We receive a number of inquiries each year from engaged couples who have chosen to have their wedding on a Sunday. And, of course, some of those inquiries turn into booked events in which we are privileged to participate as DJ entertainers.
Sunday weddings may provide couples with options they ordinarily wouldn't have. Many wedding vendors; venues, caterers, photographers, etc. offer discounts for events that happen on Sundays as there are fewer of them happening. Saturday evenings are typically in high demand and experienced professionals don't have trouble booking them well in advance. So, for financial reasons alone, a Sunday might be a good idea.
Sunday weddings seem to be ideal for DIY couples who plan to implement at least some of the event themselves or with the help of family members and friends. They may provide food for their reception or do their own decorating and it seems (although I could be wrong) that venues, caterers and other professionals tend to be more understanding of couples who want more direct involvement on a Sunday. I guess, what I'm saying is that many Sunday weddings tend to be less formal than most Saturday evening weddings and for those people who are more comfortable planning a casual celebration, Sundays are perfect for them.
A brief word of caution - many popular sporting events happen on Sunday. This blog article is being written just hours before the Super Bowl. So unless you want your wedding to compete against the attention of a major sporting event, check a calendar to be sure your wedding is happening on a day free of such potential conflict.
My main suggestion to couples planning a Sunday wedding is to get the timing right. By this I mean, start early and end early. I say this because many inquiries we receive initially ask for DJ entertainment during a typical Saturday evening timeline, say 6PM to midnight. I can share with you as an observer of many Sunday events, most people will not stay till midnight on a Sunday.
We have been programmed since childhood to use Sundays as a day to prepare for the coming week, right? We do laundry, complete homework, run errands, etc. just so we can be ready for the coming week and most of all, Sundays are for getting to bed early. The following day is after all a work day for adults or a school day for the kids. Asking people to disregard their psychological and physical programming is a tall order. I have observed the tendency of guests to want to leave early even if the celebration is full of energy and moving full steam ahead. There seems to be an internal clock inside some people that says, ok time to go home, even if that means leaving at 9PM.
Some people plan their Sunday wedding on a three day holiday weekend such as Labor Day weekend, thinking that their guests have the next day off, so they'll be able to stay later. There is some degree of truth to this and you might be able to go to 11PM on a holiday Sunday. Still, many people listen to their internal clock and leave early even though they could stay longer.
My recommendation is to use your Sunday wedding as a 4 or 5 hour afternoon celebration:
2PM to 7PM or 3PM to 8PM
Or, if you desire an evening celebration:
4PM to 9PM or 5PM to 10PM
I have DJ'd wedding receptions on Sundays that successfully went late (meaning almost everyone stayed to the end) but they are rare. I believe you and your guests will be better served if you plan your Sunday wedding with the appreciation of how we are programmed. More people will stay the entire time to celebrate with you if you simply plan to start a little earlier and end a little earlier than a typical Saturday night reception.
I look forward to your thoughts and input on this topic. As always best wishes on your special day!
Showing posts with label Cleveland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cleveland. Show all posts
Sunday, February 5, 2017
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Cleveland’s Own My Life DJ Service Wins a WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Award® 2016
North Olmsted, OH – January 7, 2016 – WeddingWire, a leading global online wedding marketplace, named My Life DJ Service as a winner of the prestigious WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Awards® 2016 for Wedding DJ in northeast Ohio!
The WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Awards® 2016 recognizes the top five percent of wedding professionals in the WeddingWire Network who demonstrate excellence in quality, service, responsiveness and professionalism. The esteemed awards are given to the top local wedding vendors in more than 20 service categories based on their professional achievements from the previous year.
While many industry award winners are selected by the host organization, the WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Awards® winners are determined solely based on reviews from real newlyweds. Award-winning vendors are distinguished for the quality, quantity, consistency and timeliness of the reviews they have received from their past clients.
“We are thrilled to celebrate such a high-caliber, committed group of professionals for the Couples’ Choice Awards’® eighth year,” said Timothy Chi, CEO, WeddingWire. “We are proud to continue to serve as the industry leader, with over 2.5 million consumer and peer reviews, and feature award-winning merchants...”
As a Couples’ Choice Awards® winner, My Life DJ Service is highlighted within the WeddingWire Network, which is comprised of more than 400,000 wedding professionals globally.
We are proud to be one of the top wedding DJ services in northeast Ohio in the WeddingWire Network. We would like to thank our past clients for taking the time to review our business on WeddingWire. We value all of our clients and truly appreciate the positive feedback that helped us earn the WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Awards® 2016.
To learn more about the Couples’ Choice Awards®, please visit www.weddingwire.com/couples-choice-awards.
About WeddingWire, Inc.
WeddingWire, Inc. is the leading global online marketplace connecting consumers with event and creative professionals. Operating within a $200 billion industry, WeddingWire, Inc. hosts 10 million monthly unique users across its mobile and web platforms. Consumers are able to read over 2.5 million vendor reviews and search, compare and book from a database of over 400,000 businesses. Globally, it provides these businesses the technology they need to serve their clients through advertising, marketing and business management tools such as websites, payment processing, invoicing and contracts. Founded in 2007, the WeddingWire portfolio of sites serves couples and businesses across 14 countries in North America, Latin America and Europe, making it the worldwide leader in weddings with brands including Bodas.net, Casamentos.com.br, Matrimonio.com and more. The company employs more than 650 and maintains global headquarters in Washington, DC and international headquarters in Barcelona, Spain.
Click here if you want to learn more about our DJ service or receive a price quote for your upcoming event!
The WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Awards® 2016 recognizes the top five percent of wedding professionals in the WeddingWire Network who demonstrate excellence in quality, service, responsiveness and professionalism. The esteemed awards are given to the top local wedding vendors in more than 20 service categories based on their professional achievements from the previous year.
While many industry award winners are selected by the host organization, the WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Awards® winners are determined solely based on reviews from real newlyweds. Award-winning vendors are distinguished for the quality, quantity, consistency and timeliness of the reviews they have received from their past clients.
“We are thrilled to celebrate such a high-caliber, committed group of professionals for the Couples’ Choice Awards’® eighth year,” said Timothy Chi, CEO, WeddingWire. “We are proud to continue to serve as the industry leader, with over 2.5 million consumer and peer reviews, and feature award-winning merchants...”
As a Couples’ Choice Awards® winner, My Life DJ Service is highlighted within the WeddingWire Network, which is comprised of more than 400,000 wedding professionals globally.
We are proud to be one of the top wedding DJ services in northeast Ohio in the WeddingWire Network. We would like to thank our past clients for taking the time to review our business on WeddingWire. We value all of our clients and truly appreciate the positive feedback that helped us earn the WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Awards® 2016.
To learn more about the Couples’ Choice Awards®, please visit www.weddingwire.com/couples-choice-awards.
About WeddingWire, Inc.
WeddingWire, Inc. is the leading global online marketplace connecting consumers with event and creative professionals. Operating within a $200 billion industry, WeddingWire, Inc. hosts 10 million monthly unique users across its mobile and web platforms. Consumers are able to read over 2.5 million vendor reviews and search, compare and book from a database of over 400,000 businesses. Globally, it provides these businesses the technology they need to serve their clients through advertising, marketing and business management tools such as websites, payment processing, invoicing and contracts. Founded in 2007, the WeddingWire portfolio of sites serves couples and businesses across 14 countries in North America, Latin America and Europe, making it the worldwide leader in weddings with brands including Bodas.net, Casamentos.com.br, Matrimonio.com and more. The company employs more than 650 and maintains global headquarters in Washington, DC and international headquarters in Barcelona, Spain.
Click here if you want to learn more about our DJ service or receive a price quote for your upcoming event!
Saturday, November 21, 2015
Tips for Visiting Guests at Your Reception
Almost all of our clients, brides and grooms, share with us early in the planning process that one of their concerns is a slow moving reception. They tell us they've been guests at other wedding receptions and they've experienced confusion about what's happening next, boredom, and a general - when will this party start - anxiety. They don't want a slow moving, disjointed flow, or lack of flow, to their own reception.
One thing that often slows down the flow of the reception is when the bride and groom attempts to visit each table of guests, typically during dinner or toward the end of dinner. Ironically, they are sometimes the reason for the very slowdown that they didn't want to happen in the first place. This is because most people do not know how to "butterfly" around a room. If you've ever noticed a butterfly in a garden, you'll see that it quickly bounces from one flower to the next, not staying in any one place for very long. For us humans, this is a learned skill that only priests and politicians have mastered. It's precisely because their main goal when floating through a room is to say hello, be noticed, welcome guests and then move on. It's not to engage in any type of drawn out reminiscing or storytelling. It's not that they don't enjoy reminiscing or storytelling, it's just that they know this isn't the right time for it, if they want to honor and acknowledge all guests.
Brides and grooms, let's do a little math. If you have 200 guests in a room and they are sitting at 25 tables of eight guests per table - how long will it take you to visit all tables if you spend just 3 minutes at each table? The answer, a whopping one hour and 15 minutes! What's happening during this time? The DJ or band can't get the dancefloor going because traditionally, the first dance belongs to the bride and the groom. I can tell you that this is one of the most frustrating points in the evening for DJs. We often feel stuck because we know guests are getting antsy for the dancing to begin, yet we need
to wait for the bride and groom to finish their butterflying.
This blog article is not meant to talk you out of butterflying, although there are other options that we can cover in another post. The purpose of this article is to give you a few easy tips to be an awesome butterfly!
1) Understand your goal is to thank and welcome guests, not to engage in storytelling. Storytelling takes time and you can't control the duration of the story if you're not the one telling the story. Many of your guests know that you're on a schedule but some have no idea about your reception timeline and will immediately begin to share a story about their recent vacation to Alaska.
2) Keep moving. It's difficult to pin you down if you're physically moving. Do the slow walk but don't stop for very long. If you do stop, make it for just a few seconds to give someone a hug or shake hands. Move on.
3) Stay together. Have you ever heard the saying, divide and conquer? This is true with couples who butterfly a room. If you get separated, you'll never be able to visit all tables as a couple and you'll literally lose each other at your own reception. Hold hands while you visit each table.
4) Blame the DJ. I give my clients permission to use me as an excuse for moving on to the next table. If you feel caught in the grips of a storyteller, simply say John, I want to hear more but our DJ has us on a tight schedule. Or, Jenny let's get together to talk more, our DJ needs us soon to cut our cake, have our first dance, or whatever is next. They'll understand and you won't seem rude about leaving on your own accord.
5) Two minutes or less. Trust me, you will lose all sense of time on your wedding day. So, try to keep under 90 seconds to two minutes or less at each table. That will keep you to about 45 minutes, which is manageable and won't kill the flow of your reception.
Some clients suggest that they will eat their dinner quickly, knowing they'll be first served. That will give them time to visit guests while guests are eating and thus not impede the timing of the reception. This can certainly work as a time strategy but if you stop to think about it, do you really want to rush your dinner on your wedding day? After a long day, you'll be hungry and need a brief rest. Think about your dinner as half-time for your wedding day. I think it's better to relax for a bit, enjoy your dinner and be an effective butterfly later.
I hope these butterfly tips help you to keep a fun exciting flow to your wedding reception. If you have other strategies, please share them with us and our readers in the comment section. Best wishes!
Click here if you want to learn more about our DJ service or receive a price quote for your upcoming event!
One thing that often slows down the flow of the reception is when the bride and groom attempts to visit each table of guests, typically during dinner or toward the end of dinner. Ironically, they are sometimes the reason for the very slowdown that they didn't want to happen in the first place. This is because most people do not know how to "butterfly" around a room. If you've ever noticed a butterfly in a garden, you'll see that it quickly bounces from one flower to the next, not staying in any one place for very long. For us humans, this is a learned skill that only priests and politicians have mastered. It's precisely because their main goal when floating through a room is to say hello, be noticed, welcome guests and then move on. It's not to engage in any type of drawn out reminiscing or storytelling. It's not that they don't enjoy reminiscing or storytelling, it's just that they know this isn't the right time for it, if they want to honor and acknowledge all guests.
Brides and grooms, let's do a little math. If you have 200 guests in a room and they are sitting at 25 tables of eight guests per table - how long will it take you to visit all tables if you spend just 3 minutes at each table? The answer, a whopping one hour and 15 minutes! What's happening during this time? The DJ or band can't get the dancefloor going because traditionally, the first dance belongs to the bride and the groom. I can tell you that this is one of the most frustrating points in the evening for DJs. We often feel stuck because we know guests are getting antsy for the dancing to begin, yet we need
 |
| Two minutes at each table! |
This blog article is not meant to talk you out of butterflying, although there are other options that we can cover in another post. The purpose of this article is to give you a few easy tips to be an awesome butterfly!
1) Understand your goal is to thank and welcome guests, not to engage in storytelling. Storytelling takes time and you can't control the duration of the story if you're not the one telling the story. Many of your guests know that you're on a schedule but some have no idea about your reception timeline and will immediately begin to share a story about their recent vacation to Alaska.
2) Keep moving. It's difficult to pin you down if you're physically moving. Do the slow walk but don't stop for very long. If you do stop, make it for just a few seconds to give someone a hug or shake hands. Move on.
3) Stay together. Have you ever heard the saying, divide and conquer? This is true with couples who butterfly a room. If you get separated, you'll never be able to visit all tables as a couple and you'll literally lose each other at your own reception. Hold hands while you visit each table.
4) Blame the DJ. I give my clients permission to use me as an excuse for moving on to the next table. If you feel caught in the grips of a storyteller, simply say John, I want to hear more but our DJ has us on a tight schedule. Or, Jenny let's get together to talk more, our DJ needs us soon to cut our cake, have our first dance, or whatever is next. They'll understand and you won't seem rude about leaving on your own accord.
5) Two minutes or less. Trust me, you will lose all sense of time on your wedding day. So, try to keep under 90 seconds to two minutes or less at each table. That will keep you to about 45 minutes, which is manageable and won't kill the flow of your reception.
Some clients suggest that they will eat their dinner quickly, knowing they'll be first served. That will give them time to visit guests while guests are eating and thus not impede the timing of the reception. This can certainly work as a time strategy but if you stop to think about it, do you really want to rush your dinner on your wedding day? After a long day, you'll be hungry and need a brief rest. Think about your dinner as half-time for your wedding day. I think it's better to relax for a bit, enjoy your dinner and be an effective butterfly later.
I hope these butterfly tips help you to keep a fun exciting flow to your wedding reception. If you have other strategies, please share them with us and our readers in the comment section. Best wishes!
Click here if you want to learn more about our DJ service or receive a price quote for your upcoming event!
Thursday, December 2, 2010
DJ'ing the Company Holiday Party
Here's what we've learned over the years about DJ'ing a company holiday party!
1) "Respectable but fun" is the order of the day. Companies typically want to highlight a successful year with their holiday event, a celebration that allows employees to relax and know they are appreciated. The event is a company sponsored activity and should reflect the values that the company holds dear. Music should be fun and full of energy but not offensive or otherwise damage the sensibilities of the group. Usually, a variety of music is best so that everyone feels they've heard something they enjoy and can dance to. Unless otherwise directed by planners, the DJ should shy away from playing just one type of music all evening. Requests from guests before the event via an online planning tool helps the DJ to prepare, making him or her an effective DJ on the day of the event.
2) Make the sound system available to presenters. Usually, representatives from the company desire to welcome their guests, discuss successes of the year and/or present awards. For this reason, we always have a wireless microphone system set-up and available to company leaders. Occasionally, company leaders prefer it if the DJ assists with announcements, prize giveaways, etc. No problem! We are trained as MC's as well as DJ's. The DJ is flexible and is happy to work with the agenda of the company.
3) This should go without saying but.... A DJ who drinks alcohol with guests is likely to become ineffective and worse, do something to jeopardize the reputation of the company. We typically do not drink alcohol when we are working an event.
Other important considerations go into creating a fun-filled company celebration. These are just few. Please know that we are experienced and proud of our track record as professional entertainers! We hope to be working with you this holiday season to give your employees a celebration they'll truly appreciate.
Click here if you want to learn more about our DJ service or receive a price quote for your upcoming event!
Click here if you want to learn more about our DJ service or receive a price quote for your upcoming event!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
How We Named Our Company
Some people are curious to know how we came upon the name "My Life Media" for our company.
One answer is, that the music one uses to celebrate a significant moment, whether it be a wedding, graduation, anniversary, family reunion, etc. is an important type of media that reflects one's own tastes and personality. Music has a powerful affect on us and is as unique as those listening or dancing to it. Music has always been a basic component of one's very culture. When we "bring" music to an event, we are making available to our client a form of media that celebrates a special moment in their life - thus "My Life Media" - is the music media that one uses to celebrate life as considered through the perspective of those enjoying it. The name was changed slightly in late 2014 to "My Life DJ Services" when we registered with the state of Ohio to become a limited liability company.
Another answer to the question is a little more coincidental. Company owner, Jim Gepperth, was listening to the radio on the day that we were considering what to name the company (we were debating several options). At the very moment we were about to decide - the Beatles song "In My Life" came on. The song was written primarily by John Lennon with some input from Paul McCartney. It was designed as a life reflection put to music. We knew immediately that the name My Life would work. If you listen to the lyrics of the song, you'll hear a message that strongly supports the meaning behind our work - appreciating special people and significant moments in our life. Our company exists to help people celebrate significant moments with music. More selfishly, the name gives us reason to play that classic Beatles song whenever someone asks how we named the company. Listen to the song and watch a short tribute to John Lennon here!
Click here if you want to learn more about our DJ service or receive a price quote for your upcoming event!
One answer is, that the music one uses to celebrate a significant moment, whether it be a wedding, graduation, anniversary, family reunion, etc. is an important type of media that reflects one's own tastes and personality. Music has a powerful affect on us and is as unique as those listening or dancing to it. Music has always been a basic component of one's very culture. When we "bring" music to an event, we are making available to our client a form of media that celebrates a special moment in their life - thus "My Life Media" - is the music media that one uses to celebrate life as considered through the perspective of those enjoying it. The name was changed slightly in late 2014 to "My Life DJ Services" when we registered with the state of Ohio to become a limited liability company.
Another answer to the question is a little more coincidental. Company owner, Jim Gepperth, was listening to the radio on the day that we were considering what to name the company (we were debating several options). At the very moment we were about to decide - the Beatles song "In My Life" came on. The song was written primarily by John Lennon with some input from Paul McCartney. It was designed as a life reflection put to music. We knew immediately that the name My Life would work. If you listen to the lyrics of the song, you'll hear a message that strongly supports the meaning behind our work - appreciating special people and significant moments in our life. Our company exists to help people celebrate significant moments with music. More selfishly, the name gives us reason to play that classic Beatles song whenever someone asks how we named the company. Listen to the song and watch a short tribute to John Lennon here!
Click here if you want to learn more about our DJ service or receive a price quote for your upcoming event!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)