Legacy Event Group has a unique outlook when it comes to wedding entertainment and what a complete entertainment experience looks like.
Let’s start by addressing reality, parties are very different from weddings. At a party, we mostly play music with only a few scheduled events like toasts or speeches. A wedding has so many moving parts and scheduled events that everything in the timeline affects something else. If we are behind schedule 15 minutes here, 10 minutes there, and another 5 minutes. somewhere else, we are all of a sudden 30 minutes behind schedule. That means food is not as fresh as it could be or the dancing is over 30 minutes earlier than expected. No matter how you look at it, being off schedule is bad and could change everything at a wedding.
All of this culminates into a unique philosophy when it comes to wedding entertainment. We believe that for someone to be truly entertained, they must be completely relaxed and enjoy the day without any distractions on timelines, events, or the logistics that go into a successful wedding timeline.
We believe in this philosophy so strongly that we have structured our company to support it and is why we provide two separate entertainment professionals for each wedding. A skilled DJ will be focused on your music lists, the sound equipment, and the art of mixing music for smooth transitions between songs. Our Emcee is the second person and they are responsible for the preparation, logistics, and execution of your scheduled events on the day of the wedding.
With so many vendors coming together for a single goal, it is hard sometimes to determine who is responsible for what and who is best suited to head up the events on the timeline. This answer will vary based on the vendors that are chosen and the services those vendors offer. With so much bleed over in responsibility we always keep one thing paramount. The success of the wedding is our highest priority. While we prefer to hold a major role in the entertainment timeline and preparation of events, two people in charge of the same scheduled task could jeopardize its success. We would never risk the success of the event if another vendor was given that responsibility by the client. The most common vendor working with us on the timeline is the event planner or venue captain. We work with event planners all the time and encourage our clients to use these vendors as they perform a service that we do not.
Our focus is specifically “day of entertainment coordination” of the event timeline from start time to end time. Our goal is to never have to burden the client with day of decisions and choices, so we take a lot of effort to collect every detail about the day and the timeline.
We have a full client portal with several planning, timeline, and music tools. We also meet with our clients several weeks before the wedding to go over details that they have planned and collect information on the decisions and details for each event on the timeline.
This highlights one of the many very important distinctions between what we do and a wedding planner does. We will make suggestions when appropriate, and we will collect every detail for the day, but we don’t provide help with mood boards, décor/design, vendor schedules, or any of the other countless things wedding planners do for clients.
Planning, decorating, and scheduling everything out is a major factor in the success of a wedding, but there are several things that planners can’t do that are equally as important. Songs must be played at the right time (DJ) and announcements must be made about the current event and any upcoming events (Emcee). That makes the play button and a microphone essential to the success of any event and those are the tools of our trade. Since we have to announce the events (Emcee) and play the music at the precise time needed (DJ), it only makes sense for the Emcee to coordinate the entertainment events the day of to make sure everything is right before we announce it and/or we can tailor our announcements and interaction to the immediate details of the event as they change from minute to minute. Let me give you a few examples.
During a wedding party introduction, the DJ will be preparing the music for the introduction, setting cue points, and ensuring the same song is played on a different media type simultaneously as a backup just in case. The DJ will also be doing the same thing for any consecutive events where a specific song and/or cue point is chosen. This leaves all the remaining responsibilities to the Emcee. We will speak to the photographer and videographer ahead of time and ask how they would prefer the wedding party enter, what path to the head table would they like them to take, where they would like them to pose or do something silly as they enter, and if they should remain standing or sit after they reach the head table.
Armed with our Reception Planning Form which tells us the order of the introduction, the Emcee will line everyone up in the correct order, make sure all names are pronounced correctly, and inform the wedding party where they will enter, where they will go after they will enter, and what will happen after the introduction. With radio communication between the DJ and the Emcee, the music doesn’t change until everyone is ready and all vendors are set. The Emcee will radio to the DJ to start the first song as the Emcee makes the announcement to the guests.
As the wedding party enters, there is perfect timing on the announcement of the names because the Emcee will remain out of sight and with the wedding party and newlyweds that are in line and awaiting to enter. If the photographer or videographer requests additional time between couples, there is a long walk to the dance floor, or there is a different song for each couple, the Emcee can remain hidden as the DJ will radio to the Emcee when it’s ok to announce and invite in the next wedding party members.
The Emcee will monitor the sound from a guests perspective and radio to the DJ for equipment adjustments to things like sound volume or microphone sensitivity. The Emcee will have already prepared the next event with the same care and attention to detail while the DJ prepares the next event songs and client music lists. When the time is right, and everyone is ready the Emcee will
move on to the next event with each event flowing smoothly from one to the other.
This is just one of the many services that can only be performed with a separately trained and uniquely focused DJ and Emcee team from Legacy Event Group. During events we rely on planners to set all of us up for success and they are very important when planning any large-scale event, but they are not set up like us and are not able to perform the entertainment events in the same way therefore wedding planning and “day of entertainment coordination” are not the same thing.
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