How to have a Meaningful Mitzvah Celebration without Breaking the Bank
Posted by Jonseltzerdj | Filed under Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah DJ Tips
I speak regularly with families who are concerned about the costs of having a Bar or Bat Mitzvah party for their child.
There seem to be two schools of thought on good Mitzvah celebrations. In the first group are parents who pull out all the stops and throw a big, flashy party. If this describes what you want – go for it. Be prepared both for significant costs and a great party. Remember that the best Mitzvah’s manage to keep the focus on your child and the spirit of the occasion, no matter what the final budget of the event.
But what if you want something less flashy, less expensive, and just as (or maybe more) meaningful? In this group are families who are not interested in trying to out-do others on spectacle. The best part of planning a party for this second group is that you’re already focused on the heart of the event: planning a special, memorable and fun family party that incorporates Jewish tradition, special ceremonies and good times.
Here’s how you can have a special, exciting and memorable mitzvah party for your child without having to take out a second mortgage on your home! Read the rest of this entry »
Mother-Son Dance Song ideas for Weddings, with audio/video samples!
Posted by Jason | Filed under Wedding Planning
The Mother Son Dance is a relatively recent trend at Weddings, but because most of the attention is on the bride and her family, this is a great way for the Groom to have a nice moment to share with his mother.
Here’s a list of the most popular requests we’ve gotten for the “Mother-Son Dance Songs” also known as the “Groom and Mother Wedding Dance.” Feel free to leave us your suggestions as well, we’d love to hear from you! Click on the songs in Pink to redirect to “youtube” and hear a sample of the song, but remember to click the back button to return to our site! If these are too sappy for you and your mom, pick something more fun and upbeat. It’s your wedding, do what you want!
If you’re looking for Father-Daughter Dance Songs Click Here!!
These songs are in no particular order:
1. Unforgettable- Nat King Cole (also w/Natalie Cole)
2. In My Life- The Beatles
3. What a Wonderful World- Louis Armstrong
4. A Song For Mama- Boys II Men
5. Blessed- Elton John
6. Have I Told you Lately That I Love You- Rod Stewart or Van Morrison
7. I Hope You Dance- Leanne Womack
8. My Wish- Rascal Flatts
9. You are the Sunshine of My Life- Stevie Wonder
10. You Raised Me Up- Josh Groban
11. Because You Loved Me- Celine Dion
12. Close to You- Carpenters
13. God Bless the Child- Tony Bennett (other artists)
14. The Mother and Child Reunion- Paul Simon
15. Mama’s Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys- Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson
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
2010 Los Angeles Bridal Show at the Westlake Hyatt!
Posted by Jason | Filed under Announcement, Tips for Hiring a Wedding DJ, Wedding Planning
It’s that time again friends! Time for Los Angeles Wedding DJs and other event specialists to appear at Bridal Show’s in Los Angeles in hopes of meeting great new Brides and Grooms who are looking for wedding professionals to help them make their dreams of the perfect wedding come true.
If you’re looking for Los Angeles Wedding DJs, Thousand Oaks DJs, or Ventura County DJs, you’ve come to the right place and if you would like to come out and meet us at a bridal show in Westlake Village, representatives from Elegant Event Entertainment will be showcasing our company at the Westlake Hyatt Bridal Show on Sunday January 10, 2010 from 11am-4pm, sponsored by Bridal Premier. If you need tickets, please call us today and we’ll arrange to get some passes for you on our behalf, or you can simply go to the show promoter’s website by clicking here.
You’ll notice several DJ companies listed on the page, including a “Featured Entertainment”, please keep in mind, that’s a Paid advertisement and has no bearing on rank or popularity. We choose to limit our PAID advertising to help our clients.
Whoever you choose as your DJ/Entertainment, please do your homework, meet with and check the backgrounds of the companies you are shopping. If you’d like to know more about Hiring a Los Angeles Wedding DJ, please click here to read our article. “7 Steps for Hiring a Wedding DJ”
Our DJs will be meeting with Brides and Grooms and handing out promotional materials to let you know more about our company. We also hope you’ll consider browsing our website and reading some of our blogs as well and give us a call if you would like to schedule a consultation for DJ or Event Planning Services for your Wedding or Special Event.
We’ll be joined by many of the best local Ventura County and Los Angeles Wedding Professionals including our friends from Mi Belle Photography, Command Performance Catering, and Skyline Videography and many others.
Hope to see you on January 10th!
Happy New Year from all of us at Elegant Event Entertainment.
Los Angeles Bar/Bat Mitzvah DJ brings the party to life at an Orthodox Bat Mitzvah.
Posted by Jonseltzerdj | Filed under Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah DJ Tips
I recently had a very interesting experience DJing and hosting an Orthodox Bat Mitzvah at the Chabad of Northridge in the San Fernando Valley. Despite many years of DJing Reform Mitzvahs, surprisingly, this was the first Orthodox Bat Mitzvah I have hosted in my career, and it was both challenging and inspiring.
As it turns out, there are many key differences in how these events need to be handled in accordance with Orthodox law. Firstly, it is of crucial importance in Orthodox Judaism for men and women to worship separately. Similarly for the reception and party, I was instructed to maintain this division within the boys and girls when playing games, leading dances, etc. I was a little concerned that the kid’s wouldn’t have fun if they couldn’t interact. One of my most valued skills as a los angeles mitzvah DJ is my contagious sense of fun and ability to lead the kids in games as a group. So how was I going to pull this off? Read the rest of this entry »
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
“The Vitamin String Quartet” is thinking outside the “Bach’s” for Wedding Ceremony Music.
Posted by Jason | Filed under Wedding Planning
Wedding DJs are often asked to play music for the Wedding Ceremony when the budget isn’t there to hire live musicians, so of course, if a DJ is playing the ceremony music, Brides and Grooms can pick absolutely any music they want.
So, let’s say you love the idea of having classical music or an elegant feel to your ceremony and you would love to hire a string quartet but simply don’t have it in your budget. Hire the next best thing! Hire your DJ to play music recorded by a string quartet, the cost is roughly 25% of the cost of live musicians. Now please, don’t get me wrong, I am a trained classical singer and I love live music, nothing compares to it, and when you have the budget, I absolutely encourage you to hire one of our preferred string quartets. But, Brides on a budget can do really well by allowing their DJ to play the pre-seating, processional and recessional music. We can also provide a microphone for the minister, rabbi, or officiant or an extra microphone for readers/performers if the venue doesn’t already do so.
Our DJs build the playlist based on the Bride and Groom’s requests. The DJs cue and play the correct songs at the right time for the processional and recessional. But it’s also our job to help guide a client musically in the direction that best suits their style while maintaining at least some components of the integrity and reverence of a Wedding Ceremony.
SO…You like classical music but you don’t know the difference between Bach and Beethoven, and you thought Yo Yo Ma was something you did with that child’s toy on a string. Well, Bach is one of my all time favorite composers and his “Jesu’ Joy Of Man’s Desiring” or “Air on a G Sting” are famously used in Wedding Ceremonies all the time…Beethoven’s music might be too intense for most Weddings, however, I think I’ve heard “Ode to Joy” at a few Ceremonies, though it likely belongs at the Olympics instead. And of course, Yo Yo Ma is widely considered the finest cellist to ever live, he’s certainly the most popular and best selling recording artist in his field, heck he even played at Obama’s Inauguration, even though that was a pre-recorded studio performance, no they aren’t really playing that well on the steps of the capital in January!
Do you need to know any of this? No! Not unless classical music really interests you. But, let your DJ help you make some interesting choices without playing the same 12 songs on “The Classical Wedding Sampler CD” he bought 10 years ago. Does every DJ know classical music? NO! Which is why if you hire one to play your ceremony and you want classical music, you should ask him if he or someone in his company REALLY knows classical music…I happen to be that person in our company and our DJs call on me for questions, and I invite you to as well!
So now, I can finally get to my point. You like the classical feel, you don’t know classical music, you love popular music too, but you don’t know how to incorporate the two in your Wedding Ceremony without the two styles clashing. Four Words: The Vitamin String Quartet. Read the rest of this entry »
If you are an experienced wedding DJ who loves working to serve the needs of your clients,