Simple and flexible audio setup at a wedding

My daughter got married on Saturday. My wife was the photographer, and I was the audio guy.

• Background music during the meals
• Dance music for later
• A mic for a singer and input for acoustic guitar
• A mic for speeches.

• A Roland KC550 180W mixing keyboard amp
• A Shure SM58 mic
• An easy-to-adjust mic stand
• An Apple Airport Express router

I used the Airport Express to set up a wireless network. It has an audio output I plugged straight into the amp, and I was able to stream music via Airplay using my iPhone. That means I was easily able to make adjustments from anywhere in the room – either the volume when speeches and other announcements needed to happen, or changing playlists when needed.

My phone spent most of the time in my pants pocket, and I adjusted the volume using the hardware volume buttons. But I had to be careful not to leave the room with my phone!

This setup also meant that other wedding guests could contribute music from their iPhones too. This was very useful. I’d guess close to 10 people contributed at least a few songs during the reception. This was especially good during the dancing – one guest had a killer dance playlist that worked really well. Lots of Dubstep.

The quality of the audio through the Airport Express was very good, but for the louder dance music I ended up plugging the iPhones directly into the mixer via the headphone jack. The bass was significantly cleaner at high volumes that way. I’m not sure whether that’s true of all Airport Expresses, or a minor fault with mine.

I was surprised (and gratified) when a few people walked across the room to comment, “You’re using your iPhone to control that music, aren’t you?” That was fun.

The day was a huge success. In case you were going to ask, here’s a photo of my daughter and I:

Congrats Adrian !

Congrats my friend! Thanks for sharing with us your experience!

Congrats mate, and to your daughter and new husband.

Great setup. Thanks for the share.

..ps you didnt hold the reception in the shed didya !

Thanks everyone.

Australia said
..ps you didnt hold the reception in the shed didya !

Lol. No, but we did use it as sleeping quarters for our guests.

What a nice experience, congratulations and thanks for sharing great news with us!

Amazing. I haven’t seen wedding with wireless controlled audio setup. Normally a CD was used and the CD player plugged directly to the mixer. Congrats She’s beautiful.

Woah! nice experience and you daughter is a pretty bride buddy! congrats!

Lucky for Envato I haven’t passed my 50$ threshold and get into a situation like yours.

congrats.. me and my wife’s anniversy is comeing up next week.. we will be married 7yrs