Karaoke Forums

A friend of mine is getting married in a few months--kind of short notice, but it's his life and all. He and his fiancee met at karaoke, he is a dedicated karaoke singer, she's a... dedicated karaoke listener. The entire wedding party is people they have met through karaoke, and he's considering doing a karaoke wedding. He has already hired a dj who does both regular and karaoke shows, but who has never done a wedding with karaoke.

Have any of the kjs here did a wedding that involved karaoke? How did you do it? How did it go?

(And, sidenote: if you know of any good karaoke shows in the Pittsburgh area, midweekish, that would be helpful too--as the best man is the groom's brother, and currently serving in the military, I've been the designated make-the-bachelor-party-happen guy, and have been given a strict "no strip club" policy, so we are looking into a casino/karaoke trip)

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Co-host of The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly), a karaoke-themed podcast

I will not do wedding karaoke anymore. Although I had some good experiences, I had more bad. I try to discourage it from anyone wedding I talk with.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

As Lonman said I too strongly try to discourage karaoke at weddings, but having said that if you are going to do it, try to not start unitl very late in the evening when folks not interested in karaoke will have gotten the chance to dance and probably will be leaving or already left.

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Music speaks to the heart in ways words cannot express.

I have booked dozens of them and have performed about 7 myself.

Most were upsells and had karaoke in ANOTHER ROOM with a seperate KJ, giving the non-singing people and dancers the DJ to enjoy.

The ALL-In-ONE-Room-Karaoke Weddings usually fizzled out early due to the exodus of non-singers and people who wanted to dance to upbeat danceable rock or hip hop.

It only takes 1 or 2 bad singers or songs to start to kill a good wedding vibe...too risky in 1 room in my opinion, especially if there's kids involved!

ESPECIALLY if kids are involved!

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

So, if he's still absolutely set on doing it, I should suggest leaving it strictly for the end of the night?

Thanks for the prompt responses, guys.

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Co-host of The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly), a karaoke-themed podcast

I advise my clients that OPEN karaoke is almost always a bad idea.

However, it is awesome to have a karaoke singer sing some of the formal songs. I've had them do the first dance and other slow songs. When it is planned in advance, it CAN work.

If you are having a bunch of singers that might want to sing, select the best ones (or, at least eliminate the really bad ones). Have them select their song at least a week in advance. Encourage them to practice, as this will be their only song of the evening. And, be sure that the songs are something they can dance to - fast or slow. Don't have people up there singing ho hum songs that nobody knows.

Whenever I do something like this, I send the song to the singer via email so that there is no question that they know what version they are singing.

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I'm not a cheerleader, but I paid for my pom poms with my own money!

Here's the problem as I see it:

Too many KJ's think they can run karaoke at a wedding just like they do at a bar.

It just doesn't work that way. It can be successful, but it requires restraint. A wedding reception is not a karaoke bar and the guests are not patrons wanting to sing.

RULE #1: Do NOT even make karaoke available until 1 to 1.5 hrs before the reception is over. If you allow it at the beginning, it will turn into a karaoke party for very few and the rest of the guests will leave by 11:00pm.

RULE #2: THREE (3) karaoke songs in a row MAXIMUM - and then a few dance songs. Most of the guests are there to dance and not sing. You have to make the MAJORITY of the guests happy. Not just a few that like to show off their singing.

RULE #3: Keep it ELEGANT. Remember that it's a wedding reception. Do not allow anyone (unless you get specific permission from the bride and groom) to sing ANY song that "relates to the termination of a relationship." No heart-breaking ballads, no "I Will Survive", "You've lost that lovin' feeling", "Bad romance" or ANYTHING CLOSE. Also, I'd recommend avoiding any of the "angry rap" songs or profane ones ("I'm On A Boat")

It's a celebration of the beginning of a love relationship, your job is to make it a happy one that people will not only remember, but talk about - in an endearing way.

It can be done.

Hah. Very good point.

...

We'll save those for the bachelor party.

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Co-host of The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly), a karaoke-themed podcast

wow I've never had a bad experience... but like others have said.

I make sure all formal introductions and dances are done then start off with music. usually karaoke starts when things start to break up, kids and older folks start to leave. by that time the bride/groom & wedding party are nice and toastie and their noses are glowing like rudolf....

kids really don't get the mic much cause the wedding party is doing most of the singing.

if you know what your doing, you will know when it's time to break out the karaoke.
Most of the time it's when the groom wants to sing to his bride while dancing with her.

but keep the dance music going in between..

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It's all good!

Don't do it.

If they met at karaoke, karaoke should be a part of the wedding if they both want it. Very good points have been brought up. I've done karaoke twice at weddings. Both turned out well. Both waited until about 2 hours into the open music. Then it became open karaoke. I was intrigued by the concept of everyone knowing what song they are going to sing before the reception. I can see that becoming eloquent if that is what is needed. Also the concept of "the wedding karaoke singer". I don't think would apply in this case since the groom to be is a singer.

Bottom line, don't kick it off early, more people will leave than would have during regular dance music.

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

Like i mentioned before, IF they can afford it, put karaoke in another room and everyone wins.

YOU get the upsell $$, everyone has a great time, and nobody leaves early.

Actually, they may WANT to stay LATER...dancing THEN karaoke or vice versa. 2 simultaneous activities they can choose from.

Separating your guests is a terrible idea. I've done bar/bat mitzvahs like this. Chip has done corporate parties like this, too. It never works well. You end up with a few people in one room and the bulk of them in the other. The few feel isolated and the guests of honor have to divide the time between the two rooms. Terrible idea. (Sorry John).

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Birdofsong

Don't people usually have a place booked for a specific time, and they have to vacate at the proverbial Witching Hour? If so, then the party might not be allowed to go on longer.

No upsell for me: I'm just a member of the wedding party.

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Co-host of The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly), a karaoke-themed podcast

I've done karaoke at a wedding once. It was at the bride's request. She was a singer. Not many people sang, mainly the bride. I would say that 80% was dance music and karaoke made up the other 20. And it worked out great and people loved it and had fun.

I would say, if the couple wants it, do it! Make it fun! Don't listen to this weddings should be elegant crap. Where was that ever written, anyway.

They're going to remember the fun time the wedding was long after how nice the place looked. And remember, at most weddings, people get drunk and act like fools....What's so elegant about that???

So, I say do it!

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Electro-Voice Evolve 50... Taking Sound To The Next Level.

Sorry Bird, but i disagree with your accessment based on performing over 130 bar/bat mitsvah my self personally, and overseeing several hundred corporate gigs in my 20 years time running a full service entertainment business.

When you people options of entertainment they usually utilize them. Attempting to keep the same people in the same room when they may not be enjoying themselves is torture, but most do it out of formality, etiquette, then find a reason to leave, usually sooner than later.

Every Bride & Groom i've ever dealt with, nearly 99% being high-dollar functions with hundreds of guests (including lot of children), never seemed to mind going room to room checking on the guests doing karaoke, listening to live music and smoking cigars, then making it back to the reception itself to dance. This of course, after the first dance and other traditions that a performed with everyone in the same room.

As far as mitvahs go, after doing some dancing and traditions, most kids have a seperate room for karaoke, x-box, video-making, leaving the main room for dancing for the adults. Hip hop the kids want, does not usually vibe with the many 70 year olds. That is done in another room, as well as all the kids games (coke & pepsi, balloon-butt racing, etc..) Many mitsvahs i hired dance-troops to get the older folks dancing, then go into the other rooms to teach the kids line dancing. I taught dancing as well.

Certainly i've done many mitsvahs where everything iS performed in the same room where everyone can witness the fun, but the more extravagant ones lasted longer, had many more guests, and had more performers to keep EVERYONE, not just the kids, happier.

We can choose to disagree, but ther'e no denying my own experience at this one, for myself, and the many happily satisfied guests, which directly lead to dozens more mitsvah bookings, as well as weddings, because they got it ALL, as far as entertainment. -john

Cue, true in a lot of cases, but in many cases the receptions were in the large homes and gardens at private residences.

When i said "LATER", i also meant later than most would stay if they weren't having a good time and would leave before their rented venue's lease expired.

I suppose everybody's experiences are different, but I can say with regard to mine and Chip's (with 17 years of experience each), dividing a party (expecially one such as a wedding), is not a good idea and does not work well. I'm glad for you that your experiences are different. This is not a situation where kids are playing games in another room so they don't annoy the adults. This is a situation where now the bride and groom have to divide their time in two different places. To each their own, I suppose.

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Birdofsong