One Team, One Vision: The Secret to a Stress Free New Jersey Wedding Day

00:00 Welcome to We Love That For You, a wedding podcast with personality, perspective and plenty of heart. We are Chris and Jackie from Lime Line Entertainment and we’re here to help you plan your best day ever, without the stress.

00:14 Welcome to another episode of We Love That For You, in episode 4 we talked about the stigma around one stop shop wedding companies and why that stigma exists in the first place.

00:25 We broke down how a lot of companies lead with one strong service and then add others without the same level of intention or quality, which is where the negativity around the one stop shop in the wedding industry comes from.

00:39 Definitely give that episode a listen because it’ll catch you up for today’s episode where we want to take this a step further because not all multi-service companies are built the same.

00:52 What we’ve built here at Limelight didn’t start as a one stop shop. It actually started as to completely separate businesses with two completely different focuses that eventually came together.

01:04 And that merges really what shaped everything we do today. So in this episode we’re breaking down what actually makes us different and why our approach works and what it really means when we say one team, one vision.

01:17 So if we take it back to the early days, we didn’t start by trying to offer everything. Chris, you want to tell us a little story or tell our viewers a story about the early days and what our intentions were when we started.

01:33 Definitely. So, you know, taking it back to the early days, you know, the reason why the company is called LineBlend Entertainment is because we had one one thing in mind.

01:43 Yeah. It was entertainment. Yeah. I didn’t even think about offering photography or videography. I just wanted to create, you know, I just wanted to be able to provide an outstanding entertainment experience for couples getting married, and that was my main goal.

01:59 I didn’t really care about offering other services or doing other things. I just wanted to perfect this one service, and that’s what I did, and that’s what I focused on in the beginning.

02:09 Yeah, and at the time I was doing photography, but I wasn’t really doing it full time. it wasn’t like a full-time career.

02:17 Definitely on the side but I you know worked on building that end of my skills at for photography before we even thought about bringing it into limelight.

02:32 Yeah absolutely and you know I was doing I was doing events for how long before we decided like we would put it together.

02:44 We would put this together. I how? I think about two or three years. Two or three years. Yeah, it was about two or three years because I was actually mentored by our wedding photographer.

02:56 I assisted her for a few years and, you know, did it the right way. I didn’t jump in and and be like, oh, I have a camera.

03:04 I can shoot weddings. Let’s go. So I really wanted to learn how to do it right. So I assisted and I grew into, you know, second photography and then I grew into taking them on myself.

03:17 So it was a well thought out process for myself as well. I mean, I had a camera. I was following you to all of your entertainment jobs and taking, you know, our content and our media that way.

03:32 But I never thought about diving into photographing a wedding until I felt like I had built my skillset properly for a wedding.

03:42 Yeah and I didn’t even think about it either. It wasn’t even on my mind to be honest with you. So yeah, you know, it took me those couple of years to perfect exactly, you know, what I wanted to bring to the table in the wedding industry.

03:57 Right. And then, you know, after I had kind of had the idea of where I wanted to go and the service I wanted to put out there, you know, I saw that, you know, your skill set and your drive and everything that you were doing with your photography was, you know, was just great, you know, and I was like

04:21 , well, you know, we’re providing this great entertainment service. And Jackie is just absolutely crushing it with photography like on her, on her end when, you know, in a hobby setting and learning setting, right.

04:37 Well, why don’t we take these two and kind of merge them together this way we can provide, you know, an outstanding entertainment service and an out-seeing, standing photography service.

04:48 It’s not like we’re just kind of like putting these services together just to offer them. And I think that we merged also because we just preferred to work together.

04:58 I think that merge meant that you had that trust on a wedding day when working with another wedding vendor. And that you kind of knew that everyone had that same goal in mind, which was, you know, to perfect the experience for the couple.

05:18 And, you know, we had been, you had been entertaining or doing DJ, being a wedding DJ for quite some years before we decided to work together.

05:32 So you had kind of experienced a lot of different photography companies, a lot different wedding vendors. And then also on my end, I don’t always go out with, I wasn’t always going out with you, wasn’t always, I didn’t always have the pleasure of you being my wedding DJ when I went out.

05:51 And so when we came together and merged, it kind of satisfied both sides where if like we’re working together, you know you’re working with a limelight vendor.

06:04 You know it’s like a full team photo DJ and video that all the vendors are working together with one collective goal, one collective vision in mind and that is to have an amazing night for the couple.

06:19 So I think working together, the merge came so that we could work together more and just make an exceptional experience for everyone.

06:30 Yeah, absolutely. And just from like a customer service standpoint, like I knew what my standards were. Yeah. When it came to entertainment, you know, they’re pretty high.

06:39 And you know, I know what your standards are when it comes to photography and they’re really high. Yeah. And I was like, well, this is going to make a great combination because I know that we are going to have some really, really happy clients because of the standards that we go by.

06:56 Yeah. Yeah, definitely. My standards are exceptionally high for myself, for my team, and they should be. This is a very important day for a couple.

07:08 So I would assume their standards are very high as well so before we go out We want to make sure that we’re treating every wedding as if it was our own So yeah absolutely 100% every single event is you know We treat every single event like it’s our own.

07:25 Yeah So we realized let’s bring these teams together create a full team of alignment and visit the same vision And that’s really what we did so So, you know, what does one team, one vision actually mean?

07:40 And that kind of goes back to what you just said, which is shared standards across, you know, every service, shared expectations.

07:48 Our DJs understand phototiming, our photo and video team understands DJ reception energy, and then everyone is on the same page without being told.

08:00 So that’s really what our goals were when we decided to bring the team together, create the same vision, create alignment amongst everyone on the team.

08:12 Yeah, absolutely. So what do we do differently behind the scenes? What would you say is are a few things that are what we focus on to make sure that we are different than the one stop shop?

08:25 Um, well, number one, we invest a lot in training, right? Um, so we have, we have a pretty great training program here at Limelight that brings everyone up to speed and everyone, you know, up to the standards that we need them.

08:40 Yeah. Um, I know also that you host workshops and team critiques, yeah, yeah, as well, which are really, really great, you know, making sure that there’s consistency across the board with all of your photography.

08:54 Yeah, I’m big on feedback and critiquing, also letting photographers on our team know what we’re looking for, how to photograph in the limelight style.

09:07 I love to give them some of my knowledge and yeah, so we do focus a lot on the training aspect.

09:16 We care deeply about consistency as well. So one thing I want to make sure is when a couple comes to check out my portfolio versus some of our other team members portfolios that they say to themselves.

09:30 Oh, it looks like across the board. There’s so much consistency here. I know exactly what to expect when I get my wedding photos back.

09:40 Yeah, absolutely. So we talked about what we do differently behind the scenes, right? You know, a company as a whole.

09:48 But why does this matter? Yeah, why would this matter for a couple? Exactly. Yeah. I think this matters for our wedding couples.

09:58 You know, because at the end of the day, everyone benefits from a unified team. Everyone benefits from a vendor team that works well together, communicates well together.

10:13 Your DJ team understands that they need to be either in a certain location or out of a certain location so they’re not in a couple’s first-stands photos or speeches, portraits or whatnot.

10:32 A photography team needs to understand that they can’t just pull a wedding couple off the dance floor at high energy and take them out for night shots and not let the DJ know ahead of time.

10:46 There’s a lot of things that go on when it comes to a wedding vendor team that works well together. Yeah, absolutely.

10:56 I think it brings a lot to the table as long as it’s done right. So So that’s one thing that we do, right?

11:10 We’re all communicating prior to events, you know, we all give each other feedback, post event, this way we can better ourselves for the next time, right?

11:21 So for example, just to give you a short example, you know, our DJ team knows to be, knows to be out of the way and how to get out of the way when you’re shooting a first dance That’s this way our DJs aren’t in the background of the couples first dance photos.

11:39 Your photography team knows the perfect opportunity to take couples outside for a sunset shot where it’s not going to interrupt the flow of like their dance set or any of the formalities that are happening during the event, right?

11:55 Because I mean, I’ve been in situations where, you know, we’ve got, you know, we’re about to go into a dance set and the energy’s high and the place is rocking and then all the sudden the photographer, you know, I’m like ready to play one of the the couples like song requests.

12:12 Preferred songs? Yeah, preferred songs and all the sudden, like the photographer is taking the couple outside for a sunset shot and it’s like, well, man, I just got this going, you know, like the the energy is high in here, but the good thing about the kind of dream team working together is like, I know

12:32 your timeline. I know when you’re taking couples out for night shots. And you know, like my timeline of when I want to open up the dance floor to ensure that everything flows really well, you know, at the event itself.

12:45 So there, I mean, there’s great benefits it’s to, you know, working with a, you know, a quote unquote dream team, you know, one company that offers all services.

12:58 When there is that communication, yeah, yeah. It’s great working with, with your own team because you know that everyone is on board for the couple.

13:11 You know, the communication as well is, is, is high. you know that everyone has the same end goal in mind and it’s really nice to know I feel like other wedding vendors that work with us say the same thing like when when they’re with us when it comes to like the venues and things like that.

13:35 I was like oh limelights here we know we’re gonna have a really good night. Yeah I mean on our end everyone’s goal is the same right this is all about the couple and we treat the we treat this event as if it’s our own right so we want the outcome to be absolutely outstanding yeah and we are ready to

13:56 help each other out in order to you know bring that experience to the couple you know like our video team I’m ready with a line out this way they get the cleanest audio possible for their videography you you almost anticipate that vendors next step.

14:14 I know what our video team needs. I know what our video team needs in order to produce the best product, you know, from my end.

14:22 And that’s that’s clean audio. You know, you know, what our video team needs when it comes to posing, right? Because when so the photographer is always the one that’s kind of like in charge and of the couple posing, right?

14:38 For the most part. So, you know, So you know to keep motion in mind when you’re photographing couples because with videography you need motion for that, right?

14:50 So you’re, you know, you’re posing the couple with motion in mind, which allows their data run smoother because now they don’t have to redo that moment so that video could capture it as well, right?

15:00 So we just, you know, we could go on and on about how. And honestly, these are the benefits for us as a team, for working with our own team.

15:12 But also, there’s some benefits for the couple. There’s more benefits for the couple as well, where like they don’t have to manage their vendors.

15:20 Like, tying back to what you just said, you know what video needs audio wise, the line in. And these things don’t have to be micromanaged by anyone else, you know.

15:32 Yeah, because let’s say let’s say I’m working a wedding an event where Our video team isn’t on it or our photography team isn’t on it, right?

15:43 So now I’m getting you know emails and all kinds of communication from the couple like oh, this is our photographer’s timeline Oh, this is what the this is what our videographer needs You know and the list goes on and on and you know now there has to be all this back and forth, you know because everything

16:03 isn’t happening all in one place, you know, and yes, we all bring it together nicely for them in the end, but wouldn’t it be so much easier and so much more convenient if you can just have everything managed all in one place?

16:14 Right, right. Having it all in place, you don’t have to worry about explaining your vision. Even the couple doesn’t have to worry about explaining their vision 10 different times to 10 different vendors.

16:26 It’s just a one streamline communication. Exactly. And then us behind the scenes with our standards, our training, our workshop. It all ties together so that the couple really can just put their confidence in us, and then we can go out and just perform and do a great job with each other.

16:45 Yeah, 100% because in the end, like we just want this to be easy for the couple, right? We want them to hire us because they trust us and we’ve got this and they don’t have to worry about anything.

16:57 Yeah. There’s no disconnect. There’s no missed moments and they’re definitely is a huge benefit to working with one team, one vision with one vision in mind.

17:10 And then the couple gets to be present on their wedding day instead of having to micromanage things, instead of having to worry or check in with each individual vendor.

17:20 There’s just this confidence in knowing that they’re photo video and DJ team can communicate can get the job done.

17:31 Yeah, absolutely, because I’ve been in situations before where, you know, in the middle of the event, I mean, put yourself in the couple shoes, right?

17:40 Like, let’s say you hire all outside vendors and, you know, you’re worried about getting, like, group family shots on the dance floor, whatever it may be.

17:48 Like, I’ve been in situations before where, you know, in the middle of the reception and the couple’s like coming up to me and like, oh Chris, did you know that we want to get this group shot?

17:59 Or, oh, did you know that my photographer needs X, Y, and Z? You know, and yes, I did know that because I did communicate with the photographer prior, you know, because that’s part of what we do.

18:10 But, you know, just knowing, it probably puts a couple of ease knowing that I’ve communicated all of that information to one team and that information is gonna be divvied up amongst that one team and they’re all gonna be on the same page.

18:29 So it’s less for the couple to be worried about, like at the reception and less micromanaging from the couple, this way they can be present in their wedding day and they can just sit back, relax, enjoy the day, rather than worry about making sure that everything is taken care of.

18:46 Yeah, I think that I would only hope for this for all of our wedding couples for them to be able to sit back and be fully present and not have to Micro-manage at least the vendors that are that we’re in charge of.

19:04 Yeah, 100% So in conclusion, I mean, it comes down to the standard that we hold. We don’t offer services unless we can stand behind them every part of the experience matters to us and every team member represents the limelight brand.

19:20 We’re always raising the bar and this whole thing only works if every piece of it is strong. Otherwise, we wouldn’t do it.

19:29 At the end of the day, this isn’t about being a one-stop shop. It’s about building a team that actually works together who holds the same standards and cares about your experience from start to finish.

19:40 That’s what one team, one vision, really means to us. So if you’re planning a wedding and you want a team that’s aligned, experienced, focused on making your day feel effortless, you can learn more about how we approach everything at LimelightWedding.com.

19:56 And if you haven’t listened to the previous episode yet, go back and check out episode 4. It sets the foundation for everything we talked about today.

20:05 And remember wherever you are and whatever you are planning. We love that for you. Thank you so much for hanging out with us today.

20:12 If this episode was helpful, make sure you follow or subscribe so you don’t miss what’s coming next. We love hearing from you, so if you have a question, a planning struggle, or an episode idea, email me at Jackie at LimelightEntertainmentNJ.com.

20:26 There’s a really good chance your question becomes a future episode. And if you’re planning a New Jersey wedding, and want vendors who truly care, you can find us at LimelightWedding.com.

20:35 And remember, wherever you’re planning and whatever you’re dreaming, we love that for you.