What are photographers in your area getting relative to DJs?
- Thread starter sawdust123
- Start date
I think you're a little out of the loop. No one is saying you can't do a wedding for 150 guests for say 10k or 15k... but in the state of NJ, at least at a proper venue, including like the Knights of Columbus, its not gonna happen, and that's bc of the way that they structure things. The venue controls the food and beverage in any named establishment. Even Knights of Columbus is gonna run you over $100 per person (after 20% gratuity and 6.675% sales tax). The Hanover Manor is closer to $200. MAYBEEEEE if you do a weekday wedding where you can score 25% off.
Even a venue like Sawdust's would likely not exist around here, as those type of venues are usually sought after by catering companies, who pay the venue $100k+ a year to be the exclusive private event operator of the venue, and then run the place like a traditional venue w/ minumums and everything. It's the easiest way to run a venue without spending $2M and a year to build a venue. It's already there. Even the churches with nice halls are going this route bc it's quick easy money that they need and they don't have to do a thing. The only thing they lose is exclusivity to the space they built... but for $100k they'll take it.
The only way I know that it can be done is if you rent a vfw or you do community center hall rental for like $1000... spend $2000 in food and get cheap vendors. But I'll be honest, even that's not a foolproof method. I did a wedding that you could tell the bride went super buget friendly. She only cared about 2 things... the music and the alcohol. She chose a farm in PA that rents out their tent for $1000 (the farm is still open to the public, so no privacy). She then had 100 guests and spent $3500 on food (not counting desserts as that was brought in by friends and family). Decor was DIY, photographer was gone right after formalities ended and was hired for a 6hr day (usually they're 8-12 hrs). No videographer. Only 2 catering staff members who just put out the food, but did not serve. Unfortunately, she didn't get enough food. Halfway through all the protein was gone. Her food costs should've been closer to $5000 not $3500.
Ultimately, a wedding is a reflection of the couple. Guests will judge you based on your experience. Especially in cultural families. Heck old school greeks and italians will not seal the envelope with the check/cash until the night is done and will give based on their experience (in NJ the wedding is where you give cash gifts... bridal showers is where you give physical gifts). This is why so many try to make a wedding as impressive as possible. Not saying one should go bankrupt or beyond their means. But it is why people spend as much as they're able to. Guest counts are the killer to all weddings though.
In my neck of CA, we have numerous outdoor venues. Most operate under conditional use permits (CUP) that come with many strings attached, including the maximum number of events they can hold per year. Sometimes this can be as low as 20 events for a new venue. CUPs are typically good for five years. Renewal will depend on the number of complaints received over the prior period. Perhaps by limiting the number of events, caterers are less interested in locking up these venues. Most venues will provide a list of recommended caterers.
We don’t really have many exclusively outdoor establishments due to the climate here and even the ones that I know that are seasonal, the majority are still operated by outside caterers. I’m referring to indoor locations or historic or public buildings like museums. All operated by outside caterers. Can’t speak for how California does things.
@djtaso We have four season here: earth(quake), wind(storm), fire(storm) and flood. Sometimes three seasons arrive at once. Here we are in late Oct and the weather this week will be sunny and in the upper 80s. The wind will be blowing tomorrow in some areas but it won't be that crazy. May and June can be some of the worst months for outdoor weddings in some areas due to the thick marine layer that hugs the coast. It can block the sun for the whole day and keep things really cool. However, you rarely have rain or crazy wind those months.
Yeah I genuinely dont know the particulars of your area, but I do have 2 dj's that I follow religiously from the LA region and it feels like they're doing outdoor weddings practically year round, with some investing heavily in decor/florals. Not a tent in sight often.
With that said, at least here, outdoor is typically limited to May-September... maybe october if you're feeling risky, since once the sun drops you can enter the low 40's making it quite uncomfortable, especially for women. But going back to my original point about landmarks being overtaken by caterring companies... Jeffrey Miller Catering is company in NJ/PA that was once a small catering company operating out of 5 landmarks such as museums or gardens, now they have expanded to 17 properties including castles, lake front properties, mansions, barns, and for some of them they only book seasonally, setting up a high quality tent/flooring/lighting setup in april and knocking it down by Nov. They have no ownership of the property, just simply the exclusive catering/rental rights to it. So these venues which you could in the past pay a site rental fee, and DIY, are in line with the traditional venue structure. Based on the facebook bridal forums, it seems harder and harder to go the a la carte route, where you reserve the space, and build it out from scratch. Some try to rent an open field or do it in their backyards to find that the rental quotes for tents range from $15-150k (not an exxageration).
I've been to several outdoor events in NY/NJ. Heat, humidity, bugs, rain... I've seen it all. It's definitely a less hospitable environment than we have here in CA. I had my first wedding in my brother's backyard (Westchester) in July. We had a tent and my brother sprayed for bugs in advance. The weather was great. In retrospect, my life might have been better if that wedding was postponed indefinitely due to weather. 
Last year the weather dropped into the 40s on the week of our St Patrick's party. We had too many people coming to fit them in the house. I have four 48000 BTU propane heaters but we worried that wouldn't suffice. I bought a 10x20 pop-up with sidewalls and two 13000 BTU table top heaters. That did the trick. Everyone stayed outside. A few years earlier we had a massive rainfall on NYE. This is usually a large party for us. However, so many guests stayed home and off the roads that we had no problem handling those that showed up inside the house.
Last year the weather dropped into the 40s on the week of our St Patrick's party. We had too many people coming to fit them in the house. I have four 48000 BTU propane heaters but we worried that wouldn't suffice. I bought a 10x20 pop-up with sidewalls and two 13000 BTU table top heaters. That did the trick. Everyone stayed outside. A few years earlier we had a massive rainfall on NYE. This is usually a large party for us. However, so many guests stayed home and off the roads that we had no problem handling those that showed up inside the house.
You can thank lawyers and tort liability for that.
The catering corporation removes that liability from the property owner and move's it to an independently incorporated and insured entity for that site alone. Simply put - despite the numerous locations each event operation is it's own independent legal entity separate from the venue itself, and from it's other site operations. This protects both the property and the catering parent company from expansive tort litigation.
Think for a moment about the potential risk at Ryan Acres for example. Depending on how that is structured with respect to not only the ownership, but the deeds/subdivisions on the surrounding land, residences, etc. and the ownership of those - a tort claim could conceivably get wildly out of control and be devastating to more than just the venue operation itself.
Not necessarily. People elope for a reason.
Many times - it's a reflection of (some) of the guests. Re: running out of food.
A good buffet requires oversight more than it does excessive amounts. There should always be servers for at least the main entree.
We might explain a situation as a "bride not ordering enough food" when in reality - it was the lack of servers that allowed self centered guests to dismiss the prescribe portions and screw over the rest of the attendees. It's not unusual to watch some clown at a buffet stack three roasted chicken breasts and and a full pound of beef on his plate because "it's free." More often than not - this is the reason food runs short even at well portioned buffets.
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I'll 2nd that. Our caterer normally dips the food onto the guests' plate. This past wedding was a mexican bar, so he decided to let the guests dip their own. He was entirely stressed out that we'd have enough food, given the first half piled their plates high. My view, it's never good to have a self-serve buffet. That is, unless you're going to prepare an excessive amount.
As a Greek, we cater for 200 even if we have 50 lol so there’s no such thing as running out of food. But in this case I simply think they went cheap. It was evident a few tables in they miscalculated.Not necessarily. People elope for a reason.
Many times - it's a reflection of (some) of the guests. Re: running out of food.
A good buffet requires oversight more than it does excessive amounts. There should always be servers for at least the main entree.
We might explain a situation as a "bride not ordering enough food" when in reality - it was the lack of servers that allowed self centered guests to dismiss the prescribe portions and screw over the rest of the attendees. It's not unusual to watch some clown at a buffet stack three roasted chicken breasts and and a full pound of beef on his plate because "it's free." More often than not - this is the reason food runs short even at well portioned buffets.
After the pandemic and events opened back up, I think in most states/counties caterers were required to have staff serve guests at the buffet. I didn't see any self serve buffet set ups between 2020 and 2023. This year, I have seen it twice at weddings now, and I thought to myself that I don't like it. You have hundreds of people touching the same serving spoons. The odds of spreading germs in this situation is seriously elevated. ...I saw on facebook the other day an older man caught hand/foot/mouth disease FROM A GAS PUMP. It could happen at an event just touching serving spoons at a buffet!
With that said, let this serve as a reminder to ALWAYS use Hand Sanitizer right after using a gas pump. Better Safe than Sorry. Even better to use Gloves, but we all know we aren't going to want to put gloves on every time you pump gas, and likely won't remember to even have the gloves ready for in the car for this, but sanitize or washing hands right away is something we should all be doing because nobody wants to deal with some horrible skin rash on their hands or picking up a sickness just from pumping gas or getting yourself food at a buffet!
Stop trolling internet garbage.
Your odds of getting ANYTHING from a serving utensil are negligible, just as they are at the gas pump. In fact - excessive use of hand sanitizer will put you at even greater risk because your hands will be void of any good bacteria and our own natural enzymes that serve to keep us healthy.
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The Pandemic was designed to scare people into getting that experimental vaccine claiming if you don't take it you have a strong possibility of dying. I have never taken that vaccine and never plan to. Anybody can catch anything from anywhere. The thing was for people to go into panic mode with the Pandemic going on. I have never been in panic mode because I believe God got me.
What does any of that have to do with Photographer vs DJ price?
That's what normally should happen. There should be more than enough food for an event and the caterer should charge accordingly. Better safe than sorry. Also there was no restrictions on how much each individual person was allowed to put on their plate. What happened to servers for the food so that the servers decide how much to give to each person the items they want?
It's called "portion control". Without it, the first people pile their plate high and usually waste a bunch of it. To counter, you have to cook much more food, which also increases the cost to the client. My clients love having our people control portion sizes.