Backthird closes; your event goes on. Here’s how.

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In mid-October, Backthird Entertainment is closing for good. If you’ve booked an event with us on or before October 10, 2020, this doesn’t affect you. We’ll be at your party, just as planned. We’re looking forward to it. If you’ve booked an event with us after October 10, 2020, we’re still taking care of you – but not as Backthird Entertainment. We’ll be transferring your contract. In most cases, we’ll transfer it to one of the DJs or musicians who already work for us. Here’s what you can expect. […]

Backthird won’t survive the pandemic. Here’s what that means.

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In mid-October, Backthird Entertainment is closing for good. Here’s why that’s happening – and a bit of what it means to me, the founder, after 15 years of weddings and events. Click here to Click here to skip to the “why” part. Or read on for how we’re caring for existing Backthird clients. […]

What’s a “Phase 4” wedding like in Illinois?

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Weddings are back in Illinois! Well, sort of. Maybe. But what are those weddings like? The state moved to Phase 4 of its COVID-19 reopening plan right at the end of June. That means with our July 4 weekend plans (“stay home again”), all of us wedding vendors got a host of guidelines, rules and practices to comb through. Which means I can tell you, finally, what your wedding’s going to look like if it happens any time before the end of this pandemic. Is it pretty? I’ll be honest: No. So in this article, I’m going clarify exactly what you can expect if you’ve reserved a wedding DJ or musicians with Backthird in 2020 or in early 2021. I’ll tell you what “traditional” weddings look like now. You can decide if that sounds good to you. And if it doesn’t, I’ll give you a non-traditional approach to think about instead. […]

Make your wedding safer by moving the afterparty online

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In June, we launched Huge Little Wedding – an entirely new approach to online wedding celebrations. The events our couples throw aren’t Zooms or livestreams, which broadcast the “real” event to online guests. Our online celebrations ARE the real event. Guests talk and toast and interact, just like they would at your reception. Because this IS your reception. It’s just all online. We went this route because we knew, increasingly, that wedding couples would have friends and family who wanted to truly take part, but who could not be present because of coronavirus. We wanted a way to let online guests feel like guests, not viewers. We wanted to let them all participate. And now that Illinois has entered Phase 4 of its reopening plan, we’re more convinced than ever that this option matters. Why? Because Phase 4 events get weird and awkward as the night goes on. In a pandemic, you can make your wedding fun or safe. But probably not both. And that’s not good enough. That’s why we’re letting every Backthird client “pivot” to a safer celebration with Huge Little Wedding – at no extra charge. We’re recommending this anyone with a wedding planned before March 2021. No one knows when we’ll have a vaccine widely available, but that seems a reasonable guess for now. If you’re a Backthird client, here is what you need to know. […]

The one question wedding vendors need to ask before they work in a pandemic

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There’s a pandemic on – and weddings and events are on again as well. That means we’re getting asked most every day to make confusing, risky ethical decisions about where and how to practice our profession. In this video, I explain the one question we keep coming back to in the Backthird office as we navigate this storm. How should we work a wedding now? What can’t we do? Asking this single question every day is helping us decide. […]

Today, we make big changes to our wedding pricing. This is why.

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I’m tired of complicating life for brides and grooms. Have you noticed how every engaged person really is two people? There’s the joyful person – fully present, savoring each moment of this rare brief phase of life. But there’s the anxious person, too – stressed out, confused and overwhelmed. It costs how much? We have to pick by when? You want to invite who? Engagement is a beautiful, once-in-a-lifetime span of months capped off by an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime wedding day. Engagement is a big pain in the ass as well. A bride or groom can savor every instant. Or – they can be overwhelmed. And if they’re overwhelmed, they miss it. They can miss the joy. The fun and the adventure and the crazy self-expression can just slip right by while they’re bamboozled by the budgets and details, by trying to navigate this strange expensive world of wedding planning. They can live their wedding year – or it can vanish in a whirlwind. Most do some of both, of course. Like in that parable with two wolves, most engaged folks have both animals inside them, Joy and Overwhelm together, each one vying for the victory. And God help us, wedding vendors. We’ve been feeding the wrong wolf. […]

Why do wedding vendors insist on meeting you before they’ll share their rates?

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Real talk: There’s a prevailing wisdom in the wedding industry that vendors should NOT share pricing with a couple until after they’ve met with us. More real talk: Couples hate this.  So what should we do instead? […]

Planning a wedding is overwhelming. Here’s how to make it fun again.

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Planning your wedding is fantastic – and it’s awful, too. And I’ve got the data to prove it. Well – perhaps not prove, exactly. Every year, I survey a cross-section of our wedding clients to ask about their experience planning a wedding in Chicago. We don’t serve enough couples for this info to be statistically significant (no single vendor does). But we do get some great feedback. And we see trends that match up anecdotally with what we’ve already learned ourselves about the world of wedding planning. I was not surprised to learn again this year that wedding planning could feel overwhelming. But I was surprised to see our survey hinted at a way that you can make it easier. Here are our suggestions, based on client feedback, for how you can make your wedding fun again. […]

Yes, we charge more for weddings. Don’t trust anyone who doesn’t.

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They call it the Wedding Markup – or, if they’re feeling dramatic, the Wedding Tax. Every year or two, a reporter somewhere finds out that most wedding companies charge less when they provide services for non-wedding events. They’ll do an story where they call a caterer or DJ asking for a quote for different services – one wedding event, one anniversary or corporate party. When the wedding quote is higher, the reporter “breaks” the news like it’s a scandal. Bad spin? Yes. But fake news? No, not really. Here’s why our DJ company bills more for weddings than for non-wedding events – and why an engaged couple should look twice at any company who doesn’t.  […]

Why we DJ weddings [VIDEO]

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Why be a wedding DJ anyway? We grabbed 5 Backthird DJs during our 2018 wrap party – and asked them that very question. Here’s a little video insight into Chicago-area wedding DJs, in less than 60 seconds. […]