One of the main benefits of hiring wedding professionals instead of going DIY for your wedding is that wedding pros have a wealth of information and experience, not just about their particular field, but about the whole wedding planning process. After all, a successful wedding pro goes to over 50 weddings a year, every year! They see trends and styles, but they also see mistakes and successes. They know what they need to do, and often what others need to do as well.
Wedding entertainers have an especially unique vantage point when it comes to wedding planning. After all, they are the life of the party! Because of their prominent position in front of the microphone, or at the center of the dance floor, they’re often called on to fix or smooth over mistakes or oversights made by anyone from the bride and groom to the caterer or bartender. It’s one of the top reasons you should always ask wedding pros for their opinions on other pros.
On the GigMasters blog we’ve been running a series of articles with top tips from wedding professionals about planning your wedding. Some of the tips seem obvious, especially if you work in the wedding business, or spend a lot of time researching wedding planning. For example, “make sure you have someone in charge of paying the balance owed, and tips, and that they know who gets what.” But, if you’re new to wedding planning a tip like that might not seem quite so obvious.
Other tips are things that only an experienced professional would think to mention.
Here are some of our favorite entertainment related tips we’ve gotten:
• Don’t separate the band from the bar.
• Your guests don’t share all of your same musical tastes, think about what they want to hear as well as what you want to hear.
• If you’re planning an outdoor reception, think about shade and comfort for the musicians.
• Make sure your venue has enough power for your band/DJ
• If you have any must play songs, let the band know as soon as possible, in case they need to learn them.
• Provide musicians with a script of your ceremony, and include their cues in the script
• Feed the band.
• Check and see if the reception hall has a piano.
We’ve also gotten some tips that aren’t really about entertainment, but things entertainers notice happening:
• If you’re having a wedding at a high altitude you or your guests might get faint or dizzy.
• Get a separate bouquet for the bouquet toss.
• Research prices for everything before you buy anything.
• Make sure you give the photographer and the band the same information, so the photographer doesn’t miss anything.
• Find out if there’s parking at the reception venue for guests and vendors.
What’s your favorite wedding planning tip?