After your ceremony, the guests might remember your gorgeous wedding gown, a beautiful view and venue’s decor. From the reception, your guests might remember the great food and mingling with long lost friends at the open bar. Each guest takes away something different from weddings but the one thing most guests will always remember is the wedding entertainment; when it’s good and especially when it’s bad. Whether you have a solo musician, a mobile disc jockey, or a wedding band, the music is the main form of entertainment. Great wedding entertainment can make a wedding memorable but bad wedding entertainment can clear the dance floor before it even gets started. Avoid these common wedding entertainment and music mistakes and make your day be one for the books!
Always meet prior. Music is a major focus of your reception so make sure you allocate the proper amount of time planning the dancing details. With such a busy schedule, it can be quicker to email or call your entertainment but actually meeting them only on the day of your wedding increases the risk of problems. Meet with all of your entertainment, face to face, prior to the wedding to go over basic details of the day, run through your wedding timeline, tell them what songs you would like to hear and, most important, what songs you don’t want to be played at your wedding will ensure a smoother and easier day for all. If you hire a separate wedding MC to make sure they are on the same page as the DJ so they can perform in perfect harmony. In our case, we offer complimentary consultations for all clients to ensure that all of our entertainment is fully prepared for the day ahead.
- Know the rules. Some venues have a restricted sound level and end-time policies. Make sure you check for sound ordinance laws in the town that your reception will be held in as well as rules on the noise level at your venues. You don’t want your reception to unexpectedly end early. (HINT: You paid for your wedding entertainment so might as well get your money’s worth!)
- Sitting in silence. As a bride or groom, your first focus is your grand entrance, so sometimes it is easy to forget the amount of time your guests are sitting there before you appear. Guests arrive and take their seats, waiting patiently for the ceremony to begin and there is nothing that can make people more impatient and antsy then leaving them to sit in silence. Whether you choose to have a violinist, string quartet or a wedding DJ during this time, make sure the music sets the mood for the evening and keeps everyone entertained and in a cheerful mood. (HINT: You can discuss this in our complimentary consultations with our San Diego DJs!)
- Don’t forget what you DON’T want to hear. The last thing a couple wants to hear at their reception is a wedding music band they cannot stand or a song that is inappropriate for the setting! If a specific song or band for hire is sure to put a dent in your wedding day bliss, add it to your do-not-play list and be sure to let your wedding entertainment know. (HINT: We make sure to give every client a “music worksheet”, detailing what they would like to hear at their wedding and what they wouldn’t, for this specific reason.)
- There is such a thing as too much. Too much of a good thing can turn into a bad thing. You may love rap but three hours of Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre might is guaranteed to make everyone off the dance floor. Make sure to have a wide variety of music to accommodate the range of generations that can get everyone on the dance floor and having a good time. (HINT: One of the things our wedding DJs like to do is to play generational music, starting with older stuff and ending with newer stuff near the end of the night when all of the elderly guests have left!)
- Right music, not the right time. Music should fit the mood of the moment. You should hear the music you want to but Shaggy’s “It Wasn’t Me” can ruin any sit down dinner and cause some uncomfortable memories. Make sure the music you want to hear matches the time you should hear it. (HINT: Professional wedding entertainment will know what to play at the right time, and will feed off of the crowd and guests to decide where to go next!)
- 5×5 is only okay for a storage unit, not a dance floor. Even the relative who is always the first to rock the dance floor will sit down if they don’t have room to do their thing. Dancing becomes less and less fun with each elbow to the ribcage. Make sure your dance floor is big enough for your guests to shimmy and shake without worrying about stepping on toes. If your wedding entertainment is a big hit you don’ t want everyone dancing next to their dinner seats! (HINT: Speak with your wedding entertainment about setting up some dance floor lights or a custom monogram to really make it sparkle!)
- It shouldn’t be the song that never ends. Is your love song too long or just want something shorter? Don’t throw it out the window. Work with your wedding entertainment to cut the song down to a reasonable length that you and your groom like. (HINT: All of our mobile disc jockeys can work with you to edit or shorten songs to make your wedding day extra special!)