrictions will ease as we continue into summer and fall. In the meantime, we're here to answer questions and help however we can.

Don't forget - Flamingo Event Services can also officiate your ceremony should you choose to get married now and hold your reception at a later date.

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Ceremony Perfection!

You’ve spent months planning your ceremony. You looked at venue after venue before you found “the one”. You’ve spent many sleepless nights making sure your theme and your decorations are exactly the way you dreamed they would be. All your friends and family will be there to watch you get married - you’ve thought of everything.

Have you thought about sound?

Will your guests be able to hear your officiant?

Will they be able to hear the heartfelt vows you wrote yourself?

“My officiant speaks loudly”. “It’s an intimate ceremony”. “My friend has a little speaker we can use”.

Over the years I’ve heard so many reasons why couples don’t think about sound for there ceremony…Unfortunately, most of them are wrong. The truth is, unless your ceremony is 25 people of less, and inside, you need sound. I’ve never met an officiant that can speak loudly enough for someone in the last row to hear without straining, or speak over the wind. When you’re reciting your vows, the last thing you’ll be thinking about is projecting for people to hear you.

And you shouldn’t be, that’s why we’re here to help.

We do a lot of outdoor, non-traditional ceremonies. Because of that, we have a lot of the equipment other DJ’s might not have. We provide wireless lapel microphones for your officiant, and typically for the groom. Doing this allows us to pick up what is being said between all 3 of you - and keeps a microphone stand out of your ceremony picture too.

That covers the main part of your ceremony, but you also wanted Aunt Sue to do a special reading for you. We’ve got you covered. We can provide either wireless or wired solutions for readers, musicians, or vocalists. You name it, we’ve probably helped amplify it before.

We can also help with your music. Music for your prelude, postlude, in ceremony, or even accompaniment for your vocalist. Whether you’re looking for traditional, modern or something else completely - we can create the atmosphere you need for your big day.

One last reason to think about Flamingo Event Service for your wedding ceremony - Jeremy is also ordained and performs wedding ceremonies. Even if you choose another officiant, Jeremy will be there as back-up so even if for some reason your officiant is delayed or unable to attend, your ceremony will go on as planned.

We’d love to talk with you more about your big day contact us today to get the process started.

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