So you’ve decided to take the plunge! Now the real fun starts….the wedding planning! One of the first things a Minnesota Bride does is look at dresses and wedding Venues. In Minneapolis, some of the wedding venues are offering FULL wedding packages, food, space, decor, and DJ. Wait. What? The DJ? “The all in one stop shop”!
Not so fast! We’ll go over the details why this is good and bad for your Minneapolis wedding.
– Why does the venue do it? After 20+ years in the Minneapolis wedding business, we have been asked before to be a part of the venue contracts. But there are rules and limitations. Kind of like a “Pay to play”. The venue is getting some sort of kick-back financially. They charge you $1000, the DJ is only getting $500 – $700. If you could have called the DJ directly, or another professional company, you could get that discount or get a better DJ worth the $1000!
– The Pros of having your Minneapolis wedding venue provide your wedding DJ. It’s simple. Sign on the dotted line and done! The “what-if”? What if the venue “knows” the DJ the best. This is possible! But, since when is there a one size fits all personality for either the Bride, Groom, or family? If your group is 18 to 30 do you want the 55-year-old DJ at your wedding? If you are an older couple do you want the 18-year-old party DJ at your wedding? We think you’ll find that the Cons outweigh the Pros on this one.
– The Cons of having your Minneapolis wedding venue pick and contract your DJ.
1. You don’t get a CHOICE! His/Her personality isn’t fitting for everyone and skill level may not be what your wedding requires. His/her talents may not be up to the experience level you’re expecting.
2. Your contract is with the Venue and not the DJ. This is ultimately bad. You need a DJ contract. The venue will not have your best music interests in mind. They care about booking their beautiful venue. Music is the last thing on their mind. The DJ’s contract lets you know how you will be represented by that DJ. If something goes wrong, you call to complain to the venue, but the venue states that the DJ is subcontracted and their not responsible so you have to call the DJ. You make that call, he never answers, numbers disconnected, or if you actually get to talk to him/her, he blames it on the venue. See why subcontracted DJs are not the best option by clicking here!
3. Planning your wedding is limited. The venue isn’t a DJ Company. They don’t fully know or understand the Music and event planning portion of the evening. Most often your “planning” person at the venue isn;t hired because of their passion for wedding planning little own music portion. An experienced Wedding DJ company knows ALL the ins and outs of planning your music portion. They have appropriate music planners, systems, equipment, and personnel to deal with the most important part of your night!
4. You can’t cancel! What if you don’t like your DJ? What if he/she doesn’t call you back? What if they don’t possess the skills the venue claimed they had? Usually, the venue is contracting DJ, you’re contracting with the venue. You cancel the DJ, you’ve now just canceled your venue! Or at best, there are penalties.
5. They are not carrying the proper insurance. Most venues NOW require the DJ companies to carry the proper insurance. Read here why this is soooo important.
6. This will actually cost you MORE! The venue says you get a “Discount” for your wedding DJ. Not true. The Venue usually gets a cut and the DJ gets the rest. If they are charging way less, it’s because that’s the “worth” of their skills. If that DJ is going for volume of weddings, you will not get the individualistic attention to detail your wedding needs. So this option may cost you in more ways that one!
In the end, someone else making the choices for you on your one and only big wedding day isn’t ideal for most Brides and Grooms. Yes searching for a professional wedding DJ in Minneapolis is not an easy task. But in the end, when you have awesome memories, guests that are very happy, and you got every penny worth for your time and efforts you put in, it’s all worth it.
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Hi
I didnt find any related topic, so i will start here.
I found your site djsoundproductions.com that has a lot of Minneapolis Brides for weddings, do you offer some kind of advertising there? Free or Paid
I want to buy 1-2 banners, how can i do it?
I’m sorry but we do not offer advertising on our site. We want our clients to have a pure experience without seeing ads or feeling pressured into further purchases. Thanks!
After reading this, we hired DJ Sound Productions for our wedding DJ then picked out an amazing venue in Minneapolis. They really know Their stuff!
Can you message me a list of those venues.,another Bride posted that you,had that? Thanks!
We sent it to the email address you’ve provided. Thank you!
What about venues that recommend a DJ other than contract one? Or write one in the contract?
Letting YOU have the choice is the best option. Letting you have a choice to hire outside of the venues choices is priceless. You need to get the best fit for YOU, not the Venue.
I had to comment…what if the Venue DOES know best? Can DJS be Jack of all trades/things? I’ve never been married, but I know a guy that is contracted with a venue. He doesn’t get the best ratings, but he makes Hella ton of cash. They also write a tip into the contract so even if he screws the pooch on a wedding….he still gets the money.
We had a venue with a dj just like your article is about and he was aweful. We asked for a back up dj and there wasn’t any. My cousin had to bring in his iPad and play songs from that. His speakers were on the floor and he stunk. We were stuck with him because we signed the contract. Wish we had read this before our wedding date.
Off topic but we saw your DJ at Brunswick Zone in Brooklyn Part on Sat night. Is he exclusive there or can we hire him for our wedding? Thanks!
Hi Mira!
Yes, you can hire him for your wedding in the Twin cities. Give us a call at 763-438-7146 and we’ll get you all set up!
Do you know of any Venues that you would recommend in the Elk River, zimmerman, Rogers area that doesn’t do this and if they dont, are reputablessed? Thanks.
We sent you an updated list of who we recommend and the highest rated but affordable. We do not contract with any Venues or promote any venues. They have to pass our raw vetting before we referred them to anyone.
That happened to us! The DJ literally told us that he wasn’t getting paid enough to do the little extra that we needed. There was no work ethic. The music was OK but the service and customer service was POOR. When asked what company he was with, he Just said our Venue name. We were at the Minneapolis Hilton so we complained that evening and they said that he was contracted and that any complaints needed to go through him. Our wedding would have been better had we known this!
DO you have any in site on why a venue would do a Voltage Drop requirement and charge a TON for it? Thanks.
About time a Dj company is weighing in and being informative other than just trying to sell their own, Koodos and great job and article!
You should do an entry about the contracts themselves! There was so much hidden in the contracts and written that didn’t make sense!