Pictures Speak Louder than Words

(which is good because my ears are still ringing)

Last weekend, Matt and I had a DJ job for a couple's wedding at this hall in Illinois. It was... well... an interesting experience. We conned persuaded Laura into coming along as a "classic rock consultant." (Matt has been quoted as saying "uh... what's classic rock," to which we all responded with laughter.)

So... here are some photos from the event. As it turns out, the groom decided he wanted a bunch of music we'd never heard of, and he decided he was going to request said music about an hour before the thing started. We have a lot of traditional wedding music, but he didn't want that. When our typical DJ'ing audience ask for non-traditional music, it usually involves lyrics like "Man, these women is awfully nasty," so we didn't exactly have a lot of the music these folks were requesting on-hand. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, here's some lyrics.)

Seeing as how DJ'ing is really boring beyond belief, we (well, I) entertained ourselves by making random graphics on the computer and (you guessed it!) taking pictures. We had a video projector set up, which we were using to project video of various people dancing, and displaying graphics on the rest of the time. (created in Photoshop in 12 seconds) The highlight of the evening was probably playing "Don't Fear the Reaper" (BOC) and displaying the graphic you see at the right. (If you don't get it, read the SNL transcript... I've got a fever!)

So... we packed all this random equipment into the Big Purple Van and were on our way

Here we see Laura, who immediately began doing homework working diligently, and Matt, who got a cup of water solely for use as an ashtray. (We're so classy! ) As the photographer, there aren't any pictures of me... how diabolical.

The wedding people decided to be rude and not offer us any dinner... so we got bored and took pictures of the equipment we had set up. Maybe I'll use these in some sort of promotional video someday.

Here's some pictures of people dancing. I don't know these people, so the photos are kinda boring. Moving on...

That's Matt getting some sort of incomprehensible request. Chances are, he's shaking his head and saying "we don't have that." There was a lot of stuff requested that we didn't have, which made the evening kinda depressing. Also, there's a photo of our DJ "table" with all the lights on.

Here's some more people I don't know dancing. I think everyone was drunk in these pictures... then again, I guess everyone was drunk in all the pictures. Nevermind.

Matt told me to make a graphic for the limbo... It's a typical drunken party activity. When he suggested it to the groom or somebody, it was suggested that we wait until later, when they were drunker. (probably physically impossible, BTW) So...uhm... here's the graphic, which we never did end up using. I guess it's just as well anyway because our limbo pole was just going to be a mic stand with the bottom part removed. (Hey -- you get what you pay for with DJ's! ) If you really like the limbo you can make this your wallpaper, I guess.

Around this time, the whole thing started to get pretty boring for us... So I made a moderately-funny graphic and put my head down while Matt and Laura busted out with some humorous dance moves. In that last photo, Matt's playing the tip jar as if it were some sort of drum. Hey -- don't give me that look... it was funny at the time. DJ'ing a wedding party is long and boring, so we were starved for entertainment.

Behind the glow from the video projector, you can see some sort of stupidity occuring over by the bar. It was about this time that we decided it was time to turn down the music, pack up the equipment, and get out of there. People were finally starting to lose interest and go home... and we had lost interest and decided it was time to go home hours ago. I didn't take a picture, but Laura was just about falling asleep.

We headed home and dropped off Laura. She had to wake up the next day, so I'm sure she was looking forward to her 3 hours of sleep after getting no dinner. I think we owe her a free meal.

Matt and I then headed back to his house and ate a quick dinner, and then attempted to sort through all the equipment and get it organized. I'm mainly posting this photo because his mom doesn't like me taking her picture, and I think it's hilarious. Matt is talking on the phone here trying to find his keys, which he apparently lost the previous day. I wonder if he ever found them.

So... all in all, it was an adventure... and now I have this picture, made while bored, to pull up as a desktop wallpaper whenever deemed appropriate. (class, perhaps?)

...and that's all there is to it! Now you too can DJ low-budget weddings!