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Thunder & Lightning

The Importance of a Great DJ at Your Wedding

What makes a wedding really great, a night to remember? There's quite a long road between "I will" and "I do", months (or sometimes years) of preparations for the big day. With wedding planning comes choices, and let's just say, there's no shortage of them. From the wedding cake to the dress, the venue to the centerpieces, the entertainment to the food…the list goes on and the choices seem endless. If choosing isn't enough, there's always another aspect to consider—money. Unfortunately, it's reality, we all (or at least most of us) have to deal with the dreaded budget. How much should I spend, and on what? It's a great question, and one for which there's no perfect formula. It's just too personal of a decision with far too many factors to depend on a generic budget. But, that hasn't stopped many from trying, with websites and articles telling you what a "typical" wedding should cost and what you should spend on each vendor or component.

The best way to make the right decision is to be informed, to know what you're really deciding. A real understanding is the only way to make a decision that you will be happy with and that will produce the outcome that you really love which, in this case, is your dream wedding. Of course, I think most would agree, your fiancé, family, and friends are the most important aspect of any wedding. Luckily, you've probably already figured most of that out. That is, except for deciding whether that high school friend you haven't talked to in 10 years makes the guest list. Next comes some of the essentials, the venue, food, drinks, and the ceremony arrangements. Important? Sure, they're all big aspects of your big day, and they deserve the appropriate attention. Then comes everything else—cake, wedding dress, entertainment, photography, flowers, and the list goes on.

Every element plays some part in creating the perfect wedding, even down to the smallest detail. The question is, how much of a part does it play, and how much of your precious time or money should you allocate to each component? One of those important components is entertainment. It's one of the elements of wedding planning that all too often gets pushed to the back burner. A necessity? Sure, most would agree with that, but it frequently doesn't get the time or attention that it really deserves. Once you really think about it, it's quite surprising the amount of impact entertainment can really have on your big day.

Let's talk specifics. Let's say you choose to go with a DJ, as many couples do. At first glance, it seems like you're hiring someone to play a few hours of music for people to dance to, how much difference can that really make on the event? Surprisingly for many, your DJ may have more interaction with your guests than any other vendor! Consider that a typical wedding will last about six hours on average, quite possibly up to eight hours. Most vendors and elements play a part during the night (some more than others), but your DJ may very well be there for that entire period of time. That means, from the time your guests arrive until they head back to the hotel, your DJ will be impacting the experience you and your guests have. What's more, once the vows are read, the cake is cut, and the toasts are given, the success of the rest of the night falls almost solely on the shoulders of your DJ. That means, a great DJ can be the difference between your guests sneaking out after they finish their cake and a packed dance floor when it's last call.

We hear it quite often, compliments from past customers on how they still receive comments months (even years) later from their friends and family about how much fun they had at their wedding. It's easy to overlook the fact that your DJ is really the entertainment for the night, and that means your DJ can really have a profound impact on the overall success on making your wedding what you've always envisioned. While entertainment is an incredibly important element of your wedding, the impact of your DJ may extend far beyond just playing a few hours of dance music. For example, in addition to DJ services, our wedding packages cover nearly everything related to sound, lighting, and entertainment from the ceremony to the last song of the night.

So whatever your decision when it comes to choosing entertainment, just make sure to consider the impact your DJ will have on your event. While finding the most affordable DJ may look attractive on the budget, it probably won't create the wedding of your dreams.