Planning Tools, Ideas, & Advice
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For Wedding Pros
If you’re considering some unique entertainment for your micro wedding, Jared Judge, founder and music director of Extreme Strings Electric Violins based in Denver, Colorado might just be your answer! Today we’re interviewing him to get his unique perspective on hiring a violinist, what makes small weddings special, and why eclectic violin for your small wedding is a great fit.
How long have you been in the wedding industry?
Been in the wedding industry about eight years now. Well, no, technically longer because I played my first wedding when I was a freshman in college, which was 2007-ish. That's over 17 years now, but I didn't officially join with my own business until 2016.
Have you played the violin all your life?
I started when I was eight years old. So yeah, pretty close to it.
And what inspired you to get into weddings?
Honestly, it first started because I was in grad school studying orchestra conducting. And I wanted a way to make some money and not have to eat ramen while I'm studying to be an orchestra conductor. I wanted Panera (laughs). And so I was looking into different jobs and I took a couple ones here and there, but I realized I had this great asset that I've been developing since I was eight, that if I could only figure out how to monetize it, then I could make a living doing what I love doing.
I had remembered back to that wedding I played freshman year of college, and I remembered, oh, not only did I play and make decent money at it, I actually helped this couple have this memory that's going to stick with them the rest of their lives. So why not, like, you know, take the scary plunge into entrepreneurship and start my own wedding based music company.
So. Yeah, that's kind of how I got started.
What about the electric violin? When did that come into play?
Yeah, that actually came into play about two years ago because I'd been playing the standard acoustic violin all my life. But, I moved to Denver about two years ago. And I was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin beforehand, and I had friends in Milwaukee who were my string quartet partners.
And I knew I could count on them and rely on them. Moving to Denver, I had nobody. I knew nobody down here. So I was kind of faced with this daunting task of: do I recruit more musicians or do I learn how to play as a soloist? And so I decided I was going to take the plunge and learn to be a soloist, which also afforded me a bit more creative flexibility.
Because when you're working with four musicians, you have to get all four of them on the same page, which sometimes is like herding cats a little bit. So now the only cat I have to herd is myself. And the best way to accomplish that, like, As an orchestra conductor, for me, like, I'm very passionate about making high quality sound.
Like, it's, it's gotta sound good. And a solo acoustic violin on its own, to me, is kind of a smaller, thinner, weaker sound. So even if I was playing a micro wedding, I would still use the electric, which produces a bigger sound with a bit more warmth and reverb. And then, When I adopted the electric violin, I also realized, oh, I can now play with backing tracks so that I can have a full band playing with me in addition to just the electric violin.
So it sounds like a full band sound for just one person.
That's cool. So that sounds like it could be like a cool fit for a small wedding. Have you done small weddings in the past?
Yeah, I've done weddings as small as five guests. Yeah. And it does work really well because I can adjust the sound. And being that there's only one of me and I'm also portable because I can be completely wireless, like I can kind of walk around and mix and mingle with the guests too. Or just be a fixture on the side of the ceremony.
What's your favorite part about being a part of a wedding?
For me, like the best way I could put it is through a story. I played this small wedding. There were 30 or 40 guests at the Villa Parker in Parker, Colorado and the couple had asked to walk down to one of Beyonce's new songs. ‘Two Most Wanted’ was the song and so I played it for them. And as I'm playing it, I see the groom's eyes start to well up and he's crying.
And I realized my music facilitates these emotions at their wedding. And afterwards he came up to me and actually said, “Dude, once you started playing Beyonce, I just lost it”. And to me, like, I'm getting chills just thinking about it, like goosebumps right now.
So I love that. I love that I'm creating these feelings and I'm going to remember that for the rest of my life.
And I'm sure the couple is too. So to me, that's really cool.
Talk a little bit about why you think your services or electric violin would be a great fit for a more intimate celebration.
I would say, there's a lot of reasons. First off, the size of my act is just one person, which means that the number of people in my group are not going to outnumber your guests.
Two is that every aspect of my performance is completely customizable. So my PA system has volume control, so I can keep it at a reasonable level. Like if you're only having a couple guests at the wedding, you don't want this thing to be like a rock concert. Yeah. So it's totally flexible for that.
My planning process is very thorough, so I meet with all of the couples. Like we do a bunch of Zoom meetings and I use an online portal. It's called Booklive. com, which I actually created and so this whole planning process is totally customizable. So if you want to do something non traditional at your micro wedding, we can plan for that.
And then also music choices, you don't have to have the same music choices that everybody else has at their wedding because they feel pressured by 150 guests to have the Cupid shuffle or whatever. Like, let's make this totally you like I've had some couples have totally like, Fantasy Lord of the Rings themed weddings and I played the Hobbit song as they walk down the aisle so I feel like it's a great way to just embrace who you are without feeling the pressure of hundreds of people I love that.
Any parting thoughts? Anything else you'd like our small wedding couples to know?
If there are couples who are curious about what it sounds like, I do a lot of public performances too. So I am the artist in residence at Babes Tea Room in Golden, Colorado. So once a month I perform in public there. And I'm also the artist in residence at the Slate Hotel in downtown Denver. So twice a month, they can come and check that out too and get a sample before they buy.
If you’re looking for a unique addition to your intimate wedding, get in touch with Jared at Extreme Strings!
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