During our DJ search, there are a few things we learned, which I would like to share with you. Firstly, style. Different companies have different styles. It's important to let you DJ know what kind of music/entertainment you are looking for. Maybe you want all salsa music all night long, but not all DJ companies will be able to meet that need. Find a DJ who can supply your demand. Secondly, reliability. Just like any other wedding vendor, you want to make sure your DJ shows up at your event. A referred company can give you that little bit of peace of mind. Luckily for us, all of our DJ candidates have been referred by friends. Thirdly, vibe. Again, just like with other vendors, you want to make sure you can easily work and communicate with your DJ. On your wedding day, you would want to be surrounded by people you like. Why would you want to have the DJ around if you weren't too fond of him in the first place? Lastly, insurance. This was actually more important to D than it was to me. It would be good idea that your DJ has insurance. You just never know. The last memory you would want from your wedding is of one of your guests being injured by your DJ's speakers and the DJ simply saying, "Sorry man."
D and I are happy to announce that we have selected Hot Wax as our DJ! We had a fantastic meeting with Elliott and his wife, Ozzie. Although we also had great meetings with our other DJ candidates, D and I felt more comfortable working with Elliott. Hot Wax also has a great standing with the Better Business Bureau. In addition, their passion for delivering a great customer experience is obvious during each of our interaction with them. Anyway, during our reception, we hope everyone will get down on the dance floor and enjoy the music from Hot Wax :)
Décor
We only had a couple of candidate for décor: Upright Decor and R2 Decor. Upright does beautiful work. I know because they did the décor for my co-worker's wedding. However, with their design and labour packages, excluding rental costs, starting at $650, they quickly fell out of our budget and out of the running as our decorating vendor.
In contrast to an established company like Upright, R2 is just starting out. As a result, they don't currently have things like "design and labour packages." The price of their equipment rental includes labor costs. Decorating certain elements of a wedding reception, however, come at a set price, such as the head table, the sign-in table, and the cake table. After our first meeting back in August 29, D and I thought that R2 did a great job decorating at a reasonable price. As a result, we informed R2 that they're our wedding décor vendor a couple of days later.
Aafter we got back from our trip, I had a second meeting (site inspection) with Rosie and Rani at the UBC Boathouse on October 7. During that meeting, we discussed the room dimensions, layout, and décor details (such as tall vases, candles, etc). The wedding wallet also thinned down a little bit as I paid the deposit. At the moment, most of the décor details have been figured out. I believe the only important thing left to be determined is the schedule for THE day, ie. when R2 should show up to begin setup.
That's about it for now. Next topic, when I get to it, flowers!
dare I ask..how did the DJ come up with the name "hot wax"? lol
ReplyDeleteGood question Lex. I should ask :P
ReplyDelete