Love clients that say "You can do your thing, you know what you are doing"

[DJ Ricky B]

I have a wedding this Friday. I just got off the phone with her. She has no schedule/timeline set up for the reception. I asked if she had one made with the caterer. She said no. I asked her "Did you want to fill out my timeline form, and make one?" She says No, and laughs and said "No, not really...You can do your thing, and lead the night, you know what you are doing".

She only mentioned the caterer prefers first dance and parent dances after dinner. I said I can do that, and I'll form the time line with the caterer so we are on the same page.

She wants a married couples dance (I always recommend this unless there aren't any couples at their wedding married for more than 20 years).
Dollar Dance
Bouquet/Garter Toss.

This is my first dollar dance of 2016. It's only my 2nd Garter Toss of 2016. Those traditions are very unpopular in my area in recent years.

 

[tunes4046]

This is most of my events, I usually get asked to create the timeline

 

[dunlopj]

Please let us know how it goes. Where is it being held?

 

[DJ Ricky B]

Please let us know how it goes. Where is it being held?

Northpoint Edgemere Fire Hall. It's probably the shortest drive for a wedding I'll have this year. Saturday night I'm in D.C. for a long one 6 to mid night.

Saturday is opposite. NO Cake Cutting, No Bouquet or Garter...After parent dances, no anything...just a dance party, and absolutely no line dances.

Saturday's wedding is a big pain logistically, but the wedding has less involved than Friday's.

 

[Ausumm]

Fortunately, I have been getting this a lot lately.
They pick the ceremony songs, the special dance songs, and the order of when to do them...
but I have been getting a lot of leeway for open dancing, with only a few MUST PLAYS.
It is very liberating, and that kind of freedom has ALWAYS led to great results on the dance floor.

 

[Jim Davis]

I seem to get a lot of those clients. I did have one give me a laundry list of requests (my profile pic is from that wedding.. obviously staged per the photographer's request since everyone is still eating dinner in the background haha) and when they saw their requests clear the dance floor the second time, they told me just to play what I thought would work and the rest of the night was great.

 

[MIXMASTERMACHOM]

Northpoint Edgemere Fire Hall. It's probably the shortest drive for a wedding I'll have this year. Saturday night I'm in D.C. for a long one 6 to mid night.

Saturday is opposite. NO Cake Cutting, No Bouquet or Garter...After parent dances, no anything...just a dance party, and absolutely no line dances.

Saturday's wedding is a big pain logistically, but the wedding has less involved than Friday's.

Why do you say Saturday's wedding is logistically a pain? I personally love 6 hour weddings. That gives the people enough time to check out what I can do. Don't beat me up I already know it's not about me. But ye it is about me. If I suck people will remember that more then anything else. I hate weddings were you don't get a lot of time for open dancing but it is what it is.

 

[DJ Ricky B]

Why do you say Saturday's wedding is logistically a pain? I personally love 6 hour weddings. That gives the people enough time to check out what I can do. Don't beat me up I already know it's not about me. But ye it is about me. If I suck people will remember that more then anything else. I hate weddings were you don't get a lot of time for open dancing but it is what it is.

Logistically, it's a pain because the building in D.C. this wedding is at on Saturday only has 6 paring spots for vendors. If the catering staff take up all the spots, then I have to try and find street parking which is very limited. Or I have to go park in a parking garage 2 blocks away and pay $30 to park. The venue also has stairs to take equipment up. Two flights of stairs. It's also at least a 1 hour and 20 minute drive to the venue and that is if there is no traffic. Probably more likely a 1 hour and 45 to 2 hour drive to get there.

The one on Friday is a 9 minute drive from my house. I can park right outside the main entrance, and cart my equipment in about maybe 60 feet to the stage I am setting up on.

 

[tunes4046]

Logistically, it's a pain because the building in D.C. this wedding is at on Saturday only has 6 paring spots for vendors. If the catering staff take up all the spots, then I have to try and find street parking which is very limited. Or I have to go park in a parking garage 2 blocks away and pay $30 to park. The venue also has stairs to take equipment up. Two flights of stairs. It's also at least a 1 hour and 20 minute drive to the venue and that is if there is no traffic. Probably more likely a 1 hour and 45 to 2 hour drive to get there.

The one on Friday is a 9 minute drive from my house. I can park right outside the main entrance, and cart my equipment in about maybe 60 feet to the stage I am setting up on.

90% of my gigs I am the very first vendor on site

 

[DJ Ricky B]

90% of my gigs I am the very first vendor on site

I arrive pretty early...usually 1 hour and 40 minutes to 2 hours and 25 minutes early is my average these days. I tell them 90 minutes prior just to be safe in case I run into traffic.

With that said...in D.C. area, often the Caterers have to deal with PITA load ins, and often have to set everything up at these venues...They often arrive a full 3 hours before start time with a large staff to get everything done. If I have to arrive over 3 hours prior, plus the drive just so I can get a spot before they do, that will make for a super long day. Not to mention, they pull up in their box truck, and with a small parking lot I'll likely be asked to move my vehicle depending on how they are parking their truck. We will see how it works out on Saturday. I know the venue isn't open to vendors until after 3 p.m. ...The ceremony start's at 6 pm.

 

[tunes4046]

I arrive pretty early...usually 1 hour and 40 minutes to 2 hours and 25 minutes early is my average these days. I tell them 90 minutes prior just to be safe in case I run into traffic.

With that said...in D.C. area, often the Caterers have to deal with PITA load ins, and often have to set everything up at these venues...They often arrive a full 3 hours before start time with a large staff to get everything done. If I have to arrive over 3 hours prior, plus the drive just so I can get a spot before they do, that will make for a super long day. Not to mention, they pull up in their box truck, and with a small parking lot I'll likely be asked to move my vehicle depending on how they are parking their truck. We will see how it works out on Saturday. I know the venue isn't open to vendors until after 3 p.m. ...The ceremony start's at 6 pm.

around here the caterers usually arrive 30 to 45 minutes before dinner is to be served, not all of them but most do, it's always a mad rush to get everything in place in time, very unprofessional in my opinion

 

[DJ Ricky B]

around here the caterers usually arrive 30 to 45 minutes before dinner is to be served, not all of them but most do, it's always a mad rush to get everything in place in time, very unprofessional in my opinion

That is certainly not professional of them. Generally speaking with most weddings I do, the planner and/or client would be freaking out if it was 1 hour before their wedding starts and the caterer has not arrived yet.

Sometimes when I do a rural/suburban venue where the caterer is an outside caterer the couple will opt to go with a caterer who only supplies 2 to 3 staff members to set up a small buffet station, and serve everybody buffet style. The venue set up the chairs/tables (or the clients did themselves). The clients provided the plates/silverware themselves, and they have trash cans placed through out the room. The caterers literally arrive 30 - 45 minutes before start time, set up their buffet station, serve the guests, clean up/pack up their area...then they leave after dinner. It's pretty basic from a service standpoint. I see this maybe twice a year.

Generally speaking, the weddings here that I do at least are either in house caterers, or they bring in a high end full service caterer that sets everything up, and stays to the very end. There is often a Manager(often the owner), and Banquet Captain along with 2 to 4 bartenders, and 7 to 15 servers depending on the size of the wedding. Most weddings in the DC area the caterers are charging anywhere from $12,000 to $22,000 or higher to do a wedding for 100 to 125 guests. Finding a lower price than 12K usually means the couple is going to go with a mid service restaurant (Usually Italian food) that does mobile catering, or they are going with BBQ food like Famous Daves.

 

[tunes4046]

That is certainly not professional of them. Generally speaking with most weddings I do, the planner and/or client would be freaking out if it was 1 hour before their wedding starts and the caterer has not arrived yet.

Sometimes when I do a rural/suburban venue where the caterer is an outside caterer the couple will opt to go with a caterer who only supplies 2 to 3 staff members to set up a small buffet station, and serve everybody buffet style. The venue set up the chairs/tables (or the clients did themselves). The clients provided the plates/silverware themselves, and they have trash cans placed through out the room. The caterers literally arrive 30 - 45 minutes before start time, set up their buffet station, serve the guests, clean up/pack up their area...then they leave after dinner. It's pretty basic from a service standpoint. I see this maybe twice a year.

Generally speaking, the weddings here that I do at least are either in house caterers, or they bring in a high end full service caterer that sets everything up, and stays to the very end. There is often a Manager(often the owner), and Banquet Captain along with 2 to 4 bartenders, and 7 to 15 servers depending on the size of the wedding. Most weddings in the DC area the caterers are charging anywhere from $12,000 to $22,000 or higher to do a wedding for 100 to 125 guests. Finding a lower price than 12K usually means the couple is going to go with a mid service restaurant (Usually Italian food) that does mobile catering, or they are going with BBQ food like Famous Daves.

Most weddings here are buffet style affairs

 

[steve149]

Cold music is OK .. cold food, not so ...