Over Promising, Under Delivering

A lot of vendors over promise and under deliver on their services. DJ’s are no exception. We want to address the elephant in the room. The biggest lie a DJ can tell is that they guarantee your dance floor to be packaged all night.

Brides & grooms, did you just raise your eyebrows while your heart skipped a beat in fear of having an empty dance floor? Don’t worry! We are going to address some things to help alleviate that stress for you.

First, we’d like to say that we are very honest with all of clients. We would rather tell you the bitter truth than a sweet lie. With that being said, let’s get down to business.

What’s the DJ’s Job?

Let’s start with the basics. A DJ’s job is to play the hits and keep people dancing, right? Right! Now what if the DJ is playing all of the hits but nobody is in the room? Nobody in the room means nobody can be dancing, right? Right! Let’s dig a bit deeper to understand this.

Where Are YOU?

The people are your wedding are there for you! They want to be around you and spend time with you. This means that if you and the groom are not on the dance floor, they most likely won’t be either. If you are outside smoking, by the bar having a drink, or somewhere else, there’s a good chance that your guests are there with you too.

Now, by no means am I saying that this entirely falls on the couple. Yes, it is the DJ’s responsibility to engage the crowd, play the right tunes, and encourage everyone to dance. It is a team effort.

Where the Bride & Groom Go, Guests Will Follow!

The first time I had an empty dance floor shocked me! I was playing all of the music that the bride and groom requested, I was playing the requests from the guests, everything transitioned perfectly, etc. I was sure that the couple would be disappointed. About two hours into the reception, the couple came to me and said that I was doing a great job. Puzzled, I smiled, said thank you and told them that I was trying to get the people to come inside to dance. The bride mentioned that they both knew that nobody would dance and that everyone would be outside smoking and having drinks. BUT HERE IS THE KICKER – AS SOON AS THE BRIDE AND GROOM CAME INSIDE AND STARTED DANCING, NEARLY ALL OF THE GUESTS FOLLOWED THEM INSIDE.

Some People Just Don’t Dance

Now, on the same topic, maybe some of your crowd is just not the “dancing type”. We get it, not everybody is going to join the dance party. That is perfectly understandable. In fact, some guests who aren’t dancing will often approach the DJ and tell them “great job”, “we’re really enjoying ourselves”, and “can I have your card? I know so and so is having an event and we’re impressed by you!”

Pick A DJ That Cares & Takes Pride In Their Profession!

Some DJ’s don’t care and are just there for the money. Other DJ’s, much like us here at 3ME Events pride themselves on a great party experience that they provide for their couples.

Moral of the Story

The moral of the story is this: At your reception, YOU are the main focus and everyone wants to be around you. You are the life of the party. The DJ can play all of the right songs and engage with the crowd, but the DJ cannot make someone dance.

If your DJ tells you that they can guarantee a packed dance floor all night, turn around and run!

Why Is It SOOOO “Expensive”?

Boldly Going Where Few Have Gone

First, we want to start by saying that we are in no form or fashion trying to disrespect anyone here. We respect every person’s budget and what they want to spend on any service. The following blog post can be related to any vendor for any service. With that being said, let’s jump into this touchy topic!

I belong to a few groups on social media that cater to parties & weddings. Many times, people will say, “how much for DJ/Photography/Videography/etc. services?! That’s insane! Why is it so expensive?!” Well, we are about to break it down for you into five different sections on why these prices aren’t as “expensive” as you may think.

Uncle Sam Wants His Cut!

Well first, the vendor as a business doesn’t receive a large portion of that money. Uncle Sam automatically takes 33% of that amount including “self-employment tax”. So just for example, if you pay one of your vendors $1,000, they really only going to get 2/3 of it to start. This doesn’t include the cost of overhead expenses, employee expenses, or any other expenses that come with running a business.

Equipment Cost

Secondly, imagine how much money it took to invest in the vendors equipment? For example, us a DJ company have invested just over $10K in each of our equipment rigs. For photographers, cameras can cost $1,300+ easily. Same goes for videography. The software needed to edit the footage/images doesn’t come cheap either.

Amount of Time Spent

Third, most vendors don’t just work with you for one day. Think about all of the time spent preparing for your big day. Countless hours go into making a playlist, rehearsing what to say, meeting with you to see the venue, travel time, setting up, tearing down, editing footage, etc. All of this time adds up. Just because you see the vendor for that one day doesn’t mean they’re not working hard behind the scenes at home preparing for your event.

Training

Fourth, many vendors spend years training and honing their craft. We all know schooling isn’t cheap! Even if the vendor didn’t get a formal education in their craft, there’s a good chance that they spent countless months, possibly even years to get to the point that they’re at now. Whether it be by interning for free, shadowing someone, or just performing the service for free in exchange for experience, they’ve spent a good amount of time doing things for free or extremely cheap. You wouldn’t expect to get paid the same amount at your job that you did 5 years ago, right? Vendors are no different. Remember that this is their job as much as it is their passion. Like any passion, people put an unthinkable amount of time and effort into their craft to perfect it.

“You Get What You Pay For”

Fifth and final reason. The saying holds true – “you get what you pay for”. If you want the benefit of working with a professional, you’re going to pay a bit extra. If you don’t mind having a DJ show up with wires hanging everywhere, a less than mediocre sound system, a disengaged/lethargic MC, and a wired microphone that works when it wants to, more power to ya! Same goes for photography. You’re going to want a photographer/videographer who does a stellar job. Imagine if you got your pictures back and they were extremely dark, grainy, or even blurry. You’d be very upset. 9/10 times, this is what happens when you opt to go for the vendor who is charging $300 for their services rather than going with a vendor who has invested everything they have into their business/craft.

Conclusion

In closing, know that you will spend a bit extra for quality and dedication. Remember that you only get to celebrate the special day once and there are no do-overs. People who take their business serious and always aim for customer satisfaction may be a tad pricier, but usually they are worth it! After all, you wouldn’t expect to get a Mercedes Benz with a Kia budget, right? Most small business vendors are willing to work with you either way, just ask. What’s the worst that could happen?

Let us know what you think in the comments below!

-The 3ME Team

Bride on a Budget?

Here’s some tips to help save some dough!

If you’re getting married sometime soon, chances are you’ve been looking around online at other couple’s weddings to get some ideas. Most likely, you’ve fell in love with the pictures, some of the venues, catering, etc. and then you get to the end of the article and see the price tag associated with that wedding. $15-$40 thousand ring a bell? This article is to help you figure out some ways to save some moolah while choosing everything for your big day!

Venue

Some people spend between $3 thousand to $10 thousand just on the venue. If you’re on a modest budget, don’t worry! There are plenty of cheaper options out there. Sure, they may require a little bit of extra work with decorating, but you’ll pat yourself on the back later for the money you’ve saved. Look into your local parks, community centers, some banquet halls, and even colleges! Many of these places have halls that can be rented out for $350-$1000. Throw some elegant décor around the venue and boom, you’ve got a winner for the big day!

Catering

The answer is not always a catering company, especially if you require some specialty cuisine! Are you good at cooking? Is someone you’re close to good at cooking? Consider catering the wedding yourself. Catering companies can charge anywhere from $12 per plate all the way up to $50 per plate, depending on what you want to serve your guests. That can add up pretty quickly! By catering the wedding yourself (with some help from your wedding party, of course!) will not only save money, but it gives you the flexibility to pick and choose any options you’d like to have. Some venues will not be OK with this, but if you go with our options mentioned above for venues, you should be OK!

Photographer

There are two areas to not skimp on when planning a wedding and the photographer is one of them! These pictures will be a reminder of the special day for the rest of your life, so trust us when we say you’ll want some great quality pictures! There is some photographers who are budget friendly but still provide great results. They will definitely take some digging to find, but they’re out there! One thing to remember here, you get what you pay for.

DJ

This is the other area that you’ll want to not skimp out on! You definitely want people to remember your wedding in a good way. Imagine the microphone not working, the sound quality being horrendous, or an emcee that doesn’t make any announcements with enthusiasm. Again, like photography, you get what you what pay for with a DJ service.

Sundays & Seasons

Here is another great way to instantly reduce wedding costs. Summer is the main season that most people shoot for when choosing their wedding date. Because of this, many vendors jack up their prices because they know they’re in demand. If it doesn’t make much of a difference to you, consider having your wedding in the fall or winter months. Prices for venues drop substantially! If that’s not an option, consider having your wedding on Sunday. This usually reduces price as well!

We hope this article has helped! Feel free to let us know if it has!

• The 3ME Team