This page is meant to be an educational resource primarily for brides
who are in the planning phase of their weddings and are
not quite sure how to go about searching for a quality entertainer.
Our primary motivation for creating this page is as wedding professionals, sadly, we have heard an extraordinarily large number of horror stories about wedding receptions being ruined by underqualified Djs. The sheer number of these stories prompted us to start doing some research. What we found was that there seems to unfortunately be an overabundance of underqualified djs not only in our market, but nationally as well. Is it any wonder this is what most people are used to experiencing at most weddings?
*We asked a photographer who was complimenting us at a recent wedding,"How many poor quality Djs do you see throughout the wedding season"? Her reply was,"Easily 95%...."
This may be the very reason why Djs are generally at the bottom of the priority list for most brides in their planning phase. This may also be a contributing factor to why ipod weddings became a popular trend a few years ago. People did not want to take a chance on hiring an underqualified, cheesy & obnoxious entertainer.
The good news is there are a small number of entertainement companies that are stepping up and working hard to raise the bar by educating themselves, and offering genuine customer service that is much more than just providing music and making announcements.
Many of these companies are helping their clients with planning, are stepping up and directing their events, making the events more meaningful and interesting by getting to know their clients and are acting as "personal representatives" for their client's wedding parties.
So we invite you to read, watch and listen to the content below.
It will open your eyes and hopefully help you to make an educated decision about
who you will be choosing to represent you on your most important day....
You will find there are several different types of Djs out there...
For the sake of simplicity we have narrowed them down to three general types...
*The Human Jukebox
This is the type of dj who is content to stay in his or her corner, take instructions, play music and announce the activities. He or she is generally not interested in getting to know who you are, is not involved in the planning or directing and may or may not remember your name. He or she will most likely be charging bargain basement prices and offer no real customer service. Since they are charging so little they need to overbook themselves throughout the wedding season to make it worth their while. There is a good chance they are spread pretty thin and are not focussd on making the day about you. He or she may satisfy your minimum requirements but will not leave any positive lasting impressions on you or your guests.
*Its All About Me!
This is the type of dj that wants to focus the attention on his or herself. He or she may talk excessively, may constantly sing along with the music on the mic, may dance on top of the tables or their speakers & frequently change their costumes. They may have their company logo prominently displayed on or above their Dj station. They may also litter the dinner tables with their business cards.
* True Professional
This type of Dj will make sure the attention is focussed on you because he or she knows this day is really about you! He or she will want to be involved in helping you plan, will stay in touch with you through the process and will step up and direct the flow of your reception. He or she will want to get to know you so that your wedding can be customized around “who you are” and not just a cookie cutter performance. No company logo displayed, no passing out of business cards on the tables. He or she will play the music you want to hear and to the best of their ability use their intuition to read the crowd to make sure everyone is entertained.
Image vs. Experience
___
When wedding planning begins many brides tend to get very caught up in how everything is going to "look". Very little consideration is given to whether they and their guests are going to have a fun & memorable time until after the majority of the wedding budget is spent. "What am I forgetting? (snaps finger) oh I still need to hire a DJ"! So they review their budget and much to their dismay they discover there is very little left for the entertainment.
This is where we see so many brides get into trouble...
Price is now the only concern and little or no attention is given to who or what
they are actually hiring to represent them on their most important day...
The justification for this way of thinking generally goes something like this....
"All I need is someone to provide music & besides, anybody can push play on a cd player. How hard can that be? So the cheapest price must be the best deal!" This is a recipe for potential disaster!
What was overlooked early in the planning stage was the fact that the entertainer is the one who will be representing the bride, groom and wedding party to all of the guests, is responsible for directing all of the activities & making sure everyone is emotionally engaged & having a good time. There is much more that goes into accomplishing this than just pushing play.
A successful event requires pre-planning and coordination between the Dj, bride, groom,wedding party and all of the other service vendors.
The sad reality that often emerges is that the bride is forced to
hire an underqualified low end DJ or, not hire a DJ at all...
But sometimes hiring a low end Dj
can be worse than not hiring one...
Click on the play button to watch an example
of what a low end Dj can bring to your event...
There is always the ipod, but even this choice
can cause you a lot of embarassment...
Click on the play button to watch ipod wedding disaster video..
Were those videos painful to watch?
The biggest problem with either scenario is that the bride has most likely spent literally hundreds if not thousands of dollars on the "Image", and because the reception is lacking direction and quality entertainment, the guests start looking for excuses to hit the road early. This in essence ends up costing much more, usually in the form of extreme embarassment, than if the bride had actually spent more time researching and budgeting for quality entertainment.
The image alone will not inspire your guests to stick around.
This is typically what your guests will be thinking....
"Wow, everything looks so beautiful, what's next"???
This is why striking a balance with your wedding budget is so important!
Also Consider These Realities:
Most of the party favors wind up in the trash.
-The guests are not going to remember the color of the flowers or the linens.
-Few will remember how good the food was or how great the wine tasted.
Everyone will remember the quality of the entertainment & the experience they had.
Listen to this informative interview with
Wedding Entertainment Director TM & Weddng Indusrty Educator Peter Merry
You Won't Regret It!
This is what we believe to be true.
Weddings are very special & emotional events.
Weddings can and should be a very joyous time for everyone involved.
Do you want to have a magical, fun & emotionally charged event? Of course you do!
We do not want to discourage you from making your wedding look beautiful, we want you to re-examine how you are prioritizing your planning so that you can strike a balance and have not only a great" looking" wedding, but a fun, engaging and memorable one as well.
We are happy to offer you free advice on budgeting for quality entertainment.
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