When it comes to choosing wedding entertainment for your wedding day, there are a LOT of options out there.
That is good news for you. Because no one entertainer is right for every wedding.
We know we are not right for every couple, and that’s a good thing!
Some entertainers will try and grab any and every event and try and convince the client they are the right choice
(even if they know they aren’t). So be careful with that one!
Choosing Wedding Entertainment – 10 Tips
Here are our top 10 considerations we believe any couple should make before settling on the right entertainment choice for their day.
Silent Ceremony
A lot of couples will just allow the celebrant to play the music for the ceremony. This is fine, but two things to consider here is that the celebrant is also very busy trying to do their job and might not be great at providing the music on cue. Not only this, but the typical battery operated speaker celebrants use are suitable for voice but don’t sound that good for music.
Furthermore, we usually find celebrants often arrive after the guests have already been there for a while standing around in awkward silence. Consider having your entertainer arrive and playing some ambient music at least 30 minutes before the scheduled ceremony start time to give guests a pleasant experience from the very start of the day.
Sticking to one genre of music
Don’t make the mistake of sticking to just the music that you like. Whilst it’s great to have your entertainer play some of your personal favourites and style you like, it shouldn’t be the only style all night. You need to consider your guests and their preferences too. If you insist on one style of music all night you will find your guests leaving as they are not having a good time.
Your First Dance Song
Consider the length of your first dance song before the day. Are you comfortable dancing for that long while everyone watches you both? If you feel the song is too long, you can work with your entertainer to play a shorter version, or have your bridal party join in part way though if you don’t feel comfortable by yourselves.
Must Play Songs
Be sure when choosing wedding entertaiment to provide your entertainer with a short list of absolute must play songs that are special to you. Don’t bombard your entertainer with a list of 100 “must play songs” because that is far too many to be truly special to you. Keep it to a short list of no more than 10 absolute must plays. Remember, typically it only takes about 15-20 songs to fill an entire hour! Most of the “must plays” that we are given are usually dance floor time songs. Typically, weddings allow for about 2 hours of dance floor time, so when we have a list of 10 songs, that’s already a chunk of the dance floor time taken with must plays leaving the rest for us to fill with requests from your guests as well as songs from our experience that we know will work.
Do Not Play Songs
A lot of couples are ready to provide pages and pages of “must play” songs but forget to give their entertainer a “Do Not Play” list. This is probably even MORE important that the must play list! Usually, you don’t need to tell your entertainer to not play obviously inappropriate music or genres. Instead, think of songs and artists that you cringe when you hear that you think would be a very likely track an entertainer might play. Also think of songs that might trigger sensitive emotions for the both of you and your guests. Songs that remind you of a past relationship, songs that were used at funerals etc are good to include as “Do Not Plays”.
Meeting Your Entertainer
Don’t make the mistake of waiting to meet your entertainer until your wedding day. What if you really don’t like them and they have a poor personality? It’s too late on the day to change then. Remember, your entertainer is actually coming to your wedding day. Ironically, a lot of people are very keen to meet their stylist, their cake maker, their florist etc … but these people are not actually going to be coming to your wedding. It’s just their products that are coming. When you are choosing wedding entertainment, you are not hiring a product like lights and speakers, you are hiring a person (or people). They will be staying at your wedding and interacting with you and your guests. Why wouldn’t you want to meet them first to make sure they are the right match?
Working With The Venue
Ask your venue what type of entertainment they usually have and that they feel works well with their venue. Some venues have VERY crippling noise restrictions which will have you, your guests and entertainers all very disappointed. If you are aware of the noise restrictions BEFORE the event and what that means you can then find entertainment that can work around the restrictions of sound. Yes, there are even ways to keep everyone having a great time and dancing the night away with something called a silent disco.
Sound Check & Set-Up
Check with your venue when your entertainer can come in to set-up and sound check. Ideally you want this done well before the guests arrive. If you choose to have your entertainment turn up after all your guests are already inside and seated, it isn’t a good look seeing cases of equipment and speakers being carried though. Sometimes you may have to pay a little more to have entertainers arrive earlier, but check with them what their policy is. (We don’t charge extra).
Band or DJ?
This is a tough decision and there are a lot of considerations to make here. Some people instantly wipe off the band idea assuming that a band is going to cost a lot more than a DJ. This isn’t always the case. In fact, some DJs charge more than some bands!
Before making a decision based on budget, consider some other factors. Do you prefer to hear the music you love in it’s original form or as a cover performed by a band? Sometimes the covers are even better … sometimes not! Make sure you get to hear some live samples of bands so you get an idea if you like their versions of songs.
Bands also find it much more challenging to control their volume if you are in a venue that has noise restrictions.
Bands will usually take up more space than a DJ, however a solo musician might not.
Music with Explicit Language
If you have music that you would like to hear that has explicit language, that’s fine, but perhaps be considerate of your guests. It might be best to leave any music with explicit language until much later in the night when most of those that might be offended have left.
We hope this article has given you some help in choosing wedding entertainment that is the perfect choice for your event.
We would love to chat with you about how we can help with your wedding with our DJ, Live Music and Master of Ceremonies services.
Warmly,
Nik Reeds
ABIA Award Winner
