The inquiry arrived via regular post. I was surprised the
writer was asking about the possibility of my telling stories at a bridal
shower/luncheon to be held six months hence. The shower would take place in a
dedicated room in a restaurant for a dear friend, and she wanted to find
something different in the way of entertainment. She said the bride-to-be enjoyed
stories, so having a storyteller at the shower might be a nice surprise.
My initial response: “A bridal shower? Stories during
lunch? Probably not.”
Most storytellers do not actively seek venues where food
will be served. Events in restaurants come with a list of problems for any
performer, and the stand-up comedian seems to be the only performer I know of
with the ability to make it through gigs like this unscathed. It had been many
years since I tried to provide entertainment for an event in a restaurant, and
I vaguely remembered thinking, “never again.” So, why was I even considering
the idea?
The fact is that my storytelling bookings have been down
since the recession began two years ago. Although things have been picking up
lately, my schedule is not nearly as busy as it was when the economy was
better. Besides, the writer was so earnest and had taken the time to write a
real letter to get my attention. It tickled me that she added a P.S. to the
note to let me know she had found out about me through an Internet Google
search. I decided to contact her to learn more about what she had in mind.
We communicated via phone calls and emails, and in the end I
accepted the booking. I knew I’d have to be extremely flexible in order to do
this job well – my mind was full of concerns:
(1) I
would have to find and learn new stories to fit the occasion,
(2) guests
to these events don’t always arrive on time,
(3) restaurant
food service can be too quick or too slow,
(4) finding
a good spot to present stories could be a problem, and
(5) there’s
always a possibility of excessive noise coming from other areas of the
restaurant.
The presenter and I agreed that
we would both “play it by ear.” I would plan on about 20-30 minutes of stories
to be either delivered as a set, or one at a time as the circumstance
allowed.
Was I crazy to say yes? As the time drew near, I started to think I had, indeed, lost my mind.
When the day came, I had some great stories ready to go, and I hoped I could handle any surprise that might come my way. The biggest roadblock came when guests (as I thought they might), did not arrive on time. This kept me “in the wings” waiting to go on a bit longer than I would have liked. I was introduced after the lunch orders had been taken, and since the food was not delivered immediately, I was able to tell the complete set of stories with the final one ending just as the food was served.
I had a good time, and I now believe other storytellers might benefit by taking a look at this marketing niche. This venue seems to have good potential for folks interested in expanding their customer base. Certainly storytellers in large cities could do well by contacting event planners about the possibility of providing an option to silly games or (heaven forbid) male strippers.
Best of all, a good storyteller can expect to receive a much better fee for a bridal shower than (say) a birthday party or family gathering. After all, a bridal shower is a very special, once-in-a-lifetime event for the bride-to-be! What could be better than a few good stories to make the event even more memorable?
To give you an idea about how my recent performance for the bridal shower was received, here are some excerpts from the email I received after the venue:
“. . .each and every woman in attendance
mentioned to me upon exit that they had a wonderful time and especially enjoyed
your performance. They said it was a
great idea (modest me) to have a story teller rather than to play games.”
“Your stories and wedding trivia
were perfectly chosen, sweet and poignant.
I liked how you emphasized the special talents/gifts of women without
disparaging men. Your first bridal
shower performance was well done and I hope it will encourage you to add that
type of storytelling to your offerings in the future."
"I will not hesitate to recommend
you to others should the opportunity arise.”
