Yesterday's DJ had the Bride's little sister say a toast while I was having dinner in another room with the photographers. The toasts were totally unexpected as even the bride was unaware that her little sister was going to speak. I missed the first half of the toast. Unbelievably, before I went to have my dinner, I accidently pressed "record" on my Zoom H1 recorder that was in my camera bag about 5 feet away from the DJs monitor. I captured the entire speech! Maybe I should just let this recorder run for the entire 4 hour reception? I"ve been filming weddings for 19 years and a DJ has only done this to me one other time.

That's why I'm sure to make friends with the DJ as soon as I get there! :) I always am sure to stress my complete dependence on them. I haven't run into an uncooperative one yet.

I've also started recording the entire reception on an audio recorder, usually mounted on a mic stand right in front of one of the speakers. That way, I have clear audio (well, at least audio that came through the DJ's system) for things like speeches, announcements, etc.

Is the DJ running the reception event an American thing? I've never know a DJ in England have anything to do with the speeches or any part of the event other than play music and maybe put on a bit of a show about it.

yup - the DJ usually "runs" the dances, the toasts, and the tosses - so he's the first contact when boots hit the ground at the reception - let him know you need a heads up if at all possible to anything important - you still need to be on your toes, but it always helps if the DJ knows you respect his part, and want to get everything.

George,
In the USA the DJ generally has some sort of timeline and is in most cases the MC and while we all try to "make friends" with the DJ and in most cases it works fine, there are times whn unexpected things come up and no one is even aware of it. One thing I ask of DJs/band leaders that I haven't worked with before or for a long while is to stall off anything that's going to happen if it wasn't on the schedule. All they have to do is say to the bride or groom or whoever is, "let me go and get the photog and vidguy so they don't miss anything thats about to happen" and that seem to work quite well especially since at most it's a delay of a minute or so. Generally we're in the room but even when not it's not like it's a half an hour to get us.

I've learned never to believe when the Best Man or the Toastmaster or the Hotel MoC promises to give warning when something is about to happen because I have been let down so many times.
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/wedding-event-videography-techniques/130829-what-function-suite-managers.html
I rarely do weddings now - came to the conclusion that bomb disposal might be more predictable and less stressful.

The first thing I get is the reception running sheet and confirm with the bride when things are happening. I then liase with both the DJ and the MC and ask then "nicely" to not start any events without giving me a "5 minutes to speeches" call. Yeah I have had that too!! Sitting down to a great steak and suddenly heard the father of the bride start his speech!! I had to leave the steak and get him to start over!!

I think as long as you confirm events with the bride/mc/dj, you have covered your obligation. I did miss a bouquet toss just once (scheduled for 11pm on the running sheet) I was answering the call of nature, trousers around ankles, when I heard the DJ play the bouquet song almost 1 hour early....the drunk bride had insisted on doing it then and there!! However she never complained about it's omission!!

If you do miss an out of the blue event, just tell the bride and quite often you can re-do a shot...even if it was a spur of the moment thing that can't be reshot at least the bride knows you never did it and won't expect it in the video!!

Chris

I always record the full reception time with a recorder near the DJ speaker. When I am away, I let my camera roll with a wide view of the head table and toast area. I do this just in case there is a surprise. One of the problems sometimes is that people are feeling their spirits by this time and can be impulsive and unpredictable. When this happens, it can be out of the DJ's hands. It's better to have the audio and a wide shot if this happens.

Here in Hawaii, the DJ just plays music, and is usually a separate job from the emcee. The emcee is usually a close friend of the couple, or a hired comedian/announcer/celebrity.

At the reception, I always tell the emcee to let me know of any surprises that's not on the program. I also tell him to give me a heads up when anything of importance is going to start because cameras may not be rolling. However, since something spontaneous can always happen at any time, I'm thinking it may be a better idea to roll through the entire meal no matter what, then edit out what I don't need later.

These DJs were not young kids, probably in their late 40s so they should have experience to know to make sure the photo/video team are in the room. They told me it was a spur of the moment speech and they had no control. I said to them "You shouldn't have handed them the microphone"! After the speeches, I did inform the bride and she was totally ok with it. Of course when she gets the finished video and half the speech is missing, her feelings may change...or her younger sister who gets married one day doesn't use my services because I "missed" her toast.

It seems that the DJ in the states has a much greater role in a wedding day than they do here in UK (though they probably all have a similar impression of their importance). The person with the closest job spec. here would probably be a formal red-jacketed toastmaster. Someone hired in or part of the hotel's package.

I have worked with a variety; ones who have officiated a royal occasions and grand mayoral events as well as weddings, and I can tell you that it's not only DJs that have the memory span of a mayfly. The best have kept me fully informed of the plan and any deviations off plan, but I have had some very experienced ones who seem to erase my requests from their mind as soon as I walk away from them and carry on without any though of or reference to my reason for being there.
As others have said, don't put complete faith in anyone at a wedding, they either have their wedding brain in gear, or are concentrating on their own job and expect others to do the same.

I had an even crazier situation, the photographer and I took the Bride and Groom out by the water to do some shots with Manhattan in the background. When we came back to the reception the Best Man and Maid of Honor were almost done with their toasts! The bride and groom weren't even in the room! I had left my Zoom recording as well, but they started the toasts over when we got back in!

Is the DJ running the reception event an American thing?

It must be a regional thing. Before becoming a videographer, I was a wedding dance DJ for 12 years. My job didn't start until 8:00 or 9:00 when the music started. Around here, the best man, a close friend or family member typically handles the emcee duties.

I've been to well over 500 wedding receptions/dances and have never seen a "professional" hired emcee at one.

After what Chris said I guess I should re-phrase what I said in my earlier post. Here in the greater Chicagoland area the DJ is generally the MC. I've shot in the 6 county area surrounding Chicago and it's been that way in just about every case but there have been a very few where someone else handles the MC duty. Even the couple I've done in Little Rock the DJ did the MC thing but perhaps it is a regional thing.
whatever way it goes, it's always best to "make friends" with that person so you don't get caught with your pants down, so to speak.

O|O
\--/

well , when i work, i don't go out of the event for a dinner....
i got eventually water or orange juice, but hell i am here to work, not to have food for free.

You work an 8-12 hour day without eating? I bring energy bars and snacks with me, but at some point you need a full meal. In NYC its expected that the vendors get to eat a full meal, and they generally set up a table for us somewhere, and its usually not in the reception area, its away from the guests somewhere. So yes, we leave the room to eat.

I have NEVER and I mean NEVER not eaten at a job. A typical wedding is 8 to 12 hours, a typical AV job is 10. While I may not eat where and what the guests are I WILL eat. If they don't or won't supply me with a meal, then I have the right to leave for up to an hour (per my service agreement) to eat.
Even when I was in the Army back in the 60s (1960s not 1860s ;-)) I got to eat. It might have been a 5 minute meal but I got to eat.
Today is a good example. I start at 1PM will work until 11PM. All at the same venue. thats 10 hours. Anyone that can go for 10 hours without eating and maintain sharp mental focus, all I can say is good for you. Me, I'm gonna eat.

In all the weddings I've done, the B&G are happy to provide me a meal. It's my favorite part of the shoot. And I make frequent stops for beverages as well.

My contract said I am either provided a meal, or a 30 minute break to find our own meal. When we'd get to that part of the contract, the bride would always tell us we're welcome to eat with the guests. I guess there was one instance where we ran next door to Burger King.

I was once seated at the parents table of the bride and groom for dinner.... Got pretty good service while I was there :-)

well , when i work, i don't go out of the event for a dinner....
i got eventually water or orange juice, but hell i am here to work, not to have food for free.

That's great for you. But my body unfortunately needs energy after running around for 13 hours...I'd like a 10 minute break somewhere in those 13 hours.

I was once seated at the parents table of the bride and groom for dinner.... Got pretty good service while I was there :-)

yeah that's happened to me a couple of times. Nice of them to do that.