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italian villa wedding

Natasha & Philip’s Italian Villa Wedding

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Italian Villa Weddings … I’m back there soon, which got me thinking about Tash and Phil’s big day. It really was one of the highlights of 2018 for me. With the recent weather, I thought now would be a good time to post about their day to remember!

Phil, Natasha and I have been friends for a few years. They are actually DJs too running a very successful business in Dorset which now focuses on children parties. They had recommended me several times to friends of theirs who were getting married. So, I was delighted when Tash phoned me just after they (finally 😉 ) got engaged and asked me to DJ their wedding. They actually switched venues because the first place they liked would only accept DJs on their list!

This made me think of my last post Don’t get caught in a Wedding Factory click here.

As a result, they finally settled on an Italian Villa wedding. It’s always great to work at this wonderful, award winning venue. I have many memories of Compton Acres including as a child standing by the pond, right up to Lauren and Dave’s wedding.

Tash and Phil made great use of the wedding planning folder I gave them. We had three meetings to talk through the various ideas. They asked for my recommendation for a Dorset based photographer, I suggested Tom and Murray from One Thousand Words Photography. I love their style of natural, timeless photography and they are always a joy to work alongside. The photographs on this blog post are all taken by Tom and Murray – great aren’t they! (I’m working with them again this year too!)

When the day arrived, it was absolutely gorgeous. The weather was perfect, the venue looked stunning and everyone had a day to remember.

First dance at the Italian Villa

Testimonial from One Thousand Words

Here are a few quotes from Tom and Murray about my contribution to Natasha & Philip’s Italian Villa Wedding.

“Tash and Phil’s wedding day would not have been the same without Paul. His organisational skills saw him pull the proverbial ‘rabbit out of the hat’ on more than one occasion when plans changed at the last minute.

He perfectly MC’d the speeches with his unique flair. When it came to the evening no one could have entertained the wedding guests better.

From our point of view the photographs of happy smiling guests were a direct result of Paul’s influence.”

Tom and Murray ~ One Thousand Words Photography

Tom and Murray’s full blog of Tash and Phil’s Italian Villa wedding is here, check it out!

For more information about The Italian Villa please click here. For more information about One Thousand Words Photography please click here.

If you are looking for bouncy castle hire in Dorset and West Hampshire, contact Get Up & Bounce please click here. They even have a range of fun wedding extras please click here.

Italian Villa Wedding

Looking For Recommendations

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Looking For Recommendations should be a staple element of early wedding planning ~ FACT

BUT how should you be looking for recommendations? The thing I want to highlight here is something that became more and more apparent in 2017, and that is the “Looking For Recommendations” facility on FaceBook – what a brilliant idea … NOT! Well “not” if you don’t use it correctly.

The thing is people are lazy, and that includes me. We ask for advice and …
1) we don’t really ask the right people and then …
2) we don’t follow it up properly

Let me explain. Somebody is getting married and they are looking for a great DJ to play at their wedding or a brilliant photographer to capture the memories of this once in a lifetime event. So, they go onto a FaceBook Group like Southampton or Hampshire Weddings and type in “Looking For Recommendations for a great wedding DJ”. This is seen by lots of DJ’s who the reply “Hi I’m a DJ please take a look at my site”. They are also seen by lots of other suppliers who have DJ friends who reply with “check out DJ so-and-so”, the post frequently attracts dozens, sometimes hundreds, of replies. Let’s be honest, it all looks a bit desperate and at that this point the original poster has a huge list to look at and they often haven’t said what date and venue they are holding their wedding so many of the DJ’s may already be booked.

They have recommendations, but from who? People who they know nothing about – so what use are these recommendations?

As I said right at the start, looking for recommendations should be a staple element of early wedding planning but get them from people you know – initially your family, your friends and then talk to the suppliers you’ve already chosen ask them. There’s a video on my last blog post that covers this topic so PLEASE CLICK HERE to see it.

So, when you go looking for recommendations make sure they are credible and relevant, ask the people you know who have real experience and can make real recommendations.

https://www.thepartydj.co.uk/creating-wow-wedding-20th-february/

Real Weddings

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Party DJ Real Weddings

Real Weddings from real couples just like you! That’s the idea and that’s what I’ve finally got together with a lot of help from some very special friends.

One of the things I’ve always believed in is only using real pictures of couples I’ve worked with – I hate misrepresentation and the use of “stock images” and even stolen pictures on websites. So my website and literature has always featured my couples – Real Weddings that I’ve been blessed to play a part in.

Recently a few people, fellow wedding professionals and even clients, have told me I should feature more about these Real Weddings and so I’ve started this new booklet. What I’ve tried to do is give a flavour of each wedding without listing everything that happened – hopefully it will give plenty of ideas to couples planning their big day. I will be adding more weddings both old and new as time goes on, every couple have given their permission to be included and have also been consulted about their entry because that’s they way I try and do things – I never take anything for granted.

PLEASE CLICK HERE to open Real Weddings and have a look.

This is one of a number of booklets going onto my website now, so please have a look at the changes I’ve been making with the help of my brilliant website designer Deon from Deon Design.

I’d like to thank Shellie & Matt, Sarah & Dave, Kate & Colin, Axy & Jez, Amy & Kristin, Karen & Billy, Lisa & Karl, Kat & Gareth, Emma & Simon, Josh & Max, Abi & Marcus, Emma & Craig, Charlotte & Simon, Lauren & Dave, Claire & David and Kerry & Ashley for their support.

If you are one of my couples and would like your Real Wedding to be included please let me know, thanks.

Wow Real Weddings