When two people begin to plan a wedding it can at first seem extremely daunting. Being faced with the enormity of organising such a huge event, they are often without any experience of organising anything as big or important. It is very easy for it to get quite overwhelming, especially with all the advice, much of it conflicting, that is offered by so many people. There is just so much to do, and it’s difficult to decide what to do first? It can quickly get quite stressful.
Planning
With so much to organise and plan for, the entertainment can easily get overlooked in the early stages. As most people will never have booked entertainment before, that can be another reason to put it off because of not being sure of how to go about finding the right entertainment.
Decisions
In most cases the first decision will come down to choosing between having a band or a Wedding DJ for the entertainment, and once that has been decided, how do you then go about finding the right Wedding DJ or band? What questions would you ask? How much will it cost? What things are standard? What would make it a truly special and memorable night?
Budget
If you haven’t got experience of booking Wedding entertainment before you often won’t know where to start, or on what to base a decision? Is it just a case of plucking a figure from the air with regards to what to spend? How should you decide what percentage of the total budget should be allocated to the entertainment? There’s so much to think about!
For those thinking of having a mobile disco, the following is a post from Mark Ferrell, a respected advocate of mobile DJs, on the subject of Wedding DJs and the perception of them by the public:
“The public thinks that many Wedding DJs all do the same thing and at the same level of proficiency. Based on what they’ve seen, they don’t expect much. That’s why they want to pay the average price or “going rate”. And for that reason, most Wedding DJ services charge about the same price. In many instances, brides and grooms don’t think the entertainment is very important because they haven’t seen a Wedding DJ that can really deliver quality entertainment. So the result is that they get the cheapest Wedding DJ that can play their music. Sometimes they forgo having a Wedding DJ and instead use an iPod or no entertainment whatsoever.”
Professional Wedding DJ Service
If you’ve never hired a Wedding DJ before it’s easy to think of them as a commodity and all much of a muchness, after all, they just play music, right? So, not much to think about? As with most things in life there can be a huge diversity in what is available, ranging from kids just starting out trying to get a bit of DJ experience through to the seasoned professionals, who may cost a bit more but who will create an incredibly unique experience. Clearly, there is a service for all budgets. From the Wedding DJ that you book but never meet until they turn up on the night and they play music for 3 or 4 hours, to the other end of the scale, where they will meet with you 2 or 3 times before the wedding itself and even attend the rehearsals. They’ll really get to know you, they will ensure they have a thorough understanding of the vision you want to create for your day. They will also assist you throughout the wedding day, from the ceremony onwards, ensuring that the whole day is completely personalised and very unique.
A good rule of thumb is to allocate around 10% of the total budget towards your entertainment. If you would like more information on the wedding DJ services we offer, please do get in touch. We want to help in whatever way we can, and will use our experience to offer tips and recommended contacts on anything you may need, not just on entertainment, but on other areas of wedding planning too.
To finish with, some stats from Bride and Groom magazine:
• Bridal magazine research has found wedding guests remember the entertainment more than anything else. Surprising then, the happy couple sometimes spend more on chair covers and skimp on entertainment. When the wedding favours cost more than the Wedding DJ, it’s no surprise the party is average!
• The vast majority say they would have spent more of their budget on the entertainment.
• During wedding planning, Brides say their highest priority is their attire, followed by the reception site and caterer – reception entertainment is among the least of their priorities.
• Within one week after their reception, 78% of Brides say they would have made the entertainment their highest priority!
• 72% of all brides say they would have spent more time choosing their reception entertainment.
• When asked, 81% of guests say the thing they remember most about a wedding is the entertainment.
• 65% of all couples that chose a band to entertain at their wedding, said, if they had it to do over again, they would have chosen a Wedding DJ.