The Difference Between “Cake Cuttings”

What is the difference between a DJ/MC who simply announces the cake cutting (and then forgets it) and a DJ/MC who informs, guides, directs and engages the audience into the “why” about a cake cutting? Based on my experience, the difference is generally somewhere between $500 and $3000.

© Studio 78
© Studio 78

Today’s “cake cutting” at a wedding is often an overlooked and unimportant photo-op moment. Yet still, people continue to spend $300 – $1200 on a cake for this often “overlooked and unimportant” part of a wedding reception. In some cases, that’s more money than many DJs charge for an entire (very important!) evening of disc jockey and master of ceremonies services.

Personally, I had never considered the cake cutting to be much more than a “photo-op” until I attended the MarBecca Silver Level Master of Ceremonies workshop.  It was there that I discovered an opportunity to host the ceremony of a cake cutting in a way that would inform, guide, direct, and more importantly, engage, my audience at a wedding in a way they’d likely never experienced.

In that workshop, Mark pushed each of us to learn about the history and origins of the wedding cake, the significance of the cake cutting ceremony, and he then encouraged us to find unique and creative ways to tie some of that information into how we hosted cake cuttings at our weddings.

Since then, the formerly “overlooked and unimportant” cake cutting often comes up in consultations with prospective clients. And of course, the cake cutting ceremony almost always takes place at my weddings, but it now occurs within an entirely new context then before with added direction and new meaning for everyone in attendance.

In fact, the cake cutting will be taking on an even larger role in what I do with my 2015 weddings. For the final planning meetings with my 2015 weddings couples, I will be purchasing and bringing a cake to that meeting so that we can practice how the cutting will take place at their wedding. This will also make for a fun way to celebrate that we’ve now wrapped up the majority of the planning and further add to their experience working with me. (And of course, this helps better prepare them for wedding day itself.)

The reason I opened this blog post with the $500 – $3000 comment is because as a DJ, and in this instance more importantly an MC, the effort you put into learning about wedding traditions and the effort you put into hosting moments such as a cake cutting will directly reflect on your pay scale as a mobile wedding DJ/MC.

If you’d rather “announce and play the cake cutting song” or announce that they are cutting it and then “back up & shut up,” you can. There is nothing inherently wrong with that.

But do not mock the DJs who might do more then that. More than likely they are being compensated very well for their additional efforts. When done well, those efforts result in making weddings more engaging and more meaningful. In the end, this leads to more positive word of mouth (free marketing!) and more reasons for that DJ to get what they’re worth as a mobile wedding DJ/MC.

And isn’t that sweet?

 

~ Dave T.

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