Up-lighting, Photo-booths and Specialization 

One of the latest and fastest growing trends in the wedding industry is the addition of up-lighting and photo booth technology to the wedding package.  Many brides are inquiring about these services and many disc jockey companies have been listening to these requests and are now offering these services as “add-ons” to boost their bottom line. 

Whether the addition of up-lighting or photo booths turns out to be a fad or a trend, still remains to be seen. But I wanted to touch on this subject because there are some things to consider before you go “all in” on these services. And as with many of my blogs and posts, I know that some of my fellow wedding professionals will not agree with me because Christy and I tend to view our business model quite a bit differently from our wedding counterparts, but we have the right to our opinion. After reading this you may or may not agree with us but we are presenting the viewpoint for your consideration.  Let me explain my line of thinking: 

Over the years we have attended a few bridal shows, as guests, to gauge whether or not we were interested in participating in any future shows as wedding vendors.  While we were there, we visited with some of the vendors, paying particular attention to the disc jockeys in attendance. As we went around and picked up business cards from some of our competitors as well as from the other vendors there, we noticed something about a few of the cards that stood out – but not in a good way.  

While the cards listed all of the pertinent information you would expect a business card to have, one line stood out. It started with this claim: “We specialize in…” and then went on to list five, six, or more items that the company “specialized” in. For the sake of this article, I’ll use disc jockey/entertainment services because that’s my wheelhouse. My wife was the one who noticed it and read the card out loud: “Specializing in: parties, christenings, bar/bat mitzvahs, weddings, Jack & Jill events, birthday parties, anniversary parties and more!” 

Okay, you and I both know what they are trying to convey, but technically, if you ‘specialize’ in something, it’s only one thing, maybe two. So how is it possible that these companies specialized in so many things?  The answer is that it’s not possible. We’ve all heard the old saying: “Jack of all trades, master of none.” And that brings me back to the subject of this blog and one of the things I want you to think about as you begin your wedding DJ search. 

Let me start by telling you why we do not offer up-lighting and photo booths. When a bride hires Christy and I to provide music and entertainment for a wedding, our focus is totally on the task we were hired to do. My focus is the music and sound, while Christy mainly focuses on the flow of the event, the details of your day and then later, taking requests and helping me to format the songs as those requests come in. That’s it! We can honestly claim, and rightfully so, that “We specialize in weddings”. If I do two to four parties a year, we are lucky. Honestly, unless it’s an adult birthday or anniversary party, we usually refer the client to one of our DJ friends who are better at doing small parties.

I’m not a typical party DJ nor do I pretend to be. By the same token, I am not a lighting technician or a photographer. I do not claim to be, nor do I want to be. The way we see it, it distracts from what you hired us to do for you in the first place.  You only have about two hours to set up for a wedding reception and my time needs to be spent on making sure that my sound system is set up, tested and flawless by the time your first guests are arriving.  Throw in a photo booth set up and up-lighting and that two hour window now becomes critically small.

And here is another piece of information you should check into before you pay for a photo booth – and I have this directly from the lips of many photographers that I have worked with over the years. Many of the top photographers will refuse your business when they find out you have hired a DJ that is providing a photo booth and the reason for this is very valid if you think about it. Many times a DJ will post photos from your photo booth on their web pages or their Facebook account.  While at the same time the bride is posting details about her wedding such as who the DJ was, who they hired as their photographer, caterer, etc., on her Facebook page or on one of the many bridal blogs like The Knot.

As people share information and these pages are shared and linked – guess who gets the blame for the poor quality pictures?  That’s right – the photographer and they don’t appreciate it.  The photo-booth pictures are meant as a keepsake, using humor and whimsy – but since the photos are so easily shared in today’s technological world, you can see how a professional would take offense at being credited for what appear to be “amateur” photos.

Now if the DJ company you choose has a separate lighting division that sends a separate crew out to set up lights, or has a separate crew to set up the photo booth, that changes my opinion slightly.  However, having additional hands to aid in set up still does not make you a lighting technician. Lighting is an art form in itself and I feel it should be done by a true professional if it’s going to be done right. If you've ever tried your hand at interior decorating and you weren't very good at it, you'll understand exactly what I mean. 

Also, the photographers will tell you that in many instances, these "up-lights" turn the photos of your wedding, a bright pink or purple. If you don’t believe it, go to any website featuring pictures of these lights in use and see for yourself. Ten or twenty years from now, how will you feel when someone looks at your cherished photos and says: “Oh, you got married in 2010”?

Simply put, we strongly feel that if a DJ company wants to offer lighting services, it should be done so as a totally separate division of the company – one that hires people who are lighting experts – not DJs turned “up-lighting” salesmen.

So, that’s my take on this subject.  Maybe you agree with us, maybe not, but either way, its food for thought and I hope the information helps you to make a decision on the planning of your most important day.

Till next time…