Author: creative.cardio.updates@gmail.com

 

 

When I work with brides as their Wedding Coordinator or DJ, I am very honest.  Our company’s purpose is hassle-free weddings on a budget so I always advise not to add any extra stress or money.   What’s the point in that?  Your wedding is a celebration for you and your husband-to-be; it’s not an opportunity to impress your guests with a huge circus. Here are a few examples of what NOT to do…

Don’t bring pets to your wedding!  I know we all love our pets and consider them one of the family, but in reality, they are just going to add extra stress to your big day.  That’s just one more thing you have to worry about.  Your pet won’t be insulted and none of your guests will be disappointed if you leave him home with a pet sitter.  You have the rest of your life to spend with your pet.  Let this be the one day that you don’t have to worry about him.  While we are on this topic, also try to limit the amount of little kids who are at your wedding.   You don’t need all your nieces and nephews.  Yes, they are cute, but a wedding isn’t a children’s party.  They will get bored and start running around, which will make things more difficult for the wedding staff and in turn, you.  Babies and cute children sometimes upstage the bride and groom too.  This is your day.  You paid for it, and you should be the star of the show.  Also, we know you probably don’t have children yet and don’t realize that parents sometimes need an adults-only night.

Don’t add unnecessary novelties even if you love them.  Already, most people try to go overboard with their weddings and put more than enough money and effort into a wedding in order to impress their guests.  But remember, the guests really only remember the wedding as a whole, i.e. whether or not they had a good time (good music; food; and a nice atmosphere).   And don’t think, “Well Michael and I love ice cream so we should spend extra money to have an ice cream truck pull up during the reception.”  First off, you probably won’t even get to participate in the ice cream consumption.   Secondly, every detail of this reception doesn’t have to be some sort of symbolic statement of your lives as a couple.  A reception is a celebration.  Express yourself during the ceremony but not with pets, kids or ice cream trucks.

Don’t have an outside reception!!!!  I cannot stress this one enough.  I am pretty sure that if you are planning to have your entire wedding take place outside, you have never actually been to an outside reception or you have and got lucky because that day just happened to be the right temperature with low humidity and precipitation.  Your vision is romanticized if this is your desire.  There are very few perfect days.  Why take the chance that there will be rain or extremely hot or cold weather?  The guests are usually very uncomfortable because there’s grass sticking out from in between the dance floor; they’re too cold or too hot; and wind or rain may be coming in from all sides of that tent.  It’s also a DJ’s nightmare because if they have good quality equipment, it won’t be water proof, which means any drop of rain will cause him/her to pack up quickly.  That equipment is expensive, and you aren’t going to want to fork over a few thousand dollars to replace it.  Also, the sun makes it very difficult for us to see our computers.  So don’t have your reception outside.  The ceremony is one thing but only if there’s an appropriate back-up plan.

So now you know the truth.  I will not sell something I think is unnecessary or will cause any type of hardship on my couples.  Keep it simple, and I promise you will have one of the happiest days of your life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo Booths- Trend or Tradition?

A few years ago, Michael asked me if I wanted him to build a Photo Booth for our company to add to the DJ packages.  My response was, “Why waste the time and money?  It’s a trend that’s going to go out within the year or so.”  He just let it go.  My mom said the exact same thing.  I felt that people could just use their phones and take selfies.  I mean why not just set up props and a selfie stick in the corner?  Well, they did!  But still, every time we DJ an event with props and a selfie stick in the corner, nobody seems interested.  The Photo Booth still prevails!

Last week, at a Sweet 16, as soon as the kids arrived, they started screaming with excitement over seeing this big inflatable, light-up cube which beheld the coveted automatic picture machine.  I couldn’t believe how much these kids could appreciate such a simple concept.  It was really funny though when they seemed to be forgetting to take the actual strips.  LOL  It’s like they didn’t remember there were hard copies.  But we’ve done weddings and Grandma and her friends love it just as much!

Our Photo Booth Package has been such a hit that sometimes I even think people forget how great our DJ-ing is.  We usually get about 10 to 12 people to come up and compliment our DJ during an event, but that can’t compete with the 15 to 20 who are complimenting the Booth!    It’s also been very easy to upsell the Photo Booth (even easier than the actual Photography).  Well that’s easy.  No talent needed there; just a little knowledge of technology and a well-built booth (which of course our Michael built for us with his own two hands).

So I guess I was wrong.  This Photo Booth idea may become a permanent fixture at weddings for years to come… Check out Top Trends in Photo Booths.

 

 

 

1. Seating the elderly guests right in front of the DJ Booth

How does this always end up happening?  I’m not really sure but it seems to happen quite a bit.  The problem with this is that the older folks tend to complain about volume of the music.  They do this before the dance party event starts.  Usually by the time the salad is served, at least one of them has already requested the music be turned down.  Once we’re halfway into the reception and the dance floor is packed and Pitbull’s “Hotel Motel” is blasting, many of the senior guests are up dancing (bec they love Pitbull), but there’s always one grumpy old man who wants to ruin it for everyone.  One time, a guy even asked me to turn the music off.  I politely told him that it’s my job to play music so everyone can dance.  His response was, “Maybe you shouldn’t be here then.”  LOL Rude.  Then there’s always the younger crowd who is simultaneously asking us to turn it up!  Our music isn’t loud; it’s party-appropriate but not night-club-appropriate.  Please, for the sake of everyone, please seat your youngest guests near the DJ booth and put Great Grandpa Frank in the back.

2. Requests: Let’s talk about requests.

Taking requests at a wedding reception seems harmless enough, right?   Yes, but if your DJ is good like us, there really should be no reason for anyone to ask for requests.  For us, it usually boils down to the fact that people aren’t patient enough to let the party get started before coming up and asking for the “Cupid Shuffle.”  I’m on the first dance song of the night and someone’s asking for that already.   98% of weddings we do include this participation favorite.  Also, we usually play sets of music.  If I do agree that a request fits this particular wedding, whether I have already chosen it or not, I’m not going to necessarily play your song next,  and I’m certainly not going to shut the current song off mid-way to put yours on.  Most importantly, people seem to forget that it’s not their wedding.  The Bride and Groom have usually hand-selected many of the songs we are trying to fit in and we still have to get some good dance time in.  I’ve actually had people come up to me and say “Here’s a list of songs that DJs usually play.”  Really?  I wonder if these people are showing their podiatrists what a foot is.   Michael and I are very experienced with many types of events, and we know what we are doing.  Everyone is always happy at the end of the night.  In the defense of the guests, we realize that many wedding DJs out there have not put their best wedding foot forward, ie a Club DJ is not necessarily a wedding DJ with their techno remixes.  So we get it, and we politely do our best to satisfy everyone.   The average wedding reception is lucky to include two full hours of dance music.  You know how many songs that is?- about 30.

3. Brides and Grooms, we love you to death and understand you are excited, but it all comes down to one big choice: Do you want to hear your music all night, or do you want the guests to dance?  Either way is fine with us, but beware of the claws of the in-laws and family members.  LOL  We’ve seen all kinds of couples. The good news is that most brides and grooms seem to be on the same page with each other, which makes us think their marriages will last.  However, often they’re not on the same page with their guests’ idea of what a reception should be.   I’m all for couples wanting to create a unique vision for their wedding, and as Party Planners under our Pop-Up Party Package; Photographers; and Caterers, Music in Motion always tries our best to make that vision a reality.  However, as DJs, we try to encourage a happy medium between the bride and groom choices and today’s favorite dance hits. We advise using their sentimental music for their introductions and cake-cutting, etc.,  and letting us blend some of their other unique choices into the most popular hits of ALL genres as there’s usually a mixture of ages (and sometimes cultures) at weddings.  When the bride and groom choose not to take our advice, we simply prepare two playlists for the occasion: The list the bride and groom want now and the list the bride and groom will want later.  Usually, once the guests have requested enough standard dance music, the bride and groom will come up and ask us to change the playlist.  But once again, in the defesne of the Bride and Groom, it’s their   If they want rock music all night long, that’s what they’re gonna get.  It’s all good.
4. Dedications: This kind of falls under requests, but it’s even worse.   I think wedding guests are so excited and so in the mood for sentimentality and love that they often forget that this is not their   Please don’t ask a DJ at a wedding to play your wedding song and dedicate it to your wife.  Once again, there are only a good 2 to 2.5 hours of dance music at the average wedding, which equates to approximately 30-37 songs.  If we do your dedication, why wouldn’t we do everyone’s dedication.  Heck, why not just leave the bride and groom home next time.  It’s almost like proposing at someone’s wedding.
5. And last but certainly NOT least, the VENUES!! There are so many things to be said about the venues as a whole.  I can actually only count on one hand how many venues I actually like working with- hence the creation of the Pop-Up Party Package.  Why do they put long winding staircases on the opposite side of the ballroom location without an elevator and not even offer to help a 110-lb woman up the stairs when she’s carrying 50 lbs of equipment.  But that’s just the job.   Really, the worst part of the venues is their lack of organization.  You would think that a wedding venue who did weddings all the time would not have to ask the DJ how to handle the cake-cutting (or just forget to do it altogether) or forget to place a chair in the middle of the room for the garter removal.  The other horrible part of the venues these days is the fact that they will actually schedule two weddings back to back so that the vendors (DJs, Photo Booths, etc) have to set up in fifteen minutes while the vendors from the last wedding are still breaking down. Furthermore, why do they put two weddings side by side in non-sound-proofed rooms so that one DJ is blasting his base for the dance party (as many do) and the other is trying to carry out the introductions.  This huge venue pet-peeve actually gave us the idea to do the Pop-Up Party Package so that we could control everything and not have to worry about venue employees screwing it all up.   

All in all, these are some of our pet peeves, but it comes with the job.  So most of the time, we just laugh it off.   Well, maybe not the part about the venues.