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It’s Your Night Entertainment has hit a milestone! Two decades have spun by, marking an incredible journey for IYN. As we celebrate It’s Your Night’s 20th anniversary, we asked William Ryan III, the founder of IYN, to share with us some of his reflections throughout the years of where IYN has been, where IYN is now, and where IYN is going in the future.
Check it out!
It’s Your Night Entertainment was started because William Ryan III first and foremost loved weddings. But he also knew there was a need for a dependable, professional DJ company that people could ultimately count on for their wedding day.
Before It’s Your Night was even started, William was actually working full-time in radio at a radio station called KLTY. And he thought that was going to be his forever career with DJ’ing on the side. But after he wasn’t seeing his family much at all from being in radio, and DJ’ing weddings on the side, he felt called to make a change.
From that day forward, William pursued his vision of creating a DJ company that was dependable, that people could count on, that wasn’t cheesy, that wedding planners would feel totally comfortable sending their clients to, and that venues could refer people to.
He knew that he loved weddings. He knew that he loved music, and he was really good at just loving people and being a part of their big day. So he thought – “let’s give it a shot.” He left his full-time job at the time and all the security that comes with that and took a leap of faith and started It’s Your Night.
In the early days of It’s Your Night, William was the only DJ for It’s Your Night – It was a one-man show.
However, after some time where he was completely booked up and in need of expanding to have more DJs, he eventually brought on Richie DeMeglio, who was a friend of his wife back in youth group growing up and had himself DJ’ed in college. Richie is still even on the team today, which is incredible!
Something that’s unique about It’s Your Night is the people on the team – that’s really what makes It’s Your Night what it is. The coolest thing about all the people that are on the team at It’s Your Night is they all have a story on how they got to It’s Your Night. It’s really cool how God brought people into
the company through relationships and through some random circumstances. William never really got online and put up a help wanted ad. Everybody just sort of had a story.
William also reconnected with a past neighbor who used to live across the street from William when he was young. This neighbor was actually a worship leader and had really been into music. He ended up giving William a mixer/a sound board that you would use to run sound. And that was actually William’s first mixer that he used for DJ’ing parties when he was a teenager.
Years later, though, William reconnected with his past neighbor to chat with him on Facebook and say, “Hey, thanks for hooking me up with this. This is kind of what I’m doing nowadays.” And the past neighbor kept in touch with William and said that his son was actually looking to jump into DJ’ing with the company. The past neighbor’s son was already working at another spot, but he was looking to do more weddings and really get on board with the team.
William ended up talking to his past neighbor’s son who was originally coming on board to help William with setting up It’s Your Night’s photo booth division. But when his past neighbor’s son, Jeremiah Brinkley, came on board, William realized that Jeremiah had crazy talent in DJ’ing and singing.
Jeremiah did a great job setting up the photo booth division, but he ultimately jumped in and started doing weddings and singing, and William actually ended up starting the “IYN Live” division because of Jeremiah being on the team!
Through this new live division, God then connected William with other people who also had a gift of singing and playing and combining that with DJ’ing at weddings. So it was incredible to see how everything took off from there and the plans that God had for William and It’s Your Night that were way bigger than what William could have ever imagined.
So what’s next for It’s Your Night? The top of William’s list is taking care of clients in the best way possible, improving processes, building more relationships with vendors and others who are in the wedding industry, and continuing to be innovative.
At It’s Your Night, we love weddings. We love marriage. We love what marriage stands for. And we know that your wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime event for you, so we’re going to do all that we can to serve you and make your wedding an incredible day.
Jen Wilson & Matt Graybiel
Saturday, November 15, 2003
Lancaster Theatre – Grapevine
The first wedding reception William Ryan III DJ’ed after forming It’s Your Night Entertainment was for Jen & Matt Graybiel on Saturday, November 15, 2003.
We caught up with Jennifer recently for a life update. Jen and Matt currently live in Flower Mound with their two teenagers who are 15 and 13 years old. Matt works in the software industry, and Jen owns her own custom wood work business.
After 20 years of marriage, we asked if they have any advice for engaged or newlywed couples.
Jen said, “Be patient.” Short, sweet, and so wise!
She also said she would encourage brides and grooms to be intentional about trying to spend time together at the reception while also greeting your family and friends.
What an honor it was to be a part of Matt & Jen’s wedding in 2003!
William says, “We get to be a part of a couple’s first day of marriage by helping them throw the best party for their friends and family! 20 years later…I still know I have the coolest job in the world!”
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