"Um...no...beating DJ Hero on your Wii does not qualify you for this position"

Recruiting. Ugh. I think this is the hardest and most frustrating part of my job. Lots of wedding vendors I talk to hate doing the sales/business part of this job, but me, I love meeting potential clients. I'd rather get rejected by 10 couples planning their wedding then go through all these DJ applications and set up interviews with them any day. Hiring photographers is new to me and honestly I thought that was going to be easier. I was wrong. Photographers are worse. Okay, maybe all that was a bit dramatic. But seriously, what a pain. Now the people that do work with Platinum Mix, are some of my best friends in the world. I love each and every one of them, and have complete trust that they will do an awesome job. Its just so hard finding those people. And then after I find them, I have to get them to the point where I trust them with my client's weddings. Trust takes time to develop. A long time. No way am I risking my hard-earned reputation on some random dude who just bought a camera yesterday and is now calling himself a professional photographer. Or the kid with some loud speakers and an internet connection fast enough to download millions of songs just in time for his saturday job. Screw that. I've worked hard at this for 15 years, not giving away my rep that easy.

Recruiting makes me feel really bad for my clients. Honestly, if it were my wedding (and I wasn't in this business), it would be really stressful for me to pick vendors. Not because of so many good choices, more because its scary out there folks. Have you ever seen the show "The Riches"? Its fantastic. It got canceled. Maybe it scared people? It scared me, because I know how true it is that people believe way too easily. If you haven't seen the show its about how a family steals the life of another (much more wealthy) family. The father becomes a lawyer. No, he does not have a law degree. And no, he does not have any experience or know anything at all about practicing law. But he excels at his job, because he's got a gift for selling. He just said he's a lawyer, so people believe him. If you want to be a wedding DJ technically its super easy to get started. Buy some equipment, put up a website, print up some business cards and just like that - you are a "professional". Essentially, just announce to the world that you are now a wedding DJ, and people will believe you. And its true, you are now a wedding DJ. However you probably suck. And you are confusing your clients, who don't know how in the world to figure out why DJ option #1 is better than DJ option #433.

I dislike the recruiting process because I have to explain to these "wedding djs" why they need to participate in Platinum Mix's training program. Or why their equipment is not up to spec. Or convince them to do something different then how they have been doing it, because its not how we do it. And while I know there are many ways to do something, I have very high standards for how things are done here, and I insist those standards are met before I will book somebody for my jobs. I have an obligation to every single one of my clients to deliver talented, skilled, trained PROFESSIONALS for their events. Finding those people though, is the hard part of my job. What I really need is an HR department.....

If you're reading this and you are a DJ, photographer, videographer, graphic designer or editor, and you feel that you are a skilled professional please fill out the application located here:
http://platinummix.com/dj_app.php
We would love to hear from you!

New Site Up! (sort of...)

Well. Got the new website up today. I would be excited, except its not working very well in Internet Explorer. Works great in Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Opera. but no go in IE. :( Apologies to anybody trying to check out platinummix.com using Internet Explorer...we are busy working on fixing the problems.

Back to work!

Big Changes Coming Soon! :)

So many of you know, many of you don't know yet, but finally (after 4+ years of experimentation), I'm super excited to announce that I will be officially merging my photography business with Platinum Mix. I say "officially" because we've been secretly offering under the table package deals for the past year and a half or so. Secretly, because we've been careful to spread the events out so as not to get over-loaded with all the extra work. Photography adds a substantial amount of post-production, so much so, that we've had to hire an additional dedicated photo editor last summer. Starting out with the honor of being selected to photograph and provide DJ services for special events surrounding the NCAA Final Four in April 2009, the past 10 months, we've somehow managed to offer DJ + PHOTO + VIDEO to 9 of our clients (without any advertising, business cards, fancy marketing materials or anything -- I'm pretty proud of myself for that one). In addition, I was happy to serve another 33 the past 12 months operating under "Sara Michele Photography". It took a little longer than I expected, however I now feel 100% confident in our workflow (we've consistently delivered everything on time within 30 days of our clients weddings), and I feel that our team is strong enough and ready to really grow with this. This is incredibly exciting for everybody involved for many reasons, but the biggest:: Wait until you see the totally awesome package deals we've worked out!!

There is MUCH work to be done. The entire website needs to be overhauled, all of our advertising needs to be updated, all of our printed materials, business cards, basically everything needs to be re-designed. We've all been busy around here to say the least. All of the above is in progress, and starting with this blog announcement, expect to see much to come from Platinum Mix in the coming months. With that, I'm pleased to post our brand new logo -->>

Guitar Hero Wedding Reception!!

Haley and Dan approached Platinum Mix about a year ago with a unique and fun idea - they wanted to play Guitar Hero at their wedding reception. SWEET!! Our signature DJ package #3 fit the bill perfectly because it offers a super large video screen with rear projection. This worked great so that while 2 people were playing guitar hero, the rest of the guests could dance. We were also able to incorporate the other awesome features of this setup like playing some "growing up" photos of Dan and Haley during dinner, as well as music videos during the times that nobody was actually playing Guitar Hero.

Here are a few photos (plenty more can be found here):







I love these next two of Haley rockin' out some guitar hero at her wedding! ->




Going into it, I was slightly afraid that the video game would be such a major distraction that nobody would dance. but this group proved otherwise and the party ended up being a blast!




Not really DJ related, but I also thought it was totally pimpin' that Dan and Haley had a horse drawn carriage waiting for them as they made their exit from the ceremony. Nice!




Special thanks to Katherine for the help getting all the extra equipment set up and for taking all the pics!

Vendor List:
Venue (both ceremony and reception): Cobblestone Farm, Ann Arbor, MI Website
Photographer: Bride's Brother!
Catering: Friends of Bride and Groom (I think)
DJ: Sara G. and Katherine Moore // Platinum Mix
(If you provided services to this wedding and are not listed above, please email your info to us and we will add you.)

hot and fresh out the kitchen....

So excited to announce Platinum Mix is now accepting reservations for our new Photo Booth service! The concept is old school: enter an enclosed booth, take 4 pictures, and a few seconds later a photo strip of your 4 pictures is printed up for you to take home with you. The delivery is new skool: All your photos will be available online for your guests to view and download. Our photo booth was setup for the first time at Eli and Lori's wedding at The Best Western Sterling Inn in Sterling Heights, and it looks like their guests had a blast with it: Check out all the photo booth fun here:

Photo Booth Pictures from Lori and Eli's wedding CLICK HERE

Plenty more information and details to follow, or give us a call at 248-349-8318 to inquire about renting a photo booth for your own Michigan wedding.

What Up Facebook Peeps

Join Platinum Mix on Facebook by going to this page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Northville-MI/Platinum-Mix/69931030831

Just click the "become a fan" link to receive our updates in your news feed. :)

Quick update

Busy summer at Platinum Mix! Thought I'd take a quick second to post some of the wedding day recap videos our videography department has been keeping busy working on:

Shannon and Chris had both their ceremony and reception in August at Mystic Creek Golf & Country Club in Milford, Michigan. I really love the shots our camera crew got of Shannon driving up to the ceremony on the golf cart. Beautiful!

Chris and Shannon Wedding Day Recap from Sara G. on Vimeo.

Theresa and Eric's wedding reception was a total blast! What a fun group of people! The black eyed peas "i gotta feeling" section of this video is a little more "mtv"/faster-paced than we normally do, but the tempo seemed to fit, and I personally am diggin' it.

Eric and Theresa's Wedding Day Recap from Sara G. on Vimeo.

DJ Paul Mattis got to have some fun mixing up the music for Tricia and Kevin's reception at Kensington Court in Ann Arbor, MI. Looks like Paul, Evis and Eric got a chance to work with Dustin Francis who was the photographer for the day. Evis is totally amazing and he actually built this "Slider" device which enables our video crew to get some very unique and smooth "sliding" shots. This is the first wedding he used it at, a few of the shots are in the video. I especially like the shoe shot. :)

Tricia and Kevin's Wedding Recap! from Sara G. on Vimeo.

While the slider was still in experimental phases for the previous video, Evis really got the hang of it just in time for Kalli and Patricks big day. I totally love this video, a beautiful wedding, a beautiful couple, good music (but I'm a big dashboard confessional fan...haha), and the video footage is some of our best.

Patrick and Kalli's Wedding Day Recap! from Sara G. on Vimeo.

I'm soooooo lucky to have such talented people working with me. Shout out to the hard-working and incredibly talented videographers we have working with us: Eric, Evis, Andrew, Katherine & Nathanael.

DIY wedding reception slideshows

So you have a video slide-show that you have created yourself and would like shown at your wedding reception. Your video is finished (and looking totally awesome!), and you plan to borrow a projector from work. All set to go right? Not exactly. Here's what you will need to make it happen:

1) Video screen or large white empty wall to project on too.

2) Projector

3) Where is your video stored? Is it on a DVD? Then you'll need a DVD player. Is it on a computer? Then you will need to bring that computer. Is it on the internet? Then you'll need to get it off the internet, and then bring a computer to play that file back. Is it on an iPod? Then bring that iPod.

4) Does your presentation include audio? If yes, then you will need a way to play that audio back. Using your laptop's built-in speakers is NOT going to work very well in a crowded room of 200 guests. The proper way to do this is to either A) tap into your venue's built-in PA system (you will need to contact your venue to arrange for this) or B) use your DJs sound system (and again, you will need to discuss this with your DJ)

5) Make sure you have all the correct cables in the correct length. Projectors generally have to be at least 6-12 feet away from the projection surface. You will need a cable to connect the projector to your source (i.e. Laptop, DVD player), and the type of cable will depend on what your source is (like maybe S-Video, VGA, HDMI, etc). You will also need an RCA cable to connect your audio. Depending on how far away the audio source is located, you might need a really long cable. Its usually a good idea to plan on having your screen and projector placed within 25 feet of either the venues sound system or your DJ area (and then a 25 foot RCA cable will work great). If you're using a laptop or ipod, then you'll need a 3.5 mini plug to RCA cable, and most likely an adapter to extend your RCA cable so its long enough to reach your DJ. Other things to remember: The power cable to your projector, a long extension cord, and a power strip (to plug everything into).

If any of the above does not make sense to you, then I recommend reserving Platinum Mix's 5x7 screen & projector package. Your DJ will then take care of all the technical details. Check out this post for more info on that.

Wedding Reception Slideshows

So now that you've read my post about adding some visual entertainment to your reception, and you're all inspired to create your own video presentation, let's talk about how Platinum Mix can help you make this happen.

To keep things as simple as possible, let's assume that you want to create a growing up photo slide-show and you want it to be played back at some point during your reception.

The easiest way to do this:

1) Reserve our 5x7 screen and projector package along with your DJ services.

2) Start getting together all the photos you would like included in your slideshow.
Platinum Mix will scan/digitize up to 50 photos for free (additional photos are $1.00 each). If your photos are already in a digital form, you can use an unlimited number of photos in your slideshow.

3) Decide on 3 songs you would like included in the slide show. One for the photos of the bride, one for the photos of the groom and one for photos of the two of you together. Also think about any special text you would like included along with the photos (title screens and/or captions).

4) Put your photos in the order you want them to show. If your photos are digital, please rename them all to be 001.jpg, 002.jpg, 003.jpeg, etc. If we will need to scan your photos, please either write on the back (in a light pencil maybe) - 1, 2, 3, etc. You can also use post it notes to add a number to your photos that need scanning. Captions can be indicated in the file name too. For example: 016 my first car.jpeg or 018 going to prom!.jpeg. With photos that needed to be scanned, use those same post-it notes you wrote the numbers on to include the captions.

5) You can mail a CD with all your photos, or stop by and drop everything off to Platinum Mix.

6) Platinum Mix will create your slideshow and then upload it to the internet where you can preview it. If any changes need to be made, let us know ASAP so we can make the changes in time for your wedding.

7) Your Platinum Mix DJ will play back your finished slide show at your reception.

If you would like to create your slideshow yourself, then we ask (and strongly recommend), that you make arrangements with Platinum Mix to turn in your completed video file prior to your wedding day so we can test it on our systems and give it to the DJ along with whatever equipment is required to play it back. Please note: If you create your own video file, Platinum Mix is NOT responsible (and no, you do not get a refund) if you did not turn in your finished slide-show at least 2 weeks in advance and then we can't play it (because the file format is not compatible, or your DVD skips). This is why we strongly recommend that you either let us help you create it (included as part of the package price), or mail in your finished video 2 weeks before your reception date.

That's the basics, but we get so many questions about this, here is a quick FAQ that might help you out::

How long will my slide show be?

That depends on how many pictures you give us. We recommend no more than a 6 minute long slideshow. Too much longer and your guests will start to get bored.

How many pictures should we provide?

Based on having 5-6 minute slideshow (as recommended above), each picture will show for about 4 seconds, so that means you should provide about 60-90 photos.

How will 3 songs fit in 5-6 minutes? Do we have to find 2 minute songs?

We will fit the music to your photos. We will most likely have to fade each song out early.

My father/uncle/brother/cousin/sister created a slideshow for us. How do we turn that in to Platinum Mix?

You can burn the video on to a DVD and mail that in to us or if you want to put a video file onto a flash drive, you can mail that or make an appointment to drop it off.

IMPORTANT NOTES:
Please do not use PowerPoint to create your slideshows. If you do use PowerPoint, then you will need to provide a laptop to play it back on. (Our DJs do not come with extra laptops loaded with PowerPoint so we will not be able to play those).

Please do not store your completed video on the internet (i.e. youtube, myspace, facebook, etc). Most reception venues DO NOT have wi-fi available and you will be unable to access your video on the internet. If they do have wi-fi, it tends to be slow and un-reliable for video streaming. Overall, this is a very bad idea.

How long does it take for Platinum Mix to create our slideshow?

Please allow 1-4 weeks from the time we receive all of your photos.

What is the deadline for us to turn in our photos?

2 weeks, or 14 days prior to your wedding. If your photos are not received at least 2 weeks in advance, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to complete your slideshow and you will receive a refund of the package price ($199).

More questions? Feel free to email or call, or leave your questions in the comments.

Wedding Reception Ideas | Got Video?

Add a little visual entertainment to your wedding reception with some creative use of multimedia content.

Let's start with some examples of what exactly "multimedia content" means and how you can incorporate it into your reception. The most popular idea, is a "growing up" photo slide show (also sometimes referred to as a "montage"). This would be a collection of photos of the bride and groom as babies, children, teenagers, college, etc and then finished with photos of the bride and groom while dating. These can be just simply played direct from digital files on a laptop computer setup in a corner of your reception room (or maybe by the guest sign-in book?), or shown as an actual presentation complete with music and moving video at some point during your reception. Here is an example of a growing up photo slideshow Platinum Mix created for a recent client:

Alex and Stephanie's Growing Up Photo Slideshow from Sara G. on Vimeo.

Platinum Mix clients have come up with plenty of other content to play back at their reception, here are some examples:

// We had a bride who was a 1st grade teacher. The groom went to her school with a video camera and asked her students for advice on how to be a good wife. The groom knew his way around video editing software, so he edited all the footage he recorded into a very hilarious video of the 1st graders responses. Platinum Mix played back the video at the reception, right after the toasts/speeches. All of this was a total surprise for the bride (which of course she LOVED!).

// Another couple we worked for, was really big into sky-diving. They had plenty of video of the two of them sky-diving, and so we played it while all of their guests arrived to their reception and during dinner. This went along very well with the "sky" theme of their reception.

// Music Videos! For all clients who reserve our dj package #3, your DJ will not just be mixing the music, but the original music videos are also played back on a large projection screen setup near the dance floor. Here's a photo of how this looks setup at a wedding reception held recently at the Inn at St. John's Grande Ballroom in Plymouth, Michigan:





// A very talented bride and groom (both played guitar and sang), hired Platinum Mix to create a music video of them actually singing, playing, and acting out the song they selected for their first dance. Our videographers went out and recorded all the footage, we edited up their music video, and then I played it back at the reception during the first dance. Totally awesome!

// Having a destination wedding and a local party? How about video-taping your wedding ceremony and then having us play it back at the reception?

// Same-day edit videos produced by several local professional videographers (or "Instant Replay" as Platinum Mix calls it) are also huge hits at receptions. The Platinum Mix Instant Replay works like this: Our videographers record the ceremony, photo sessions, and other wedding day activities and then we do a very quick edit of that footage and play back a 3-5 minute segment on our video screens at your reception (usually toward the end).

Of course there are so many more great ideas....

If you incorporated photo, audio, or video content into your reception, feel free to leave a comment. We would love to hear what other people have come up with! :)