Well you’re in the right place if you are looking for an entertainer who really cares. Weddings are what I do!
Here’s a link that popped up in my inbox today from Brides Magazine
CLICK HERE for 100 things you should know before you get married!
I have a couple of PDF’s on wedding planning that you are welcome to, just send me an email request to paul@thepartydj.co.uk
Back in July I was proud to DJ for Phil and Nancy’s wedding at the fabulous Larmer Tree Gardens. You can see my post on my pre-event visit to the Larmer Tree Gardens HERE.
Nancy has just posted this review on Google …
“Paul the Wedding Party DJ made our wedding experience all the more gratifying. The bespoke service he provided leading up to the wedding, and on the day itself, was over and above everything we could have wished for. It’s easy to pick a DJ but we were so fortunate that we found Paul due to the unique service he provides. We knew nothing about Paul beforehand and found him via Google, then enjoyed watching his blogs at the weekends and decided to make contact with him.
We met Paul twice in the run up to the wedding. Off his own back Paul visited our venue to get a feel for the place and how he would set up on the day itself. He offered a service for our guests to submit song choices to him during the lead up to the day. Paul also ran through a few ideas he had for reacting to lack of activity on the dance floor e.g to get people engaged if the atmosphere was lacking. I really liked this as usually a DJ will just play the songs regardless of the audience’s interest. Most of our guests never left the dance floor all night.
Paul also familiarised himself with the names of our wedding party beforehand so that he could personalise the special songs we had requested e.g. the dance with my Dad. Finally, after our last song, Paul played a cheeky number which was a surprise to us, and was relative to our ceremony earlier in the day. The whole room joined hands and sang along. I will be eternally grateful to Paul for doing that. It was just brilliant!
Oh yes… and Paul was away on holiday the week before our wedding, but had lined up a friend who was to step into his shoes should another ash cloud have prevented him from returning to the UK!
So, if you are looking for a disco for your wedding reception – look no further. Paul really cares about your day and comes up with loads of ideas for different scenarios. He is not at all cheesy. Had we not proceeded with the disco theme – we certainly would have had him there
as a guest – he’s great!
I cannot justify enough, in words, Paul the Wedding Party and the service he provides!”
Nancy
Thank you so much Nancy, your kind words blew me away!
To see my Google review page CLICK HERE
One of the services we provide is music for the Wedding Ceremony for civil marriage services. This is something I’m really passionate about because it’s so important and sets the tone for the whole day.
If you get married in a church the organist will be playing as your guests arrive, he then plays your entrance music, the hymns, something while you are signing the register and finally your music to leave the church.
For a civil ceremony you are not permitted to use any music that mentions God, outside that restriction you can have almost anything you like. You’ll probably need about 15 minutes for the guests to enter and take their places (that’s usually 4 or 5 songs). Then a song for your entrance – we will look at the timings for the distance from the doorway to the front of the room and edit the music if required. Next, a couple of tracks to play in the background while you sign the register and the photographs are taken. Finally a piece for your exit as Husband and Wife.
All the time, we are ready to raise the volume, for example to add impact to your entrance, or lower it so that the registrar can speak to your guests. I had a chat with the two registrars officiating at Saturdays wedding and was so pleased to hear their kind words regarding the service we provided.
We were located at the back of the room with a speaker under the table cloth out of sight. You can see the venue had supplied a small system which obviously would have played whatever was required, but whoever was operating it wouldn’t have had the same control that we had with our professional equipment that you can see on the right of the table.
Keep an eye on this blog over the next few weeks as I’ll be posting some ideas for ceremony music.
CLICK HERE for the article on the Hampshire County Council website on civil marriages.
How far in advance should you book your Wedding entertainment?
A very good question, and one that’s asked in the latest edition of You & Your Wedding magazine. They have an interesting Grooms Special section with help on all kinds of topics including suits, stags and speeches, and they also address recruiting the band and/or DJ.
The basic conclusion is book early, most people book about a year in advance and if you leave it under 3 months you really are cutting it close! After some of the posts I’ve made in the last week it appears many people don’t have this information!
CLICK HERE to go to You & Your Wedding’s website for loads of tips. The September/October edition is in newsagents now priced at £4.99
Our new website is now live ~ it’s unique, it’s elegant, and it’s fun!
Thank you to everyone who has helped with this project, for all the testimonials, pictures, and suggestions. Hopefully the site will evolve as we move on, so please keep your contributions coming.
I’d particularly like to thank Martin from VV Web Solutions for all his hard work – great job, thanks.
CLICK HERE to go the new Party DJ website
P.S. If you spot any problems please let me know.
We are now well into the wedding season and I’ve had a very busy last couple of months. Seeing so many couples dreams becoming reality in such a short period of time is a real joy, it highlights so many great things but also occasionally throws up one or two issues that could have been addressed at the planning stage.
As I’ve said before, people don’t always talk to the DJ until after they’ve booked almost everything else. This is a shame because DJ’s see a lot of weddings and have lots of good advice to offer. I did a couple of tips videos – I will get some more done soon. If you are planning your wedding give me a call and book you free, no-obligation, chat and I’ll help you with far more than just the music.
Here are my two tips videos …
and number two on choosing your venue …
Just back from a site visit for Phil and Nancy’s wedding next month at the beautiful Larmer Tree Gardens on the Dorset / Wiltshire border.
We met with Gail, the wedding co-ordinator, who explained the layout and how the day will unfold. We’ll be playing in The Pavillion (pictured above) which was originally built in 1886.
It really is an enchanting venue and we look forward to being part of a fantastic day.
It’s all a bit mad here at the moment – weddings, meetings, Joe’s got exams, and we are currently in the process of building a whole new website for The Party DJ (well we’re not building it but we are contributing) and, to be honest, there are not enough hours in the day to everything we’d like. So anyway, I’m very aware that I haven’t done any new tips videos lately – sorry.
As maybe some of you haven’t scrolled back through the old pages I thought it might be a good idea to replay a couple of the older posts. So, in best Blue Peter style, here’s one I prepared earlier …
In the latest edition of Wedding Magazine (www.weddingmagazine.co.uk) there’s an article in their “Planner” section on “What To Ask” your wedding suppliers to make sure they are the right ones for you. So I thought I’d take a few moments to give you my answers.
Your Entertainment
Does your DJ have a versatile play list?
Yes, yes and yes again! We want the soundtrack to your big day to be exactly what you want it to be. Because we sit down and plan together we will make sure the right music is played at the right time.
Does your band play recorded music between sets?
A good live band is an absolutely wonderful way of entertaining your guests but they won’t be able to provide continuous music throughout your day.
We love to work with bands when our clients want the best of both worlds. We always consult with your chosen artistes to make sure our selections compliment theirs to create an unforgettable event.
Can your band provide a demo CD?
We can provide recording from actual events to give you an exact representation of how your party will sound. We also have YouTube videos from previous events.
Do they need a meal on the day?
Please don’t worry about us – we’ll look after ourselves. We certainly don’t want you to incur unnecessary expense paying for a full meal – our focus will be on entertaining you and your guests. Incase you are wondering what we drink, we will only ever drink bottled water, cola, orange juice and lemonade, tea or coffee at any function.
Do they need a room to get changed before they perform?
Again, please don’t incur unnecessary expense paying for a special room for us to change. We will need to change but we are more than happy to use the public rest rooms. Most venues have somewhere they will be happy for us to use without you having to worry about it.
How long do they need to get set up?
We can have music on in around 20 minutes, it usually takes us about an hour to have the full show set up. If the room is available to us we are happy to set up earlier in the day, if the room has to be “turned around” after your wedding breakfast we’ll be ready to set up as soon as your function manager gives us the go-ahead.
Last week I did this YouTube video, it’s aimed at venues who want to book a DJ who really cares about delivering great service. I’ve emailed it to most of the venues local to me and it’s been watched a few times, but so far no response.
If you know someone who might be interested please forward it to them, thanks.
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