What's up musicians, it's Jared and I just played a beautiful outdoor wedding. Well actually I didn't play I was running sound for my string quartet, Dream City Strings, they had hired a full quartet for their wedding ceremony. And they added on a half hour for a miniature cocktail hour. Plus, they wanted the strings amplified, and they wanted wireless mics for their ceremony. So sorry to hit you with all of that, but that's what we were hired to do. And that's exactly what we did. And I wanted to share with you how I maximized that gig. And I'm sure there are other things that I could have done. But I think I did a really good job of maximizing that gig. And this is part of the the gigging secrets framework that I teach my students is maximizing the gig, so that you take the most advantage of it as far as getting assets for your website, social media presence, building partnerships. And you can also use this to build a fan base if you desire to do that. So at this particular gig, I'm going to tell you just a brief story about it. It was on a lake economo Rock Lake actually at a private residents, and they had it in their backyard, which was just on the shore of the lake, it was just so beautiful. And weather is always a factor. You heard my rant several weeks ago about the dangers of outdoor gigs, including temperature, temperature was pretty hot for this one, but not too bad. It was definitely tolerable. Plus, they had a tent for the quartet, which is a requirements that were not in direct sunlight. But what you can't plan for is how windy it was. And it was very windy, especially on the shore of a lake. In fact, I would say just in general for any gigs that are on a body of water, expect it to be windy. And this was no exception. There were gusts of wind. Luckily, all the strings had they brought some sort of wind clips or clothespins for their music to prevent that from blowing away. Wind clips are always better than clothespins. But here is an incredible way that I was able to maximize the gig and build a relationship with a wedding planner, the actual the one that we had featured a couple of weeks ago. So it was so windy, and they had constructed this beautiful altar that was made out of piping, and birch branches and greenery draped in the birches, it was like kind of a cube, if you can imagine, and it was crossed a top. And so they were going to have their altar underneath it. And while the Quartet was setting up, and I was sound checking the equipment, a gigantic burst of wind goes through this backyard on the lake. And we hear this loud crash. And what happened. We looked over and we saw this altar, this beautiful altar that they had spent so much time constructing crashed, it fell down because the wind had gustad. And we couldn't have anticipated that. And it just was horrible. I felt so bad for the wedding planner who had constructed it, and the couple that was about to get married. But you know, you just can't plan for everything. And so this is kind of like, you know, as you do more and more gigs, you start to realize who you need to become, in order to be a full time gigging musician, and you realize that it's not just about the music. It's not just about making money. It's about being the kind of person who helps out in situations when you're needed. And for me, this was an opportunity for me to help out. So I sprang into action as the the members of my quartet, which I'm so proud of them and thankful for. And I ran over gotten the wedding planner, let her know what happened. You know, in these situations, it's always best to defer to the planner first, like don't try to solve the problem in a specific way without bringing the planner in charge, because that's really not my area of expertise. I don't know what they want to do. So I ran got the planner, and let her know what had just happened and offered my help. But asked her like what would you like us to do? And she came over and then we just spent 510 minutes, essentially deconstructing the rest of it and you know, they, the planner made the executive decision to take it apart and leave parts of it on the ground and form a different kind of decoration on the ground instead of you know, risking another wind gust blowing over this beautifully constructed arch. So we helped out we took it apart for her we brought the pieces away out of sight. And then got out of their way. And you know after that had happened and after the ceremony, I always say goodbye to the planner. And when I did that, she was a Express just how grateful she was that the Quartet stepped into action. And, you know, for me, I just love helping out. But I also do know that because we did this, that planner and other people at that wedding, the other vendors are going to remember that in the time of an emergency. This was essentially an emergency. The quartet was helpful, and it was a part of the vendor team. When you play weddings, you become part of what's known as the vendor team, which is the team of all of the different caterers, bartenders, photographers, videographer, florist, etc. That is a team and really, in these moments is when, you know, either you show that you're part of that team or you don't. And I think that's just one of the best ways that you can maximize every single gig is by being a part of that vendor team. And, you know, it's like I said before, who do you need to become, in order to make a full time living as a musician, you need to become a team player that doesn't just show up for the music in the money. You have to be there for other reasons, too. So that's one. That's a couple of ways right there of how I maximize that gig. Of course, I'm going to follow up afterwards. And, you know, I've already built a great relationship with this planner, and I'm excited to keep doing that. And I hope that this inspires you and shows you really what goes on behind the scenes of these well paying gigs. It's not always about just playing and getting paid for it. There's more to it. And I hope that inspires you to think about your gigging in a different way than you might do otherwise. So thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast, go ahead and subscribe and like it on Facebook. Get your two week free trial of BookLive the software that helps band leaders book and plan as many of their well paying gigs as they'd like. And I will see you on the next episode of The gigging musician podcast. Thanks for listening