Picking a Venue: What Your Wedding Planner Might Not Tell You
Picking a venue is one of the most important parts of planning any event, especially a wedding. Your choice of venue has a huge effect on your guests’ experience and memories of your special day.
I have worked as a DJ at dozens of venues over the years. The aim of this blog post is to give you some insight into how your choice of venue can help you to make the most of your DJ services. I can’t speak to every factor involved, but your choice of venue can greatly affect the quality of your experience.
Outdoor Venues
When outdoor ceremonies and receptions work, they really work. No indoor decor can compare to a stunning sunset or a star filled sky. But things can also go terribly wrong. There is no way to predict ahead of time whether the weather will cooperate with your plans. From freezing temperatures to bug filled and rainy, anything is possible.
Is the beauty of your outdoor venue worth the stress on the morning of your wedding or event, and seeing cloudy skies and wondering whether it will rain? Maybe it is. But it’s something to consider.
Outdoor venues can be challenging for your DJ, because often the necessity of running lots of power and sound cables can create a tripping hazard and the possibility of disconnecting the sound during an important point in the event. Your DJ will do their best to eliminate all tripping hazards, but the time it takes to run and secure the extra cables can take away from important other tasks. As the Organizer, it’s up to you to decide what your priorities are, but it’s something to bear in mind.
Other important factors to consider when picking an outdoor venue:
What is the power source? Your DJ will need a power source nearby to play their equipment. If the power source is a generator, how loud is it? Will it drown out your vows?
Is it possible there will be construction nearby? True story, I once provided sound at a wedding that had a construction site right next door. Fortunately, the workers were considerate enough to stop for a half hour to ensure that the ceremony was not interrupted by hammering or drilling. It might be hard to anticipate such a thing years in advance of booking, but it’s something to bear in mind.
Hotels/Shared Spaces
Another important question is whether your will be right next door to another event space? Hotels and banquet halls are beautiful and provide excellent food and facilities, but the thin partition walls are not great at blocking sound, and often the sound from the neighbouring hall penetrates into your hall.
This might not bother you, but if you are as particular about your soundscape as I am, it can be a deciding factor in your decision. I have experienced events where my clients are in the middle of speeches or presentations, while the neighbouring hall has already started their dance.
When this happens, the sounds coming from the neighbouring hall can be very distracting and even ruin special moments and sentimental speeches.
Remote Locations
I have been to some absolutely STUNNING locations, where unfortunately the guests did not linger and enjoy the dance. Why? Because it was too far from their accommodations and there was no alternate transportation provided. Nobody wanted to drink or dance, because they knew they had a long drive home ahead of them.
I was at another wedding at a similar location, and more than half the guests lingered to the end of the dance. The party was an absolute blast. What made the difference? The bride and groom hired hired a bus to bring their guests back home after the party.
You might be wondering what this has to do with DJing. Well, if you want to get your money’s worth out of your DJ, you probably want people to enjoy and engage in the dance. So, if you choose a remote location, alternate transportation (or even encouraging people to bring their RVs so they can spend the night, if applicable) can help your DJ make the most of your event.
Other Considerations
Dance Floor
Sometimes this can’t be helped, again depending on the location, but when looking at venues you might want to consider how close the dancefloor is to your DJ table. This is especially important if you want your DJ to interact with the guests. Even just a couple tables can create a real obstacle to spontaneous and fun interaction. Closing that distance can go a long way towards building rapport.
The Head Table
If the head table is far away from the DJ, I strongly recommend ensuring that your DJ will provide a wireless mic (or renting one for an extra cost - see my article about what’s worth it and what’s not) to avoid having dozens of metres of microphone wire, that could potentially disconnect or trip up your guests. Also, people tend to feel more free with a wireless mic, particularly if they want to walk around and interact with other guests.
Note: larger venues like banquet halls and hotels often offer in-house sound systems including wireless mics, which can be very useful, whereas smaller community halls typically don’t.
Conclusion
I can appreciate that there are SO MANY factors to consider when it comes to planning your wedding.
No matter what, your DJ should bust their butt to make sure that you have the best possible experience, no matter how challenging the location might be. Our job is to help you make the most of your space.
The most important thing is that you have a location that speaks to you and meets your needs. I just hope that this list can help perhaps be a tie breaker or provide a little bit of guidance to help us ensure that your dance is everything you imagined it could be. We want to be in the background while you make amazing memories!
Good luck, and send us an email for more info on booking us for your next event.