Sound equipment for a wedding: ceremony, speeches and the dance floor
From a sound point of view a wedding day is three completely different situations. At the ceremony a softly spoken officiant has to reach the back row, at dinner the microphone passes from hand to hand, and at night the dance floor wants bass. One set of equipment can handle all of it, provided it was put together with those three moments in mind. Below we go through the phases one by one and say what each one asks of the gear.
The ceremony: one voice that has to reach everyone
The ceremony usually happens outdoors or in a church, there is one speaker (the officiant or the priest) and they speak calmly, not with a stage voice. A handheld is awkward here because their hands are busy with rings and papers. The right tool is a headset on a bodypack transmitter: in our wedding kit that is the Shure QLXD14 with a Shure MX153T/O-TQG headworn microphone. The capsule stays by the mouth whichever way the speaker turns.
If the couple reads their own vows, consider a second bodypack or let the officiant hand them a handheld. The entrance music nearly always comes from a phone or laptop. Connect it through a DI box (the Radial PROAV2 in the kit), not with a long minijack lead straight into the mixer, because that lead picks up interference. If the ceremony spot is far from mains power, take a separate small battery-powered set (JBL EON COMPACT ONE and RØDE WIRELESS GO II) and leave the main system waiting in the reception hall.
Speeches and dinner: the microphone goes from hand to hand
During dinner the parents, the best man and friends speak, and none of them is used to a microphone. A wireless handheld is the right choice, and there should be two: one in the speaker's hand, the other already waiting for the next person or standing by in case the first battery runs out. The Shure SLXD24D/B58 in the wedding kit gives exactly that, two handhelds on one receiver.
The sound should be clear rather than loud. Place the speakers in front of the tables and further from the speaker than the microphone is, and feedback will not happen. Ask the toastmaster to tell every speaker two things: hold the microphone under the chin, not at the chest, and do not point it at a speaker cabinet. Those two sentences prevent most of the evening's problems.
The dance floor: the subwoofer makes the difference
Two active speakers on stands fill a hall with speech very well, but for dance music they lack low end, especially once there are over a hundred people in the room. One subwoofer, the JBL SRX818SP in the kit, takes over the bass and the JBL PRX812 tops can concentrate on vocals and the higher frequencies. The result is louder and cleaner without anyone pushing the mixer to its limit.
If a DJ is playing, they usually bring their own players and DJ mixer and need only speakers and a subwoofer from us. If the music comes from a playlist, a DI box and the Soundcraft Signature 10 mixer are enough, and the microphone can be opened through the same mixer between songs.
One system or two
If the ceremony, dinner and dancing happen in the same room or next door to each other, one set is enough. If the ceremony is in the garden and the party in the hall, there are two options. First: someone moves the system after the ceremony. Allow at least half an hour and one person who is not a guest at that moment. Second: a small separate set for the ceremony, with the main system standing ready in the hall. The second option is almost always calmer, especially when the reception follows the ceremony straight away.
Who operates the equipment
The simplest set (two speakers, a mixer, two microphones) is within reach of the toastmaster or a handy friend, as long as they tried in the morning how the microphone switches on and where the mixer's volume is. A DJ will often take care of the speeches too. If the programme is dense, there are many speakers, a band or a live stream, book a technician: they set up in the morning, sit at the mixer through the evening and pack down at night. Setup and a technician are quoted separately.
Handing over the playlist
The most common failure of pre-agreed music is a phone that receives a call in the middle of the first dance. Put the music device in flight mode, download the tracks beforehand (streaming does not work without internet) and use one device for the whole evening, not five different phones. Write down which tracks are for the entrance, the first dance and the cake, and hand that sheet to whoever stands at the mixer.
