DJ Update

Mary and I decided (after some encouragement from Mary's parents), that we would pay the extra fee to ensure we get the specific DJ we wanted for our reception.  Fortunately, the price we're paying the company altogether is fairly reasonable, especially for the level of service they provide.  Mary and I both agree the fee we will pay is worth the peace of mind we'll receive in return.  I faxed over a letter to Admit One yesterday indicating our preference so they can add it to our contract.  Now we just have to work on our playlists!!

Photography & DJ Details

We recently had a few details we need to sort out with our photographers and dj company.  The photography package we purchased from our photographers included credit towards a wedding album.  Shortly after signing the contract with them, they informed us that one of the matted albums was discontinued from their supplier.  Of course, it was the album we wanted, and none of the other albums interested us.  So they are doing "research" to see if they can find another supplier for the vertical matted album.  We found that most studios we visited offer the photo-book style albums instead of the traditional album.  While we both think those are pretty cool, we both want to go with the matted style for our album.  We'll keep you posted on that.

The DJ company with which we signed a contract has about 18 DJs on staff.  The first step is to sign a contract with them.  Then, every few months, they hold a "Meet the DJs" night, which is basically like a speed-dating for a DJ.  They have drinks and appetizers, and the purpose is to go around and spent 3-4 minutes with each of their DJs to ask them questions about their style and get to know them.  At the end, we were to write down our top three choices.

The whole event was about two and half hours.  This was great in theory  The problem is that most couples ended up spending 15-20 minutes with each DJ, which significantly cut down on the number of people you could meet.  We ended up being about half an hour late, and only had time to speak to about eight or nine DJs.  So we picked our three and that was it.  If you keep up with our blog, you know that the company we hired is the same one Steve and Kati used.  We met with their DJ, who has since been promoted to a salesperson and is now primarily a backup DJ.  While we liked the DJs we picked for the most part, we decided that we really would have preferred to use him.  We have the option to have him be our DJ, but it will cost us an extra fee to do so, and the jury is still out on whether we will go that route or not.

Admit One DJs

I also wanted to say a couple things about the DJ company we booked.  I'm sure that many companies are going digital nowadays if they haven't already, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense.

Admit One DJs uses PC software to search, load and play all music selections.  The software itself not only provides basic functions that a normal dj cd player provides, play/pause/cue/pitch adjustment/etc, but also automates tasks normally done by the dj.  The ability to count and match beats, create playlists, and load songs in seconds instead of minutes flipping through a cd wallet, allows the dj to spend a lot more time on other things like monitoring crowd response and taking requests.  

Being a pseudo-dj myself (no McMixer comments, thank you), the part I can appreciate the most is not having to lug around a 100 lb dj box with a dual-cd player, a mixing console, and a heavy power amp!  The second best part, is not having to haul a bunch of cds or records around and worrying if you've brought enough of the right music.  With an audio library all on digital media, everywhere you go, you have every song in your collection.  Admit One DJs uses a device that is more or less a desktop computer, but much lower profile.  In case you were wondering about the computer crashing or the hard drive failing, all you have to do is plug in the back-up system.  With the price of computer hardware these days, there's no reason to go any other way! 

Ok, that's it for my nerd commentary.  I just wanted to say how cool I thought it was :) 

Ready to Dance?

Jack and I have been on the run more than ever this week, but at least things are moving along and we are checking some things off the list.  Although I may always feel like there is lots to do, it is starting to feel more and more managable to me, for which I am truly grateful.  So far this week, we finally booked our airline and car reservations for my cousin's wedding in Washington (can't wait!), did some walking for the Avon Walk coming up (only two more weeks to go), have visited with two different photography companies and one DJ company.  Possibly one of the most exciting accomplishments of the week though was that we booked our DJ company last night.  We ended up going with Admit One DJs, which is the same company that our friends Steve & Kati had at their wedding last August.  We definitely liked they way they handled their event and after speaking with someone at this company for 2 hours last night, we feel confident that they will do a great job for us as well.  Pack your dancing shoes because this is going to be fun!

If you have song suggestions, feel free to post comments to this blog entry with your ideas.  I will be honest though, I make no promises that all the songs will be played that night since we were informed last night that the average wedding has about 45 songs I think played during the whole time of dancing.

Photographers & DJs: Round 1

Just a quick update.  We've had appointments (or "consultations" as everyone in the industry has called it) with three photography studios so far.  Mary and I haven't said about any of them, "wow, these guys are it!", however, the photos of two of the studios we did like quite a bit.  We have one more appointment scheduled for tomorrow.  We've been asking all the standard questions like how long is the coverage?  Is there a location limit?  How many photographers?  Do they have back-up photographers?  Are we obligated to purchase an album?  Do we get the high-res digital negatives?  Of course we'll never cover EVERYTHING, but between Mary and I, I think we're doing a pretty good job covering our bases.  Hopefully after a few phone calls and some negotiations, we will have booked our photographer!

Also on the vendor front, we have an appointment with a DJ tomorrow, as well as a good recommendation from a friend of Mary's.  We're pretty sure we'll like the DJ we're meeting tomorrow, as we heard him play at Steve & Kati's wedding.  We're also pretty sure we'll like the other DJ as well, so hopefully we're in a good position.

It seems like the photographer and DJ are some the last really really big decisions we have to make.  Not that the florist and transportation and invitations and all that aren't important, but the two are such important aspects of the event.  I mean, the photos are one of the only things we'll have to help us remember our special day, and having great music is what makes a great party.  After that, it will be a hundred little decisions to make, but, hopefully, it will be much easier to make those decisions!