DJ Placement at Your Wedding

I recently had a venue coordinator bring me into the room of a very well-known local wedding reception venue over in Albany, NY. The room was beautiful, as always, with a big dance floor, completely surrounded by nicely decorated tables. The food, the decor and everything was perfect except for the placement of one thing...

Poor Placement of The DJ table.

They had allowed for the only space for the DJ booth table to be about 75 feet away, off in the distance in the corner of the room.

"Uggghhhhh!" I thought. "Is there anywhere else I can set up?" I asked her a few questions and didn't like the answer.

She said, “That’s where we ALWAYS put the DJ.”

“If the wedding party has a band, do you put them in the same place?” I asked.

“Well, not really. We usually put them right next to the dance floor.”

There is also a very popular wedding hall in the Schenectady, NY area that likes to put the DJ way up high on a balcony. This too, in a manner of words, SUCKS!

Just a tip; treat the DJ as your entertainmant for the night, as you would any other performer that interacts with your crowd. It really is best to have what ever entertainment that you choose to provide for your guests very close to the dance floor. This is important for a number of reasons.

Here is a list of things to think about when making your seating plan and placing your entertainment spotlight for the night:

1) DO NOT PUT GUESTS/TABLES IN FRONT OF THE DJ - First off, the sound quality will be terrible. Obstacles will hinder the sound from reaching the dance floor properly. Also, the guests sitting in front of the DJ booth will be blasted by sound all night.

2)IS THE ENTERTAINMENT CLOSE ENOUGH TO THE DANCE FLOOR? - No matter what your hall says, the entertainment should ALWAYS be right near the dance floor, period. A wedding venue knows food, and knows how to treat their guests, but they are not entertainers.

3) CAN THE ENTERTAINMENT BE SEEN BY ALL? - The DJ or band often makes announcements. You don’t want your guests wondering where this mystery voice is coming from like a blue light special announcement at K-mart.

4) CAN THE CROWD CONNECT WITH THE DJ / BAND ? - It is very important for the DJ, much like a band, to connect with the crowd. Seeing what is working and what is not is a huge part of being a mobile disc jockey.

5) WILL PEOPLE BE ABLE TO INTERACT EASILY? - If the DJ / nad is far away, requests become very difficult, or sometimes almost impossible.

In a big hall, it is impossible to do a 75 feet corner set up, facing the back of your guests with tables in front of you. Also a balcony set up, doesn't work well for a mobile DJ. (Balcon DJ booths only work in night clubs because the place is hard wired with smaller speakers everywhere to reach the dead spots.)

BELOW IS AN EXAMPLE OF A BAD WEDDING HALL LAYOUT:





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Overall, in a wedding reception setting, your DJ/MC placement is critical. Do not let the hall put your entertainment in a closet.

Remember, when it comes to dancing, "The King of Dirty Dancing" Patrick Swayze once said, "Nobody puts the DJ in the corner," ...or something like that. Keep this in mind when laying out the seating charts.


...www.theDJservice.com

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TOP 10 Wedding Centerpiece Giveaway List

Wedding Centerpiece Giveaways TOP 10 LIST

My guess is that the a new man and wife certainly do not want to take home a dozen huge floral arrangements that will be dead by the time they get back from their honeymoon. However, you will probably agree that bride and grooms tend to spend big bucks on decorations and flowers for their wedding and it is always the attitude that letting it all go waste would be a shame.

Therefore, we have decided to add "wedding centerpiece giveaway ideas" to our popular “TOP TEN LIST” article category. So I have painstakingly hacked together my very favorite centerpiece giveaway ideas that that will keep your wedding guests happy after the last song.

1) DONATION
Want to save some money? Those centerpieces became a tax deductible write off! If you are not all about just saving the cash, it's also nice to know that you could be brightening the day of some people at an elderly home, or hospital, perhaps.

2) FIND THE PENNY
Ask someone to hide a penny either under a plate or coffee mug at the table, or underneath one actual chair at each table. The lucky person who finds the lucky penny gets to take hope the centerpiece. You can switch the penny up, if you like, to maybe a poker chip or something else that may go along with the theme of your wedding.

3) RSVPS REWARDS
With this interesting wedding centerpiece giveaway, you reward the most prompt RSVP responders! In order to do this, as your RSVPs come in, just keep track of the order. Then when you make your seating charts, you can put a sticker inside the place card of the people who sent in their RSVPs first., or just have the DJ read a list....

CONTINUED...


Since the list is pretty long with definitions, to see the rest of the ideas CLICK HERE, to check out our site at www.TheDJservice.com.

What's A Wedding Photo Booth ?

I had the pleasure of working with a local photographer again last week, at a fun wedding at Birch Hill in Kinderhook. Tony from "The Time Capsule Photo Booth Service," did such a great job keeping the guests amused that I figured it was time to blog about him here. Deciding to share his great service with my readers, I figure it is probably important, first off, to explain the idea of a wedding booth in general to anyone who is unfamiliar with what this service is all about.

One of the newest trends in wedding reception to join the current wedding cupcake and wedding magnet craze is the addition of a Wedding Photo Booth. “So... What exactly is, um, a wedding photo booth?” you might ask.

Out by the bar in a separate designated area, or perhaps in the corner of the dining hall, an extra wedding photography vendor sets up a photo booth, much like the passport picture booths you sometimes see over in the mall.

The way it works is, unlimited pictures are taken and developed on the spot as wedding favors for all the guests. They are also collected in duplicate for an ongoing work-in-progress wedding scrapbook that is compiled throughout the night for the bride & groom.

Off to the side of the curtained booth, many vendors have a table with a spread of silly props, hats, and crazy costume accessories for the guests to use to dress up their photo shoot.

After the pictures are taken, the guests are typically presented with two strips of photos, maybe within 30 seconds. One is pocketed for a keepsake, and the other one is inserted into the bridal scrapbook. Then the scrapbooking fun begins!

Depending on the booth provider, specialized services to this service may be available, such as the ability to add text or custom backgrounds to the pictures.

Now, back to Tony of TIme Capsule Photo Booths... He does a great job. Bottom line.

If you are interested in booking a photo booth for your event and are in and around the Capital District, there are a number of fine vendors that provide this service. But again, one great vendor that I love working with is Tony at http://www.timecapsulephotobooths.com/ . He's professional, offers different custom packages, and has a nice selection of props for your guests to choose from.

Wedding Theme Dress Selection

Are you planning a theme wedding? If have the guts and you are contemplating really having a theme wedding for your special day, this can open up all kinds of fun and make your day VERY memorable. The idea of taking on a theme brings direction and personality to your special day and changes the game. The overall tone and decoration ideas just fall right into place and make everything special. People will also offer help decorating that you don't normally get in a traditional wedding. I highly recommend it, if you want your day to stand out. However, there is just one thing: Go with the white dress!

While choosing to where the white dress may slow down some of the creative possibility that can be afforded to the chosen theme, the symbolization behind the dress can outweigh this. For one, the dress symbolizes purity and class, overall. Choosing the white gown makes sense to the guests. Your older audience will apprciate the fact that the traditional bridal regalia is in place and abandoned.

While securing the traditional dress may not matter to the certain brides, there is something to be said for retaining the traditional dress kept sacred. The second very important reason for keeping white dress is you don’t want the theme wedding to just look like a big costume party.

At many awesome theme weddings, the guests end up wearing something that follows the theme. For example, if you were going to a pirate wedding, a beach wedding, or a halloween theme wedding, you can be sure that most people will dress a certain way. Having the bride keep the white dress makes her still look special.

Finally, most bride’s envisioned walking the aisle as little girls, and looking just like a princess. Keep this in mind. On your wedding day, you still want it to feel like like a wedding and despite all the other other theme related things, the white dress will make this happen. You don't want to look back and wish you had.

Wedding Hall Review - Carmela's Banquet House

Carmela's Banquet House located at 301 Washington Ave in Rensselaer, New York is a great place to hold a small to mid-range wedding. I would say that if you are a bride or groom and have about 75-125 people on your guest list, this hall could be a great affordable option for you. At the same time, Carmela’s also provides quality for your night to remember.

LOCATION – Location is a great positive when making your venue selection. Carmela's is pretty much out of the busy are of Albany and offset the main drag in a residential area in Rensselaer. It has its own spacious parking lot, so that your guests have no parking issues. It also is only a block or so away from a ramp that will lead your guests directly to Interstate Route 90.

FACILITIES - Downstairs, there is a place for the wedding party to collect and wait for the grand introduction. There is a nice round bar off of the main dining room, which allows for more people to enjoy the bar experience. There is also room in the corner of the bar for traditional wedding decorations/activities, like an acoustic guitarist, photo booth or ice sculpture, perhaps. In the dining room, there is a spacious dance floor and great adjustable lighting.

FOOD - The food is really great. Recently, I was the disc jockey for a wedding that had a nice chicken breast, or strip steak, as well as a vegetarian dish available. The garnishes that the bride and groom selected were garlic smashes potatoes, and a great mixed vegetable medley of peppers, onions and cauliflower.

STAFF - Super friendly and easy to work with.

Overall, I think if the size of the guest list works for you, you should stop by and take a look. I give this hall a big, "bravo!"

Wedding Activity - Sing For Your Supper

If you are like me, you have been to a wedding reception where the buffet line was like six miles long and you were in the back of the line twiddling your thumbs. As y ou waited impatiently, bored out of your head, you looked up to notice that they were only serving on one side of the table.... If you are like me, then you know that a food line can often feel like an eternity.

With all this being said, do you have a buffet planned for your wedding and hope to erase the boring parts? If so, one fun alternative activity for table serving order is called, "Sing For Your Supper."

The "Singing For Your Supper" game is a great activity to entertain your waiting guests that also creates entertainment for others waiting for dinner to be served.

As with all wedding activities, this game probably is one that won't work everywhere. This activity should only be chosen specifically upon the bride & groom's request. And while this activity may not be for everyone, it can really be a fun icebreaker with the right people, who want to kill the wait associated with a mega-buffet line of, maybe 150 hungry guests.


Typically speaking, a microphone is passed from table to table by an emcee or maybe the best man, and the only way that a particular table can move up to the buffet line, is to have a volunteer from the table dedicate a song to the bride and groom and then sing it.

In the loving spirit of any wedding celebration, the song is usually supposed to be a familiar chorus selection of a romantic song, "dedicated to the bride and groom from table number eight," for example.

Often times, your guests may be reluctant to start. However, once wedding guests see how fun it can be, they will quickly catch on. Then, once they buy in, the activity can really become creative and very entertaining! (...Especially if the cocktail hour had an open bar!)

POSSIBLE GUIDES -

"LOVE" - guests must sing any song they like, containing the word "Love" in it, somewhere.

"DUETS" - Two people have to sing a song in order for their table to move to the buffet line.

Whatever you choose to do, have fun with it! You only live once. :)

Consider a theme wedding...

Want to really make your memorable? Like things a little different? Why not consider a theme?

When you really think about it, most weddings blend together in your memory banks, years to come when you reflect.

Picking a theme makes your wedding have that wow-factor as well as gives you direction. Just think about the decorating potential you get if you selected a beach wedding, for an example. Flip flops, sea shells, surfboards and more!