Barn weddings in my area becoming over priced

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tunes4046

DJ Extraordinaire
ODJT Supporter
Jul 24, 2008
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Fennimore Wi
So many of you know I work in a very rural area and most of my work is within 40 miles of my home, I am busy with weddings most weekends March thru October, over the last 10 years many of rural Wisconsin’s barns have been converted to wedding venues, the rules for these venues make this very easy to do with little regulation, the last 3 years has seen a surge in pricing , with prices starting at $2000 up to$8000 plus to rent the venue, this includes nothing but the property and building, all fixtures food and beverages must be obtained above and beyond that cost. I am finally seeing some push back on these venues with people converting back to traditional wedding venues that end up being more cost effective when all factors are considered, anyone else notice this trend
 
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The price has increased on literally everything, and we will continue to see increasing prices. We have entered a period where nothing is cheap any more.

Major Supply Chain Issues, Food distribution shortages, and shortage on supplies, parts, equipment etc.

EVERYTHING is affected!

Not to mention the decline of the dollar thanks to our own government decisions adds fuel to the fire.

Also, we have been becoming a Global Economy. The USA was the Big Consumer country that the rest of the world has been catering to foe decades. Times are changing, and other countries have become much more competitive. We are not as big of a deal on the global economic front that we use to be, and we are slowly going to be in for a rude awakening on that front.
 
The price has increased on literally everything, and we will continue to see increasing prices. We have entered a period where nothing is cheap any more.
Huh, nice spin
Major Supply Chain Issues, Food distribution shortages, and shortage on supplies, parts, equipment etc.

EVERYTHING is affected!

Not to mention the decline of the dollar thanks to our own government decisions adds fuel to the fire.

Also, we have been becoming a Global Economy. The USA was the Big Consumer country that the rest of the world has been catering to foe decades. Times are changing, and other countries have become much more competitive. We are not as big of a deal on the global economic front that we use to be, and we are slowly going to be in for a rude awakening on that front.
 
Oh yes, a lot of barn/farm weddings up here in Washington State and most are pricey for what you get. With that said, it is nice to be able to bring in your own catering and booze to not only get exactly what you want but possibly save a few bucks. My wedding last week was at a barn type of venue, the couple brought in a taco bar and had their own alcohol (with licensed bartenders). Very nice night and definitely had that laid back vibe they were going for.

My big issue with these barn venues is that you have people who own a barn telling couples that they are coordinators when they aren't. You're never on schedule, you can't find them since they have their own residence on-site, many times they're tending to their own family while trying to "run" an event. And frankly, most of them don't care enough or understand that they aren't doing the job of a coordinator. But if you try and go around them and actually coordinate they will be unhappy with you for "doing their job."

And on top of that, they'll advertise that they do 40 events a summer but haven't made the effort to run adequate power to where they have the DJ or band set up every weekend!!
 
The price of things have gone up due to the Pandemic shutting things down for a long time. These venues and other such places have to make up for the money they lost not being able to be in business due to the shutdowns. At that time they weren't making any money. Yet some bills still had to be paid. Some places went out of business because they couldn't afford to stay in business not making money.

It's about looking at it from a owners perspective. Some DJs quit the business due to not making amy money at the time or very little money. Not enough to keep them in business.
 
There is a pretty common pattern I observe in lots of small businesses that are learning in their lifecycle.

New businesses often compete on price. As operators mature they learn (hopefully). They either learn how hard getting the job done is and increase prices to account for their added cost and effort. And they also increase demand for their product as they develop word of mouth and awareness which lets them increase prices.

It's hard to shift "tiers" in your product category. If you get seen as a budget option, you can go up, but you'll frequently be pigeon holed as a budget provider and be stuck in that tier's pricing pattern. Where a premium operator may have a wider band to move through in their pricing category.
 
I think a lot of too is you have one place who's doing it all right... good venue, great location, excellent staff, everything is up to code.... and they charge let's say 5k. All well and good. Pretty soon someone goes to a reception or party there and says.... hey, we have an old barn on our property... we could make an extra 100k a year just working for 3 or 4 hours twice a month (not understanding what's truly involved in such a business). They sweep out the barn, run some wired lights from Ikea, slap on some fresh paint, put up some flower boxes, and advertise their venue for 4500k.
Or on the flip side..... someone invests 150k to build a fancy barn on pristine property then realized the only way they can get their money back is to charge 15k per event.

I've really over-simplified that whole process... but I feel in my area, these situations are prevalent.
 
Some DJs quit the business due to not making amy money at the time or very little money. Not enough to keep them in business.

I don't know anyone in the DJ "Business" that quit because of the pandemic I do know a few in the DJ Hobby that did
 
I recently had a bride who wanted a specific barn venue 50 guests for dinner 150 plus invited to the the dance, this is very common in my area. By the time she rented the barn , catering, furniture, and everything else it was about $5000 less to go with a local traditional nice venue who could provide everything she needed, not to mention significantly less stress and far less time consuming and completely climate controlled
 
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Everything is up in this industry. I don't think it has anything to do with the style of venue though... probably more to do with supply and demand. It's the perfect excuse to recoup some of the lost income from the last 1.5yrs. I've never seen so many weekday events before around here. If anyone was on the fence about raising their prices... there is no better time than now to test the waters. Most are aware that the avg cost of a wedding is up, so likely a price increase won't affect their view. Of course... as is common with the dj industry... many will end up lowering prices to get bookings lol.
 
Here's the real truth. A thing is over priced when nobody will buy or pay for a thing. If someone pays $8,000 to have an event then they must think its worth it. People don't pay for things they think is not worth it.

Some people will buy a brand new Mercedes because they think it's worth it. Others wouldn't buy it because either they think it's not worth it or they simply can't afford it.

I wanted a brand new Ford Transit van. The reason I didn't sign the contract to get it is I couldn't afford it. If I signed the contract I wouldn't have any money for gas let alone pay for it. So I'm still driving the used one I bought from Maplecrest Ford. If I could have afforded it I would have bought it. It's well worth the money they want for it. The bottom line is if you don't think something is worth it you won't either buy it or pay for it. If one of those barn venues is charging 8k to rent their venue and people are willing to pay it, then those people must think it's worth it. If someone said they would pay you 8k for your DJ service, would you tell them they are paying you too much or keep your mouth closed and get paid 8k?
 
The first thing that came to my mind when I read the thread was that everything has gone up and yet there are Wedding DJs still willing to provide a full entertainment service for $550. :laugh:

In other relevant news, the price of fuel is up $1 per gallon from last year.

BTW, I agree that part of the reason why prices are on the rise is the pandemic. Our country (USA) wants to hurry up and get back into business even if it kills a few people along the way.
 
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Everything is up in this industry. I don't think it has anything to do with the style of venue though... probably more to do with supply and demand. It's the perfect excuse to recoup some of the lost income from the last 1.5yrs. I've never seen so many weekday events before around here. If anyone was on the fence about raising their prices... there is no better time than now to test the waters. Most are aware that the avg cost of a wedding is up, so likely a price increase won't affect their view. Of course... as is common with the dj industry... many will end up lowering prices to get bookings lol.


Covid hasn't changed things much in terms of customer's view point/expectations with a DJ budget, and the willingness of some DJs to book a $500 OR LESS wedding though.

Had this request just yesterday. My lowest tier package is more than double their maximum budget so I know I won't hear back from this prospect lol. I am already booked on 10/30, but I do have 1 DJ left open that date.

Event Type: Wedding
Date of Event: Saturday, 10/30/2021
Venue: Eisenhower hotel and conference center City & State Gettysburg, PA icon-location.png
Vendor Start Time 5:00 PM
Length of Service: 4 hours
Number of Guests:100-199
Services Needed: DJ Vendor Budget: Less than $500
Client's Notes: Wedding with music at the ceremony and 3 hours at the reception.
 
Covid hasn't changed things much in terms of customer's view point/expectations with a DJ budget, and the willingness of some DJs to book a $500 OR LESS wedding though.

Had this request just yesterday. My lowest tier package is more than double their maximum budget so I know I won't hear back from this prospect lol. I am already booked on 10/30, but I do have 1 DJ left open that date.

Event Type: Wedding
Date of Event: Saturday, 10/30/2021
Venue: Eisenhower hotel and conference center City & State Gettysburg, PA View attachment 53054
Vendor Start Time 5:00 PM
Length of Service: 4 hours
Number of Guests:100-199
Services Needed: DJ Vendor Budget: Less than $500
Client's Notes: Wedding with music at the ceremony and 3 hours at the reception.
I don’t get it... if that budget is less than half of your base package, why are they contacting you to begin with. Seems like either your site is not doing a good job of filtering out buyers... or you're paying money for leads that aren't qualified. Either way... these clients will always exist... your job is to make sure they don't waste your time.

People that are putting on weddings that require a bit of an investment will understand the price increases. Those are the couples I am referring to. As I said, DJ's are the last to increase prices, and a free or $450 DJ will always exist... and therefore a buyer at that price will too.
 
My question to all is would you pay 2k for a barn venue to have an event there and all you got for that money is the venue?
 
My question to all is would you pay 2k for a barn venue to have an event there and all you got for that money is the venue?

The barns here are a lot more than that. But it's all about the aesthetic and market. If I wanted a barn for an event I'd pay the market rate for one that met my needs.
 
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My question to all is would you pay 2k for a barn venue to have an event there and all you got for that money is the venue?


The only venues left that are under $2,000 out there in my service area are Fire Halls, VFWs, American Legions, and Elks Lodges. There are some low end catering halls out there where the venue fee might be like $1,500 or so, but they also require catering through the venue, and usually a minimum of 50 people at $50 or more per person. Those catering halls are going to be OLD looking buildings, and they have a parking lot, and no outdoor setting for a ceremony on the property.
 
I don’t get it... if that budget is less than half of your base package, why are they contacting you to begin with. Seems like either your site is not doing a good job of filtering out buyers... or you're paying money for leads that aren't qualified. Either way... these clients will always exist... your job is to make sure they don't waste your time.

People that are putting on weddings that require a bit of an investment will understand the price increases. Those are the couples I am referring to. As I said, DJ's are the last to increase prices, and a free or $450 DJ will always exist... and therefore a buyer at that price will too.


It was a weak lead. What intrigued me is that it's at a hotel and conference center, so you know they are spending at least $70 per person on the catering, and it's on a Saturday in wedding season...and the pandemic is still going on. I believe any DJ that is willing to go do a 100+ guest wedding right now on a Saturday for under $500 is either desperate for cash, OR is stupid and don't know what they are doing, and have no clue of their worth.

Even the low priced DJs out there who were use to getting $400 to $500/4 hrs on the regular in 2018/2019 should have had sharp price increases in today's current operating environment and unwilling to go out for that amount today.
 
It was a weak lead. What intrigued me is that it's at a hotel and conference center, so you know they are spending at least $70 per person on the catering, and it's on a Saturday in wedding season...and the pandemic is still going on. I believe any DJ that is willing to go do a 100+ guest wedding right now on a Saturday for under $500 is either desperate for cash, OR is stupid and don't know what they are doing, and have no clue of their worth.

Even the low priced DJs out there who were use to getting $400 to $500/4 hrs on the regular in 2018/2019 should have had sharp price increases in today's current operating environment and unwilling to go out for that amount today.
First that's assuming said DJ is worth getting paid more then that. There are some I know that have been in business a long time and not even worth that much. The other thing is just because they are having their event in hotel conference room doesn't automatically mean they are willing to shell out big bucks to book a DJ. Some will spend a ton of money oon so many other things and are left with very little to spend to book a DJ, whatever that is. Some simply don't see a DJ as being that important and are not willing to spend a lot of money for someone who is going to push buttons and play music.

Of course there are those who have a DJ as a top priority and will spend good money to book a DJ. Now just because a DJ charges 1k to do an event doesn't make them a good DJ. It may just mean they are good at selling themselves.