The Worst Set Up EVER!

I don't think it gets much worse then this. We were hired to work a ceremony and reception. The reception was to be around 40 people in a restaurant that supposedly "has live entertainment all the time" :sprolleyes:

Anyway, I go to the venue three days before the event the venue (which is the size of a box) has told me that the guest list has increased to 75 people so they are going to need me to set up behind the deli counter. WHAT??? This was to say the least a total joke.

The groom swore at me the day before the wedding told me that they were not having an itinerary that they would let me know when they wanted to do what they wanted to do. Ok buddy what ever you say, it is your day.

We had to make it work. I had to use my ceremony speaker so it would fit behind the deli counter and ran the other speaker wire out of the window to a plastic room where the bridal party was.

We were LITERALLY passing knives, parmesan cheese, salad dressing and putting creamer in the fridge for them. Too funny.

Alright, I knew you all would never believe me so I took some photos of the deli set up.

By the way the bride and groom were absolutely thrilled told me that we did a great job, go figure. This was a big lesson, I need an out clause in that contract of mine.

Ok, Does anyone have a worse reception set up?

No, not that bad....:D....But you still made it happen and that's whats important. :)

But we did do a reception in a smaller hall and I was literally set up in the entranceway hallway and had my speakers run around the corner so they could be in the room and out of the way of intoxicated guests coming and going. Tight fit, but we made it work.

Another one was an outdoor reception and they had two tents. One for the guests and one tent for me....I felt like the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain. I had to keep running in to check on things as I couldn't see a thing that was going on in the main tent.

Thanks, Carolyn.

That bites. Sometimes we gotta play the hand we're dealt. I despise those effed up situations but you made it a great time for the B&G. That's what matters. :)

From reading your comments I'm reminded of the Hooters Bikini Finals show we did in Rehoboth Beach a few years ago. We were allotted a small space adjacent to the coffee bar. It's a good thing we had our new front end rig ~ the old coffin case system would have never fit.

We were backed up against the coffee bar. To our right, the waitresses were running orders. They were squeezing around us to get to the coffee bar. By the time the competition show started, the whole house was standing room only. Shirl went to the ladies room and the crowd moved in and took her spot. It was all she could do to squeeze back in. They were packed in there like sardines that night. :eek:

Wolfie's accustomed to DJing with elbow room. But boy, we had no room at all that night. :)

Wow!!! How hot was it back there? Good job.

I'm still waiting on the hot roast beef on rye that I ordered during the cake cutting.

Were you laptop based, or CDs? (I saw some some CDs)

I have played in some areas were a laptop type of setup would be fine, but having an area to look thru CDs would have made it more difficult.

Forget using any kind of light show!

A yo Carolyn!!
While your back there. Can I get a ham and swiss on rye to go, no mayo. Thanks.

Were you laptop based, or CDs? (I saw some some CDs)

I have played in some areas were a laptop type of setup would be fine, but having an area to look thru CDs would have made it more difficult.

Forget using any kind of light show!

We are CD based, we had another card table we covered with table cloths for other CD holders, the servers started using it too, isn't that special?

The deli case was used for desserts, cakes and whatever. This was an "Italian Restaurant". We had to use our small system to fit here, looking back wish we could have used the ceremony system, but we had that set up at the park they were married in.

NO WAY would a light show have fit here, we barely fit there. See how thrilled Don is?

Thanks, C.

No, Don doesn't seem to be overly thrilled with this situation to say the least. Not than I can blame him, lol. ;)

There was this one reception years ago. It was in a church social hall that wasn't really large enough to hold all the guests who were invited. I was crammed back into a little alcove that could've doubled as a walk-in closet. Honestly, the tables were so close together that people had to get outta their chairs to let someone else pass by.

The B&G took their sweet time getting there so by the time dinner was over, the guests were ready to giddy-up. They ended up doing their first dance to a handful of close family and friends who stayed. All the rest were gone.

Not a bad paycheck, really. I played background music for most of the afternoon before the B&G finally got there. :)

Carolyn nice work you always manage to pull through even under the toughest of situations. I had to laugh and wonder how many CDs you could fit in those sandwich styrofoam to go containers next to your Promo Onlys. Great job as always. You have battled through a few unique efforts this yr. May the next 20 gigs allow you to realize how good it is when they are the typical ones youve done before in proper settings and into the future.

I have two similar situations. I did a wedding for a small party in Julian, CA once at a B&B. The outside ceremony was freezing cold, and late starting. Then we went inside to what was supposed to be the "get away" room. We were supposed to be outside but it was too darn cold. I set up behind the ice cream counter (no longer used for that) and could only do the job from the side. There was no way to turn my stand around in the limited space.

Another time I was hired to DJ a wedding for that reality show that is now defunct, where the friends of the B & G had one week to put it together. (They actually had about three months notice). It was in some strange club in Hollywood, CA, across the street from Capitol Records. It was upstairs (on elevator) and the producer decided at the last minute to put me in the hallway out of view. The crew still wanted to use the hallway, so it was cozy. The filming crew was having trouble doing stuff, so there were many retakes. Everytime they wanted to record something I had to shut down. Everyone left since the flow of the evening was so lame. Plus the minister was some cross between a Gaia/Animistic/Native American/Shirley McClaine - new age weirdo. The guests thought that they were in some Kafka B-flick.