Photo courtesy of Michele Shore Photography
Intensity Entertainment knows how to get the party started! Each time they are playing at one of our weddings the couple and their guests are dancing all night. Ashley Thompson, who is an owner of Intensity Entertainment along with her husband Jared, took the time to answer some of our questions so we could hear how they came to be. Read on for an inside look!
Photos courtesy of Haley Rynn Ringo Photography
How did you get started in the wedding industry?
To be honest, it was an accident. We started as just a boy and a girl who thought that the other was cute. In hopes of spending more time together, they started a band and continued to think of how to build on that. It was definitely time well spent as a husband and wife team! Nine years later, Intensity Entertainment is run, by not just one husband and wife team, but two! We found our perfect partners in every way and love getting to celebrate with new couples.
Intensity Entertainment has been around since 2011. We started as one 5-piece band and now have 11 bands with over 120 performers performing at 500 events a year. It’s been surreal to watch everything grow into this!
We heard you just merged with another company, can you tell us about that?
Jared and I started One Five Six Four in 2009. Jared and Joe, the owner of Intensity, became friends pretty early into this venture. However, both companies were very consistently selling against each other. Their friendship was always very transparent and respectful, which I found to be rare considering the circumstances. We would often talk about how we should just team up and make the best products with our combined talents. Recently, we all decided to actually talk about it seriously and we all left feeling extremely excited. Starting in February 2020, One Five Six Four and Intensity decided to become one company and it's been amazing.
What has happened with Intensity in the wake of Covid-19?
2020 has definitely been crazy! Our couples, planners, and all our vendor friends have been through so much! With all the wonderful performers at our disposal and the infrastructure we’ve built, we have been able to reschedule and work with all of our displaced couples to find new dates, or adapt ideas to create a safe environment for everyone involved. We, at Intensity, have been working collectively with our couples and our community to come up with creative solutions and are extremely excited to be back out and performing.
Photos courtesy of Ben Q Photography
Describe your favorite type of client.
We LOVE the client who yearns for karaoke night, who has choreography they've made up with friends, and who wants to scream their favorite lyrics out with work buddies. The clients that don’t just want to see the show but be a part of it makes us love to work with them. We love interacting with the crowd, so if that’s what a client is looking for, we want to party with them!
What makes Intensity different?
We have fun with what we do, but we do so with extreme perfectionism. We have tied up every loose end and customized every aspect of our client’s big event to a "T". Our client’s experience throughout the entire planning process is important to us. We provide them with options that include the most current and well-curated song lists, amazing production and lighting, and the most talented performers. It’s not about a show, it’s about an experience.
What do you love most about weddings?
EVERY TIME we perform at a wedding and the toasts start, I cry! I love watching the couple share their first dance and just laugh through the whole thing. When you get someone crowd surfing or the loudest sing-along you’ve ever heard, you just can’t help but laugh with them. It’s the best.
Do you have a funny story from a wedding?
Oh Goodness. The stories we could tell you. We’ve had a 12-year-old hop onstage with a saxophone half as big as he was, who played 3 songs with us and KILLED IT! We were shocked!
For more information about Intensity Entertainment please visit their website or call them at 972-521-6771