#38 - TWIA National Wedding Entertainer of the Year w/ Daisy Kate Music

Ladies and gentlemen, we're in for an incredible night. Oh, we're taking it over, Dutch. I can't believe what I'm seeing right now. We'll hate be sure you stick around because we're only getting warmed up. [MUSIC PLAYING] Huh. Hi, everybody. And we-- How are we doing? We are back for another podcast. Think about it business with me and Ut. And today, I'm much more excited, and I'm sure that Adam is, because I've got another music on today. The very, very rare we get a musician on. And the music. It's a museo, yeah. It's a code word. When you're a museo, you can say museo. We have got the absolutely stunning Daisy Kate music. Awesome musician. And brilliantly wedding drinks, sections, wedding breakfast, evening parties. She pretty much does it all. And we're so pleased to have her today. So very warm welcome, Daisy Kate music. Finally, she gets to speak. Thank you for having me. I was actually told that I might be offered some home-baked sourdough bread by yourself. I'm just-- OK. Oh, he's working around. Did you say that? Oh, is that-- Oh, the guest saying that. Words getting around. Go on there, podcast. He baked bread for everybody. Yeah, Johnny's. Just so happens, I'm just baked with fresh bread this morning. If anyone would like to feature on the podcast, how it always breaks, breaks bread for everybody. It looks incredible. But no, obviously, thank you for having me, Anna. Big fan of the pod. So thank you. Can I just interject? I'm also excited to have you here. How it made out like I wasn't. I love you too. I just don't know music that much. But we've got lots of businesses out of questions. Yeah, obviously. Thank you for having us. You're welcome. So it's going to be a journey through from your start to finish. But we're going to be on the business topic as well of how you get your gigs, what makes the difference, all that kind of stuff. And obviously you're on the wedding awards last year. You won that. So we're going to talk a little bit about that as well. But we'll take it from the start then. Why? Why do you do what you do? How do you do when did you get started and how did it all come about originally? OK, so I think I'm not of the conventional career path of a musician because I didn't study music. But I always played music at home, because my dad plays guitar, so he was in a band. So I grew up around music. And I started going to open my nights with my dad when I was younger. But I was very, very shy. And I've actually used to go to the open night and I just look at the floor, very shy. Not a performer at all. Don't worry. No, no. But I didn't think for-- I really honestly didn't think that I would be able to have a career in music at all. And I think to be fair, I think weddings just played a big part in making that happen. So I did. I went and studied Spanish in cinema music, which actually I've had a bit of a full circle movement this summer. I can tell you about it later with how Spanish has helped in some weddings, laughing, doing. But yeah, so I did Spanish at uni. But I was always gigging at the weekend all throughout that. I'd come back to Manchester. Do you like the pub gigs? I feel like everyone starts doing the pub gigs, didn't they? I mean, I still do bar gigs now. But then I got a job. Is this interesting? Is this right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got a job. It depends what you're going to say. Just set up the foundation from where you were to where you are now. Think about how it all started. So it was like market research job in an office. On the premise, I was going to do a bit of work in Spanish. But actually, it was just like calling people up in their day-to-day lives and asking them to do like a question out. Obviously, it's like just rejection all day every day. Like piss off, I don't want to talk to you. So it's kind of solid destroying that job. You're building resilience for the man in the stage. The character building. So again, I was still gigging Thursday to Sunday as well as doing that job. So it was then I was just like, you know what, I'm going to take the plunge and go full time and go for it. Which I'm so glad I did. Fortunately, I was at home. So I sort of had that like, you know. So here's an interesting question for all of that. So when-- because I know when I did the same thing, when I made that move, what made you think, right, now I'm going to go full time. Is it because you know you had so many bookings ahead of you? I've got that much money coming in for them every the next year. Or was it just case that I'm really sick of my job? I want to really do something that I love. Yeah, a bit of both. And make money doing it. Yeah, both. I was getting more-- I was getting-- I was starting to-- I actually started getting more weddings. Obviously, a couple of like friends and family and stuff. But then I signed up to loads of agency sites, actually, initially, which I don't do so much agency right now. It's all kind of direct. But it was a good way to get in foot in the door. So I was getting more weddings and, yeah, better gigs. It was kind of a lot because I was doing that full time and working. So I was working a lot. So that's when I was just like, OK, let's give it a go and say-- Was it that necessity of like, I can't keep both-- Yeah. And I feel like that-- I can't keep you as well. I was just like, to do the bigger gigs, like the weddings and stuff. I don't want to be exhausted from working a week. So it was going well. I was like, on this trajectory, and then the pandemic hit. So it was a great time to go full time. Obviously, then lost a lot of the gigs. Well, given deposits back, obviously, a lot of people postponing the weddings weren't they. And I lost all the bar gigs. Bad time. It started working in a COVID testing center with the taking swabs. Another very glamorous job. She's been sticks out. Yeah, it was-- Yeah, I could watch this. So-- But you know what the best thing for me over that period of time was was keeping an online presence. So I think that meant that I was-- because after all that-- when we came out of the pandemic, that's when it was busy. And then it's just got busier from the night. But I did like online gigs, Facebook Live gigs. I don't know. Did you do any of this? Like, that's all I wanted. I think I remember seeing yours. Zoom gig party. I was in my dad's garage getting this popper set up with an interface to make sound good. Doing birthday parties on Zoom's wild time. I did the thing called acoustic postcards, which was set up by a group of musicians. It was like, you know, like MoonPig, but with music, with like musical videos. So you didn't like cameos for people. Yeah, and so people would-- You have to get things and stuff. Yeah, they send like a message. And you read the message out. They choose a song. Then you sing the song for them and send it. It was like a little e-card thing. So did that, or she was on the news? Like, well, it wasn't-- No, sure. So I kept busy with music as well. And keeping that online presence, as well as trying to keep booking gigs for future, even though we didn't-- That's really smart move that, because you're in people's minds. It really helped. People have seen us social media. When we did come out, you're there and people's minds-- I was there. --girl we saw on Facebook. Yeah, people were very-- --real following an audience. I remember watching a lot of Paddy-- Well, like with Paddy. --not Paddy. --pat. --being online. I watched a lot of Pat on-- in his van doing his DJ. Oh, Pat! People were doing this. Pat, Pat, look at it. I did. A lot of-- I watched a lot of Pat Mulligan's live streams, because he was just DJing out of his van. And I was just having a Friday night. I was just a nice-- --to see a face that I knew. It was. --here a bit of music whilst I was in my kitchen. Gill and Edgerton, I used to watch him. Yeah. He did a really funny one, wasn't he? He almost become a celebrity, too. Yeah, I was so funny. But yeah. So that was good. So you had that period. And then you came out of COVID, lying, which was 2021. I'm guessing, because I got out in July, 21, when I was allowed to do my first gig, I think. That was the first wedding. Do you like the first of July? Well, do you remember when at one point it was like, two gigs of concert? Well, you could do it probably, as well. Yeah, you could still do gigs before then, but just not musicians. Yeah, Johnny and his July was the first-- --everything was in as many guests you wanted again. I remember getting the news that it was-- You could have weddings again, but our industry-- --there was no live music. Yeah, you were restricted to like 30 people. You couldn't have live music. So you're ready to get back out again. Yeah. You could get married on a plane, but you couldn't have a registered office. You could go and get 200 people in a pub, but you couldn't have 20 people at a wedding venues. Well, my first gig, it weren't allowed to dance for, but they were allowed to dance. So the people dancing around tables. Radiculous rules. Radiculous rules. Yeah, I was honestly-- I got a little bit down, because I was like-- maybe realize how much I actually loved performing, being out and with people. So it was nice to-- And I'm glad I was able to-- Would you say it? Just talk off from there once you came back. I feel like it did then. And it's just got a busy ever since. So you came out-- Health, health, and health. Somehow. Came out. You go for it. You've come out of the pandemic, boss, you're hitting it hard. So what were the things you were doing to get your work? Then let's go, let's get right to the crux of how you get your work. Yeah. Well, it's changed over the years. Like I said, signing up for the agencies was a good thing initially. To get you going. They're sort of like top of Google, whatever. But-- Which ones are we used to sort of interest? Which ones are we using? Alive Network and entertainment nation. The only thing is, I'm definitely not to say it in agencies, because I think it is a good way to get in there as well. This is for wedding drive. Yeah, for weddings. But a big part of my-- how I run my business now is the personal element. And you don't have that with the agencies. First of all, they've got a different name for me. So it's like people who have never known. Yeah. Some of the more weird names as well. So every-- Yeah, just a stage name. Yeah, they just have different names. Sure, you can't find them. So the whole thing that they want to find you personally and what you personally want to go through the agency is a very good commission. Yeah. But also, you can't-- you don't have anything to do with the booking and such. So quite often, they think they get into that thing and they have to talk to the girls. And not being able to build that relationship with the client because they're talking to the agency. And then you only get to speak to them like a month before. I really want to talk to them way before that. And they obviously always want to have a piece of mind of stuff and they want to be able to-- You lose the control and you lose that connection with the couple. And the couple of connections. I did one agency gig. And after that, I'm not doing anymore. Yeah. So to my point of view, I go to wedding sometimes in the bride or the groom will say, well, I've got a DJ coming later. I don't know who it is. And that's what's going on. That I don't know. And they're just kind of-- sometimes you get that like-- I hope you say it. Like, we've booked somebody. But we don't know who it is. We never spoke to them. We just helped that-- we booked them through this company. I'm assuming they're going to turn up. Sometimes it's fine as well. Maybe they don't care as much about the gig because they don't have that connection with the couple. But that's not-- Is there any pros to it, though? Do you like it? Do you like-- I think that can-- Yeah, perhaps. I don't mind all that. I like to have control over it. But I think, like, just what we were saying, when I first started, it was really beneficial to me. And I think sometimes I get people asking me, how hard you get into wedding. So I would never slay say, maybe get yourself in some of these sites. I'm still unhitched as well. Do you hitch? Which is different from me to be on that one. I do, maybe not. I'm not paying for anything. OK. No, you can have like an unless-- You don't. No. But now, I'm an unfortunate position where most of my work comes like, word of mouth, or from Instagram, like social media. So maybe do like a couple of your agencies. If you start off at agencies, that got you going. Yeah. You realize that you're losing the connection. Let's phase that out, and we're going to start getting my own work. Yeah, exactly. So you've got the word of mouth still. Yeah. So it's website. Get some videos done. That's the thing I did. This is great. It's great. I can see this from your Instagram and stuff. Your brand is Daisy Kate Music. So that's your name. You're face. It's my real name as well. He's very easy because-- Ah. You are. Yeah. Missed music. Miss music. I know some people say, oh, is it a say-jame? But this is something that I feel I've benefited from knowing you because you guys, as entertainers, your Instagram feed, is going to be you doing that's your product, isn't it? You singing. So you call your face is there quite a lot. So I feel like I know you better than I do know you. But just from seeing you online, I feel like I know you really well because you're face all the time. You can see you singing. Most of us, florists, videographers, things, we're not the face of it necessarily, unless you actively put yourself there. That was important to make sure-- And I think that's a lesson for the rest of us is that you guys can very easily be the face of your business and build that connection from your name and just putting clip to view singing online. The rest of us have got to work a bit harder and I actively think about it and go, right, no, I need to put my face on there. I think it's definitely good to do that. I always like-- It's huge, isn't it? videographers and photographers. If you've got a pinned pose of you, who you are, start off-- Yeah, so we had to find someone before. We had the moment before and there. So I've just been a gig in Ireland. Yeah, look great. So I was having a chat to the video guys and they knew, had it? From his YouTube and then they heard of that. We've got a course together and stuff like that, which did interesting chatting to them. So Adam Moraris, how the guys knew you from the gig? Oh, was it? Adam called Soul, something or other. So we got up their Instagram and it's just vide-- little squares of just videos and names of couples. And he was like this. I can't see him or other. Yeah. Because I just wanted to put-- I was like, oh, I see the face. I might recognize him, know who you're talking about. And I just couldn't find a picture of him. Yeah. Yeah, no. I'm always like unsure, actually. Yesterday I did a post on Instagram and the main thing was a review and a picture of my couple. Because I want to interchange bits of them as well. It's just me. I don't always like it to just be me. Yeah, balance, yeah. Like the balance. But then I feel like the singing videos of me always like, I'm not actually bothered about how they perform and stuff. I think it's important to have real couples and real weddings on there as well. It's a balance, isn't it? I've got to share, to be honest, over the summer. 70/30. It's a good content to share. Yeah. 70/30 weddings are still-- and then 30% of you doing your-- you know, people might get that connection we did in. But I think Brad and Gremes, especially for music and your kind of services, they want to be able to see and hear you, you know? I don't want to just listen, don't they? Just sort of. A lot of people that book bands have seen that band in a bar that they're like going to a Manchester or-- I've got to give you an example of this then. So I've just-- because I've been judging the wedding awards. And whichever region it was, I can't remember. I went on to the platform and I had to judge this sort of group of people. And there's this one guy. He looked really good. I looked at all these Instagram stuff. That's kind of true, really good. And he did a video for the judges. Did he? And I was expecting this like charismatic, fun of the eye guys. Yeah, I was starting in music. Of course, like there. How's that? You've just killed me. Yeah, really. How's it just like? So excited to hear you talk and talk about your excitement about what you're doing stuff. So yeah, so it's important to show yourself. But that's-- In principality, it's a really good idea to make a little video for the judges. Can I do that? I thought about that. So for me, if somebody makes a video, specifically for the judges-- Yeah. --this is something to bear in mind of anybody watching, going in the wedding awards-- --make a video for the judges, but just make it an engaging video. Yeah. [LAUGHTER] And-- Has he made it engaging? You know, it was very, very good. Higher videographer, edit. Yeah. Yeah, but it just mumbling. And it was just-- he came because really boring. I thought, I won't-- I won't want him on my wedding. Even though it was really good at what he did. Yeah, it was great. His music was tight. It was-- But he just seemed boring. I thought, ah, so when you show yourself-- show yourself how you think your couples want to be seen. Fun. You're going to certainly as an entertainer. You want people going to be entertained by this guy. I'm not going to talk about that. I don't know everybody. What is your strategy behind your posting? Yeah. Specific type of-- --daisy-cage social media strategy coming right up. Oh my gosh. This is like a question that I would fear, to be honest, because I don't think I'm an expert by any means. Roll the wing and neck, don't worry. Yeah. So like I just said, I've been really busy. I've got a lot of things that I want to post. It's just finding the time to do it, because I've got so many videos. I always try and set up tripods and whatnot. And I've still got some professional videos that I've had done to share as well. I'm always my strategy. Try and keep it often, but not every day. Because I feel like sometimes I want to see people post them every night, and I'm like, this is a bit boring at all. Try and post like once a week at least. And then I keep-- I'm really good with my stories on the day, actually. So I'll always try and post at least a little snippet or of the wedding or whatnot. I always post my gig dates. People always ask me about that. So this is something that I think has helped me as well. I still do public gigs. I don't do as many, especially during wedding season. But I play, you know, in venues and stuff, Cheshire Manchester. And couples that have booked me will might come and see me beforehand, people that are thinking about booking me. They might come and see me. Couples who've done what I've done already, and I've like got a good relationship with them. They'll come on a date night and come see me. So I think I always maintain that every month, because people always check what is on their place. It's good because you've got your date so pretty. Yeah, sometimes I'm a bit-- So I look at that as a supplier. I look at your dates and go, oh, if she's on my wedding next week. Yeah, yeah. I always think that I'm like, do people actually know? But then if I don't do it, when you're going to post your dates, and I'll always get at least one cup of ball come to a gig, which is nice, because I can touch them beforehand, about the wedding. Or they-- yeah. Or like I say, if I've had the most amazing day of the couple, and you feel a bit sad at the end of it, like, oh, I'm like, I'm going to see you. Yeah, I'll take on a date night, though, I'm like, yeah, then I'll be like, oh, I'll play your wedding song for you. I think that's a really good piece of advice for certainly musicians and singers to be going out and doing all the work, because that other work is what leads to weddings. Exactly. Yeah, I actually bars and restaurants years ago. Don't do any-- Just the other week, I just went to my couple's house and just started filming them from the bushes in the back garden. That sounds a bit odd. I didn't really. I didn't really. Well, you know, I have a lot of couples that come here, so I'm going to ask about the night time. We're up, so you're going to go and see a band play in a pub for next week, and we've got two or three different bands that we're going to go and watch, and then they'll make the decision now when they go and see them play. So I think going out and being active is really important for me to go about that, because I don't have-- I can't do that. You can't. No, I wish there was something that I could offer afterwards to keep them-- That's what I mean. I think that's maybe why I don't post many videos, because I'm like, you can come see me live, and that's better than a video. But I don't know, maybe they might not like it. That's fine. But yeah, I mean, I just did a wedding in July in New York and quite a while. They saw me play in the Northern Quarter and Manchester, like, literally four years ago, on the one of their first days. So it's crazy how-- You don't know if you're getting any work, but they might just follow you from that one gig. They've had a good night out. They've seen the music. But this is why it's good to keep up your public gigs, as well as your memories. You're creating the memories for people to like say, if they're on the first day, and it's like, who get that girl with her smet to our wedding, that'd be sort of personal to us. So lovely. Yeah, that does happen. It's really great. It should use that, because you could target the groom and be like, if you want to really impress your Mrs. book me for your wedding. If you've seen us, yeah, you'll tell her, yeah, fair enough. Oh, someone booked me as a surprise for their birthday party. I had them at the wedding. It was miles away, actually. It was like-- and my car broke down on the way, but that's another story. But I was a surprise for his birthday party, and I'd played at their wedding. Oh, and I was a surprise for the wedding. Sorry. He booked me as a surprise for her for the wedding, and then she booked me as a surprise for his birthday party. And it was so great. Oh, I killed her. It was lovely. That's it. So I always wondered what after the wedding, how can you still capitalise and stuff? And that's it, isn't it? If you are somebody who goes out and does public gigs, then you can be booked for things like that. I also think as well, like, keeping a good relationship. I know you'll say it, but keeping a good relationship with your rising groom. It's like, I've been booked for like, baby showers when they're having a baby or like, birthday party and a birthday party, or like, their family might book, because I've made an effort to get to know the family on the day and stuff like that as well. So yeah, I feel like there's always opportunity for like, repeatable. That's why social media comes into that. It's easy to say, but we all, like, let it fall by the wayside, because you could actively be just keeping up on social media, follow them and comment on their life updates, you know, years later, because you do, it does fizzle out if you let it. And it's easy in theory. But actually doing it can be beneficial. - No, exactly. - Yeah, I think some was talking the day about that video and they're saying there's so many like average videographers, but the ones that are doing it all, the social media all the time, are getting all the work, even though really not on the merit of the work, just in the fact they're on social media all the time and people are connecting to them. So yeah, you're gonna be losing out unless you can keep in that consistency to go. - I think someone that has the people that do the content for that more, just everyone do their own. - This isn't essentially considered from like a time management point of view. - Having someone do socials when he on gigs. - However, yeah, and like, but then also then you lose like the personal element of it. So I'm not sure, but you know, just to keep, 'cause I sometimes honestly feel like my posting is not enough or not as a quality that I want it to be. But yeah, do you want to do that? - Out source the whole thing, all of it. - I don't know, I don't know, this is a question. - That's a big leap, it's a big leap there. - But you do that and with like behind the scenes kind of stuff. That's your way of getting that type of content. - Yeah, but I, 'cause you're like, "No one's filming, yeah, I have someone film my behind the scenes." And nowadays you can use the metaglasses and you can set up a tripod and, 'cause I've seen music and some of them. - Put a phone on a tripod and just hit record and then do their set and then use that as content. So you can do it yourself, but I just think the production value is a lot better if I have someone filming me and I can still be free to do my thing. Knowing that there's someone there holding the camera and I can point to it and go, "Come here, this is what I'm doing now." - I've got to tell you what I saw at the weekend. So the wedding that I did, I had my own personal video before I'm that wedding. 'Cause one of the ushers turned up with a headband with a GoPro. And he was there just filming that and he said, "Right, I'm gonna be your video guy for the day." Every time I was doing something with the crowd, I was like, "Jush, you're up!" And he'd run over like, "Kink, go and get this." - That's amazing, it's so good. - I don't know. - But you get it from those different angles then. So I can't wait to see what he's got. - I don't even know if that's coming back. - Yeah, I hope so. - It's funny here when you talk about that 'cause I don't do anywhere near enough on socials and I look to be someone like you. To me, it seems like you're doing really well and you seem really busy with it. - It's funny. - It looks like that. - Yeah, and that's it. It's that in posic syndrome, isn't it? 'Cause I look at you and just think, "Oh, she's doing, I need to step up my games." He's posting loads. And it always looks like that in a J.A. and it looks like I'm like, "Well, I can see why she's busy 'cause she's posting really good stuff on Instagram all the time. And then you say that. And I'm like, "Oh, no, we are all just kind of." - Oh, it was critic, right? - We're all winging it, yeah. And everyone feels that they're not doing enough. 'Cause the answer is, it doesn't matter who you are. I don't care who you are. You probably none of us are doing enough. Like, I don't think there's anyone in the world that's doing enough on social media. - Yeah, when you're in business, when you own, you've sort of got something in you way. Like, I get productivity guilt. I'm like, "I need to be doing more, "I need to be doing more." 'Cause you're always, "No, I'm just gonna do the work for you." So you're always like, "Oh, and how can I do more?" So it's nice to hear that to be fair. - Properly. - You're talking to me. - Yeah, it's a good turn of frame, yeah. - Yeah, I get that. - 'Cause it's exactly what it is. - Yeah. - 'Cause if you have a day off, like everyone has, - I've not done enough today. - They can wait. They have Saturday Sunday off. And they don't do anything. Whereas like, a Monday should be day off. Or like, "I've got a lot of weddings." - Probably, same as you, where I think. - I'm always proud for weddings, you know. So yeah, productivity guilt, so real thing. But work life balance is also really important, which is something I am trying to work on as well. - I think it's kind of impossible. This is why I think you really need to love your work that you do. - Yeah. - 'Cause you can't really get the balance really. If you really want to be striving and succeeded. - Yeah. - You've got to try and get those periods where you've got to sacrifice the balance, isn't it? But it depends. This is going to look different for everyone. 'Cause I love working. So sometimes I would rather be working than doing some. - Yeah. But you don't really need the balance then, do you? - You're like, "Really enjoy what you do, you know?" - Yeah. - Do you feel like you love the work, but does the editing side of it, is that when it's like-- - Well, I'm constantly, like this time here, constantly feel guilty that I've got loads to do. - Yeah. - And I'm chipping away, but it's always there. But it doesn't like make me feel like that disillusion with it or anything. - Yeah. - I still enjoy it. - I actually love my, I haven't got constantly grateful, very grateful to do this for a job, but sometimes, like you say about sacrifices, like I miss out on those things, I miss out on a lot of events. - Oh, you do, yeah, 'cause you're gigging up. - 'Cause I'm always gigging. And. - Yeah, it's weekend, and it's late nights. - And it's weekend's a day of work. - So if I didn't love it, I wouldn't do it for that reason, but yeah, I mean, December, for example, one year I did, I think it was two years ago, I did 31 gigs in December, which is wild, actually, to think about it. So I've kept it this year, and I'm doing less, 'cause I wanna do some things with my family and friends and stuff. - Oh, you made me feel so bad. - No, sorry, what did you mean? - I think I got a four gig in December. - I'm sorry, I was just like, - I did one year, I did 20 gigs in December, one year. - Sorry, it wasn't coming from like, it's showing off your point of view. - No, no, it's all right, it's just like, - Of course you think right, Alex. - I don't have kids and like, you know, I was saving for house at this point as well, so I was just like, "I do every single gig that you can possibly do." I was really burnt out and I didn't have any fun, so, you know. - You got it, yeah, in that respect, you're gonna get a bit of the bounce, yeah. - Yeah, no. - So if you do four or five six gigs on the chart, and your voice is like, - No, exactly, well that's the other thing, looking after yourself, I'm very good at like being healthy and looking after yourself, but like, but yeah, it's quite poorly this weekend to be fixed, so I was a bit rundown. No one would have known that I was poorly, but I wasn't. - I've been there. - I've been there. - Johnny was Johnny J for gamers, he was like, "You're like a bit more sick than you're laying on." I was like, "Maybe, but no one's gonna know." It's like, "We've all been there." And yeah, you can't really help when you yourself is probably having a big day. - I didn't think I was a bad day, it's kind of you just. - No, I didn't think I was gonna ask you about this, but this is relevant, like, you're talking about keeping fit and staying healthy. Like, do you, obviously you guys have got your voice and stuff. - Yeah, it's really important. Like, I've, like, going the gym and things like, you know, just actually keeping fit so that you can turn up to a wedding and run around and do your leaps and stuff. - Don't import to me. I'm always a train three or four times a week. - You're really, you've got a responsibility to keep healthy, to be, you're optimum for the work to be at the best of them. - Yeah, honestly, it's huge, yeah. It's huge for me. Like, yeah, you've got to have good stamina. And also keeping your immunity up, that's why I'm like, trying to be really healthy with my food and stuff like that as well. But yeah, it's long days, long nights, and. - I mean, I just float around all day, I don't really do anything strenuous. - Being like, yeah, and also, I was trying to like, hit the gym before a wedding if I could, if I can't, because then I'm like, even more my daughter's a little bit of a wedding day. - I'm running for, like, to perform and be like, no, it's sometimes, yeah. I mean, again, I'm not trying to be like, oh, look at me, like, obviously sometimes not. No, it's good learning your strategies and things that you do. I mean, I don't do any training on a wedding day, probably do some of the day before. I saw someone's on stage the day saying that. - Doesn't invigorate you though, doesn't it? - Definitely, yeah. - I like to get in the gym in the morning, and then those days I'm much more productive when I get home, 'cause you just, you pump up. - Yeah, I heard a guy, yeah. - Some advice. It was a public professional speaker. And he was saying, somebody that he knows, just about 100 press ups before he goes on stage. - Yeah. - To, to really, well, it's one of those to release the adrenaline, 'cause you could be so pumped up with adrenaline before you, to release it and also get your heart pumping and just get you in the zone. I'm never gonna do that, but I just don't think that's- - No, it's not. - It's an interesting theory, isn't it? - It's just so suitable in a way, isn't it? - Mentally, is it the big one? - Yeah, I think, yeah, it's, yeah, 'cause, like, it would just said then, about not having a bad day. I mean, you'd never take a bad day or to work anyway, but if you're feeling mentally, like, you know, God, you're gonna perform better in you and also the in-between bits as well. I'm like, well, I'm feeling good today, so I'm gonna let you, I'm gonna go and chat to them and I'm gonna get some song requests from them and I'm gonna make a really big effort with everyone. - You just have to get on and do it. - You're cynical, mood, 'cause you wanna be like, part of the, you wanna seem like, you know, people probably say to you, like, "Do you know the bride and groom?" Like, you seem like you're really good mates with them. And I think that's the real compliment when you get that, isn't it? - Yeah, I don't actually know them, but why it comes across like that? And people think that we've set things up. Oh, you practice that with them. - Yeah, not at all. - It's all, it's all, yeah. - Pretty a bit of pre-planning maybe, but no way, so I think it's all good. - I'm a question you do think, how about. - So you touched on, obviously, at this time of year, Christmas coming up and stuff, you do a lot of other non-wedding gigs and stuff, do you? - Yes. - How would you, kind of, does your weddings lean into that or how does that work come about? Is the crossover where the commercial stuff gets your weddings or the weddings get you the commercial stuff? - Yes, it's a bit of a question, isn't it, really? - I'm saying both ways there. - Well, there'll be loads of people listening that like to do a bit of both, that like to get commercial where, obviously, we don't, but like. - I do, yeah, I do do a fair bit of corporate work. A lot of it is repeat work, or like, for example, I'm doing an event at the beginning of December, a bride and she owns a company, and I'm doing her corporate event. So I think that it does. Like, I did it when I went in the other day and the groom was like, I want you to come and do my company party. So yeah. - I think especially the sort of level of weddings that we are used to going to, a lot of the couples or their families will be sort of business- - Is that being family members? - Or work for big companies or. - Yeah. - You have those certain sort of life-thousand jobs where the art, it does lean towards like, their own business, self-employed, the government businesses, or work for companies or something. - Yeah, exactly. So corporate work as well, but I mean, it's definitely not as fun as weddings. You definitely don't get as involved with people, but more backgroundy. How do you deal with corporate? - I don't do it, corporate's anymore. - There you go. - But I use, it's duckler, like I've them said, I do weddings and I mean, I actually do one for the post office. I used to do that every year for a few years. That actual post, no, no post office. - Yeah, I do the corporate gigs at Christmas time. And they were really, really good. And so, yeah, but the, did you always come around from doing weddings? I always delivered. - I was the good one. - They always came around from doing weddings though. And then I'd get, I used to get a lot of corporate work from doing my dinns, but I stopped all that. That's just a personal thing. - Put your own stamp on it. - Put me on stamp on it. - I'm going to go to your home. - I'm going to go to my home. - I'm thinking I should go in. I've got nothing else. - Right, right. So, wedding work. What would you say was the number one thing that gets you your wedding work, your number one? And we've talked about a few already. What's your number one? So, is it recommendations? Is it the social media? Is it your being on people's, I don't know, blogs or whatever, or like, you're in, you say, you're in hitched and what's the number one thing? - Well, I don't think it's a bit difficult. Sometimes people will say they'll email you and they say, "I've seen you play here," but other times it's just like, "Oh, are you free?" So you don't actually know where it's come from. I couldn't tell you exactly where all the inquiries come from, but. - Do you not ask them on your web form? - That I should, shouldn't I really say something like that? - Yeah, yeah, it's really important. - It's a good data, yeah. Do you have a CRM or anything like that? - I've got a booking form, but it's just like, you name your email date and. - Yeah, so you don't use like a dub side or one of those? - No. - I don't know. - That was one of the really, really key things that they can, obviously if you go through a CRM, that generates the data for you. But, 'cause I don't use it on site, ask people where they found me. - Is it a question of the inquiries? - Yeah, I usually ask them if they book and have a book. - But you get a rough idea, right? - Yeah. - I like to know first where they've seen me or found me, so I can almost tailor my approach to them, knowing where they found me from. That makes sense. - So I think, well, I do think it's probably 50, 50 recommendations. - Yep. - And Instagram, 'cause quite often I'll get follows and then message them on Instagram. - Yeah, I'll tick talk as well. - Should be, am I too old? I don't know. - I'm actually thinking of that. - The answer to that is no. - Okay, so I wonder whether I will still be able to do this at 50. So I thought the same when I was 30, I wonder if I'm doing it when I'm 40, when I'm 40, when I'm 50, now I'm thinking, now I'm 50, and wonder if I'm gonna be doing it for 70? - You'll still be doing it. I don't know if I will be able to get over there. - Well, you're not. - People always book, so am I gonna say no? - No, no, no, no, no, no. - You enjoy it so much. - I don't know. - Obviously, you're not the answer is you're not, without finding out how old you are. You're not too old for tick talk, because everyone's on tick talk and-- - And I'm sick all day, I'm excited. - It's, I feel like I think this might tick talk maybe, and I'm, I am, but I don't do it. I don't do anything with it. And the usual kind of conception is that, oh, it's for kids and stuff, but I like, we've got to change that, 'cause it's not, it's really aged up and everyone's on it now. Scary V, we've been serving in these grades. - So you definitely not, don't my how old you are, you're not too old for tick talk, but I just wondered if you were using it. - Yeah, I'm really busy. Honestly, I don't use that. - I don't use that. - I don't use that. I mean, not 'cause I'm not bothered about the views and stuff like that, but I have seen that it's been hugely successful for certain people. You know, how many wedding do you have? Do you know the two girls? Have you done with your brother with them? - Yeah, I think you're in the wedding awards this year. Pretty sure. - I think they might have won it. I mean, they're regional, but I've not seen yet, but yeah, they've got loads and loads of subscribers and views and they get loads of what they've got. - On all the do's, hi, we're at a wedding today. And now we're singing, but they're on a bit of band to with each other. It's a bit very good. - They're really good. They're really good at talking to the camera and stuff, that's what I've seen to you guys before. - Yeah. - With that, and two shows. - I go in the other way, as we touched on, the show's last thing. I think about this even as video like, am I gonna still be able to go out the same when I'm 50? And will young 25 to 30 year old couples want to book a 50 year old videographer? I don't know, I'm gonna try. Like, I-- - They want to do a big experience. - I also don't know the answer, and I worry me a bit, but I'm not gonna do anything about it now. - I think about it. And I think about keeping fit and trying to stay beautiful and trying to stay on top of like, you know, the cool kids are saying. - Exactly. - I sound old now. - The kids. - But by the time I'm that age, my kids are 18, hopefully they'll be able to keep me in the lake with what you're supposed to say. - Well, because I want to stay relevant. - You gotta stay relevant. No, genuinely, you need to stay relevant. I think is the key, because obviously at this age, we're at now, because we're a similar age. We're on a wavelength with typical target audience, Brad and grooms, which I think is a good, it's a plus point, especially I've just got married. So I'm just like, I've just been there where you are. It's dead exciting, isn't it? - It's really nice. - As you get older, you've not as-- - It's not easy to connect with them, is it? - That was always a fear for me, thinking as I get older, I'm still gonna get them couples in the 20s, and it's not made of blood. - But how it's like a 16 year old at Mark, though, isn't it? - The key is to stay as fancy and as energetic as you are. - But yeah, I'm just trying to be able to look in. - My age, but yeah, collagen. - Collagen, what else? Yeah, strength training, that's really good. - Yeah. - Yeah, that's absolutely boring. - Just to go back to the Instagram stuff, and because I've touched on your corporate gigs at this time, yeah, I'm just wondering if you change any-- - I don't see any questions. - Where you're posting throughout the year, because as we get quieter, wedding wise, you guys can pick up a bit of commercial works of Christmas events. I mean, I could as well, I suppose, because I could-- - I'm planning on being so much better with social events. - Do you change your socials throughout the year, like seasonally? - I feel like when January 5th, - I'm trying to find-- - If January comes, not a rebrand, but you do a big putt magazine push on-- - Yeah. - Finally got time to post on that content. - You've only got time, there's so much content, though, on a post, but I just hadn't had a chance, so I'll just be better with that. I've got a lot of reels that I want to make, and posting reviews, that's really nice as well. So-- - Yeah, that's good, 'cause a lot of people don't, you don't see many people posting their reviews as an Instagram post, but it can be really like effective content, I think. I see, you put-- - Do you have someone do a voice note, or do they say, "Oh, yeah, yeah." - And then he's made that into a video, like-- - Yeah, I've done that, yeah. - Yeah, I've both done that. - Yeah, I've been through times, yeah. - I might copy that. - I asked quite a lot of my couples to do it, but not many of them do. - So a lot of you say they'll do it, and they don't tend it, and I love it when they get that. - You've done that some, you've got new footage, but as it obviously is the videographer, I can just put their wedding footage over the top of the voiceover, looks really nice and professional. - It's really nice. - And it's just a voice out of them on the phone, saying how great it was, and then I can put the footage. So when the bride's going, "Now you've captured this moment of me and my nan, "and I can put that over the top." And that's really powerful. - Yeah. - Yeah, I think-- You've always said this to me, the voice notes and the video testimonials, way more powerful than the written ones. - Yeah, just because people don't like, people are flicking through so much, aren't they? They don't want to go through loads of photos, and like read loads of, I always post my reviews on my story, and I wonder how many people actually read them. But I think perspective, "Brizen Goes" will read them, and my mother will will read them. - So if you've got a bit of footage for a wedding, you've done, "Hawk Up Your Afters," "Oh, could you send me a little voice note?" - Yeah. - A little voice note testimonial, and then you've got the footage. - What do you would do? - You can put that over the top of your footage and put it as a little post. So much more powerful than the original. - They always post as well, because you've asked them to do it. So they're, if, because they've loved you and they're happy with you, when you ask them to, like, you have, like, really trying to make it sound as good as possible, you know, like they really make the effort to make it sound-- - Exactly. - I got a book, and from it, from that video that I put on Insta, because of what that person said, she said something about, did the sisters wed in eight years ago, and we knew there and then we wondered you for hours. And some of us said, "I heard that, say that," and an Insta thought, "Wow, they're all them years ago, the new straightaway that they wanted you to wed in." Yeah, it must be good. And so I got, and they told me, we've listened to that, and we thought, "We've got to go and see this guy." - No, I'll, and-- - And-- - Yeah, so they did. They got the book, it was great. - That's why you need to find out how people found you, because this stuff's great to know. - Yeah, okay. I actually could just change the thing on my-- - I just had a question. - I think bookie thought, just put a word you found me. - Yeah. - I will. - Thanks guys. - Widen the words. - Yeah, you're welcome. - Oh, Widen the words. - Widen the words. - 'Cause we love the Widen the words. - And we're currently sat here with the current UK's national winner of the entertainer or whatever your category is. - Yeah. - Musical act. - Wow. Thank you. It actually feels crazy, like that's nearly a year ago now. - Yeah, because-- - You're not gonna go in it again this year because you won it last year. - No, it wasn't at all. I just, it was just busy. - Not fancy retaining your crown. - I've done it now. - No, yeah, that's what I mean. It's not like that at all. It's like I'm away in January and it's got a lot of work to do about this. - It's always a big part of it. - It's a big part of it, but yeah, it was honestly. - It's a positive experience. - It is a great experience. I would recommend anyone doing it. I would potentially do it again. But didn't think that was gonna win at all. Or my family came down to London with me. We had the best night ever. - Cool. - Yeah, this is doing dancing. - I saw that. I saw you having the best time ever. - Yeah, it was great. I know, yeah. - We were there together. - I was in London, I was like, oh, I did. - I think we had a bit of a bit of time together on the dance floor later on. - Yeah, we did. - And met your sister and stuff. - Yeah, my sister. - It seemed like you were having a good time. - It's an actual dance, and I probably would have been embarrassed myself but my sister is actually a professional dance person. - It's such a buzz in it. - It's such a buzz. And the thing for me, and you've won it as well. You both won it. So the client FB back with me was just really emotional. And also, I feel like you were sort of on this whole, like not Hamster Hill, that's kind of like the wrong words to use, but even when you're on train, - And you're like, you don't think about it, you just like, it really, really hard. Try and put everything into everything or anything that you do. Like I really do try and do that. You know, like have a good relationship with all my couples, give 110% on the day. And then to win that award, it was kind of like, oh, hard work does pay off. And you know, it just felt really good. - Yeah, it's not often you get the pat on the back bit. - Yeah. - You probably deserve. And then you get all that. And it's like really a woman. I've sat in bed reading them. - You're gonna be overwhelming. - Yeah, when you come in and you cry on your eyes out. Maybe I am good at what I do. (laughing) - It is, it was a bit of like a, yeah. - Don't get hoody stuff. All right, got to stay around here. - Yeah, no, I was gonna say the next week, you get an inquiry saying, how much, no, the right thing. - I guess it's it. - So it brings you back down to it. - It is, you know, things like that. It's just annoying. Because you do a gig and then everyone's like, raving like, oh my god, and then that's gone then. And it's like, oh, maybe I've not got as many thumbs as you. It's like, do you find that? - I thought I'm the best thing since like, you know, I made it because you got to be adrenaline that you guys must get from performing and people feeding off your performance. And I always say this with you, people love you on the day. And then you go, I go home like, I'm amazing. And then they get home and I'm soon brought back down to it because yeah, it's just like, don't care, shut up. (laughing) - Oh yeah, I'm like, yeah. - I'm in, I'm nailed today. It's been the best day ever. - Oh, I got so full of it. And the couple love me and I got this. Yeah, I'm great. I'm a big deal. - I'm a second, it explains to people how it's gone on the day. But, they're trying to really care. - I mean, you make outside of weddings. Just like, yeah. I'm actually, yeah, I've got a podcast that people know me. I'm not, they don't give a damn. But first thing it's, I must be soon to go back for my land. Bins need to go out. (laughing) - Bins out. (laughing) - Hey, well, I'm gonna do it. - What, I've topped it's early life with lead. - But yeah, when I drive home from wedding hour and I just, sometimes I'm just sitting in silence or I put classical musicals, 'cause I'm just like, I need to come down with my slightly casualty. - Yeah, it's rollercoasters. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - I fell asleep at the back of my garage. That many times when I've got back from my gig and I've just sat there, I'm just going. I've called sleeper, I like car, pop top, all the times. - It's such a minute, I've got so much equipment. If I've got all my equipment, like speakers, I'm the piano on the top. I've looked it around all day and then I get home and it's really late and I do the same. I just sit in the car like, I really don't want to. - I go, I'll just go back. I'll get out in a minute. - Yeah, I've got to go. - You found it, and then you just go. (laughing) - Yeah, you have to be loads. - No, that's the bit people don't see. There wasn't it, you know, the in between bits. - Don't. - People could see that. It's not just showing off. - My ringed doorbell goes off at one in the morning and the next day, Jade's like, did you fall asleep in your car again? 'Cause you only came in at one o'clock and I know you weren't back that late. Then I saw the ringed doorbell at one o'clock, she's like, you fell asleep in your car, didn't you? - This is what I know, I went a couple in Kwan, there's so how much you charged per hour. It's like, oh my, if you only knew what a wedding day and so you were on for a-- - I mean, you can't charge them for the hours just sleeping in your car. - Yeah. - And then you're not really. - Well, you write there so many more, I also, there's the hours of prep as well, which I always put a lot of effort into 'cause I always learn new songs for people. - Yeah, we're very enough. - You know, you've been out here, you've been here for 20 years experience to give you an amazing experience. (laughing) The wedding wards, winning the national in particular, has it got your bookings, what happened after the January? - I think so, yeah. - She won't know 'cause she didn't tell us the money that the bookings from. (laughing) - I certainly think, well, I mean, the inquiries have been like, sort of steady since then, maybe they went up a little bit, but I think for me, it's just, it's a really great, a bunch of other, like, if people go, it's on my website, it's on my Instagram, at the top, it's on my brochure at the top, you know, and it's, obviously it looks good for prospective couples. So even if they haven't found, like didn't see me on the Tweet or website or whatever, if they found me and they see that, it's like, oh wow, she's got that. - Yeah, so that's the thing. - I've found it when I, it's helped with other suppliers and stuff, 'cause I found when I won it, like I got loads of planners getting in touch and venues and stuff, saying, like, would you be interested in doing videos there? - Yeah. - There was a lot of just couples, it's like, 'cause it's like for us, I think planners look at it and go, okay, they've won, maybe I'll, maybe I'll look at them for my next one. - Yeah, they've asked people what they've done when they've won the wedding awards, and we always ask the price question, you know, if you, and we got a lot of them, so yeah, immediately increase my price. So there's a one, it, a double my price and, you've done that. - I've doubled them now. - No, I've done that. - After you won it. - What's on to me about putting my prices up? I did put them up a bit, but I don't wanna be extreme to the point where I'm like, pricing myself out of, do you know what I mean? - Yeah, for your clients that you get. - Yeah, like, I feel like I'm fair, yeah, I mean, it wasn't charging a little bit before, but like I said, I don't wanna be like, "Prede" to know if that's the thing, or I struggle with pricing myself, couldn't you pricing yourself? It's quite difficult, isn't it? But, and then today, providing a service that you put a lot of time into, yeah. - Yeah, do people always say that they put their prices up then when they were in? - Generally, across the border thing. - I think it's a good measure. - If you're gonna do it. - Yeah, you're gonna do it. Maybe that is the time. You've just springboarded off. You've had the, on the national, you're going into a new year. You're gonna be, new eyeballs on you potentially as well, thinking, wow. - Yeah, and you can, - Get trialled if it doesn't work. - It's gonna be a show. - Yeah. - But I just think that everyone always thinks, and in the industry, this is like fellow suppliers, everyone's always expecting you to keep putting your prices up all the time. And if you're not charging this much then, but it's different for everyone. Everyone's personal circumstance. - You do, you put them up and look at it. - Look at, like I look at prices down a little bit this year. - Look at Deimo, I always joke with Deimo about not charging enough because of how good it is, but he just loves what he does. - He's got very soube-y's out there all the time. He loves what he does. - He's not forget, he's got no wife and no kids. - Yeah, so it's different. - It's not much of the response because outside of the world. - And you don't have to answer to anyone in terms of what you charge. You charge whatever you want. - I think it's a good indicator of how many people come back and say, "Yes, you're not gonna get." If every single person saying, "Yes, we're gonna book," you're probably not charging enough. You can be under charge. And so if you're getting a good amount, it's probably right in the middle of the minute. - 10, 20%. - It's expensive. - Turn out, just test the user's good. I'm like 10% conversion rate. So like, 10 in enquiries, one of what? But that's. - But yeah, I mean, it's always better, isn't it? - Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, that's roughly number zero. - No, I think that's a good. - I think that that means that I'm probably charging a good amount that's a bit more premium for most people, but then the one that does book it of willing to pay for it and you get the nice weddings. And I know that as long as I can generate those inquiries, then I'll get a few bookings a month and that's all I need. - Yeah, you don't want to price yourself out of all the markets, but you definitely want to price yourself out of maybe certain markets, so. - Absolutely. That's the difficult one, isn't it? But I do feel like I can be a bit more selective now. Especially at the beginning, I was driving. I did like, I had my car for three years, I did like 76,000 miles or something. Like, I was doing so many bars. So now it's nice to be able to, you know, say, "Okay, I'm not gonna trouble so far now." - You spend more time driving than performing, as I've seen it. Well, I'm in anybody in the wedding industry, I imagine. - Yeah. - Apart from Johnny Draper, he gets this gig as close to his wedding to live as possible to take part in the wedding. - Those are their news. - So you just have to go anywhere. - It's the way monsoon brings. - Free wise. - He does that. Just so you could do a duet with you as well. - He's done duets with me, such a talk. - 100%. - 100%. - Johnny doesn't listen to our podcast. - But he gets mentioned every, how it brings him up pretty much every episode. - I think that's it when I was like, "We listen to it." - He won't listen to us. - I was like, "I was like, "We listen to yours." He was like, "No, I was there." Why would I not listen to that? - He's the most frustrating thing that you'll ever make. - But he's brilliant. And I love it when the supplies get involved and stuff. - So many people say the couples say it when all the suppliers know each other and stuff. It creates a lovely vibe on the list. - I love it. I always try and talk to you two young kids together before. - Yeah. - Have you got each other up? - I've got each other up. - No, 'cause I'm, - Days is fun there. Days is just the drinks. - Yeah, but would you not grab him and just be like, "How would come to this song with me?" - Next time grab me. - Oh, that one. - Grab me. - I feel like that'd be like the Avengers crossing over. It'd be good. - But I think that was good. - Big full of that. - Big drinks reception, sort of building it a little bit with my children and then you went in and just went, I'll wait a minute. That was a good mix. - I love it when there's somebody on the drinks on my wedding's, 'cause it almost sets it up for me. And then I think people bands at night, they're like, "How was it?" - Yeah, 'cause you already had it, - I'm just like, "How was it?" for live music. - I was having a wedding, I definitely, yeah, I would have it all day. I know some buyers, 'cause I'm wedding musician, but. - I'm a musical don. - I'm a musical don. - And for each part of the day, 100%. It makes a huge difference. - It makes a huge difference. - It makes a difference. - So after me at night, and I just sat and watched them, I just fucking loved it. - Yeah, so fun. - Everybody loved it. The proper Irish gig music was on. The briars, the briars are professional dancers. She was doing the Irish dancing and extra little things that make their memories. - Yeah, so great. - And. - Love an Irish wedding. - Yeah, I mean, I love all, I love DJs and I thought, but that was just, yeah, I think live music all the way through the day. - I always like you when they say, "When a couple say to me that they've got Irish family," 'cause I'm like, "Yes, I'll bring out the Irish set list." 'Cause it really gets people going. I don't think he do any Irish stuff. - No. (laughing) - But he should. - Should he do like, "Oh, here you go, or something?" Well, tell my mother, all that stuff gets people dancing. - Yeah, they didn't ask for it at this wedding, mainly because the adult, 90% was from the UK. And from like, Burnley and Blackburn and Preston. So they're quite down to earth. And I never got a new quest for any Irish stuff, which I would have done if they'd have asked me. - Go on Jones, doesn't it? - He did the "Gawain Girl" song. I like that song. - I still love it. - Go on Jones. - Go on Jones, do it. - Go on Jones. (laughing) - At the start, you touched on your Spanish background. And you've also, you also this, as you said, in this summer, it went to me, or whatever stuff. So, how's the Spanish? - Yeah, well. - Fed into. - Yeah, so, well, I mean. - 'Cause you teased it, I wanna know. - Yeah, well, I mean, I have had like a Spanish set list on my, when I sent my set list over, I've always had that. Some people asked for it, some, mainly they don't. But 'cause I've done a couple. - Yeah, she cares, she cares. - Jessica Kings. - You do that one. - I'm going to. - I'm going to. - I'm delaying it somewhere is better. - I'm delaying it, yeah. - Yeah, but basically I've done two weddings in Spain this summer and it's just helped me so much with the suppliers, like being able to speak to me to vanish to them because quite a lot of them didn't do that. - Did you find it? - Just like helping it run smooth. - Was that anything to do with? - It feels like accomplished, like, oh my degrees, my student debt is actually like, it's coming in. - Yeah, yeah. - But no, so. - Did you get those gigs because you could speak Spanish? - No, it was like it. - It was just help. - It was just help. - But like, one most reason they was in Alicante and the ceremony was, they'd hired a string quartet and a piano player, like they were like, I was collective. And then I was just going to sing for the ceremony in this church, absolutely amazing. I've never sang with strings before, but I obviously was communicating with them before, because you know, we practiced, they needed to know the song was done. So they were just chatting with them, none of them, yeah, didn't speak any English. So I was getting to use my Spanish. And on the actual day, I don't know, there was just a lot, the ceremony itself was English, and it's very different in Spain. Like, the order is very different. And so basically, I was just like, can you just tell us what was going on? We need to know the cues. Or like little things. - And you could do it. - But it was like nice, - The couples in English. - Yeah, the couples in English. - But that was, yeah, very good. - But it was a scouser. So I mean, even if they didn't speak a bit of English, it would have been difficult for them to understand the scales. - You've got to shout about this, by the way. So it's just top of you though. You've on your socials, if people are getting married in Spain. - Yeah, no, my dad was thinking that. - The benefit of you can leverage these ones is you can, yeah, you can speak Spanish. - I also got more kids from you, like speaking Spanish with their own, the different. - We just speak it on the social media. It's not often Spanish, they go, "Ah, so this means you get married in Spain couples, "not all of them are gonna come and sing, "I'm gonna be able to talk to people and speak, yeah." - Yeah, I think it's something that's on, like I want to do more of, like I've got, I'm trying to make connections with some of my wedding planners and stuff in Spain, the ones that I've done, because that would be a dream for me. - Speak a bit of Spanish please. - What a gay kick it is. (laughing) - I need more. - I need more. - I need more. - What would you want me to say? - What did you say? I don't know. - I was like, what do you want me to say? Like, okay. - All right, okay. - So this is the best podcast in the world. - Okay, I don't know how to say podcast. I feel like it's probably just podcast. (laughing) - I mean, I didn't know. - You're my father and my brother. - I stay podcast, which I got the ass support in it. I mean, thank you very much. - You're probably good. - Me be in, me be in, good after you. - I'll give you something that I just like. - Yeah. - But like, on the day of the day, when I was like thrown into, I mean, my degree was a long time ago. I'm definitely like out of practice in terms of, like, I'm not as good as I was, but when you thrown into it on the day, you're just like, okay, it's fine. - You're into it. - I love Spanish. - You do? - Yeah, my mom. - Amazing. - How come? - The lived in space for about 10 years. But she was learning before that, and she's kept, she goes to a Spanish class in Fleetwood just down the road. She just keeps up with that. - She's learning years before. - About eight years. - About three years on my 82. Yeah, she's great. - Yeah, I think you're not in the Spanish class. - So yeah, so that, yeah, that was, that was really nice and obviously beautiful. - Do you like doing the destination stuff? - Yeah. - Justically travel, because you've, as you've got more kit than probably average. - Well, that's easy to probably not like it was me, 'cause it was weird. - Yeah, just take it, take it, take it, take it, take it all the time. - So the guitar, yeah, but that, it's always higher, the higher the equipment there, and then you do. - They've done that, yeah, I've taken stuff abroad. - Have, yeah. - Flow and speakers out and all that. - If you want to, I wish I'd done that, because the speakers at the hotel were really sharp, but I just made it work. But obviously I would have preferred to have my gear. - Couple of those EVs, eights, be mega. - I know, you've got to just take that. That's not so, yeah. - But the guitar, I always say, if it's okay with you and generally they say yes, because it's not that much more, to have a seat for X, it's my baby, and I don't want to put it in anything. 'Cause you know what the baggage handle is like? - Hey, for a seat, put it on it. - Yeah, so I've got like, (laughing) - Yeah, because you know, like, you know, your fellow passengers on the plane, and they're not going to pass me like, cheeky, cheeky, fucking. - I'm taking a seat for the, - The paper seat, yeah. - I'm gonna bother you, it's just there, I don't know, it's not gonna cause any trouble. - Yeah, but people get grumpy out of the flyers, don't they? - Like, I did it once and put it in the hall, and I actually saw out the plane window. - Oh, they're just chucking it. - Yeah. - I had a fragile all over it. I'd like, we had it wrapped everything, and I was like, I don't want to do this again. This is my, this is it. - Do you get, you get tired of an inflight meal? Or is it just, (laughing) - I mean, yeah. (laughing) - It's what makes you get two meals. Are you always thinking of your stomach, you know? That's typical. - So yeah, what about you, do you like the aborted stuff? - Yeah, I try and get a couple of years, just to get away. If I can turn it into a few days away and have some trip out of it, then I will, cause otherwise, it's just a long way to go to do a wedding. So I'm a bit past the kind of excitement and glamour of it from that point of view, cause I don't like to be away unless I'm gonna make the most of it another few days. - I tend to repeat. - I refuse, I brought gigs now. Unless I get a really good vibe with a couple. - It's just, I think where I'm at with the kids being young and stuff, it's just not something I want to be doing loads. - Less, before we do the quick fry round, what would you be your one piece of advice for somebody? - Starting out the wedding in industry. - Yeah, in the wedding, as a singer or otherwise. - Yeah. - Well, I have a gallery wall in my house, above my sofa, and it's got loads of different things, but on one of them it says, "Work hard and be nice to people." And I actually do take that motto. That sounded a bit lame. "Work hard and be nice to people." I think it's really important. - That's pretty much the mental stuff. - That's the mental stuff. - You should be doing it, yeah. - Yeah, and then I just think it's important to, like, with venues and suppliers and whoever you work with. - Jeff, do you actually look at that and keep your own track? - No, I don't know. - You have a meable. - You can have that on your phone. - It's got loads of other cool things on it. But I think, I think that is something like that. I'm just so I see it all the time and remember. I have one of my offers and it says, "Don't forget to be awesome every day." - Yeah. - So it sounds like you look at things like that. And it's, yeah, the advice there, definitely. Just be nice to people and work hard. Is, you know what, that is the prevailing. Everyone that we have on the pod, it's always the same. It's just do the best for your couples. Don't be in that bed. - Don't be in that bed. - Be nice. - Don't be a dick, that's the journey. - Yeah, the versions of that. And that seems to be where all the six successful people are doing so. - I thought you were going to ask me about, I was trying to think of an embarrassing story because I thought that was what I wanted. - Oh, get on to that. - Oh, sorry. - We're coming up to that. - I've got, this is a new thing. We've got a quick fire round. This is new. - We're not too good with quick fire, 'cause that's not right. - So you're just the first answer, I'll try and do this quick. - Okay, cool. - Sorry, cold decline. I should have put that on silent. - Sorry, right. It might be important. Who is it? - It might be important. This is the most important thing in the world. - We've got that on camera. (laughing) - Right, quick fire, right. Big wedding or small wedding? - Small wedding. - Favorite part of a wedding day? - Singing the bride down the aisle. - Oh. - Most underrated part of the day. - Ooh, cocktail hour in between. - Yeah, very night. - Agreed. - I love hyping everyone up on that part, taking requests, getting the energy up for the evening party, love a cocktail hour. - What's the most stressful part of a wedding day here? - Oh, gosh. Stressful part of a wedding day. - 10 seconds. - Okay, I'm in a fresh. - I said about dr. - I always make. - It's like a game show host. - Sorry, I always make sure that. - I always make sure the down that aisle is like perfectly planned and stuff, but like that is the most power. I always like, I wouldn't need to get this right for that moment for her. So sometimes that can be. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. Favorite venue? - I find this really hard to answer. - It's so hard. I don't really, I don't really see a love in house. I like Bruges and Horn, Clever Hill, I was there. I don't know. - Nice pronunciation as often, I don't know how to say that. - I was in Bruges, Bruges, Bruges, Bruges, Bruges, Bruges. - It sounds a bit like Gilly Gilly, but I probably would do like make up 'cause I really like make up. - Yeah, nice. - And it's like nice making someone feel pretty. - Right, make up. That's one. One trend you're ready to say goodbye to. - It's trying to get a bit catty. - What would you, what do people say? - Me, what would I say? I would say, I have the fucking cake cut for me. He's the slight, what the? - Okay. - I loved it, I did something different in his wedding day. I was champagne pour or something. - Yeah, the cake cut. - Right, beaches in between courses. - Yeah. - But get rid of, I won't allow that on my wedding anyway. But the cake thing, yay, the cut is some cake. If you wanna get a photo, you have to use two cuttings some cake. Why, you weird, I was, oh and by the way, if you get around to the house next week, the cut in a steak pie, if I wanna get a picture of that, that's all. - You know what, I would say, I really am like into celebrants, her money is now, rather than like, I know that. - Rather than register us. - Yeah, so get rid of registrars. - No, that sounds bad. But I do really love a celebrant ceremony because it's really personal. - I do, I do. - And I could recite them to register. - So that sure is trendy to get rid of, right? - No, it's just like, what a dub wedding in general, no. No, yeah, sorry. I obviously, I just like it as there's a thing. So that's a difficult one. Can I just say that? - Yeah, what do you get rid of? - Speakers in between causes. - Oh, that's a fill out one. - Oh, yeah, but that's a given for me anyway. Definitely speaking. - 11 o'clock ceremonies? - Yeah, yeah. - Like, let's not have that. - 'Cause so many trends we could get rid of. - Oh, even 12, I mean, 12 times. - 12 times better than 11, but half ones on two is back better than all of them. So, I don't wanna. - And then there's too much of a gap in between. - Fouls myself out. The wedding industry, 'cause I could get quite controversial. - I made it. - I've got to tell you this. - I get rid of people on podcasts, giving out bad advice. So I watched Andy Murphy sent it to me. So did he listen to this? Somebody on the podcast about the wedding industry was asking this person, I'm not sure if they may or if they might go. And they were saying about, make sure you have your wedding really early, get to 11 o'clock. 'Cause then you've got all this time, I was thinking, "No, that's like the worst. You could have so many levels in different parts of the day. Everything would be too pissed too early. They're gonna be too tired too early. You've got to get up at three in the morning to get ready for it." - Exactly. - And she was giving it and it was like solid advice to couples. And I was like, I felt like saying, "This has to come off air. "This has to work to advise you." - There you have it. - And it was an O-O. The issue with social media is that there's so many people now that were influencers that will share their opinion and seem credible, but there's so much variation of the advice. Like some of it's really bad. Some of it's just personal opinion. Like you've got to be really careful where you get your information from everything off. Get rid of all podcasts except for this one. (laughs) 'Cause obviously we talk sense. - And any of the wedding business podcasts, I don't think there are any. - Not like this one. - I know a few videography ones, but nothing generalised it, I don't think. - Can we take the, can we put the flag in the sand and say that we were the first kind of, there must be one of the only ones in the UK that crossed the whole way in English. - Not just about the business stuff. - You probably know, but I will take you. - We can help anyone, like even a little bit. - That's amazing. - Yeah, it's been a little bit of a little bit of a thing. - Just dig, just be like talking about weddings. - Yeah. - And it just, you know, people listen, people get benefit from it. So that's a bonus, 'cause we like doing it anyway. - Yeah. - And get to our cooks and teach with it, which is very nice. - Well, it's lovely for you. - Just a bit of see, both of you are nice. - Right, come on, come on, come on. - I'm very sincere then. - I'm very sincere from the wedding. - Too bad, I'm not, I couldn't think of anything that was so bad. It was like, not very bad. - You can hit on my right, a few. - Oh, God, we got that, I don't know. - A green maybe. (laughing) - So I wanna go there. But I did, I think. - Please go there. - I've got a few of that. - I don't wanna, oh well, it's just drunk man, isn't it? - Yeah. - I don't wanna go hit on anyone. But I did believe my, I did, this was just embarrassing, 'cause it was just pure stupidity for me. Like I did a wedding in Durham, which obviously isn't on the corner. And I had an evening party. So finished there, did put half of this stuff in the car. And went to go say, by sobrion groom, always say goodbye, I brought a lot. And then I was just like, and he's get back. So, and then I got back to my sister, and realized I left half of my equipment in Durham. Like, so bad. - Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. - I just have to go back and get it. - No, so you know, at saxophony, you know, actually, you was doing the evening since she brought it back for me. I got it, but this is what I have spares of everything. Spares because, that pedals, but I'm like, spilling, relaxing. - Yeah, it's so mean. - To be fair, it's like, - You need to be able to clone your entire set up, just in case. - I mean, it's probably like a catastrophizing thing. I'm like, well, what if this video just blows on? - You've got to think about that. - It's probably not gonna happen, but you do have to, like, you know, have a lot of fun. - Because the person that doesn't think like that is like, that's the lack of experience for me when something inevitably does go wrong and you then can't provide your service. - Exactly. - And that's on you, really, of preparing. - Yeah, I've never seen one of you got so much stuff I was like, 'cause I need the spares. - Yeah. (laughs) - But also, I don't know if you've ever had it like, with them, brides being, or groom being like too drunk to, like do, I've had someone like pass out before the first dance before, and stuff like that. - We did years ago, there was a bride that, - I was pretty bad. - I was thinking how many of you guys, like, just trying to paint yourself a little bit. - That's true. - Where did we did? - I remember that. - Yeah, loads. - I've got it where the groom's got missing and he's been found collapsed in a toilet somewhere and he shouldn't be doing his first dance. - So maybe that's like a standard. - Yeah, move out, don't be. Yeah, loads of, loads of brides, say loads of brides. It probably more brides than the grooms where they've been really pissed and they've not been able to do the first dance. - Yeah. - I've known that a lot. - Oh, it's like, yeah, that one, when I turned up she was like a bottle of champagne and I was just looking at it. - Yeah, you can see it, it comes in some kind of aspect. - You can get a pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty. - Not to face yourself, haven't you? - Once I did a selfie, sorry, go up. - No, sorry, I'm interrupting, but on our wedding day, because obviously that was on the last month, I didn't struggle to get drunk. - 'Cause you're too chatty, no, you're too busy. - You don't have time to, like I had drinks all the time, but I was having a sweat, so I put it down, getting a fresh one, you're adrenaline as well. - And you adrenaline keeps you going, yeah. I found it really, we were probably the soberest ones at everybody from then. - I think, like, remember it all and you get to speak. - Yeah, yeah, that's the way I wanted it. I didn't want to wake up the next day, minging, I didn't want to pass out for getting a thing, so. - DPD's at the door. I've never had, you know, when you do, I'm sorry, my reason, it's like, what do they say if anyone has an amazing hair? - Yeah. - Obviously, is that ever happened? - Well, if someone's objected, no, I wanted to have it selfishly, I wanted to have it. - It's never gonna happen, but like. - Well, touchward, it will never happen. - No, it's not gonna happen. - And you wouldn't expect to happen, but how could I? Like, just once, for the drama. I wouldn't wish it on anybody, but also I'd part of me would love to see it happen one day. - Well, that's what I was saying about, there was a ceremony with bounces, because they didn't want the month to come, 'cause I think she was gonna come and like, you're like, trying to shut it down. So maybe it was gonna happen then. - I did a wedding, I did a wedding years ago where the bride arrived at the church and the groom was still in the pub, and when someone went to get him, I think I went to get him, or I went with someone to get him, and he was like, I'm not going until I finish my plan. And we were like, you're brides here, you've got to get in the church and he was like, well, I'm gonna finish this first. - Oh no. - It's like, great. - This is it. - I'm so sorry. - I'll say no more. - I'll say no more. - I'll say no more. - I'm sorry, Sam. - I'm sorry, I'm sorry. - I mean, we don't have to do that. - No, the last question from the last guest for you was what was your biggest light bulb moment? - Your career to date. - Oh. - I think like we were saying about the feedback that we were talking about. - I think that's what we were talking about. - I think like we were saying about the feedback from two and stuff and like reviews and things like that. When you actually start believing what people are saying and get lovely comments, it's like that moment of like, oh, I'm actually doing what I'm supposed to be doing and I'm like, good at it and I'm well-carrying on doing it. I don't know if that's a good light bulb moment, but you know, that really, people don't realize how much the reviews like me and really to us they keep us going and the way. - Yeah, just the information that you are and they're really good for business as well, but also like from a personal point of view, 'cause yeah, they're really lovely. And so I don't know, I might change my answer. - Well, a lovely wholesome way to end. - Do you have a light bulb moment? - I don't know, I don't know. - Yeah, I answered this. I was on another podcast, someone asked me this that I was into. - We were in Portugal. - That was a light bulb moment, yeah. When I was like, well, I did my first destination where I'm with Howard and I should have been starting. Had I gone down my career path of teacher, had I been starting a job that week in September and my first week of the job, all the rest of my fellow uni graduates. And instead I was in a pool in Portugal, shooting a wedding and I was just like, this life's min. - Oh my goodness. - This is definitely what I want to do, yeah. - Yeah. - Yeah, did you like sort of help? - Howard got me like good. - Got, yeah. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Oh, like, it's not, it's just, - You've got a sense of the end of it. - I owe him everything. - No, it's just, it was in my, when I was doing stuff. I was doing a bit of videoing for hotels and I was doing a bit of camera and a bit, all the bits of stuff. And I just asked Adam, I don't know how it even came about. I asked him whether he were around. I said, "Do I come along on a shoot?" He told the camera and stuff. He'd never been told the camera and just sort of that from there, really. And then just tells all the way through. - So that was the question for the, the question of an actor. - Yeah, it's a, no. - Not telling you that's part of it. - Okay, I was just gonna say, - Because we don't actually know. So we never have any more lined up. - I already married, right? I guess, maybe. So I was gonna say, if you could do over your wedding, - Or if you're not married, and you're gonna do it. - Or if you're not married with all the knowledge that you have of weddings, how would you do it? What would the dream wedding be? - Nice, yeah, I mean. - That was a good question. - I should have that one. - Yeah, what would it be? - Because my wedding now would be very different, probably. - Probably what a good thing. - We did ours exactly, very fitting for more than years experience. - Yeah, exactly. - Yeah, absolutely. But when I got my rate, there wasn't the type of things that they're all now. I know it was only 20 years ago, but still a quite big, the wedding is just changed so much in 20 years. It's ridiculous. So I would do, I got a lot of different things, but, - Yes, that was great question. - Thank you so much. - What people say for that one. - I don't know, I can't hear from a sourdough. The sourdough's coming. As soon as you get off air, you can have it. - It's been so nice having you guys. - Thank you so much. - Thanks for making the trip and coming over. We really appreciate it. - Thank you guys. - We always have it. - It's just a fun vibe. - It was just the chat, wasn't it? - Yeah, it was. - You agree? - Yeah. - I'm pretty good at brilliant. Yeah, cool. That's a wrap. Cool. - Thanks guys. - Welcome. (upbeat music) So thanks so much for listening. We really hope that you found this episode insightful, inspirational. And if you did enjoy that, then please consider subscribing to us wherever you get your podcast, iTunes, Spotify, where I think wedding business. We're also on YouTube and Instagram. So if you wanna watch us, you can go over to YouTube and find us at think wedding business and the same over on Instagram to keep up with all of our future episodes. We really love you to subscribe and join us on this journey. And if you do like this content, please consider giving us a five-star review, just helps us get seen and help spread the word. So thanks again for listening and we'll see you next time. Bye-bye.