Choosing the right venue for your event can be tricky.
With our years of experience I have learnt what type of venue can make or break your event. There are some beautiful venues to choose from such as country houses, country estates, public buildings, historic hotels and village halls. There are also some unusual venues to choose from including a marquee in your garden, night clubs, function rooms in pubs and even an open air event (good luck with the weather!). As your DJ, it is my responsibility to play and mix the right music to get your guests tapping their feet and wanting to jump to their feet and get dancing. However, the venue can make a great deal of difference to the success of the dance floor.
In my experience people like to gather around the bar in the early part of the evening, chatting and socialising. If your venue has the bar in a separate room from the dance floor, then people can be slower to migrate on to the dance floor as the evening progresses. They cannot see who is dancing, they cannot feel the energy building and often cannot hear the music and therefore, won’t be able to say “ooh, I love this song!”. If you have the food, albeit a buffet or a sit down meal, in a separate room too then this will also cause a segregation to your dance floor. So, my recommendation is to have the food, the drink and the dancing all in the same area/room.
“When you visit your venue for a site survey arrive early and assess what the customer service of the venue staff is like.”
The first dance with family and friends supporting
Do they acknowledge you? Are you greeted with a big smile and welcome? When you meet with the event coordinator find out who will be the Duty Manager on the day of your event. Discuss with the event coordinator how your wishes and requests will be fulfilled by the Duty Manager. I have seen some Duty Managers upsetting the customer due to the miscommunication between the event coordinator (who usually only works Monday to Friday) and the weekend event staff. Also, find out how experienced the waiting staff will be for your event. Some venues and caterers use inexperienced staff who only do the occasional service work for pocket money.
When you book your White Aisle DJ you get some fantastic lights and effects, but if the venue has a lot of windows without any facilities for blocking out the natural light, then a summer event never feels like it gets going until gone 10:30 pm. If your event finishes at 12 midnight then that is only 90 minutes of club like disco darkness (some people only dance when it is dark!).
So, choosing the right venue is an important decision.
I hope some of my experience will help you to make a great choice that is right for your big day.
DJNI Chris
