Additional Sound System For Ceremony- If your Wedding Ceremony and Reception are both taking place at the same facility, but in different areas, we offer a separate Sound System Package for the Pastor and processional music. Typically, guests will begin to arrive 30-45 minutes before the Ceremony begins. We will need to be set-up and playing your selected seating music before the first guests arrive. This Optional Package includes a second sound system for the Ceremony, 2 hours of music which includes the Processional Songs and a wireless microphone for the Pastor for the rate of $150.00.
End Time- When booking a Event Hall, be sure to ask how long you have the room for your Reception. Many Event Halls will ask that Entertainers (Bands and DJ ) stop performing 30 minutes before your contract ends to begin asking guests to exit. You will need to find out what your Venue's cut off times are specifically pertaining to music . This is to avoid any conflicts with the staff and Venue regulations. Our goal is to play your last song 5 minutes before your Event concludes. We want to make sure there are no misunderstandings regarding the End Time of your event. If your Venue offers after hours, we have "After Hours" rates. Please contact us for more information.
Video Montage- A video montage is a collection of pictures of the Bride and Groom often set to a soundtrack of popular music. This presentation can be burned onto a record-able consumer grade DVD or made into a PowerPoint presentation for playback on a laptop computer. The Venue you have selected will often offer their own projection screen, DVD Player, and Digital projector for viewing during your wedding reception. We strongly recommend all of our customers to perform a test at least 30 days before the event. The consumer grade DVDs that are sold at retail outlets are often not compatible with older DVD players and there is a good chance that this will result in undesired playback or skipping. In addition to problems with the media, you may also need a series of specified cables to interface your equipment with the venue's digital projector. In the event you should need the audio played back through our Sound System, we can offer the cables needed. We prefer to meet with you in advance to ensure we have the correct cable interface. We recommend you make arrangements to have a member of the venues staff or a family friend that's familiar with your laptop operate your personal computer during your wedding day. Make sure your Event Hall allows a test of your media and always get your agreements in writing.
A question we are commonly asked is whether your guests will dance at your reception. If dancing is among your top 5 concerns it will be beneficial for you to understand that there are many factors that contribute to your dance-floor Some of these can be addressed in advance during the planning stages of your event. Many musical acts and booking agencies may lead you to believe it's all about song selection and specifically how good the band is. These factors play a significant role in engaging your guests to dance however there are other factors that play a major role. Here are the highlights
- TIMING A dj is in a unique position to judge when the dance floor should be opened. With any event it is critical that a certain amount of time is elapsed before the dance floor is opened. During the early stages of your wedding reception your guests are taking in the surroundings and there level of comfort is increased as they begin to converse and open up with friends and family. The energy level in the room begins to build based on the amount of time the guests have to enjoy conversation and drink libations. Opening up a dance floor before they have had enough time to get comfortable and in some cases before they have had enough to drink will effect your entire event. A slow dance floor during the early stages of the evening will have a ripple effect throughout the evening and you will find it takes more time to get the dance floor populated. Many coordinators will create an event timeline in advance that lock in specific times. Give the DJ or musician the ability to make judgment calls and adjust the timeline from the point the dance floor is opened. In addition to the dance floor opening you should also be flexible with the timeline in terms of cake cutting, garter toss and banquette toss. A good DJ will find a point when the dance floor will slow down (whether its a result of the guests getting tired or sitting down to have a drink) and will take that opportunity to announce another event such as a garter toss. This gives the party a better continuity and it will feel like the energy level stays high and engages your guests. A timeline is important to any event but the flow of your party may be different then what you planned. Allow the musician to edit and make changes based on the energy level of your event.
- LIGHTING Your venue will typically have lighting capabilities and someone should need to be onsite late in the evening to control the lighting. Typically the individual in charge of controlling the lights will be gone by the time the DJ opens your dance floor. A good DJ will try to learn the lighting capabilities long before the dance floor opens. Bright overhead lighting will have a major impact on engaging your guests to dance. We want to ensure the lighting is low and this will increase the comfort level of your guests and increase the chances of a populated dance floor. The DJ should carry high end lighting and avoid using inexpensive halogen fixtures that project multicolored beams of lights on the dance floor. Low level light strings with white led's are another alternative that is elegant for almost any venue. these will keep the dance floor dark and this is critical for your guests to feel comfortable
- SOUND SYSTEM One of the most common complaints in a wedding reception is the volume was too loud. This is a result of the poor quality equipment that DJ's carry. A poor quality speaker will sound loud and deafening at a low volume level. It will make you feel the DJ played too loud and alienated the guests. A good sound system can play at the same decibel level side by side with a low quality speaker and it will seem as though the DJ is playing at half the volume. the clarity of the sound system will make the loud volume pleasant. Having a bi amped system with bass is also critical to your dance floor. You want the guests to feel the music as well as hear the music to get them moving and increase the energy level in the room. If a DJ does not have a separate bass speaker and I high quality modern sound system it will have a dramatic impact on getting guests to dance.
- VENUES WITH NOISE RESTRICTIONS Many wine vineyards and outdoor venues will have a noise restriction. Avoid these venues if getting guests to dance is among you top 5 concerns of your wedding reception. The venues make a great income booking weddings and they will say almost anything to assure you that a noise restriction will have no impact on getting guests to dance. The day of the event they will continually instruct the dj or band to lower the volume. We can still perform at your reception but in order to increase our chances of keeping your dance floor populated we need to play at a suitable level. When was the last time you danced to music that was played at a volume level suitable for an elevator. Enough said
- DO NOT PLAY LIST Its common for a bride and groom to be partial to certain types of music whether its rock and roll, hip hop, or old school. You may decide in advance you want the musician to avoid playing specific songs that you have heard too many times over the years. We welcome these suggestions, we don't want to play something that annoys you. In other cases you may decide that entire genres of music should be omitted from the playlist such as hip hop, disco, rock. If getting guests to dance at your reception is among the top 5 concerns you have then I would advise you to allow the musician to make these choices. Over the years I have attended so many receptions where the music genre remained the same or limited to one style as a result of the bride and grooms instructions. Over a period of 5 hours ( the typical duration of the event ) one genre of music will get old and will lower the energy level of the event. You may decide disco should not be aired and your DJ will later determine it needs to be in limited rotation to engage some of your older guests. As a musician we are playing the song selections we feel will engage most of the guests. Many of the songs we air will not be our personal style and we play them to perform a service.