After last night, I decided that I am 100% booked between now and Thanksgiving. I am willing to take two more bookings for December in addition to the wedding I have right now. Most likely I will take 1 holiday party, and I am willing to book NYE this year if I a nice paying event comes my way. I did just get an inquiry for NYE...My first one for this year, and quoted $1,950 to do it. We will see if they book. If they don't no sweat off of my back!
I went 1 hour 37 minutes over time last night. It was a wedding on a private property (BEAUTIFUL PROPERTY - PROBABLY ABOUT 9 or 10 acres of land). Ceremony was down a hill about 450+ feet from where the reception tent was.
I started at playing prelude music at 5:00 p.m. Ceremony actually started a few minutes early at like 5:26 (5:30 ceremony). They did music for cocktail hour in a large area, and I used just my Bose S1 Pro. Bride asked me to turn the music way up for this, so I had my S1 Pro almost blasting for cocktail hour music which is not normal, but it was okay.
The wedding reception had a lot of dancing. Apparently, the bride and groom and their friends were are in a "Dance Club" since high school, so they loved to dance. Iwas supposed to end at 10:30 p.m. Caterers were already tearing down, and the wedding planners (There were THREE OF THEM) all told me they were finishing up, and asked me to announce that there is an "After Party" going on where they have some games in the house.
Now I did tell the bride as I do all my clients to just let me know if you want me to go over time at least 15 minutes before the end of the reception. Well, The planner had me announce the sparkler send off at 10:25 right before I was about to play the last dance. So I did that, and had everyone go out to do the send off. I figured I was finished for the night...Started to tear down at 10:31. I have the maid of honor running over to me after they did the sparkler send off (It was a mock send off) to say "Hey, the bride really wants you to play for another hour! Can yo go over time). I decided to say sure, and hooked my XLR cables back into my cables. The videographer was leaving, and he laughed and said "It looked like you didn't know what to say to her! ...Have a good night!"
So while I was playing, the bride's parents came up to me and handed me $150 cash. $30 less than my rate, but not a big deal. I can invoice the bride for the $30 if needed... The bride and the remaining guests proceeded to dance, and most of them were drunk at this point. At 11:30, the groom's father comes up to me and hands me $100 bill, and just says "Keep playing and end when you feel like it!..." ....OKAY....
So anyway, I played until 12:08 a.m. I played The Last Dance at 12:03. I thought to myself that over 7 hours is long enough for a wedding! So I ended, and 2 minutes later, I have the MOH comes up to me again and says "The bride wants to know if you will go one more hour? ...I declined. I said "No...It's been a real long day for me, and I live up in Baltimore (73 miles away). She understood. ...Plus this group was REALLY DRUNK. The bride was pretty much lifting her dress and flashing her ass at her friends at this point LOL. The bride's father (real father) - her step dad, and mother paid me the $150 - He was so drunk and yelling on the porch to the house that he started to lose his voice! Also, another dude passed out on the steps to the house! LOL.
Anyway, I thought to myself...that is the FIRST TIME EVER I have declined to keep playing for Over Time Money. It was just too long of a day at that point. I had left home at 1:40 p.m. and I didn't get home until 2:40 a.m.
Also, it's a good thing I did decline. The lights all went out to the tent at 12:40 a.m.. The generator ran out of fuel! I had already torn everything down, just had one more trip to cart my equipment out and to my vehicle. It was a long day, and while I was driving home I thought about my upcoming schedule, and realized I think I have enough events on my plate for the for 2022 in addition to working full time. I am looking forward to November 19th/20th when I actually have a FULL 2 DAYS OFF IN A ROW. I got two more months to go!
Just thought I'd share. I will make a video and post it in the gig log section eventually of this wedding. Next year, I have no intentions of booking every weekend up in the fall. I think I will only book 3, MAYBE 4 Saturdays in a row, then block out 1-2 Saturdays in a row next year so I don't book up all my time!
I went 1 hour 37 minutes over time last night. It was a wedding on a private property (BEAUTIFUL PROPERTY - PROBABLY ABOUT 9 or 10 acres of land). Ceremony was down a hill about 450+ feet from where the reception tent was.
I started at playing prelude music at 5:00 p.m. Ceremony actually started a few minutes early at like 5:26 (5:30 ceremony). They did music for cocktail hour in a large area, and I used just my Bose S1 Pro. Bride asked me to turn the music way up for this, so I had my S1 Pro almost blasting for cocktail hour music which is not normal, but it was okay.
The wedding reception had a lot of dancing. Apparently, the bride and groom and their friends were are in a "Dance Club" since high school, so they loved to dance. Iwas supposed to end at 10:30 p.m. Caterers were already tearing down, and the wedding planners (There were THREE OF THEM) all told me they were finishing up, and asked me to announce that there is an "After Party" going on where they have some games in the house.
Now I did tell the bride as I do all my clients to just let me know if you want me to go over time at least 15 minutes before the end of the reception. Well, The planner had me announce the sparkler send off at 10:25 right before I was about to play the last dance. So I did that, and had everyone go out to do the send off. I figured I was finished for the night...Started to tear down at 10:31. I have the maid of honor running over to me after they did the sparkler send off (It was a mock send off) to say "Hey, the bride really wants you to play for another hour! Can yo go over time). I decided to say sure, and hooked my XLR cables back into my cables. The videographer was leaving, and he laughed and said "It looked like you didn't know what to say to her! ...Have a good night!"
So while I was playing, the bride's parents came up to me and handed me $150 cash. $30 less than my rate, but not a big deal. I can invoice the bride for the $30 if needed... The bride and the remaining guests proceeded to dance, and most of them were drunk at this point. At 11:30, the groom's father comes up to me and hands me $100 bill, and just says "Keep playing and end when you feel like it!..." ....OKAY....
So anyway, I played until 12:08 a.m. I played The Last Dance at 12:03. I thought to myself that over 7 hours is long enough for a wedding! So I ended, and 2 minutes later, I have the MOH comes up to me again and says "The bride wants to know if you will go one more hour? ...I declined. I said "No...It's been a real long day for me, and I live up in Baltimore (73 miles away). She understood. ...Plus this group was REALLY DRUNK. The bride was pretty much lifting her dress and flashing her ass at her friends at this point LOL. The bride's father (real father) - her step dad, and mother paid me the $150 - He was so drunk and yelling on the porch to the house that he started to lose his voice! Also, another dude passed out on the steps to the house! LOL.
Anyway, I thought to myself...that is the FIRST TIME EVER I have declined to keep playing for Over Time Money. It was just too long of a day at that point. I had left home at 1:40 p.m. and I didn't get home until 2:40 a.m.
Also, it's a good thing I did decline. The lights all went out to the tent at 12:40 a.m.. The generator ran out of fuel! I had already torn everything down, just had one more trip to cart my equipment out and to my vehicle. It was a long day, and while I was driving home I thought about my upcoming schedule, and realized I think I have enough events on my plate for the for 2022 in addition to working full time. I am looking forward to November 19th/20th when I actually have a FULL 2 DAYS OFF IN A ROW. I got two more months to go!
Just thought I'd share. I will make a video and post it in the gig log section eventually of this wedding. Next year, I have no intentions of booking every weekend up in the fall. I think I will only book 3, MAYBE 4 Saturdays in a row, then block out 1-2 Saturdays in a row next year so I don't book up all my time!
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