Bridal Premier Showcase at Westlake Hyatt August 8, 2010
Posted by Jason | Filed under Announcement
Elegant Event Entertainment will be showcasing our Wedding DJ Services at the Bridal Show in the Westlake Hyatt in Thousand Oaks On Sunday August 8, 2010. Doors open at 11:00am. The show is produced by Bridal Premier. Click here for more information.
Come on out to the show, you’ll find many of the top companies in the Wedding Industry there. Come by our booth and let us know you saw this Blog and save money on our DJ Services! We hope to see you there and congratulations on your upcoming Wedding! If you can’t make it to the show, don’t worry, give us a call to schedule a free consultation with our highly recommended DJs. We would love to find out more about your event and help you realize your dreams of a fun-filled and perfect Wedding Reception!
Sincerely,
Elegant Event Entertainment Team.
Small Weddings don’t need Wedding DJ’s…Or Do They?
Posted by Jason | Filed under Wedding DJ Advice
It occurred to me that our Wedding DJ’s seem to be working more and more weddings with smaller guest lists these days. It got me to wonder whether there are more small weddings due to economic hardship, or in fact, if the majority of weddings have been smaller all along. Statistics show that most weddings are of a smaller nature which gives me confidence to know that most of our clients understand the importance of hiring a wedding dj no matter the size of their guest list. If your wedding is of a smaller nature don’t be discouraged, some of the most fun weddings can have 75 people or less, I’ve witnessed it, I’ve been a part of those joyous celebrations!
Now, although a smaller guest list does not necessarily mean a smaller budget, it’s fair to say that the majority of smaller weddings are on a stricter budget than those “pull out all the stops” weddings with 300 or 400 guests. Many Brides and Grooms who approach us are very concerned about their budget, especially if they have a smaller wedding. However, even with a smaller budget and guest list, you need some form of Entertainment! The most obvious and affordable choice is a Wedding DJ. I’ve written numerous articles for our Blog on how to hire a DJ, why to hire a DJ, and so on, but I simply wanted to reinforce that you really do need an Experienced Wedding DJ if you expect the party to be fun, to stay on some type of schedule, and to be handled professionally. The great news for you is, you can afford it! Pricing for DJs ranges all over the place, we’ve talked about it in several blog articles such as our Wedding DJ Pricing article and you’ll see it for yourself if you shop enough places on the web and at bridal shows and magazines. If you’ve got 60 guests coming to an evening wedding in a smaller ballroom or even a garden venue or backyard setting, you want those 60 people to have fun don’t you? Many clients with smaller weddings think they should simply keep it “low key” and just use an ipod or home stereo system to play music throughout the reception, or perhaps worse, they have a friend strum the guitar all night. My question is “who will make important and appropriate announcements to keep your guests involved and aware of things that are happening throughout the event?” The answer is usually “uh? We didn’t think of that.” or “my Uncle is public speaker (translation=teacher/sales manager) and he’ll do it.” My answer: “so your Uncle has to work on your wedding day? How many Weddings has your uncle actually ‘worked’? Or “does your friend have to play guitar all night? Does he have a sound system so he can be heard clearly and does he have microphones for your toasts and other announcements?”
I hope you get my point and that you’ll let your relatives and friends enjoy themselves at your wedding and allow a professional to keep the party moving along nicely without feeling rushed or too “produced”. You also should relish the fact that even though our DJs want you to provide us with a lot of your favorite song requests, you won’t have to try to put the songs in a sequence that flows perfectly and entertains from start to finish, that’s the DJs job and he’ll constantly tweak the music set list throughout the night, which is something you or your guests should not be worrying about! Our DJs have many styles, we can keep it very low key, but always professional and fun, so don’t let your “Smaller Wedding” discourage you from allowing it to be a lot of fun. Oh and by the way, “Fun” does not mean “Cheesy”, our DJs certainly know the difference!
So, whether you have “Religious Constraints” that prohibit or limit dancing or certain types of music, or alcohol, (all of which can be “fun inducers” but are not necessary to have a party) or you think you have “No Dancers” on your guest list (which I highly doubt) these weddings still need someone to play music to serve as a nice accompaniment to the event. You don’t need the smoke and mirrors and crazy lights and confetti blasters that many DJ companies try to sell you, but you will want a professional sound system with microphones for toasts and announcements. And although I wouldn’t use the term “no-frills DJ” you might require a more simplistic approach, a DJ who at the very least will manage the flow of the timeline, play great music in sensible rotations, make announcements and keep the guests aware of the schedule and special events throughout the evening. Let the professionals, not your friends and family keep up with all of those details and your event will be executed perfectly!
DJs provide the soundtrack to the most important day in your life and they carry the responsibility of making sure that everything they are in charge of happens without a hitch, which leaves you and your guests to do one thing: enjoy yourselves! No matter the size of your guest list, consider hiring a DJ, you’ll be very surprised at our affordability and you absolutely won’t regret it. Your guests will thank you and they’ll be talking about how much fun they had for years to come!
Photo provided by Cheryl Ogden
We won an award: Winner of the Bride’s Choice Award for Mobile DJs!
Posted by Chris | Filed under Announcement
Los Angeles, CA – 1/19/10 – WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced Elegant Event Entertainment has been selected to receive the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™ for Mobile Disc Jockey Service!
The annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ recognizes and celebrates excellence in quality and service within the wedding industry, as determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 500,000 newlyweds.
Elegant Event Entertainment is among the top five percent of all vendors in the WeddingWire community, which includes over 100,000 wedding professionals across the US and Canada. Awards were given to winners across 19 different service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers.
“We are excited to recognize and honor the success of the top wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Community” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “The annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ program has given us the unique opportunity to highlight the best wedding professionals in each region as reviewed by brides and grooms who have utilized their services in the past year.”
We are happy to announce that Elegant Event Entertainment is among the very best Mobile Disc Jockey Service within the WeddingWire Network, which includes WeddingWire and Martha Stewart Weddings. We would like to thank our past newlyweds for nominating us for the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™.
For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today at http://www.weddingwire.com/biz/elegant-event-entertainment-inc-newbury-park/df911e0875c68ff5.html
Los Angeles Wedding DJ Prices: What exactly are you paying for anyway
Posted by Jason | Filed under Wedding DJ Advice, Wedding Planning
If you’re planning a Wedding or other Special Event I’m sure you’re interested in how much it’s going to cost. And if you’re hiring a DJ in the Los Angeles area, we know you are certainly concerned with your budget, but we all know that old saying “you get what you pay for.”
In this article, I want to point out some of the factors that influence DJ pricing so you will have a better understanding of how we determine our prices and you’ll realize that we truly can work with almost any budget. We believe having some kind of entertainment is better than none at all, but great entertainment and hiring a great DJ is paramount to the overall success of your event.
First I’ll list the “5 Most Important Questions” a Professional DJ should ask you to help determine your needs. If you can answer some of these questions for us, we’ll know exactly how to price and plan for your event.
5 Main Factors that influence Wedding DJ Pricing:
1. Q: What is the date, time, and location of your Event?
By Knowing these details, we determine which of our DJ’s are available, what type of equipment you’ll need, the level of difficulty of set-up/tear-down, and if we’ll need to asses any other fee’s.
2. Q: How Many Hours of DJ Services do you require?
We build our prices first by determining the number of hours of Entertainment you need. As a rule, Most Receptions are 4-6 hours, Ceremony & Receptions are 5-7 hours.
3. Q: Do you need the DJ for the Ceremony & Reception?
If you require Music and/or microphones for the Ceremony and the Wedding Ceremony is in a different area than your Reception, we will generally need to provide an additional sound system.
4. Q: What is your overall vision for the Event?
Your Event is unique, and we want your vision and personalities to shine through! By knowing the “feel” you’re trying to achieve for the event we can pair you with the perfect DJ to meet those needs. In addition, our Event Planning/Coordination staff can help you locate other vendors and offer great tips to help you achieve your dream of a perfect event.
5. Q: What is your overall Budget for Entertainment?
We believe Great Entertainment is Priceless, but we can custom tailor a package to suit most budgets. Being up front about your budget will save you a lot of shopping hassle.
Read the rest of this entry »
Los Angeles Wedding DJ’s “Top 5 Helpful Wedding DJ Blog Articles”
Posted by Jason | Filed under Wedding DJ Advice, Wedding Planning
Below is a quick list of links to our Favorite and “Top 5 Helpful Wedding DJ Blog Articles” that we published here on our “Los Angeles DJ Blog” throughout 2009 in an effort to help our current and potential clients with the planning of their DJ entertainment. This list should give you a bit more insight about us, and what we can offer our clients. Whether you’re just beginning to search for DJs in Los Angeles or if you’re looking for music ideas for your Wedding, we’ve got you covered! Click the links below that interest you and feel free to browse and read all the articles we post, past, present, and future!
1. Hiring a Los Angeles Wedding DJ? Click Here for helpful hints!
2. Wedding Ceremony Music Ideas- Click Here
3. Bride & Groom’s First Dance Song List. Choosing the “Best” Song for you!: Click Here!
4. Father Daughter Dance Songs & Helpful Hints for Fathers and Daughters Click Here!
5. To Watch Our Los Angeles DJ Services Demo Video Click Here!
And Remember, our Blog is always being updated with Articles, Stories, Reviews of Los Angeles Wedding Venues, Event Planning Tips, Wedding Song Ideas, and so much more. If you need a Los Angeles Wedding DJ, or a DJ in Southern California for any special event, you’ve come to the right place! Please keep coming back and feel free to leave comments on our Blog if something sparks your interest, just type in the “Comments” box and click “Submit Comment.” Happy Planning and Best Wishes!
Click Here to Read the Bios of Our DJs
The Importance of Loving the Wedding Vendors you hire
Posted by Jason | Filed under Event Planning Tips
Our Event Planning Intern, Leslie has been very eager and excited to learn all about Weddings. Recently I assigned her the task of researching other Wedding related Blogs and telling me about some of her favorites so I could re-post those articles on our site, for our clients to read and enjoy. Here’s one article she found and what she said about the article:
From Leslie, Elegant Event Entertainment Event Planning Division–
“I found a great Blog on Planning that caught my attention…’Planning…Forever Events Blog‘, . The blog is titled, “love your wedding florist“, and it’s from the site’s special series, “loving your wedding vendors.” I am quite knowledgeable on how a wedding DJ gets their “amazing” title due to working with Elegant Event Entertainment’s DJ division, and reading all of the blogs on the EEE site; however, I didn’t know many of the details about other wedding vendors. Reading this blog gave me a better understanding that the wedding florist is just as important as any other planned detail of the wedding. I now know that one should trust their wedding florist, due to the simplest fact that being a florist is their chosen profession and it’s what they do week in and week out, they are a Professional in their field, they make it their business to know a zillion kinds of flowers.
This article’s “behind the scenes” was a great story.You see that a well trained florist can work under any amount of pressure. When problems occur at the last minute, they get worked through and fixed versus simply saying, “too bad, the bride is going to have to deal with these arrangements, and like it.” The florists in this article showed how important it is to put the bride’s needs first by giving everything they had to the event and rearranging the flowers to the bride’s highest expectations. This also showed dedication and professionalism, which is a necessity in the wedding industry.
Read the rest of this entry »
A Wedding DJ’s personal journey: A special message from our President.
Posted by Jason | Filed under Announcement
Today is my 32 Birthday and I was thinking about my life and our business this morning, reflecting on the successes I’ve enjoyed and especially those as a Wedding DJ and business owner. I just wanted to take a quick moment and share with our clients and readers (past, present, and future) the happiness and joy that I have gotten and continue to get from being a Wedding DJ. I can’t say enough about the great feeling I get from working with Brides and Grooms, and for working with so many talented and driven people in our company as well as our long list of wonderful colleagues in the Wedding and Event Industry.
We are 1 of many Los Angeles Wedding DJ companies, we serve much of Southern California, and every week we have a chance to entertain at events for people from all walks of life. I personally started my career as a DJ in Asheville, NC in 1999, I was 20 years old. I’ve had the opportunity to share so many wonderful memories with my clients, whether it was a child’s birthday party, a bar/bat mitzvah, a corporate holiday party, or my personal favorite, a wedding. My list of clients has reached over 500 individuals that I have personally served, and since the inception of Elegant Event Entertainment, inc. in 2007, our company has added over 200 more satisfied clients to that list. I cannot imagine how many tens of thousands of people we have performed for in our careers, how many people have left an event that I was DJing and said to me “thank you so much” “you were amazing!” “I’ve never had so much fun!” 
It’s a joy to be a part of this company, to be it’s visionary leader, to be it’s biggest fan, and to cheer it on, over and around every obstacle and every victory. I just wanted to share my thoughts with you, because I don’t believe that a company like ours is just “another DJ company” I believe we are vastly different. Our passion is built on more than just some nice sound and lighting equipment and a love of music. Combined with my co-founder Chris and all of our DJs, Jon, Raul, Matt, and whoever the next great “EEE DJ” might be, we currently have over 65 years of experience as “mobile DJ’s” and we all truly love our “jobs”, our clients, this industry, and this company.
I look forward to the many years of success that I know we will continue to have, to the thousands more happy clients that will come into our lives, and to helping build the careers of future DJs and Event Planners who have a similar passion for the Wedding and Event Industry. Thank you for all your continued support of our business and please, keep coming back, keep in touch, keep dancing, and keep having fun!
All My Best,
Jason Jones
CEO and Co-Founder
Elegant Event Entertainment, inc.
Elegant Event Entertainment DJ Jason Jones
The photos in this post were provided by www.photographybycharise.com and mi belle photography
Moorpark Country Club, a great location for a Wedding.
Posted by Jason | Filed under L.A. Wedding Reception Venues
I hope my reviews of Wedding locations in Southern California aren’t all beginning to sound repetitious, but I must say, this summer our company has been working at so many great wedding and banquet facilities that I felt the need to write about each of them. I honestly can’t think of any bad things to say about these venues and while I know they are all distinctly different, I want to share with you why I like each one of them individually.
Moorpark Country Club is no exception, I really like it there. Located on a beautifully manicured golf course in the hills of Moorpark, California, this facility is a great venue for your wedding or any event. The scenery is great, the hills are beautiful, the banquet room is large but very nice. The Ceremony location is on the property and features a gorgeous and intimate gazebo with lots of mature vegetation and landscaping. The grounds and facilities are above par, no pun intended!
I was honored to be the DJ at Pamela and Eran’s wedding on August 23, 2009 and it was a perfect day for this bride and groom. I must admit, the service at the country club is stellar, the banquet manager Jarvis is one of the kindest and most accommodating people in this industry, every Bride and Groom will love him. Director of Catering Anna Padilla is also great, she has had many years of experience in the Wedding industry, having a great career at a few of the premier properties here in Ventura County, she has exhibited vast knowledge and great professionalism in her field. Anna is passionate about what she does, and so is her staff at Moorpark Country Club , which is why our company loves to work there!
This wedding was a perfect example of cohesion between great wedding vendors in Ventura county, we had Suzie of Your Neighborhood Florist working her magic with the flowers, our great friend Josh Beller of Mi Belle Photography who also provided the photos for this article, Moonlight Video Productions shot the live action, the beautiful cake was provided by For Heavens Cakes, and of course, providing the entertainment was me, DJ Jason Jones of Elegant Event Entertainment! Read the rest of this entry »
A Sherwood Country Club Wedding; from the DJ’s perspective.
Posted by Jason | Filed under L.A. Wedding Reception Venues
I gotta tell ya, I honestly love my job, I love our company, and I love working with so many great people, clients and colleagues alike. On September 5th, I was the Wedding DJ at Sherwood Country Club for Toni and Maxx, and I absolutely love it there. It’s a gorgeous place that reminds me so much of many of the venues and country clubs in my home state of North Carolina, or even many parts of Virginia. The clubhouse has a Georgian or colonial style architecture, built with tens of thousands of bricks and adorned with gleaming white trim and moldings.
Sherwood CC is manicured so well, you’ll think Disney World moved to Westlake, California. One thing is certain, if you’re having a Wedding here, your photos will look amazing, because there isn’t an inch of this property that isn’t picture perfect. Although it seems annoying at first, all of the vendors like myself are required to wear dress slacks and a collared shirt to set up their gear. No shorts, t-shirts without collars or denim allowed. But, that’s fine with me, I always wear a nicely tailored suit while DJing a Wedding, so I change into that after the set-up is complete.
As pristine and ornate as Sherwood is, you still have permission to party and have lots of fun, and Maxx and Toni’s Wedding was no exception. They even had an early wedding, which ended well before evening, and it was still a blast. Unfortunately, many early weddings are not the most fun, but I honestly have to say, this one rocked! Of course, some of the credit goes to the DJ, right? But truthfully, this was a great group of guests, which always makes my job easier. The guest list included 2 other couples whose weddings I have DJ’d recently. I’m beginning to see the positive residual effects of Read the rest of this entry »
Bride and Groom’s First Dance Idea: A Candlelight Dance?
Posted by Chris | Filed under Wedding Planning
A few weeks ago I was the DJ for Tony and Niya’s wedding at Hartleys Botanica Gardens, one of our most frequented Wedding Reception sites in Ventura County. This couple had several unique ideas at their wedding, but most impressive was their very different approach to the Bride and Groom’s 1st dance. Everything was prearranged with me, the Master of Ceremonies, so I knew how to organize this special moment to make it easy for the guests and perfect for the Bride and Groom. We had all the guests, 150 in total, come up to the dance floor and make a big circle around the floor where the Bride and Groom would soon bask in this beautiful limelight. Then, the guests were given candles to light from the unity candle. The end result was truly moving. This was one of the prettiest 1st Dances I have ever seen in over 17 years of working as a Wedding DJ. If you’re having an outdoor wedding, you may want to consider this idea. You will need to check with your venue first, and most likely you’ll need some type of fire permit. I can’t offer much more advice on that but I can tell you that a Candlelight First Dance is stunning and truly unforgettable! Just take a look at that photo again.
Read the rest of this entry »
If you are an experienced wedding DJ who loves working to serve the needs of your clients,