WALLINGFORD, Conn. — Todd Powers has been the life of the party, bringing dancing and music to weddings for the past 29 years, and then the pandemic hit.
In just one year, Todd had to cancel 130 weddings, which was mentally and financially exhausting to his business, Jock in the Box.
“You don’t know what you have until you lose it, and I lost it for a year, said Powers. "I had never even heard of a pandemic before, to be honest with you. Honestly, my first thought was these poor brides and grooms. It was hard."
After taking the biggest financial blow of his career starting March 2020, Powers met virtually with DJs from across the country to figure out how they can livestream their sets, and make back some of what was lost, even just a tiny sliver of the financial pie. “You had to get really creative in how you were going to entertain people”.
For a large chunk of the pandemic, weddings that were still happening were operating under strict COVID guidelines, one of those being no dance floors or dancing.
Powers and his DJ buddies came up with a DJ apparatus, armed with tech-savvy equipment and a large flat screen tv covering the front, to bring visual elements to a wedding, including well-wishes for the brides and grooms and music videos of what’s playing in Powers' set. Powers said this was a great way to keep the crowd entertained without them ever having to leave their seat.
“We’ve been saying survive and thrive, just get through this, and we’re almost to the thrive part,” said Powers.
We’ve all been cooped up in our homes throughout the pandemic, and Powers said, “We know that on the other side of this, people are going to want to party. We’re going to have the “Roaring 2020’s” and people are just going to want to party and celebrate. We’ve made it through this. We’ve lost a lot of people which is so sad, but if you made it through this, congratulations."
Todd, along with countless other wedding vendors are entering what is set to be the busiest year of their career! Vendors are thrilled that after a year of trials, tribulations, and reinventing the COVID-wedding wheel, they can finally get back to doing what they love to do the most!
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