Since the beginning of wedding celebrations, music and entertainment has played a major role in creating fun-filled, memorable moments. Bands were the musical entertainment until Mobile Disc Jockeys came on the scene in the early 1970's. But DJs delivered the same service as Bands…they just played music.
It became apparent that the term Disc Jockey, when referring to wedding entertainment, had become branded with descriptions like these excerpts from the NPR iPod story: “The guy in the powder blue tux… shouting out dumb jokes and whooping and hollering to the chorus of… 'Celebration'… boisterous… cheesy deejay…”
This overall negative branding in the public's perception caused us, striving to deliver the very best quality in service and performance for our wedding clients, to create a new identity. Because our services had expanded well beyond just playing music and/or making announcements as the Master of Ceremonies, we began to offer more to our clients.
Comprehensive Personalization includes helping you plan your ceremony and/or reception agenda, with a timeline of events, a list of participants who will be involved or may need to be introduced, and your musical preferences for: the background music, the songs for each special moment, and the requests to be played during open dancing.
THE COPPERTONES specialize in helping you to create your ceremony and/or reception agenda from the entertainment perspective. During your initial consultation and planning process, we will listen to your ideas while offering our experienced advice to ensure that your schedule of events will not only be uniquely yours, but it will also be thoroughly entertaining for your family and friends as well.
We will help you select the traditional events that fit your style and then organize them into a script that will keep your celebration moving along at a pace of your choosing. We will help you create the lineup order for your wedding party's grand entrance while making sure we can confidently pronounce any difficult names. We will offer you a variety of musical choices and seek your input on the 3 categories of musical selections:
Background, Special Moments, and Dancing Requests. We will provide you with a list of suggestions for background music, while remaining open to any of your own unique ideas. We will provide you with a list of suggestions for sound-tracking the various special moments during your reception (i.e. cake cutting, grand entrance, etc.), while inviting you to weigh in with your own creative selections. We will provide you with a list of suggestions for your dancing requests from a variety of genres and eras, while offering you the opportunity to add any of your favorite tunes to their list. We will give you the freedom to create a “do not play” list, so you won't be bothered by songs you severely dislike on your wedding day. When your reception comes to an end, the agenda, the flow, and the musical selections will all have been completely personalized to fit your unique style, taste, and personality.
Creative Involvement
Creative Involvement includes providing you with ideas that are designed to make your guests feel more involved throughout your celebration and may also include the development of ideas that have been custom crafted for your unique situation.
No one wants to feel left out at a wedding reception. When your guests are allowed, or better yet invited, to become active participants throughout your reception celebration, they will relax, they will make new friends, they will have more fun, they will be more inclined to dance when the time comes, and they will stay longer. THE COPPERTONES will be able to advise you about selecting the right amount of involvement for your group so that everyone has an enjoyable time without feeling over-involved as well."
Event Direction
Event Direction is the art and science of keeping your agenda on track while keeping your guests entertained. The science part includes double checking the important details behind the scenes (i.e. Making sure the cake knife is at the cake table.) and communicating with your reception team members (i.e the caterer, the photographer, the videographer, etc.) to make sure everything and everyone is ready before moving onto the next activity on your agenda. The art part includes “reading your crowd” to make sure they are not getting bored or restless while making sure they never see the science part taking place (i.e. Announcing for someone to go find the cake knife over the PA system.).
THE COPPERTONES consistently go out of their way to communicate in advance with your ceremony and/or reception team members, including: your ceremony officiate, your wedding coordinator, your caterer, your photographer, and your videographer. We have learned from experience that your team of vendors will work together better and your reception will flow more smoothly when everyone is working off of the same script. If your photographer wants to take a group photo with all of the guests, we will work with you and your photographer to place the group photo into your agenda where it will do the most good and the least harm.
THE COPPERTONES will always insist on becoming familiar with the setting provided by your chosen location for your ceremony and/or reception. We know how important room layout can be for the overall success of an entertaining reception. If 70% of the guests are seated around the corner from the head table, then the toasts will need to take place in a spot that is easily visible to all of your guests. Extra amplification may also be needed to make sure those toasts can be heard around that corner.
Some of these services may already be provided by your wedding coordinator, so there may be some overlap with the details that are managed by us. It should be stated, however, that THE COPPERTONES will still insist on double-checking the details that can directly impact the pacing and flow of your reception."
Talented Spokesperson
A Talented Spokesperson will utilize their proven skills at public speaking, along with any additional entertainment training and/or experience they may have, to communicate with your guests in a manner that captures their attention, keeps them properly informed, and encourages them to have an enjoyable time.
THE COPPERTONES have not only invested a lot of time into improving their abilities as public speakers, but they have also expanded their capabilities as entertainers. We have learned from experience that the confidence to speak well in front of a live audience comes from ongoing practice and rehearsal.
THE COPPERTONES also recognize that beyond just making announcements, everything they say verbally and non-verbally will reflect directly on you.
This fact alone compels them to get to know you on a personal level. Don't be surprised if we want to get to know everything we can about you, the history of your relationship, your likes and dislikes in both music and humor, what you do for a living, etc. By knowing you well, we will feel confident to not only speak well, but will also innately know the right thing to say in the right moment.
Music Programming
Music Programming is the art and science of playing just the right songs in just the right sequence to create a mood, a feeling, a memory, or even a dance floor filled with guests dancing at your reception. The science part includes the following: a wide knowledge of various music genres, confidently knowing the proper use of audio mixing equipment, understanding how the beats per minute in a given song can build or decrease energy, and staying informed about the best songs from different eras for dancing. The art part includes the following: being able to “read the crowd” and adjust the music accordingly, knowing when to lead the crowd into a different genre or a slow song, having the ability to create a mix of background music that gradually builds energy, and the creativity to build sets of music in a given genre. Suffice it to say, there is no way that an iPod could ever duplicate the art and science that is required to create good music programming. But it should also be pointed out that regardless of how easy or fun it looks, when you see someone doing a great job of music programming, it truly requires some uniquely honed skills and specialized talents to create the right mix of music for the right crowd.
We can also provide ceremony musicians, should you so desire.
THE COPPERTONES are highly skilled at mixing music, whether it's your background selections, the songs you've selected for your special moments, or formatting your dancing requests. The music lists we share with you will undoubtedly be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the full contents of our total music collections. We have practiced the art and science of music programming for years to achieve the skill levels we currently posses. But we are still learning and improving our skills, just as it has always been with great actors, singers and the like.
THE COPPERTONES have also developed skills, as needed, in the field of audio editing. We have found that sometimes a Father/Daughter Dance song that has been edited to last less than 3 minutes may be preferred by a bride when compared to the original version of the song that lasts over 5 minutes. Or perhaps the bride wants her Father/Daughter Dance song to incorporate a special, pre-recorded dedication to her dad. Being skilled at audio editing allows Wedding Entertainment Directors™ to be able to help brides and grooms create special moments like these that will be even more meaningful.
Finally, we have taken the time to develop our own ideas and methods related to “Dance Theory.” There are likely to be a wide variety of working “Dance Theory” models, as there are many different methods and options available for creating good dancing at a wedding reception. We will be able to confidently share with you the philosophy, methods, and ideas that have shaped our personal “Dance Theory” for creating lots of fun-filled dancing at receptions.
Appropriate Presentation
Appropriate Presentation includes making sure that we are dressed in a manner that is fitting for your celebration. If your reception's dress code will be very formal, then a tuxedo may be the best fit. If your reception's dress code is a casual Hawaiian theme, then khakis and a Hawaiian shirt might be better. But this should also include the presentation of the PA equipment, control booth, and/or stage area.
THE COPPERTONES always take great care to present themselves in a manner that is well-groomed, polished, and professional. We will communicate with you in advance about your reception's dress code to ensure that we do not appear out of place. And we are also very conscientious about ensuring that our PA equipment, control booth and/or stage area are kept neat, clean, and suitable for the setting you've worked so hard to create.
A word here about professionalism. We take that very seriously. We are hired help; just as you'd hire a caterer or florist. It is not our party, it is not a concert. We are not there to devour your buffet nor drain your bar. We are hired to entertain your guests and make your day memorable.
Quality Amplificationand Lighting
Quality Amplification includes providing any and all professional grade PA support equipment necessary to ensure that your guests will not miss a single important announcement or formal toast. This will also include being able to create enough volume for the dancing near the dance floor, while also being able to maintain levels that allow for comfortable conversation during the meal.
The other aspect of quality amplification is knowing what not to use. We do not show up with a truck full of equipment and expect to cram it all into your venue. We analyze each and every venue, and bring the equipment needed for that job; be it large or small.
THE COPPERTONES take great pride in delivering the best quality sound and lighting for our brides and grooms. We can provide PA support for your cocktail hour, even if it is set in a separate location from your ceremony and/or reception.
We will have a cordless microphone available for your formal toasts. We can handle additional sound support needs if the size of your group requires it. The bottom line is… THE COPPERTONES always bring the proper tools to make sure things are done right.
