As you know we run a very very active twitter if you'd like to follow us please click here
I've been twittering with some of the very best in wedding information and then just recently realized that both of these ladies with great information are right here in the DC Metro area.
First is Katie Martin, Katie has an impressive 2588 followers over her and she has over 3000 tweets. But that't not all. I watch Katie's twitter @greenwed because she gives out such great information but if you take a minute to click through to her site is filled with ideas on elegant weddings and keeping them green. So much money is forked into weddings every year and the average wedding wastes so much in the end, take ideas from her site Elegance & Simplicity and not only have a beautiful wedding but do it greenly and we're not talking about spending a lot of green we're talking about saving a lot of green.
Follow Green Wed Click Here
Check out her site Click Here
the url is http://www.eleganceandsimplicity.com
Now let me make sure you know I really don't favor either one of these two ladies over each other, in fact that's why Im only doing two.. The next is Leslie (@sparkleparties)
I have a secret to tell you, there are a lot of people that tweet about weddings who are just retweeting others' information or regurgitating out of books in other words they don't really get their hands dirty with brides and grooms like myself or either of these two ladies, they are fakes.. they are everywhere. I won't call them out but I know at some point they get found out.
I don't know what the event count is for Katie or Leslie, but with 18 employee djs we do over 1200 parties/events a year and of those over 700 are weddings... And you can tell by their tweets, blogs and feedback online that both Katie and Leslie are real in the flesh weddint nexperts (net experts)
Check out Leslie on Twitter she is @sparkleparties and on line you can find here Here
Take a few minutes and read up on either of these great ladies and follow them on Twitter
KA
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Important Questions Part 2
before we dive back into the questions I am shocked at how many dj websites copied one dj's answer here at 1st djs yes we are copying the questions but answering them for our company and not copying the answers... please be aware of this..
Can we meet with you before we sign the contract?
The short answer is absolutely YES. Hiring the DJ is a very important part of your wedding process. We may ask that we meet halfway but we can certainly facilitate that. However, the reason that the short answer is YES is that a lot of clients are wanting to do a quick search and book. Our business has adapted to that lifestyle. If you want a quick search and book you'll get a fantastic dj and we will use our award winning online planning system, emails, chat sessions, google wave sessions and our pre-wedding or pre-event meeting to match you with a great dj! If you want a meeting beforehand though that is certainly fine. Please see our answer to "Will you be the dj at our wedding" on the previous blog for more on this.
Have a question call us:
Washington DC Area: (301)799-8181
Baltimore Area (443)630-0108
Toll Free (800)311-41DJ
How Long Will you Hold Our Date for Us:
We will hold your date for you for 7 days from the time you enter your information into our system WITHOUT ANY OTHER CONTACT. We will send you a quote within 24 hours once you get that the clock starts, we will reach out to you at least 3 more times and if we don't hear from you after a week we keep your date penciled in for another 7 days if we don't hear from you after that then we drop your date. Now that is just for NO contact.
Once we get in contact with you we will hold your date within reason, need time to talk to your FI or your family, we will certainly allow that. If you are trying to get a deposit together, we will certainly hold that we are very reasonable. With the economy the way that it is we are much more lenient because we know a lot of brides, grooms and event planners are just trying to make ends meet or make the best decision for their money.
We will hold a special rate for you until 5 days after the calendar month ends. Again we're reasonable though so if you have a question or need more time than email or call us
info@1stdjs.com
(301)799-8181
(443)630-0108
(800)311-41DJ
Do you work exclusively for this DJ Company
YES. We don't do subcontracting and we hire our djs to work as employee djs so yes our DJs are exclusive to us. We do allow our djs to work in clubs on days that don't conflict with your date. Our djs are under agreement where our Friday, Saturday and Sunday events prevail on their scheduling conflicts. We ask for their vacation days 6 months in advance and know the New Years Eve availability in February of the previous year. Unless you've paid a premium dj fee to hold a specific dj we don't assign our djs until 4 weeks before so we know that you will get the dj we promise you. In the RARE event that your dj leaves us (we had one get deployed) then one of our management team djs will assume the role as your dj and if need be come to your home or place of choosing to meet with you.
How Experienced are your DJs
Our lead DJs on weddings have had to attend a minium of 50 weddings as an assistant and another 25 as the lead dj with a management team trainer serving as assistant. In our process we will let the client know the options for example, we may tell the bride that we think Scott has a great personality and would do a great job now he's been on 50 weddings as an assistant and 25 as a training lead dj but you're his first full lead wedding. In these cases the Bride and Groom sometimes like it. We're up front with all of these kinds of decisions.
"xxxxx DJ'd my best friends wedding and I want that DJ"
We can certainly do this for you. If your dj isn't already a premium on another event we will lock that particular DJ in for you for a $50 fee (But its good to note we give a $50 referall discount too so it cancels itself out ) then you're locked into that dj. On lots of occassions our djs will come back to the office and tell us "Hey the MOH says she's getting married in November and wants me to do it here's the number" from there we will tie that dj down for you.
And of course there's more questions we'll keep answering them...
Got questions email us at info@1stdjs.com
Comment below or call us!
(301)799-8181 or (443)630-0108 or (800)311-4135
Can we meet with you before we sign the contract?
The short answer is absolutely YES. Hiring the DJ is a very important part of your wedding process. We may ask that we meet halfway but we can certainly facilitate that. However, the reason that the short answer is YES is that a lot of clients are wanting to do a quick search and book. Our business has adapted to that lifestyle. If you want a quick search and book you'll get a fantastic dj and we will use our award winning online planning system, emails, chat sessions, google wave sessions and our pre-wedding or pre-event meeting to match you with a great dj! If you want a meeting beforehand though that is certainly fine. Please see our answer to "Will you be the dj at our wedding" on the previous blog for more on this.
Have a question call us:
Washington DC Area: (301)799-8181
Baltimore Area (443)630-0108
Toll Free (800)311-41DJ
How Long Will you Hold Our Date for Us:
We will hold your date for you for 7 days from the time you enter your information into our system WITHOUT ANY OTHER CONTACT. We will send you a quote within 24 hours once you get that the clock starts, we will reach out to you at least 3 more times and if we don't hear from you after a week we keep your date penciled in for another 7 days if we don't hear from you after that then we drop your date. Now that is just for NO contact.
Once we get in contact with you we will hold your date within reason, need time to talk to your FI or your family, we will certainly allow that. If you are trying to get a deposit together, we will certainly hold that we are very reasonable. With the economy the way that it is we are much more lenient because we know a lot of brides, grooms and event planners are just trying to make ends meet or make the best decision for their money.
We will hold a special rate for you until 5 days after the calendar month ends. Again we're reasonable though so if you have a question or need more time than email or call us
info@1stdjs.com
(301)799-8181
(443)630-0108
(800)311-41DJ
Do you work exclusively for this DJ Company
YES. We don't do subcontracting and we hire our djs to work as employee djs so yes our DJs are exclusive to us. We do allow our djs to work in clubs on days that don't conflict with your date. Our djs are under agreement where our Friday, Saturday and Sunday events prevail on their scheduling conflicts. We ask for their vacation days 6 months in advance and know the New Years Eve availability in February of the previous year. Unless you've paid a premium dj fee to hold a specific dj we don't assign our djs until 4 weeks before so we know that you will get the dj we promise you. In the RARE event that your dj leaves us (we had one get deployed) then one of our management team djs will assume the role as your dj and if need be come to your home or place of choosing to meet with you.
How Experienced are your DJs
Our lead DJs on weddings have had to attend a minium of 50 weddings as an assistant and another 25 as the lead dj with a management team trainer serving as assistant. In our process we will let the client know the options for example, we may tell the bride that we think Scott has a great personality and would do a great job now he's been on 50 weddings as an assistant and 25 as a training lead dj but you're his first full lead wedding. In these cases the Bride and Groom sometimes like it. We're up front with all of these kinds of decisions.
"xxxxx DJ'd my best friends wedding and I want that DJ"
We can certainly do this for you. If your dj isn't already a premium on another event we will lock that particular DJ in for you for a $50 fee (But its good to note we give a $50 referall discount too so it cancels itself out ) then you're locked into that dj. On lots of occassions our djs will come back to the office and tell us "Hey the MOH says she's getting married in November and wants me to do it here's the number" from there we will tie that dj down for you.
And of course there's more questions we'll keep answering them...
Got questions email us at info@1stdjs.com
Comment below or call us!
(301)799-8181 or (443)630-0108 or (800)311-4135
The Important Questions
IMHO (In My Honest Opinion) Your wedding and event DJ Entertainment may be the most important decision about your event. The DJ keeps the party going and helps dictate whether your guests had a "good time" and whether or not they had fun. If you put a microphone on the guests as they leave you would most likely hear about the great time they had, the food, and how great the Bride & Groom Looked.
Hiring the DJ is the most important part of the DJ Process. There are Questions to ask the dj all over the net so lets address some of them. Here we go.
Do you offer a written contract:
Of course 1st DJs offers a written contract. We don't typically give our contract away to someone not planning on booking but if you go to our site and request information we will definitely let you see what your exact contract would look like. There are no crazy stipulations and the contract guarantees that we will be there to perform for your event. The contract outlines what you can expect from your DJ and DJ's assistant and what the DJ and DJ's assistant need from you in order to perform to the best of their ability and provide an excellent time for you and your guests.
Will You be the DJ at our event:
Chances are with 1st Djs you'll be speaking on the phone and corresponding with either the owner Kip the General Manager Kyle or one of our other 2 event specialists. This team of 4 has over 3500 events between the 4 of them and knows the questions to ask and the information to gather. From there we select our Dj that we think would be best for you. 4 weeks before your event we have a meeting and introduce you to your dj. Your DJ takes it from there and is guaranteed to be your DJ.
Why aren't there pictures of your staff djs on your website:
We are in show business so of course we make sure that all of our djs are well groomed, dress appropriately and "look the part" having said that, in talking with the other djs in our company and even our spouses, our best looking dj is actually really really good at School Dances, Sweet 16s and birthday parties. He is NOT good at weddings, he likes more free flowing party events. However if we put his picture on our site he would end up the most requested dj (we've tried this) for weddings. You have taken an interest in trusting our experience so trust us with this one too.
It's a rare occassion but in some instances our choice of dj just didn't gel with the prospective bride and groom or vice versa, in that case we will chance your dj for you and introduce you to our new dj, no harm no foul and the dj that you decided wouldn't work out will end up with an event that weekend don't worry.
Lastly, the management team schedules themselves out last unless the premium has been paid to have one of them at an event so if need be we can usually step in if the DJ isn't going to gel with the client.
There are a lot more questions to be answered and we're going to do that for you right here.
Hiring the DJ is the most important part of the DJ Process. There are Questions to ask the dj all over the net so lets address some of them. Here we go.
Do you offer a written contract:
Of course 1st DJs offers a written contract. We don't typically give our contract away to someone not planning on booking but if you go to our site and request information we will definitely let you see what your exact contract would look like. There are no crazy stipulations and the contract guarantees that we will be there to perform for your event. The contract outlines what you can expect from your DJ and DJ's assistant and what the DJ and DJ's assistant need from you in order to perform to the best of their ability and provide an excellent time for you and your guests.
Will You be the DJ at our event:
Chances are with 1st Djs you'll be speaking on the phone and corresponding with either the owner Kip the General Manager Kyle or one of our other 2 event specialists. This team of 4 has over 3500 events between the 4 of them and knows the questions to ask and the information to gather. From there we select our Dj that we think would be best for you. 4 weeks before your event we have a meeting and introduce you to your dj. Your DJ takes it from there and is guaranteed to be your DJ.
Why aren't there pictures of your staff djs on your website:
We are in show business so of course we make sure that all of our djs are well groomed, dress appropriately and "look the part" having said that, in talking with the other djs in our company and even our spouses, our best looking dj is actually really really good at School Dances, Sweet 16s and birthday parties. He is NOT good at weddings, he likes more free flowing party events. However if we put his picture on our site he would end up the most requested dj (we've tried this) for weddings. You have taken an interest in trusting our experience so trust us with this one too.
It's a rare occassion but in some instances our choice of dj just didn't gel with the prospective bride and groom or vice versa, in that case we will chance your dj for you and introduce you to our new dj, no harm no foul and the dj that you decided wouldn't work out will end up with an event that weekend don't worry.
Lastly, the management team schedules themselves out last unless the premium has been paid to have one of them at an event so if need be we can usually step in if the DJ isn't going to gel with the client.
There are a lot more questions to be answered and we're going to do that for you right here.
Monday, December 21, 2009
ummm no
Here's one of the most popular misconceptions about wedding djs...
"I love the Macarena". More often than not I have a wedding meeting with a prospective Bride and they say "we know you djs love these songs but we don't want them" yes picture it now me and my ipod in my daily driver listening to the Macarena, The Electric Slide and the Cupid Shuffle just tapping along...
NO!!
They are wedding favorites and staples because they get crowds going. 1st Djs doesn't need those songs to get the crowd going but undoubtedly they will be requested. It's your night so if you want those familiar songs that all your guests know thats perfectly fine. If you don't that's fine too...
There's a rumor going around that we can make a dry crowd dance too... and it's true
KA
Sunday, December 20, 2009
What to do when the photographer takes too long..
So here's the scenario, quickie wedding ceremony finished in 20 minutes but the photog has an hour or more of photos.
First tip: Make sure that you've hired the dj for the second your ceremony is over until the end of your reception. A good wedding dj will play at minimum cocktail music. Do you have over 5 kids under 8 attending this reception, you may want your dj to go ahead and play some games with the kids before they start running around your reception with their shoes off. Trust us, the dj starting the chicken dance or the hoky pokey for your 20 kids in attendance is a GOOD thing. We've seen way too many weddings where little joey knocks over a glass of red wine or even worse the Cake.
Make sure there is a plan for the guests after your nuptials. AND PLEASE make sure you have something, anything, being passed. The open bar is great but these guests need some kind of food too.
Save time and party early, have your photog take the separates BEFORE the wedding the bride and the girls the groom and the guys. If you're keeping to tradition and not seeing your about to be spouse prior to the wedding GREAT FOR YOU!!! so take the separates before hand!
And by the way just so you know, any photog that says the pics will only take 15 minutes is just flat out Lying...
KA
First tip: Make sure that you've hired the dj for the second your ceremony is over until the end of your reception. A good wedding dj will play at minimum cocktail music. Do you have over 5 kids under 8 attending this reception, you may want your dj to go ahead and play some games with the kids before they start running around your reception with their shoes off. Trust us, the dj starting the chicken dance or the hoky pokey for your 20 kids in attendance is a GOOD thing. We've seen way too many weddings where little joey knocks over a glass of red wine or even worse the Cake.
Make sure there is a plan for the guests after your nuptials. AND PLEASE make sure you have something, anything, being passed. The open bar is great but these guests need some kind of food too.
Save time and party early, have your photog take the separates BEFORE the wedding the bride and the girls the groom and the guys. If you're keeping to tradition and not seeing your about to be spouse prior to the wedding GREAT FOR YOU!!! so take the separates before hand!
And by the way just so you know, any photog that says the pics will only take 15 minutes is just flat out Lying...
KA
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Tipping and the Envelope before the end of the event
So did you ever hear the story of when P Diddy went into a club that he frequents a lot with an entourage of about 20 and the server added 20% gratuity off the bat on two bottles of Champagne? What was wrong with this? Well the other servers who had served Diddy and his entourage would brag about how they would get tips from the diddy meister of $200, $300 even $500 dollars. This server of course only got the $50 or so that he tipped himself in. Absurd right I mean it's diddy.
I hate when I rent a limo or do some other kind of service when the gratuity is already built in. If the service provided does a crappy job I may have paid too much but what if the service provider did an outstanding job, I'm usually a bit put off by having already tipped out so the server gets whats in the bill or contract...
Same thing for wedding Vendors.
We were sitting around the table at the Double T diner a couple of Saturday nights ago after our jobs and David, one of our star djs, told this story. He had a very elegant wedding at a Howard County Country Club. The Bride and Groom seemed Very Very Satisfied and kept complimenting his performance.
The Maid of Honor came up to David about 10 minutes into the wedding and handed him a card of course with a nice note and a $20 bill in it. David didn't look at the envelope until about 2 hours in when he went to the bathroom.
David is a top notch professional so the wedding rocked on but after all that he had done and the compliments he was getting a $20 was nice but maybe at the end of the night would they have tipped out better?
Weddingchannel.com has a really great blog on tipping. They say set a tip fund aside and tip out based on service. Just like at a restaurant, my server is happy, tentative to my needs, and on the mark they will usually end up with a 25-30% tip Tipping should be based on service at the end of the service. As weddingchannel.com says even a tip in a thank you note after the wedding is great.
Of course if you choose not to tip 1st Djs will still do an over the top excellent job. And remember we NEVER include gratuity in our contractual cost the gratuity is for the performer. Also overtime money goes directly to the performer. Overtime is a tip in itself.
For more check out the entire blog post on weddingchannel.com by clicking here
Check out more information on 1st djs online at http://www.1stdjs.com
Kip
I hate when I rent a limo or do some other kind of service when the gratuity is already built in. If the service provided does a crappy job I may have paid too much but what if the service provider did an outstanding job, I'm usually a bit put off by having already tipped out so the server gets whats in the bill or contract...
Same thing for wedding Vendors.
We were sitting around the table at the Double T diner a couple of Saturday nights ago after our jobs and David, one of our star djs, told this story. He had a very elegant wedding at a Howard County Country Club. The Bride and Groom seemed Very Very Satisfied and kept complimenting his performance.
The Maid of Honor came up to David about 10 minutes into the wedding and handed him a card of course with a nice note and a $20 bill in it. David didn't look at the envelope until about 2 hours in when he went to the bathroom.
David is a top notch professional so the wedding rocked on but after all that he had done and the compliments he was getting a $20 was nice but maybe at the end of the night would they have tipped out better?
Weddingchannel.com has a really great blog on tipping. They say set a tip fund aside and tip out based on service. Just like at a restaurant, my server is happy, tentative to my needs, and on the mark they will usually end up with a 25-30% tip Tipping should be based on service at the end of the service. As weddingchannel.com says even a tip in a thank you note after the wedding is great.
Of course if you choose not to tip 1st Djs will still do an over the top excellent job. And remember we NEVER include gratuity in our contractual cost the gratuity is for the performer. Also overtime money goes directly to the performer. Overtime is a tip in itself.
For more check out the entire blog post on weddingchannel.com by clicking here
Check out more information on 1st djs online at http://www.1stdjs.com
Kip
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Here comes engagement Time
It's our favorite time of the year the 2.5 months we call engagement season. Really it doesn't start until Christmas eve but we get the most inquiries for new business between Christmas eve and Valentines Day. Share your engagement stories with us at info@1stdjs.com we'd love to hear them.
Here's one:
(received October 14, 2009 wedding May 2009)
Dear Kip,
Thanks for doing our wedding last May, we had so much fun and I feel like I'm telling someone 1st Djs every single day. You made our night fun and affordable just like you said.
Marcy told me that you were looking for proposal stories here's mine. It was Thanksgiving 2007 and Black Friday was the next day. We were visiting Marcy's family outside of Philadelphia. I coordinated with Marys sister Karen and we decided this:
Karen and Marcy were going to one of their favorite clothing stores that was having a black friday sale and I went but not with them. Karen still lived at home with mom and dad and Marcy slept over in Karens room they were going to have a girls night after turkey so they could get up early and shop. I slept in the guest room which is one of those rooms over the garage with a private entrance. I knew Marcy wouldnt come in overnight and so right after they left I put on Karens dad's jacket, hat and scarf and went to the same store but stood way behind them in line.
When i got in the store I put Karens dads coat, hat and scarf in the buggy and made sure I was wearing a very recognizable outfit.
I went to the aisle where one of the things Marcy wanted for Christmas was and Marcy and Karen saw me I turned around and they walked toward me and I pivoted on one foot and got down on one knee and asked Marcy. She said yes. She got two presents right then, the purse in the aisle and the engagement ring.
We set our May 2009 wedding and had a blast with 1st Djs
Rick
** send us your great holiday season proposal story
Here's one:
(received October 14, 2009 wedding May 2009)
Dear Kip,
Thanks for doing our wedding last May, we had so much fun and I feel like I'm telling someone 1st Djs every single day. You made our night fun and affordable just like you said.
Marcy told me that you were looking for proposal stories here's mine. It was Thanksgiving 2007 and Black Friday was the next day. We were visiting Marcy's family outside of Philadelphia. I coordinated with Marys sister Karen and we decided this:
Karen and Marcy were going to one of their favorite clothing stores that was having a black friday sale and I went but not with them. Karen still lived at home with mom and dad and Marcy slept over in Karens room they were going to have a girls night after turkey so they could get up early and shop. I slept in the guest room which is one of those rooms over the garage with a private entrance. I knew Marcy wouldnt come in overnight and so right after they left I put on Karens dad's jacket, hat and scarf and went to the same store but stood way behind them in line.
When i got in the store I put Karens dads coat, hat and scarf in the buggy and made sure I was wearing a very recognizable outfit.
I went to the aisle where one of the things Marcy wanted for Christmas was and Marcy and Karen saw me I turned around and they walked toward me and I pivoted on one foot and got down on one knee and asked Marcy. She said yes. She got two presents right then, the purse in the aisle and the engagement ring.
We set our May 2009 wedding and had a blast with 1st Djs
Rick
** send us your great holiday season proposal story
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