What happens when things don’t go as planned on a wedding day? My cohost and Fantasy Sound brand manager, August Yocher, takes over the mic to interview our incredible DJs—Norman Anub, Glen Riggs, and me, Kevin Dennis—as we share our wildest wedding day saves and tips for avoiding disaster.

Weddings rarely go off without a hitch, and that’s where an experienced DJ becomes your secret weapon. In this episode, my cohost and Fantasy Sound brand manager, August Yocher, steps in to interview Norman, Glen, and me about some of the most unexpected curveballs we’ve faced on the job and how we managed to save the day.

We cover everything from blown circuits caused by espresso bars to last-minute ceremony relocations due to extreme heat. Glen recounts a chaotic moment when the power went out mid-reception, while Norman shares how he saved a toppling wedding cake just in time.

August keeps the conversation lively, asking about our strategies for handling unplanned speeches, drunk guests, and even the occasional missing vendor. I share a story about stepping in as an officiant when one didn’t show up, proving that flexibility is key in the wedding business.

Throughout the discussion, we highlight how professionalism, teamwork, and a little humor can turn potential disasters into unforgettable moments for our couples.

Highlights

• Glen’s quick thinking during a venue-wide power outage caused by an espresso bar
• Norman’s nail-biting moment saving a toppling wedding cake
• Kevin stepping in as an officiant when the hired officiant didn’t show
• Unplanned speeches, drunk guests, and how DJs keep things under control
• The infamous pot roast walk and how it became a touching wedding memory

Have a wedding question you’d like us to tackle? Email us at podcasts@fantasysound.com! Whether you’re planning your big day or helping a loved one, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share the show with fellow couples and wedding enthusiasts.

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Kevin Dennis (0:1.028)

We're live. We did it. Welcome to another episode. And now that I'm engaged, how do I get married? And we're back with the three Stooges in August. So here we go for another episode.

Glen Riggs (0:9.012)

Hahaha

Norman Anub (0:9.576)

hahahahah

August Yocher (0:9.612)

Yeah

Kevin Dennis (0:13.228)

a good way to describe us, but we're here to talk about wedding day curveballs and how a great DJ saves the day. So August, I will let you take it from there.

August Yocher (0:23.412)

Alright, if you guys tune into our last episode with the three stooges plus me I kind of took on the role as the host a little bit more so we'll do a similar format today so I'll just be interviewing our three fantasy sound DJs and today we'll be tackling the subject of wedding day curveballs and how a great DJ can save your wedding day so

Glen Riggs (0:50.011)

Wait, curveball, is that hockey?

Kevin Dennis (0:51.564)

I was gonna I was before we start. Yeah. Wait, Glenn do you even know how to throw a curveball or do you know what a curveball? Okay

Norman Anub (0:52.523)

Oh, we're talking sports!

August Yocher (0:53.206)

Oh, it's... Yeah, it's a sports term.

Glen Riggs (1:0.143)

I barely know how to throw a ball, so...

All I can think of is Cinderella's ball. Like I would love to go to Cinderella's ball.

Kevin Dennis (1:8.310)

Okay, all right. That would be a good ball.

Norman Anub (1:8.623)

Yeah.

August Yocher (1:9.318)

Yeah. Well, it's probably a good thing you don't know about curveballs because then that means we're avoiding them. So. All right. OK, so before we dive deeper into some of the more elaborate situations you guys may have experienced at past weddings, I just want to first discuss some of the more common curveballs that you guys get on the day to day and why having a great DJ

Kevin Dennis (1:16.739)

That's right.

August Yocher (1:38.870)

such as yourselves is so important for that. So if you guys just kind of want to go in a circle, what common issues do you guys have a lot that you feel the need to step in and assist?

Kevin Dennis (1:50.810)

I would say, oh, okay, there you go. Yes.

Glen Riggs (1:50.897)

People making big messes. Oh my gosh. We work so hard to make sure that like our setup is organized and clean. Like our bags are hidden. We take down cords. Like we do, we go to great lengths to make sure that everything looks nice and is presentable. And then we will get a partner that comes in. like a photographer or a videographer.

And they just start throwing their bags all over the place, like a 15 year old's bedroom. And that drives me bonkers. So I will help them to get organized and, um, you know, I don't touch their equipment, right? I try to keep my hands off of other people's equipment. Uh, it's just better that way. Uh, but yeah.

Kevin Dennis (2:21.412)

Yeah.

August Yocher (2:21.709)

Hmm.

August Yocher (2:32.248)

Mm-hmm.

Norman Anub (2:34.851)

Yeah, don't mention any names. No names.

Glen Riggs (2:38.681)

Yeah, yeah, but I will say, hey, there's space over there, or you can put it in the back of the room, or there's another room where you can put those bags.

Kevin Dennis (2:48.058)

Well, I had one time a photographer actually lock his camera bags to my speaker stand. And I was like, I walked in and I was like, it was like a bicycle lock around my speaker stand. I'm like, that looks really attractive.

Norman Anub (2:56.439)

Wow.

August Yocher (3:3.182)

All right.

Norman Anub (3:5.641)

Yeah, I think it's more of the other vendors touching our equipment, like videographers who need to record audio and they don't ask and they just go ahead and unplug something and plug in their stuff. Makes you know you hear this loud pop and then there's panic and anger sets in. And of course we have Keep Our Cool. That's probably one of the main things. What else?

Glen Riggs (3:12.057)

Oh.

August Yocher (3:21.710)

Mm.

Kevin Dennis (3:27.458)

Yeah.

Glen Riggs (3:35.279)

Yeah, you wouldn't go walking around the gym touching other people's equipment. I mean, don't go walking around touching my stuff, my junk.

Norman Anub (3:35.311)

up.

Kevin Dennis (3:39.479)

No.

Norman Anub (3:39.875)

No.

Kevin Dennis (3:44.728)

Yeah, that's a good good point. I would say, you know something else that happens is you'll work you'll be at a wedding and all of a sudden like one of the bridesmaids or a family member all of a sudden thinks they're in charge of the wedding and you have not dealt with this person one time you've never been introduced to this person and all of a sudden this person is barking orders at you and they're totally different from what the orders you've been given.

And that is something that is always like, oh, we got to nip that in the bud as fast as we can.

Norman Anub (4:19.257)

Yeah.

August Yocher (4:20.532)

Okay, perfect. So, oh, go ahead, Glenn.

Glen Riggs (4:20.739)

And I was going to say, so like I have a little bag. It is not a purse, but I have a little bag that I carry with me and it's got like mints. I've got some safety pins in there. I keep tape in there, like double sided tape. So I just. Yeah, right, that tied pen, like those things, and it's just got all those kinds of things in it, because like sometimes a groom will come up and be like, dude, man, I ate all of that.

Kevin Dennis (4:37.114)

Tide stick.

Glen Riggs (4:49.839)

that salmon and it is just repeating on me, I'll be like, would you like a mint? So I mean, there's little things like that, you know, lot of the venues where we work, the coordinators are like on it and they have that already, but sometimes it's nice for you to be able to have a little something, right? To help them get through bustling or whatever might be going on.

Kevin Dennis (4:54.294)

Duh.

Norman Anub (5:10.775)

Yeah, that's beautiful. Especially like right before the ceremony is about to start, you got the wedding party already lined up and then you come up with your can of Altoids and you offer that. That's such an awesome thing. Yeah. And of course, know, most likely they've probably been drinking a few and especially the groom and the first thing, you know, the bride doesn't want to taste when they do their kiss is alcohol.

August Yocher (5:25.134)

It's a nice touch.

Glen Riggs (5:31.342)

No.

August Yocher (5:40.128)

Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (5:40.686)

Yeah.

Norman Anub (5:40.939)

So yeah, so I always carry a little tub of Altoids.

August Yocher (5:47.372)

Yeah, and I would say honestly, everything that you guys brought up, I pretty much experienced on the daily when I was coordinating. So of course, it's great to have an experienced and good DJ because not only are they organized when it comes to equipment, they can kind of redirect the rest of your creative partner team in a nice and professional way. mean, Fantasy Sound DJs, like you said, Glenn, we have backup equipment and also

Kevin Dennis (5:47.482)

You never go wrong.

August Yocher (6:15.052)

little emergency kits too if you know someone needs a little mint or something and I really liked your groomsman voice that was that was that was good.

Glen Riggs (6:24.389)

Thank you.

Norman Anub (6:24.719)

I've actually added a little anti-choking device. I think it's called LifeVac. although I've never experienced anybody choking at a wedding, I'd hate for that to happen and just feel so helpless. And of course, something like that, something traumatic like that would probably ruin the whole vibe of the night. So yeah, so I actually have one in my little emergency kit, just in case.

August Yocher (6:32.461)

Oh wow!

Kevin Dennis (6:32.522)

Oh!

Kevin Dennis (6:46.435)

Well, yeah, would.

Glen Riggs (6:52.569)

Is it made by Dewalt? Does Dewalt make it? It's like a vacuum cleaner.

Norman Anub (6:55.527)

Uh, it's, it's no, it's, it's, it's called life back and it's a little plastic thing that I guess you put over your face and then you, you sort of like punch it in the air. Kind of like sucks, sucks it out. Uh, yeah, yeah. So I bring that along. mean, just, just, I mean, there's always kids, there's kids there, um, you know, the older people and, uh, just, just in case. So.

Kevin Dennis (7:8.378)

Mmm.

August Yocher (7:13.389)

Wow.

August Yocher (7:20.302)

Well that would already make me feel 100 % safer.

Kevin Dennis (7:20.686)

Are you making fun of older people?

Norman Anub (7:24.882)

It's actually for me. I eat really fast. Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (7:26.458)

Yeah, I was gonna say now that I'm old.

August Yocher (7:28.568)

Can't help it.

Okay, perfect. Well, thank you guys for sharing that. Now I kind of want to get into some more specific instances and see if you guys have any stories from your past to share. So first off.

Kevin Dennis (7:39.662)

Yes.

Kevin Dennis (7:43.333)

Can I, can before we, I'm gonna say before we continue, can you tell us about your story when you were a coordinator and the DJ didn't even show up?

August Yocher (7:52.844)

Oh yeah, okay, so for our listeners, Kevin and I were prepping for this episode and I was kind of going through the questions that I would be asking you guys today and one of them had to do with, was there ever an instance where another vendor or creative partner didn't show up to the wedding and you had to step in and kind of take over the services that they were supposed to provide and...

Norman Anub (7:55.266)

Okay.

August Yocher (8:20.339)

I was a coordinator at a venue and or this might have been when I was a banquet captain but I was working hand-in-hand with the coordinator that day at the venue. But we kept inching closer to the ceremony, two hours, one hour, 30 minutes and they could not get a hold of the DJ for the life of them, calling, emailing, texting, calling colleagues, trying to get in contact with them.

would not answer. And mind you, I always like to add this part into the story. Only the groom knew about this. So somehow we were able to conceal the entire thing from the bride. She did not know until way later. But what we had to do is at the venue, we had speakers that would play house music outside. So we quickly created a Spotify playlist.

just on an iPad and we can exit it to the house speakers and the coordinator, she's dismissing people and then I'm staying in the back like fading in, fading out the music on the Spotify playlist as the bridesmaids walked out, the groomsmen walked out, the parents walked out and let me tell you, top 10 most stressful moments of my life. I did not want to mess it up so bad, but I mean, that's what you get when you have an amazing vendor team though. You can step in and save the day and

Thank goodness they were eventually able to get a hold of a different DJ. Like one of the photographers knew someone who was able to come in in a pinch and they ended up DJing for them the rest of the evening. And I think at that point, that's when they kind of looped the bride in, but at least for the ceremony, she was completely unaware and just had an amazing time. But yeah, that was just a wild moment for sure.

But now August has an appreciation for what we do at a ceremony. Yes.

thousand percent.

I mean, I feel that way for every ceremony, right? Because I don't get a chance to do a do-over, right? This is the only time that I get to do this. So if I screw it up, I mean, that's probably the ceremony and introductions. Like those are the two most stressful moments for me during a wedding.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Nope.

Right.

It's it

Yeah.

Well, and it's nothing more frustrating when someone walks out of order and you're like trying to figure it out. Wait, I was supposed to fade out on the flower girl. Now the flower girl is going out, but there's still more people or I was supposed to change on a parent and that where's the parent, you know, we're going without parents. It's like, and no one told me those are always very stressful. So I always like try to seamlessly blend the music and you know, move on to the next song. Cause you know,

For every ceremony playlist I do, I throw in one extra song. So it's like, usually I do the one from Hercules, the instrumental version, Go the Distance, right? I throw that one into every playlist because it's just kind of generic. So if I need to fill in, I have that song there to just like pull up and be like, go.

Norman Anub (11:0.142)

Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (11:3.598)

Yeah, you just never know.

Yeah.

Yeah!

Right.

I like that.

Mine is a thousand years. I believe it's like a piano version of thousand years. So it just keeps going. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

That's a beautiful, yeah, I know it is, yeah, because it's long too. Yeah, perfect. Anyway, all right, sorry to throw a curve ball in. Yeah, yes ma'am. I'll back off, I'll...

Yeah.

That's okay, I'm the host today, Kevin, remember? No, I'm just kidding. Okay, no, but I definitely wanted to tell that story. was wild and like Kevin said, gave me a true appreciation for what you guys do. But yeah, again, having a great vendor team is just so vital. But next question for you guys. Has there ever been, or can you tell us about a time when weather threw a wrench into the day's

Yeah.

August Yocher (12:7.182)

plans? Did you have to play a certain role in adapting to that? And I'll let you guys marinate for a minute.

Oh, I have a good one. Well, it just happened over the summer. We, uh, we're doing a ceremony outside. It's a million degrees. Everyone tried to convince the bride to move it inside and, um, you know, and she was adamant, Nope, it's outside. And then, uh, the bride goes out and she does her photos, uh, before, and all of a sudden she's dehydrated and in the, in the, uh, clubhouse vomiting and the mom passed out from heat exhaustion.

Hmm.

OK, go ahead.

And, uh, all of a sudden the coordinator goes, we have to move everything inside. And, uh, ginger from the flower house was our florist and you know, I went up to her and she was like taking photos of how beautiful everything looked outside. And I said, Hey girl, just got word. We're moving inside. And she thought I was joking because I joke with ginger a lot. And I go, no, I'm not joking this time. And we literally moved everything in within 10 minutes between the venue.

Ginger's folks, my Pete, or just me, we all chipped in and moved everything inside in a pinch. And then we ended up not doing the ceremony for about another three hours because the bride, we ended up having to call 911 for the mom and the bride. But it was most, that was the most craziest extreme thing I've ever dealt with, with weather.

Ooh, crazy.

But it still kind of gives you a sense of teamwork, right? That bride, so unfortunate that that had to happen, but her team really came together and got everything done in a short amount of time. So if they could do it in those 10 minutes, that would have been really awesome.

Well, the other thing, too, that I thought was kind of the officiant left because he got tired of waiting. And instead of having like we all had compassion for the bride and what she I mean, it's this is her wedding day and her, you know, like now her memory is of getting sick and having firemen having to come revive her and her mom and all that stuff. But anyway, it was just like. They were and all all the women I'm I'm. I was not I was not.

Wow.

Wow.

August Yocher (14:1.346)

Yeah.

Were the firemen hot?

Yeah, that's really important here.

Okay, good. Yeah, ba-dum-bop. You're such a nerd.

Everyone was hot. Remember it was super, super hot.

I'm not one to judge. I was not one to judge, but all the female wedding planners were like losing their mind. They thought it was the greatest thing ever. Yeah. But anyway, you know, and it just, and I was like to myself, like this officiant, you know, he's like, well, I have dinner plans. It's like, you know, you can break. Yeah. It's like, you can break your dinner plans because in

Ooh, I'm gonna have to pass out at a wedding.

I'm

She had wedding plans, bro.

This is the biggest day of their life.

And it's Well, right. And after the guy left, the wedding coordinator looked at me. She goes, I use him exclusively for all my weddings. I will never hire him again. I have never seen this side of him. And I can't believe he had zero compassion and he wanted to charge more to stay. And when the when yeah, when she couldn't get approval for, you know, more money to stay, it's like, come on, have a little.

Wow.

You know, like think about the review they would write, you know, for you saving the day. Right? Yeah, it's just it's you know, we're humans and have a little compassion for humans. So.

It's just tacky, like...

Yeah. Well, I guess I've been pretty lucky because I've never really had like weather really affect anything. There was one, I was doing a Greek wedding. I kind of noticed because I was alone in the room. Not at the moment because everyone was still inside the church and it was at a church hall. And I kind of noticed after the cake maker set up the cake,

Was it a big fat Greek wedding?

No, it was a skinny one.

It was little off. So the top tier was a little off centered. Like it was shifting and you know, I saw that and I kept an eye on it for a while. So I as a good vendor, I always have like everyone's emergency contact number. I have the cake maker. have whatever caterers. Yeah. Photo booth, anybody, everybody. Luckily I had the cake maker's phone number. I called him up and I told him about the situation, but they never answered.

So I never answered, left the message, waited another 10 minutes by this time, everyone's already filtering in. And so I decided to call them again. At the time I was standing right next to the cake table. Thing moved another inch maybe, another inch towards, yeah. I mean it was right on the edge. so I called them again and then she finally answered and she goes, oh, all you have to do is just kind of push it, push it over a little.

Hmm.

I another 10 minutes by this time and everyone was already filtering in. And so I decided to call them again. was standing right there.

Oh wow.

I was a little uncomfortable because I didn't want to mess this up, you know? I didn't want to mess it up. And she goes, okay, give the phone to the caterer. So the caterer was standing right there, gave the phone to the caterer. She was trying to get instructions. I happened to looking at the cake and I see the ready to collapse. It was like in slow motion. I just pulled my hand out and I saved the cake. I saved it and yeah, I couldn't believe it.

Yeah!

Glen Riggs (17:0.209)

Get the phone to the computer.

Kevin Dennis (17:0.282)

you

Oh

The cater was on the phone and her eyes lit up and like, oh my God, what just happened? The bride didn't know about it until after, but the brides maid of honor saw what happened and she told her later. And I didn't get a tip from it, but that's okay.

We love that.

Yeah Yeah, and were you not and were you wearing your superman cape when you did it too?

No, no, my fire my fireman outfit

Right? Faster than us. Yeah, yeah. so I, Kevin, to your point, I actually got my officiant's license so that in the event that someone doesn't show or has issues that I could step in and, you know, get the couple married. I why not?

Yeah, there you go.

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (18:2.082)

I'm also good because I have mine because I married my sister and my brother-in-law and I and they got ended up getting married. Well, yeah, you can marry. Yeah, why not?

Glen Riggs (18:7.705)

Is that legal in California?

I

did mine in like 30 seconds online, I'm all just for funsies I'm also able to do that.

What?

Right?

But with that said, when you sign the marriage certificate, there's no like license number or anything to go with it. So my philosophy, they don't care as long as it's filled out right. They have no idea. And there's witnesses and all the signatures is in the right color ink. I don't think the state of California cares. So if you're listening outside of the state of California, they do care because my sister and brother-in-law got married in Nevada and I had to get a notary for my church.

No.

that said I was authorized to perform services outside of my church in the state of Nevada. And basically it's a racket because then I had to call the little online place that I got it she goes, oh, are you getting married in Nevada? Are they getting married in Nevada? I'm like, yeah. She goes, okay. And when do you need it by? I'm like in three days. And she goes, okay, it'll cost you a 289 and I'll have it FedExed and we'll have it notarized and everything signed over to the venue and it'll be there in time. And I'm like,

She knew exactly what the process was. I'm like, there's some kind of racket where Nevada's getting a kickback from these churches, these online churches. And it also is like, California's so strict with everything. And we're in Nevada, you have gambling and prostitution and you name it in Nevada. I'm like, of course, they would be the one that's strict with marriage.

Yeah.

Well think in California too, you don't have to get your will notarized, I don't think either. I just don't think. Yeah. That's why I said think, I think.

We're not lawyers. We're not lawyers. Yeah.

That's right. We don't want to check.

Yeah

But okay, all right, next question guys. All right, so have you ever had to manage a situation where a guest's behavior was disruptive to the wedding?

Glen Riggs (20:7.040)

Oh, I had a good one. The only, the only time I have ever stopped someone during their speech. The only time. And I always tell people, like I tell my couples when I meet with them, all right, two things that you're gonna tell everybody who's giving a speech. The first thing is make sure their speech is on paper, not on their phone, because their phone's overheat. Like I one moment stick it in her.

I like lingo.

Ooh.

Mmm.

What do call that? The breastesses up here, like the phone overheated. And she, the breastesses, yeah. And it overheated, so like she didn't even have her vowels on her phone. But I tell them always make sure that the vowels are printed out or the speeches are printed out. And number two, tell them they only have two minutes. I'm not going to cut them off after two minutes, but at least it makes people think about it. They're like, oh gosh, I have to make sure this is meaningful in a short amount of time.

Yeah

There we go.

The scientific term.

Bye, you perv.

Kevin Dennis (21:5.124)

concise.

Glen Riggs (21:6.393)

Right? So I was doing this wedding and the groom's brother had way too much to drink and was just rambling on and on and on and on. And he kept telling the same story. He he was Filipino, ironically, Norm. So I love it. But he was talking about like how they grew up in the Philippines and

Oh.

Yeah.

He had to carry his brother to the hospital with no shoes and he just kept telling that story. Well then he gets the brother in a headlock and is like, I just love this guy. I just love him. then, yeah, the brother had the groom in a headlock. And so I walked up there and I think that we were, that was when we were doing video, Kevin. So Brandon was there. And so we caught it on video of me going up and like pulling them apart and go, all right, have a seat. Thanks so much.

Get the groom in the headlock.

Oh, how funny.

Glen Riggs (22:3.493)

Great, give him big round of applause. Sit the F down.

August Yocher (22:5.144)

Yeah

Kevin Dennis (22:7.140)

Yeah.

Oh man, that's crazy.

I've had, I mean, I've had drunk where you have to break up people from getting, you know, like they started getting mouthy or, know, you, you just have to step in and, ah, it's we're at a wedding, calm down, you know, that kind of stuff. But yeah.

Yeah, I remember doing weddings in the the 90s where they were full on riots. We used to break out full on riots. Yeah, chairs fly in everything and but yeah, they're not it's a not a strict back then. So yeah.

Oh, I know. Yeah.

Oh my.

It's a-

Well, they allowed shots back then. that's, think the big difference is a lot of venues and hotels now don't allow shots at weddings. And I think that makes a big difference.

Well, I don't think it's necessary, you know, because there's already open bar for so many hours. Like, you don't need shots at that point.

It does.

Mm-hmm.

No.

Glen Riggs (23:0.463)

And I even tell my couples, I say it's to your benefit, right? If someone comes over with a shot of Jaeger, you gotta do it. If someone comes over to you with a drink, you can set it down, right? You don't have to finish it. So I always tell them it's not having shots is a benefit for you.

Kevin Dennis (23:9.869)

Yeah.

That's fair.

Yeah, it's always around alcohol. It's always alcohol. Yeah, everything is always about alcohol. And then the weddings that end later, like after like 11, and it's usually that. Yeah, right.

It really does.

Mmm.

Nothing good happens after Eleven.

That's what you know, it's funny. tell that's I said that forever now. It's like nothing good happens after 11 o'clock. So.

That's so funny you say that because you know Hot to Go, Chapel Rhone. She has a song called Everything Good Happens After Midnight. And you guys are saying the opposite. Yeah, I don't think I've ever, I think anything like disruptive that happened in my past was always alcohol related or like medical emergencies would sometimes happen or the biggest one that I hated the most and this

Not anyway.

Not at a wedding. Mm-mm. Mm-mm.

No.

August Yocher (24:6.446)

I did have one wedding in particular that was, this was kind of tough, but when it becomes an open mic situation and you have to put that to a halt, that's a little rough. I had this wedding where the groom, even though we've never discussed this and it probably was because he wasn't part of the planning meetings. I had only communicated with the bride from this point, but he just grabbed the mic after the toast from the DJ and said, oh, who else?

you know, wants to come up here and then a line formulated. And I'm like, OK, so I had to stop them at one point. And I went to the couple and I just said, OK, we have this much time left. If you want to do open mic, we can. But you're going to miss this and this and this. And we kind of had to come to a compromise where they did a couple more speeches because the groom didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings. But, you know, I think that DJ in the moment, like, again, no names love him, but he should have stopped it.

Ahem.

August Yocher (25:2.966)

and not let it continue because they lost a lot of open dancing time.

Kevin Dennis (25:7.552)

It that's what where I think couples, the more they pile on, you know, like slideshows and all these different things, you're losing the party part of the of the wedding. So whether it's, you know, like like you said, open mic, nothing good ever. I've never seen anything good happen from an open mic, because if one auntie gets up and says something, then every auntie has to get up and say something because they don't want to be the one auntie that didn't say something. Uncles, cousins, you name it, you know.

That's exactly it.

And they're telling, to Glenn's point earlier, it's the same story over and over and over again. And it's like, you know, pick the few people that you want to have speak and represent you at your wedding. And then if you want to allow open mic, do it at the rehearsal dinner. And then because there's no dancing, there's no other things to do at the rehearsal dinner. So.

Mm-hmm.

Norman Anub (26:1.357)

Yeah, time is so precious and it goes by so fast, especially at a reception. just, next thing you know, it's over.

Kevin Dennis (26:3.359)

It really is.

August Yocher (26:7.598)

And you're paying for that time. You're paying to listen to people you don't want to hear talking.

Yes.

Well, and the other thing about, again, here we are back to people touching my equipment, everybody touching my stuff. You wouldn't go to the grocery store and push the cashier out of the way to get to the register and be like, oh no, I know how this works. You wouldn't do that. So stay away from my stuff.

Yeah.

Mm-mm.

Yeah, you would if you're a robber though. If you were robbing the place you would do that.

Yeah, and I kind of have like...

Oh, that's not good.

Yeah. Norm, those people that didn't tip you, you had to go rob a bank or a grocery store.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He kinda looks like a robber right now with his shirt on.

Oh my goodness. I think I like it.

This? Do they? You want to the Hamburglar? The Hamburglar.

The stripes? They always wear stripes! Yeah, like a robber costume? They're wearing black and white stripes. Um... Yeah.

So.

Or just a new black. Rubble, rubble.

August Yocher (27:1.358)

But I had a story kind of opposite of Glenn's, which this maid of honor I had once. She was absolutely obliterated, right? Like so drunk, she could barely walk, barely talk, and it was getting close to her speech. I would always go up and prep them like, hey, like five, 10 minutes, be ready, make sure you have your champagne, your speech ready to go, yada, yada.

So I went up to her to prep her and I was so nervous. She just was... She was not doing well. And it was crazy that we get to the speech, she gets up there and she does it like perfectly. You would not even be able to tell that she was drunk and I was just in shock because you could not tell. She just delivered it perfectly. It was the most perfect speech, so short, so sweet, but...

She was amazing up there and I was just like, damn, how many times did she practice this where she could deliver it perfectly even in her state? I just thought it was the most amazing thing. Not recommending that, of course, but I was just in shock.

Norman Anub (28:7.023)

I had one maid of honor who was so nervous to speak up there on the microphone. She actually recorded her speech on the phone and put the microphone up to the phone and played it. And it was pretty darn clear. I was really surprised. But it was weird to just see her standing there and just everybody just staring at her. yeah, she just moved her lips.

Kevin Dennis (28:7.194)

Yeah, I guess.

To the phone.

She could have lip-synced it.

She could have emailed it to you. Yeah, exactly. And you could have played it and then therefore, yeah.

Like a drag queen.

Yeah.

And to that, know, Kevin, I've done that several times, like, especially during the pandemic, that there were family members that were unable to come to the weddings and they were kind of bummed, like, oh, my grandmother won't be able to make it. And so, like, I worked with and there were some of my favorite surprises is that I worked with, you know, maid of honor or best man or brother or sister to

Mm-hmm.

Glen Riggs (29:5.329)

get them to record a voice memo on their phone and then send it to me and then be able to deliver that to the bride and groom as a surprise. I loved those types of surprises.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, so touching. It's so touching. Yeah.

Surprises can go good or bad.

Mm-hmm. There was my pot roast wedding.

That's true. That's true.

No, don't remember that one.

Pot roast wedding.

hot rose.

Pot roast wedding. Pot roast wedding.

Yeah, to elaborate on that?

Hahaha

No, it'll be different episode.

Okay, okay, no, no, you are teasing, you're making us wait.

Okay.

you

That's right.

So I met with the family. So the family came in. It wasn't just one or two people. And this was when we were meeting in person. Now everybody wants to zoom. But we were meeting in person and the dad asked the mom and the daughter to leave. And he wanted to talk to me. So he said, hey, look, ever since my daughter was a little girl, she's always said that she didn't want flowers at her wedding. She wanted a pot roast because she came home from school one day and she was like, wow,

That smells delicious. And a mom says, oh, it's pot roast. So she goes, at my wedding, instead of flowers, I want pot roast. So he wanted to swap out her flowers for a pot roast when he walked her down the aisle.

Like a bouquet of a pot roast, just like...

No, like a pot with a roast in it. Like there was literally swapping out. So as she was coming to him to walk down the aisle, his plan was to have this pot roast. And so I was talking to the coordinator beforehand. And I said, what are we doing about this whole pot roast thing? she said that she, nobody knew. So she was able to talk to the wife.

Oh my god.

and get the juice all over her white dress.

Glen Riggs (31:0.773)

And they convinced him to just have the pot with nothing in it. So it was the mom's pot roast pot. So it was covered up with a tablecloth. So as the bride walked down the aisle, and I was cringing the whole time. So I had prepared a song that the dad chose for them to walk down the aisle for their pot roast walk. And then I did it in reverse for them to walk back up the aisle, swap it out for flowers, and do it.

August Yocher (31:6.861)

Hmm.

Hot roast.

But when I was so nervous when they pulled the tablecloth off of the pot roast pot, because I thought we just ruined this young woman's magical day. And they pulled the tablecloth off of the pot roast pot and she started crying. She was, yeah, she was so, so touched. And it was like a magical, beautiful moment. And then I played the song in reverse when they,

Yeah.

Oh, no way.

walk back down the aisle and like swapped out the pot roast for flowers. not really like a save the day moment, but it was one of those moments, Kevin, to your point where I was like, oh, I have no idea how this surprise is gonna go.

Well, because you never know how the bride like you got the the bright you got the reaction that was a surprise was meant for. But when you get the reaction when it's anger, you know, are there mad, you know, that that's a whole different thing, you know, but you're what the reaction you got was perfect. You know what I'm saying? Like August August is over here crying in her office right now. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, I was prepared for the other one.

No, it's just like a very, like it feels good to be seen, right? And I think that's what that was, was, you know, this was probably something they joked about their whole lives. Like, oh, she said this as a kid and it's so funny. And just to see that played out on your wedding day and that your family cared enough to, you know, have a little surprise for you, that I'm sure that just meant a lot to her.

Yeah.

And that is like super memorable too. mean, guests will always remember something like that, something different, something they've never seen before. And yeah, yeah.

Yeah, but I. Yeah. Exactly.

And

Glen Riggs (33:4.773)

Right? I did have like, we gave her two endings, right? So there was the pot roast one, but had arranged for it to be backed up in a fun way, right? Let's back this up and then swap it out. And then you go with, uh-huh, I literally played the song backwards. And then she got to walk to her song forwards with the flowers, but very memorable.

Yeah.

It's like, rrrr

Yeah.

Yeah, that's great. No, and then, but then with that said, when people are throwing you curveballs to do these surprises and, I'm always like, we got to include, you know, got, someone's got to know what's going on, you know, because it's, it's, you'll get an answer. I want to do a surprise toast for my niece, you know, or it's like, Nope, you're not on my list. I can't let you speak. You know, it just.

Sometimes you gotta put the brakes on and not let these people do it, because you don't know what the reaction's gonna be.

Or even worse, they'll say, oh, they're going to sing. They want to sing. Ugh, right?

Oh yes.

Norman Anub (34:0.178)

Oh my god, yes, Filipino weddings.

Kevin Dennis (34:2.460)

No.

Glen Riggs (34:2.585)

Yeah

August Yocher (34:2.638)

I also hate to be like, I hate to be a hater, but most of the time the singing performances were just not the best, so sorry guys.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, didn't live up to the expectations.

Until they... We did have a cu...

Yeah, though I do like when like the bride will sing for the groom or vice versa. I think that's sweet because, you know, they're obviously the main event anyway, but I think that's really sweet.

We did a wedding where the bride and groom sang together and it was really cute, you know, but they were they were talented. There's a difference. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And there's difference when they have talent, when they just like you said, to your point, Glenn. Oh, I'd like to sing. Can I please have the microphone to sing? No. No.

Oh, that was that Monday wedding, right? That one? Yeah.

No. This microphone doesn't work for singing.

No. Maybe at the end of the night when it's like everyone's drunk and you got that drunk sing-along to end the night. Yeah, maybe.

It's not karaoke night.

Kevin Dennis (35:0.344)

I was going to say, that's a big maybe.

Norman Anub (35:2.926)

Hahaha

Glen Riggs (35:4.399)

And I guess like the other part of it is people don't understand how much this equipment costs, right? mean, right? mean.

Yeah.

Well, yeah, it's part equipment, but the other part is the reaction we're going to get from the bride and groom. You know, now we're going to, they're going to be mad at us for allowing this to happen.

Right?

Yeah. Sometimes you have to use your best judgment and that's by knowing your couples too. Yes. I mean, get to know your couples, see what you can get away with or can't get away with. yeah, reminds me of a story speaking of singing. We had this. No, no, no, no, never. So. Oh, geez. Now I'm to get that song stuck in my head. All right.

Right.

That's hard. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Are you going to sing for us, Norm? Okay.

Don't touch my heart, my achy breaky heart.

Hehehehehe

I know.

You're welcome.

So we had this bride and she tells me her father is like so terrified of like dancing, dancing her father daughter dance and that he was more willing to sing a song other than dance with her. So when the time came up, you know, she came up and then I played the instrumental track and then he walked up.

Kevin Dennis (36:1.018)

Mmm.

August Yocher (36:9.622)

Interesting.

Kevin Dennis (36:9.719)

Oh really?

Hmm.

gave him the microphone and then he started singing to her. And she started singing, it was a duet, I forget which song it was, it was a duet and it was such a beautiful moment. And they still had their moment at the end of the song when 15, 20 seconds at the end of the song to actually have their dance where they actually got close enough and they just started swaying towards the end of song. So they still had their father daughter dance, but again, they had this beautiful.

Mmm.

And that's nice and that's and see and that's a good yeah, and it's funny you just reminded me of it just did a wedding this fall where the The bride and the dad surprised the rest of their family and they did a whole like, you know mashup of songs and it went on Yeah, yeah, it was good. Yeah, it was fun So it was and they killed it and they killed it. Yeah

duet and they said, yeah, that was beautiful. Yeah.

August Yocher (37:4.214)

Oh, that was my event, Kevin. Yeah.

they did a really good job too.

Nice, nice.

Yeah.

Right? That's like choreographed dances. In my opinion, they go one of two ways. They are really stellar or they suck. Right? It's that's what I mean is that it's awful to watch. It's painful to watch a groom out there like one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four. Yeah. And it's I tell them I would rather watch you stand and sway for a minute and a half than watch you out there stressed out one, two, three, four.

Yeah. No, no. Yeah.

Or they're stiff.

counting in his head and well, and.

Yeah.

They're like on Dancing with the Stars, you know?

Well, because the problem is...

And that's the only thing they're gonna remember too. Remember counting in their head the whole time. Yeah.

No, yeah, they're not gonna remember the whole thing. But what it is is they go to these dance classes and the dance instructors convince them to do this because they get more money out of the couple for more lessons, you know? And all it does is if, you know, you're not, I always tell my couples, open a bottle of wine, start listening to songs that you think you might like. And eventually as you get through that bottle of wine, you're gonna find one that you guys will groove to and dance to.

When you choreograph it, it's another stress on the day of that you just don't need because the other thing too they don't think about is the dress, the bride's dress when they're doing all these choreographed dances is how big it is or how mobile it is or yeah, exactly. Yeah.

like heavy it is too.

I tell my brides put a sheet around your waist. If you want to practice your dance, put a sheet, just fasten a sheet and see how it feels.

No, that's a good one.

I also tell them to practice with the shoes they're going to be wearing on the day of because yeah, so when they're practicing they're wearing their tennis shoes and yeah, it might feel comfortable but on the day of you got a different surface your floors different your shoes Right exactly

Oh.

You're in your cha-cha heels.

August Yocher (39:1.133)

Mm-hmm.

Okay, well, I want to ask you guys one final question before we wrap things up. And this is just to hone home on the point that you guys are magnificent DJs and great DJs will always save the day. Is I want to hear about your most impressive wedding day save.

Oh, I know mine. It wasn't my prettiest moment, but it was definitely my most impressive save. So it was a brand new venue that had opened up and it was out a little bit. so they had, we set up our equipment a day before just because it was new. We had to do a lot of drapery set up in there. we going through,

Hahaha!

You want to go first?

Yours is

but most impressive?

The ceremony went fine, reception was off to a great start. And just before we were getting ready for toasts, they brought in an espresso bar. And they plugged the espresso bar in, and the very first drink they made blew the circuits in half the building. So I had no power, and half the room had no power. And so the electrician or the dude came over and flipped the circuit breakers. And then five minutes later,

Kevin Dennis (40:5.444)

Mm. Pop.

Hmm.

they popped again. So it popped like three times. And so the coordinator was an outside coordinator. And so I went to her and I said, this bar can't be here. It keeps blowing the circuit. And she said, well, they think it's your equipment. I go, no. Oh, here I am talking about my equipment again. I said, no, my equipment has been plugged in for two days. I've been playing all day. Nothing happened until they got here. And

Yeah.

Yeah.

So she said, well, let's just go on with toasts. If the mic goes out because there's no power, then that's fine. I said, no, that isn't fine. So I went up to the the mother of the bride and I said, Hey girl, this is what's going on. I don't feel comfortable moving forward with it like this. Do you give me permission to do whatever I need to do to to carry out the rest of the evening successfully? She's like, absolutely. I support you 100%. I go, all right, here I go. I walked over.

This is not fine.

Yeah.

I pulled the espresso bar extension cord out of the wall. I bundled it up. I took it way over to the other side of the room where there were lights because there were no lights on our side. I took it over to the far side of the room and I told the espresso bar people, said, you do not plug back into this wall. You go plug in over there. And the coordinator comes up to me and she's like, what do think you're doing? I said, I'm helping my clients out. And she's like, well, they're my clients. I said, they are my clients too. But

Ultimately, she was outside on the phone. heard her later. Oh, this dick of a DJ is bossing people around. It's like, that's all right. You know what? I've done this a lot. Right. And we did. We got lights back on. They got their coffee. They got their music. We got the speeches done. We got it all done. But that was one of the moments where I advocated because they truly are my clients, too. And I am not OK with people just yelling their speeches out.

Well this dick saved the day.

Hahaha!

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

So that was it.

That was beautiful.

I was just gonna think for me, we had an officiant not show up one time and I ended up officiating the wedding. Much to my dismay. I mean, I did it.

You're welcome.

Very cool, very cool.

Wow.

Nice.

did you do?

You

Were you very like inspirational?

I know you know I know it's funny I you know it's funny it was right around when my sister and brother-in-law got married so I just took theirs and just inserted the couple's name and got rid of all the the funny stuff I put about my brother-in-law and sister-in-law in it and just ran with it printed it out and read it you know I made it the best I could but what are we you know what are you gonna do no one was willing to step up to to you know save the day and so

He's not adding officiant to his resume.

Do you have like a prepared script?

August Yocher (43:2.158)

That work?

Norman Anub (43:5.453)

Hmm.

You know, we did it.

Okay, I remember one wedding where ceremony had gone on, everything was good, they took some photos, and the photographer says, oh, I'm gonna take them out for some sunset shots. Okay, cool, we'll be back in about 20 minutes. Fine, okay. No, 45 minutes later, still not there, nobody's around, everyone's just looking around, and I was like, well, have to just try something.

40 minutes later. Oh.

I have to try somehow to them. So I actually have some interactive games that I have in my back pocket that just in case to fill in times, emergency fill in. Yeah, I started playing some games with the audience and they still didn't come back for another 45 minutes. Yeah, yeah, it was an hour and a half. I was livid, but...

Kevin Dennis (44:7.854)

Holy shit.

Mmm.

So yeah, I spent that time playing like, I played like three different games and they sort of forgot about dinner. I kind of like stalled until they finally came back and that's when we started dinner. But yeah.

People love games. People really.

They waited to serve dinner until Brian and Groom got back? Whoa.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, they didn't have a coordinator and it was just one of these ranch weddings where yeah, yeah, they had a manager of the venue but she really wasn't a coordinator and they had caterers there and stuff but yeah.

That was some dry chicken.

mean, that's why quality vendors are so important.

You know, and things have changed, like things are changing all the time, right? I, before I go to put like microphones on people, I ask about consent, like, is it okay? I'm going to reach inside your pocket. going to put my, like, I am, right? I just, because I'll watch a videographer go up and just like start shoving their hands on people's coats and dresses and stuff like that. I'm like, uh-uh, no, that's like, I, I think that it's so important that we are

every year.

Norman Anub (45:2.448)

Oh my God. Yeah.

August Yocher (45:3.478)

No, it's so important though!

Kevin Dennis (45:3.852)

No, I do. I do.

No!

Well, and especially, yeah, and nowadays you just don't know. And it's like, I need to put this right here. Do you want to do it? Do you need me to do it? And this goes back here. And I always, yeah, you got to be, you never know.

Yeah, you almost have to have like a witness right next to you.

Yeah.

I mean, I would do that with bride's bustles, like, do I have permission to touch you? Because sometimes you kind of have to get under the dress a little bit, you know, and you don't know people's comfort levels and you don't know their past, you know?

I'll never forget, we were working a wedding, you just reminded me of that, is at Palm Event Center in Pleasance in California, and the groom, and I guarantee they're divorced after this, the groom, were out there, I thought the bride was gonna, yeah. But.

haha

Glen Riggs (46:2.149)

That's our next SETUP Podcast episode. You got married, now it's time to get divorced.

Kevin Dennis (46:8.590)

They were out there saying hello or whatever. And the groom was drinking red wine and someone came by and knocked the red wine and it went from her shoulder all the way down to her waist, red wine on her white dress. And so we took her in the office and we were trying to get it off and we were like, Googling like what we'll get. Uh, we had, no, we ended up with Windex, believe it or not. And cause it was, it was so much. Yeah.

Did you have wine away?

My Big Fat Creek wedding, put Windex on it.

And so at one point, like we were shoving shoving like chargers up her dress because we didn't want the, you know, the chemicals to get on her. And I'm like, she goes, I don't care what you touch. You could touch it as long as you want. Just get in there and get it off of me. And she was so. And so there was myself and a couple other people were all in there getting all this off. And I was I'll never forget that wedding. But she the groom walked in and he was.

Yeah.

Yeah

August Yocher (47:2.040)

Wow.

Glen Riggs (47:2.159)

And that's...

Kevin Dennis (47:5.080)

to check on her and she goes, get the fuck out. mean, that's exactly. And so that's why I think they're divorced because I was like, this, is never going to last.

It's, but it is interesting.

Well, in brides and grooms, wine away. It'll save your life. Literally removes wine immediately. Have it in your emergency kit. Sorry, go ahead, Glenn.

Wind away. It will.

Or if you get pulled over by the police. No, I was just going to say that that they put so much trust in us. Well, in us, right? If you have a good partner, and that's what we are, we're not a vendor, we're a partner. If you have a good partner on your wedding day, you have that level of trust. And it truly is. Yeah, I trust you to get me out of this situation, or I trust you to support me in getting through this. And that like that is so important.

No.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

when you are building the team to support you in your day. If you can't trust them, then you're sunk.

Well, especially. And you're the most important person on their wedding day there, you know, like you're getting them through this most important day of their life. And then, you know, as soon as 11 o'clock hits, you know, the witching hour, you're done. You're not the most important person in their day of their life anymore. But you you really are that on that, you know, especially with like with like what you were talking about, Glenn, you know, with that mom, she trusted you to go get done with.

You needed to get done, no matter how big of a dick you were being.

Yep. That's right. Big, giant, huge.

Okay, moving on

Wait, whatever happened to the pot roast? Did anyone eat it? What happened to the pot roast?

It was just the pot.

There was, it was just a pot. There was actually no meat in the pot. It was fake pot roast. It was just her mom's pot. And not the kind you smoke, the kind you cook with.

It was fake pot roast.

Okay.

Oh, okay.

Okay. Pot-a-pot, I was gonna say.

It's like that sounded bad.

Glen Riggs (49:0.357)

Just your mom's pot, you know.

Norman Anub (49:2.231)

Okay, okay.

Kevin Dennis (49:5.496)

So funny. All right. I think we need to wrap it up. We've hit the witching hour. We've hit the 11 o'clock hour.

August Yocher (49:6.168)

All right.

Yup.

11 o'clock.

11 o'clock hour.

You

Don't feed them after midnight.

Alright, Kevin, you wanna... Nope?

All right, well, first we need to thank the wonderful Esteem DJs of Fantasy Sound for being here with us. And thank you, August, for guiding us through another episode, which I'm sure won't be our last episode. Hopefully we gave you enough blooper reels to play with when you make that highlight.

Hahaha

Oh, more than enough, I got loads of content sitting in here right now.

And then also remember to email podcasts at fantasy sound if you have any questions for August or I to answer and Thank you for being thank you guys for episode 2 for you guys. This is your second one

Yeah, we're not virgins

Mm-mm.

No, no, yeah, that was the funniest part of the of the one I popped my pop my cherry. I popped my cherry.

Ooh, that was the first time.

Hot dog down a hallway.

August Yocher (50:2.705)

So experienced!

Glen Riggs (50:6.275)

I'm a slut now, podcast slut.

Kevin Dennis (50:6.550)

All right. There you go. OK. We just. We just took a turn. All right. Thank you, folks. Thank you for being another episode of Now That I'm Engaged, How to Get Married. Don't forget to subscribe, like, review, give all the things for the podcast, and we'll see you on the next time. Another episode. Yes.

Norman Anub (50:8.000)

Yeah, I'm moving to Vegas I'm gonna be a prostitute

Yeah. The progression is quick!

Yeah, enjoy pot roast. Enjoy the pot roast.

Peace.