Ever pondered what sets the mood at weddings in a way that guests talk about for years to come? Join me, Kathy Piech-Lukas, and Jon Lattier from the Blue Water Kings band as we tackle the symphony of decisions behind choosing live bands over DJs for your big day. The pulse of live music can transform a reception, from budget-friendly band configurations to the kinetic exchange of energy that fuels an unforgettable night. Jon also reveals the charming dynamics of performing with his family and the prospect of his son taking up the mantle of music.
But it's not all about the limelight— Our conversation serves up a feast of anecdotes revealing the realities of mealtime logistics, the comic relief of infamous vendor meals, breaks and the evening timeline. Making sure every important person is in the room and engaged in the happenings at the reception is a must!
The crescendo of our discussion leads us to the orchestration of events and the pivotal role of the MC. The harmony between band, photographers, and videographers is paramount, ensuring that every poignant moment is captured without missing a beat. Whether you choose a live band or the precision of recorded tunes, tune in and turn up the volume on what goes into making weddings a harmonious hit.
To listen to more episodes visit www.yourdreamday.com
Ever pondered what sets the mood at weddings in a way that guests talk about for years to come? Join me, Kathy Piech-Lukas, and Jon Lattier from the Blue Water Kings band as we tackle the symphony of decisions behind choosing live bands over DJs for your big day. The pulse of live music can transform a reception, from budget-friendly band configurations to the kinetic exchange of energy that fuels an unforgettable night. Jon also reveals the charming dynamics of performing with his family and the prospect of his son taking up the mantle of music.
But it's not all about the limelight— Our conversation serves up a feast of anecdotes revealing the realities of mealtime logistics, the comic relief of infamous vendor meals, breaks and the evening timeline. Making sure every important person is in the room and engaged in the happenings at the reception is a must!
The crescendo of our discussion leads us to the orchestration of events and the pivotal role of the MC. The harmony between band, photographers, and videographers is paramount, ensuring that every poignant moment is captured without missing a beat. Whether you choose a live band or the precision of recorded tunes, tune in and turn up the volume on what goes into making weddings a harmonious hit.
To listen to more episodes visit www.yourdreamday.com
We are making our own story as we go, as we go, as we go.
Speaker 2:Hoping. We are hoping that we'll go. So happy ever after, happy ever after..
Speaker 1:I am your host Kathy Piech Lukas, with Your Dream Day Wedding Planning, and today I have a very, very special guest. I have Jon Lattier here from Blue Water Kings Band, which is my favorite band to work with at wedding receptions. Jon, thank you so much for joining us today, hi.
Speaker 2:Kathy, how you doing.
Speaker 1:Good, good. One thing that I can't stress enough with bands versus DJs which is what we're going to talk about today, the big differences is bands are human. You're only human right.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I mean, a DJ is a human too, but like they're a human operating a machine and we are a human expressing human emotions at the deepest level. So you know it's slightly, it's a slightly different yeah take, but yes, we are very much a human and and have to work within those confines.
Speaker 1:One thing that I think bands do versus a DJ is you create a very, very different ambiance and environment for the reception. Do you want to talk a little bit about what you see from the band's perspective when you're on the stage and you see the guests and the energy? How is it different?
Speaker 2:Sure, yeah Well. So I guess the number one thing is if somebody calls us to hire us for their event, a wedding or whatever it is, it's very intentional because bands are very much more expensive than a DJ and so most people who want to hire a band specifically want the experience of live music and have made room in their budget for it. That is usually reflected by people who know that they have a friend group or a family group or both, who love music and love the interactive nature of live music and just love to have a good time and dance and sing along and celebrate, and we really see that at most of our events. You know 95% of our events. We're playing to packed dance floors all night with smiling people dancing around. They interact with us, we feel their energy and we're able to channel that back to them and we can have some fun with it.
Speaker 2:I mean, anyone who's known me for any amount of time knows that I'm all about the dad jokes and in between songs I'll drop a pun here and there and sometimes it lands. Sometimes it gets a groan, but the groan for me is a good thing and that's all part of the fun of it. You get that you get the music. You get people singing along. Sometimes those singers hold the mic out towards the crowd. If people really feel it, it's really a palpable energy. You can get full dance floors, sometimes with the DJ too, but that's mostly because it's just a song that people like. With us it's more than just the song. It's the pure, you know, kind of visceral energy of feeling music performed by live musicians, and we also get, you know, a lot of interaction. Especially when we bring out the horn section. People seem to love that. I've seen people get down on their knees and wave their hands at the horn players.
Speaker 1:It really kind of takes the party to the next level, differently than pre-recorded music would, because everybody knows what to expect with pre-recorded music. With live music, that's just it. It's live and it's a different energy and you may have a different inflection on a note than you did the last time you performed it. Or you engage the crowd with things that are going to get them on their feet and excited. The big reason for the price gap between a DJ and a band is the quantity of people that are there. When you hire a DJ, you've got one person. When you hire a band, you could have anywhere from four to 12 pieces. Pieces, meaning instruments.
Speaker 2:That's kind of the beauty that we do, and I know some bands it's kind of like you either get the band or you know, and it's a flat rate and it's the same thing every time. You know that's a good model for us. We try to be a little flexible with budgets because we know some people love live music. You know, a lot of times we'll have, we've played at musicians' weddings before you know, and they they a band obviously, because it's what they do, either as a full-time or a part-time job or sometimes even just a hobbyist. But there's a stereotype of musicians not always having that much money and so sometimes they got to go with a smaller group.
Speaker 2:So we bring out a little five six-piece band. It's just the rhythm section. When I say rhythm section I mean the drums, the bass, guitar and keyboard, because if we're playing popular dance music without those four instruments backing the music, you can't have that. And then I always encourage people you want two singers to get harmony, somebody's got to hit the high notes, somebody's got to hit the low notes and we can go from there. You know, then, like I mentioned before, we add on the horn players, after that the iconic three-piece horn section of trumpet, trombone and saxophone is great. Sometimes, if we keep going from there, you add a second saxophone, usually a Barry sax, which gives you that big beefy low notes of the horn section, which I absolutely love.
Speaker 2:That sound you hear it in a lot of Motown Stevie Wonder. It's this big, big honking thing, uh. And then if you want to blow out, we'll bring four or five singers and we'll add an auxiliary percussionist. Uh, my wife plays percussion with us sometimes and it's really fun. Everybody says it's really cool, you can drive together to the gig and I'm like you crazy, I got, I got all my gear and all her gear and we're gonna drop the kids off. You think we can both fit in one car.
Speaker 1:So here's the big question when are the kids? When are the kids going to be old enough to get on stage?
Speaker 2:I tell you what my son's four right now and he's already learning how to patch an XLR cable into a stage snake. So you know, we're we're working on it. We'll teach him how to wrap cables over under in a couple of years and then I'll start. Maybe I don't know once he's, once he's 10, he's probably going to come out with me and help me set up and and things like that. We'll see. I don't know, he may, he may not really be that into music, but I think it's unlikely. Uh, given his uh, you know upbringing.
Speaker 1:I was going to say, given his pedigree, it's almost in there that he's probably going to at some point.
Speaker 2:He tells us right now not to sing along with songs when we're playing music. It's basically the little kid version of who sings this song. Let's keep it that way.
Speaker 1:Well, and the other thing I think that is a little bit different with a band versus a DJ is the timeline for the reception. Do you want to talk a little bit about how different it is?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So the main thing with the band is, you know, back to the being human thing, we do need a couple of breaks. Back to the being human thing, we do need a couple breaks. Now I know there is one band in town that offers a top to bottom straight through three hour performance, but that is a very expensive band and honestly, it sounds painful.
Speaker 1:My lips are like quivering just thinking of having to play for three hours straight.
Speaker 2:Here's the thing the only people in the band who are actually playing for the entire time are the drummer, the bassist and the keyboardist. Everyone else has moments where they're able to step off stage, use the restroom, grab a drink, something like that. But for the rhythm section now, fortunately, us rhythm section players don't need our face to play the instrument, so the fatigue takes longer to set in. Section Now, fortunately, us rhythm section players don't need our face to play the instrument, so the fatigue takes longer to set in. And the hardest part is three hours on your feet, moving and getting into it, not just standing. A lot of people can stand for three hours, no problem, but three hours of really focusing and energy. But that's a premium service that they offer.
Speaker 2:Most bands most other bands us and a lot of the other groups included usually play between 50 to 70 minute increments. We call them sets, and then for us we take 15 minute set breaks. So what I usually try and tell people to do is a lot for three, at least three and a half hours for your dance portion of the night If you want to get the full effect of the music. Because that gives us a chance to play three 60 minute sets, which is a good amount of music, then gives us two short 15 minute breaks and when we take a break we put music on. It's not just awkward silence, you know. We, we keep it going, we play, we'll play things. Uh, you know, sometimes, uh, people have certain requests, you know, and not not to sound pejorative, but they kind of want some of the ratchet stuff you know, radio rap and and 808s. That is not really conducive to live instruments you don't rap come on.
Speaker 2:Well, no, we have people in the band who can rap, but it's not so much the rapping that's the issue, it's the beat, because a lot of those beats are produced in a studio by a producer. Oh, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:That makes sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's basically like a studio DJ track instead of real live drums and real live guitars, things like that. That is sometimes what we'll put on during our break. Yep, and here's another thing about the timeline with a live band is a lot of times we will play folks cocktail hours because many of us, being formally trained in music, we can play a nice jazzy instrumental. We can kind of be flexible with the kind of music we play and put our own spin on songs. If someone wants a set of instrumental Motown, we can do that. It's usually a smaller group of people, sometimes in a different location in the venue, and we'll do that. And then we come in for the dinner and some folks want us to play live through dinner.
Speaker 2:And I always have to give a caveat on that because not that we are an intentionally loud band. We are actually very conscious of our volume, especially given some of these cavernous, high-ceilinged rooms that we play in that have terrible acoustics. Not trying to call out any specific venues, but a lot of them happen to be downtown. They're just old buildings. They're old buildings. They weren't designed. There's some venues that are more modern, with lower ceilings and a lot of carpet and a lot of wood they sound really good. But in these older high ceiling venues that that were around before, amplified music was we. We have to be conscious of how loud we are, because too loud in a room like that is just deafening and washy and unpleasant for everyone. But the volume is especially a thing during dinner, which is why we will usually take a break during dinner and put on soft recorded music, because A it gives us a chance to eat our vendor meals.
Speaker 1:That's actually another thing I was going to bring up is that the one thing that is different with bands is most bands have in their contract that they are to be fed during dinner, and so that's something you need to keep in mind with your budget when you book the band, because you're booking them for, you know, depending on how many again, it goes back to how many pieces, how many instruments do you have. I mean, most bands are going to range anywhere from, like the lowest, 4,000 up to like 12,000. And you have to also budget for a meal for each one of them, and you do eat it during dinner the same time everybody else does.
Speaker 2:Yeah, in our contract we specify we need a hot meal, and that's kind of something new. Now we don't need, I know, some caterers each meal. If you're having a seated plated meal, each meal can be rather expensive and we don't necessarily require exactly what they're eating. But it can't be. We call them in the industry we call them bandwitches, which is like which is, you know, a cold cut turkey, a cold cut turkey sandwich with American cheese on wonder bread and then a bag of chips like that.
Speaker 2:That doesn't cut it, especially for, you know, like the drummer and the sound engineer, they're there. I mean so sometimes for the smaller band and you've seen me do it, kathy I will run sound for the band and I'm on stage playing bass with the band. That's like an 11 hour day for me. You know I show up. I usually show up to the venue around 2 pm, spend three hours setting up, then I'll play a cocktail hour with the group and then I sit down and eat dinner and then we play and I'm sweating my face off for three or four hours playing music with the band and then at the end of the night, after doing all that, I got to tear down my sound system and load it in my car. Yeah, a cold cut sandwich. This isn't going to cut it in between that time.
Speaker 1:I am right there with you, because we actually have it in our wedding planning contract, cause our typical wedding day is about 15 hours.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 1:The longest one I ever had was 21. Yeah, After that I put a couple of changes in my contract because I was exhausted for the next two days. But we have it in our contract that we are required to be fed lunch and dinner and that we have a 30-minute break to consume them.
Speaker 1:Because what was happening was it was taking me three hours to eat my dinner, because I always have to pop up and down, up and down, up and down because you know we have to talk to the band, or we have to talk to the MC, or we have to go make sure that dinner's being served properly, or we have to make sure that the champagne is being poured, because the toast is going to start shortly after that. And so you know there. There are times where you know I've been eating and I'll come back and my meal's been taken away and I barely even touched it and you're like no eat my food alone, and so we ended up putting it in there that we have 30 minute break that is dedicated to consuming our food.
Speaker 1:Like we had to get that specific.
Speaker 2:but yeah, that's ours, that's we do, I also in our contract it does require a 30 minute meal break and there are some times where clients try and get around that and they'll be like, oh well, we want you to play cocktail hour and dinner. And I'm like, well, everybody's got to eat. And they're like, okay, well, the cocktail band can can eat during dinner and the dinner bank can eat during cocktail. I'm like, well, usually the people playing are the rhythm section players like me, you know me and the piano player and the guitar player and sometimes the drummer. So it's, you know we, we spent, we play a lot more music. And and then also the MC.
Speaker 2:Some people will be like, well, you know you can eat during this, but the speeches happen 10 minutes after everyone sits down. I'm like, well, mc and sound engineer have to be there for that. When are they going to get their 30 minutes? So I always have to remind people and you know, sometimes we do split it up, but most, most folks are accommodating because 30 minutes over the course of a six hour or so event, you know, for them at least, is not that unreasonable, because there usually is that time it gets a little little tricky. We've been. These East Coast style weddings have been becoming more popular, where they want us to play like little 20 minute sets, like before salads, then in between salads and meals, and then after dinner before the speeches. I don't know if you've done one of those yet, but apparently that's how weddings go out in New York and it's leeching its way westward from there.
Speaker 1:It's fascinating Cause I had a a podcast a while back with a company called Island Brothers Productions, and they're a DJ company from the West coast that recently relocated to the Midwest, and the topic that we talked about was Midwest versus West coast timelines, and they were saying the same thing. It's just it's like out there it's a completely different vibe than it is in the Midwest, whereas, like Midwest, you get a lot of. It's a very rigid timeline where you have, okay, first we're going to eat dinner, then we're going to go to toast, then we're going to cut the cake, then we're going to do a first dance, then we're going to do this, and out there it's more about the club vibe and just packing the dance floor and then, like you were saying, with east coast it's, it's a little more broken up, even more than sure
Speaker 2:your typical midwest would be you know, don't, I don't mind a loose event. I'm sure saying that to you as a planner is is, uh, it's probably it's, it's probably painful to hear. Yeah, that's that's what I tell people. And you know, especially some of the most fun events we've done is where it's a couple will already be married and they're like, yeah, so we're not having a formal sit down dinner and we just want people to dance and have a good time, because usually for those events, you know, first of all, they're not picky about when we take our dinner break and then we can be flexible about, you know, about all of our breaks in general.
Speaker 2:I mean, we did one of those Hyde Park Country Club last year and it was kind of a long night and we stretched our breaks a little bit, but we also got to musically stretch out because we had a big band, so we got to let our horns, you know, rip some some, you know, face melting solos and in between we'd take breaks and I remembered they had the best meatballs. I don't know why these meatballs. I still remember this is a year and a half ago, this was August 2022. I still remember these meatballs were so good.
Speaker 1:That's funny.
Speaker 2:You know, it's amazing.
Speaker 1:You remember the best vendor meal you ever had and the worst vendor meal you've ever had. Isn't that true?
Speaker 2:Oh man, so there's a venue I'm not going to name names. It's a venue that I've heard is actually closing. Is it the?
Speaker 2:chicken salad oh, you know the chicken salad. Oh, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Oh man, they were infamous for that. It was horrible. It's funny because we we'd walk in and the bartenders would see us and like, oh, you're in the band, we'll pour you a double, but then we get this chicken salad. I'm like you know, actually you can like I. I would rather to have a nicer meal and not have the bartenders be so concerned about filling up our drinks all the time.
Speaker 1:Well, cause I eat low carb, and so I had to take the chicken salad off the croissant and then one of my um assistants was vegan, so she couldn't eat any of it oh, no, yeah, we oh my gosh, it was we run into that we have.
Speaker 2:we have a handful of vegans and vegetarians in the band. We have one one actually a drummer, one of my favorite drummers in the city. He is a vegan but he's also allergic to nuts, and so that's always fun. When I got to tell people and it's more and more in the modern era it's not really that difficult to accommodate, but he did. He got one. It was just this past summer actually. They brought him a meal that was accommodating for him and it was literally like chopped up tomatoes on a bed of brown rice and he just he always packs a sandwich because he knows half the time they're not going to have something he can eat. It's, it's it's.
Speaker 1:it's interesting, that's scary, that we both had the same vendor meal, that we both. That is the worst one we ever had. That is it's everybody in the bed.
Speaker 2:Everybody on our roster who played that venue always talks about it. It's like an inside joke in the band at this point.
Speaker 1:I think the best meal I ever had was a surf and turf where we had lobster and we had filet and the potatoes that they had were just oh they were amazing Like. I'll never forget that that was probably the best meal, that it might have been the best meal I've ever had, let alone just the best vendor meal I've ever had. It was just unbelievable. It was a wedding that we had at a private estate up in the Cleveland area on Lake. Milton.
Speaker 1:And this family had a beautiful, beautiful property, and so we had the ceremony in the backyard, overlooking their pool, and on their deck, and then, we had a cocktail hour inside the house and we had to clear out all the furniture out of the house and put it in a storage unit for the week so that we could have cocktail hour in there. And then, yeah, and then we had, we put a tent up in the driveway, in the front, and that was where we had the dinner reception. We, uh, we had valet for parking, so that was how we were able to. You know, keep the, keep the tent in the front, on the front on the concrete and everything. But, yes, hands down, best vendor meal ever.
Speaker 2:Nice, yeah, that sounds pretty good. I remember having one. This was February 2020, so probably a month or so before the great shutdown that killed our industry.
Speaker 1:That killed our industry.
Speaker 1:That killed our industry, I don't think people. It was really bad. I mean, I think every vendor learned what the term force means during the pandemic. For those of you listening, the big difference is an act of God. Is a volcano erupting or an earthquake occurring or a blizzard happening. How the government reacts to it is force majeure, and so the pandemic itself, the virus, was an act of God, but the way that our government reacted to it was force majeure. So if you're reading your contracts and you see that clause in there, that's what it means.
Speaker 2:That's interesting. I always thought those were interchangeable. I did too, until the pandemic.
Speaker 1:Then I learned okay, Kathy didn't go to law school, Her husband did.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:There you go, all right, okay. Well, I learned something that I was today years old, well, and you know, the other thing that bands also incorporate into their group of musicians is an MC, and the job of the MC is to keep everything on track for the evening.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's true. Now I want to put this caveat up here because this has bitten us. I want to say twice now in the past four years since I took over management of this band we are an MC, we conduct the ceremony, we run things. We are not the planner. And some people I love working with planners and most of the time if people can afford a band they can also afford a planner. So luckily we get to work with people like kathy a lot, which is great. But I want to say about 20 of the weddings we do don't have a planner. They'll have a day of coordinator who works at the venue to kind of help keep things along.
Speaker 2:But there was definitely a couple instances where our emcee because what our emcee does is we check in we check in to make sure people are ready. We don't just say we're going to start toasts now and the you know the father and the bride is in the bathroom or something. You know, we always check in. You know we always check in beforehand and I I can think of one specific event where we got yelled at for checking in, uh, and they're like you have the schedule, you know what you're supposed to do, just do it and it's just I'm like, uh, but what if we had just done it and something wasn't right, you know, or somebody wasn't ready, or somebody was still eating, you know, we, I just I want people, people to know that an MC is different than a planner.
Speaker 2:Granted, the MC does, you know, once it's time to go, we take charge. And also we check in with not just the client but other folks who might have, you know, stake in the situation. So especially videographers and photographers, because if they're not there for a moment that's about to happen, you know that that could come back to bite them if they miss an important shot of whatever's happening. So there's a lot of coordination happening. So having a planner everyone is a great idea. Just putting that out there.
Speaker 1:People don't realize all the stuff that we do behind the scenes, like we prevent catastrophes from happening. We keep things running smoothly, you know. We make sure that nobody who's who should be in the room. Everybody is actually in the room. Like you said, I've had it where dad is disappeared in the bathroom. Or one time I had a client and they had a band and what happened was the mother of the bride had Alzheimer's. She was getting to that stage where it was getting harder and harder to hide. I knew obviously the father of the bride knew when we were about ready to go into the toast was when she went into the bathroom and insisted that the father of the bride stand outside the door. He could not leave that post. And so we checked in with him and said how do you, do you want us to wait? What would you like us to do? And he said she could be 20 minutes to half an hour for all I know. He said just go proceed. He's like I'll just listen but proceed.
Speaker 1:But it's important that we check in because a situation just like that could happen and we want to make sure that everybody who needs to be in the room is in the room because the photographer needs to be in the room, videographer needs to be in the room, and then any important parents people in the wedding party needs to be in the room, and then any important parents people in the wedding party made matron of honor best man. They all need to be there that's.
Speaker 2:That's why I say you know, when it's time to do something, we direct it. We direct people and we'll give them technical instructions. All the mic, like this stand over here, look at the couple when you're talking, things like that. Um, but, yeah, we, we need to make sure that all the vips, both on the vendor side and the guest list, are there before something can happen. But, yeah, so the mc. So, assuming that everybody's in the right place and ready to go when they need to be our m emcee, we introduce, we well, we'll do things like ask guests to take their seats, announce that champagne is being toured, announce when dinner starts. We'll make housekeeping announcements if we need to. Somebody's headlights are on. Whatever you know, our main role is to introduce the couple and the wedding party, although you know I'm finding a lot of people are skipping the wedding party now.
Speaker 1:Yes, they're going right into the first dance.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, they'll skip the wedding party. They just introduced the couple. They go into the first dance immediately. Our emcee will obviously announce that first dance, which sometimes we play that live, sometimes we play the recorded version, depending on the client's requests. I always tell people if you're doing choreography, the recording is the way to go, because while we can do a great version of whatever song it is, it's going to sound different and I don't want to mess up your choreography Now.
Speaker 2:If you don't have choreography, I say go live band, because well, what else did you hire us for, right? And then after your dance there's usually some formalities, maybe a welcome speech, maybe a blessing, something else. Before dinner. We'll introduce that. We'll announce when dinner happens. Then we get through that. Then we go get our vendor meal that we spoke about before. We'll come back. Then there's usually toasts after dinner, not always, but sometimes it's pretty common.
Speaker 2:We'll announce those. We'll announce any other special dances, family, parent dances, things like that. And then, if there's other things, a lot of times at our event usually a lot of the gimmicky stuff again, I'm not trying to be pejorative about that, but things like the shoe game or the anniversary dance, or now there's a couple other games I've seen before. We don't do that as much and I find that usually when people hire bands they they kind of don't want that kind of stuff. But we can, our mc will do that. We've done that before. We've had, we've actually had our mc. Uh, we've hosted a couple trivia games before it happens, but that does seem, like I said, a little kind of a little gimmicky. Some people like that uh, but a lot of times that kind of gets uh relegated to the DJ events.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would agree with that. I would agree with that.
Speaker 2:Because, again back to my initial statement, hiring a band is very intentional and usually if they've got a live band there, it's because they want music to be the main feature of the reception, absolutely. But our emcee we are able to emcee any and all of those things, and then obviously we'll announce when the dancing starts. One last call for the bar is if there's a shuttle, we make those announcements and then we send everyone off at the end of the night you want a band is don't wait to book, because you book up fast.
Speaker 2:We do. I've I've got inquiries, I've got several secured bookings for 2025 already. I think my furthest booking right now is October 2025, especially if you're trying to secure a band on a peak date. Which peak dates? And the wedding industry For those of you who don't know if it's your first wedding May, june, september and October Saturdays those are the busiest days of the year for all wedding professionals. So if you want the vendors that you want, if you want a good planner like Kathy and a good band like us, you got to get to us at least a year out.
Speaker 1:We're already. There's another date in 2024, 2024. That's going to be a hot date.
Speaker 2:May 4th, may 4th, yep, may the 4th be with you.
Speaker 1:Yep, it's a Saturday.
Speaker 2:It sure is, isn't it?
Speaker 1:That was that was one of the first dates that booked out for me. I was, and then they told me it was a star Wars wedding. And I'm like, oh, that's right. And then they told me it was a Star Wars wedding.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 1:I'm like, oh, that's right. I'm like, oh, it's a Saturday, this date is going to sell out very quickly this year for everybody. Yeah, I love it, and that's also the weekend of the Derby, and usually we're very busy that weekend too.
Speaker 2:That is going to be a busy weekend, that's normally an extremely busy weekend for us and I know we're doing a corporate thing down in Lexington for a Derby party that Friday.
Speaker 1:Wow, Well, it goes to show you if you're going to have a band, it needs to be in the beginnings of your planning. So once you book your venue, if you're getting a church, next is your band.
Speaker 2:If you know you want a band.
Speaker 1:And most people who want a band, they know they want a band going into the planning. That's what I tend to see.
Speaker 2:Yes, and I will say sometimes for us, because our contract is a little flexible even if you don't have a venue yet, if you're still kind of tossing up some ideas, we're happy to give suggestions Because, as I mentioned before, some venues a band sounds much better in than others. Again, we get a lot of bookings in venues that just don't sound all that great. They look amazing but they don't sound great. So that's a decision, and obviously I'm not here to talk poorly about any venues, because many of those venues have great staff.
Speaker 1:But no, it's an important thing to remember and it goes back to if you know you want a band, you tend to lean toward it in the beginning that, yeah, we want live music, we want a band. And I think it's important because if you want the full benefit of those musicians and the art that they're performing that night, if you have a place that echoes, it's going to be very difficult to really appreciate what's being played.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I always say that to people. So if somebody reaches out to us and 90% of events that book us have already got the venue selected, but for those that don't, I do have. I always like to make recommendations and obviously my opinion I did. It works actually. One time somebody had a couple different venues they were looking at and I gave them my. They had three possible venues and I gave them my top to bottom recommendation on that and they ended up picking my top recommendations and I think they're going to have a better event because of it.
Speaker 1:That's wonderful advice, John. How can people find Blue Water Kings Band?
Speaker 2:We are really easy to find because we've put a decent amount of money into Google optimization. So if you type wedding band Cincinnati, we will be one of the top first five ways links that you'll see. Obviously, that wouldn't be my recommendation. You can also find us at wwwbluewaterkingsbandcom. We are on Instagram at Blue Water Kings. We also have a Facebook page. We're probably on TikTok too. I'm an old guy so I don't really do TikTok.
Speaker 1:And you do travel, you do travel.
Speaker 2:We do travel. So the band that I manage out of Cincinnati we service Dayton and even north of Dayton up to Troy and Piqua area. We've gone as far north as Toledo, although usually we have another band. So we have a band in every major city in the Midwest operating under the Blue Water Kings band. They're all friends of ours. So there's one in Detroit. So normally Detroit takes care of Toledo. They were very busy one weekend and we drove all the way up there. We go down to Louisville, kentucky, lexington, kentucky, dayton, ohio, any of the rural areas In between then. I know Miamisburg and Hamilton have some nice venues that we go up to Lake Lindsay and whatnot. So a lot of yeah, we'll go basically anywhere within a two-hour radius of Cincinnati. Occasionally we'll go further. In August we did an event down in Owensboro, kentucky. That's about a three and a half hour drive. The drive home from that wasn't super fun but the event was.
Speaker 1:Wonderful. So if you're interested in looking more into Jon and Blue Water Kings band, be sure to check out their website and all their social media. John, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you for tuning into Your Dream Day podcast. Please subscribe. You can visit us on dreamdaypodcast. com or you can go on yourdreamday. com where you can listen to our podcast on all of your favorite outlets, including Apple, Google Podcasts, Amazon, Pandora, Alexa and everywhere else where you get your podcasts. Thank you so much. This is Kathy Piech Lukas signing off and happy planning.