Your average wedding reception is how long? Inspired by DJ Mango.

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Papa Deuce

Mac Daddy DJ
Aug 8, 2006
19,843
594
63
Valley Forge Area
I was just on his website and he has something about unlimited event time, or similar.

Anyway, in my area, I would say that 70% of all receptions are 4 hours, and about 30% are 5 hours. You can occasionally get a reception that is less than 4 hours. I have never known of a SCHEDULED reception of more than 5 hours, that I can recall.

So I have a buddy who lives in PA, but 2 hours west of me... I refer to that part of the state as Pennsyltucky. It is very far removed from what it is like in the Philly burbs.... very rural, and can be mountainous.

Anyway, he called me Sunday morning after an event that he was thinking was going to be a 4 hour event. On his contract for weddings he has "estimated length of the reception". He then told me that he had done a 7.5 hour reception on Saturday night.... Now I know lots of the Canadian folks have events like that, but to the best of my knowledge, that is extremely rare in the US.

He was somewhat pissed that he had a 7.5 hour event when he was told that it was going to be about a 4 hour event...... All I could say was "Well, you do offer "unlimited event time"....... And his response was "yeah, but who the hell would expect an almost 8 hour event"..... and then he was even more pissed that he didn't get a monetary tip, though he was given 2 bottles of wine after the event.
 
For many years it was 4 hours here but the last few more and more are choosing to have the DJ for dinner music and/or ceremony. It's an upsell for me. The average for me was 6 hours the last few years but I have been there as long as 12 not including setup/teardown and travel. I've never done one that was less than 4 scheduled
 
Down here they go overboard, I've been to several where it's a midday reception and I was heading back to the hotel room (Cuernavaca) at 8:00 AM the following morning. The shortest ones have been @7.5 hours.
 
Back in the day although they were scheduled for 4 hours liquor laws were a little looser than they are today it wouldn't be uncommon to get paid overtime and supplied beer to play extra. The latest I ever went was 6 AM. That doesn't happen these days usually although I picked up a quick $50 for a half hour weekend before last
 
We contract with 5 hours given. We get our price for weddings, I'm happy. If they ask for a bit longer I use discretion...if they were difficult clients it's an additional $125/hour. If they were decent folks, I'll keep spinnin' free for another hour and tell them they are saving $125. Usually what happens is there's a tip.....xf:D
I'm already there......although usually it's the venue has been contracted for a certain timeframe, it's all good for us. I'd really like to get more outside wedding gigs, however here in New England it can be risky business.

Best,

Paul
 
Average around here is 4-5 reception and 1 for ceremony so without OT, it's usually between 5-6 hours for both.
 
I about 1.5 hours North and West of you (not quite Pennsyltucky)...
and most venues (90%) sell a 5-hour package.
It's the perfect formula:
1-hour cocktails
1-hour dinner
3-hours dancing
 
Papa Deuce said:
I was just on his website and he has something about unlimited event time, or similar.

Anyway, in my area, I would say that 70% of all receptions are 4 hours, and about 30% are 5 hours. You can occasionally get a reception that is less than 4 hours. I have never known of a SCHEDULED reception of more than 5 hours, that I can recall.

So I have a buddy who lives in PA, but 2 hours west of me... I refer to that part of the state as Pennsyltucky. It is very far removed from what it is like in the Philly burbs.... very rural, and can be mountainous.

Anyway, he called me Sunday morning after an event that he was thinking was going to be a 4 hour event. On his contract for weddings he has "estimated length of the reception". He then told me that he had done a 7.5 hour reception on Saturday night.... Now I know lots of the Canadian folks have events like that, but to the best of my knowledge, that is extremely rare in the US.

He was somewhat pissed that he had a 7.5 hour event when he was told that it was going to be about a 4 hour event...... All I could say was "Well, you do offer "unlimited event time"....... And his response was "yeah, but who the hell would expect an almost 8 hour event"..... and then he was even more pissed that he didn't get a monetary tip, though he was given 2 bottles of wine after the event.
Click to expand...

Who is DJ Mango? :triwink:
 
By the way, the average for me is 4-6 hours. I base most of my decisions relative to pricing on current market conditions. Consequently this is based on a very small sample size (being my clients, other vendors and various industry articles I read). It's all a play on words (marketing) if you will. Just as $400 vs $395 is.
 
average is 4 hours, 1 hour for cocktails, 1 for dinner and 2 for the actual reception. We try to push people to 5 hours, and most do it the night of when they see it takes longer than they thought to get through dinner.
 
We see the average at 5 hours. 1 for cocktails, 1 for meal (at around 100 guests) 1/2 hour for formalities (Toast, cake official dances and bouquet and garter) and 2.5 for open dancing.
I have played almost 10 hours and that did not include meal and cocktails. That is from when they started dancing.
 
Back when I was new to this (in the 90's), I did "unlimited". I had one customer who had booked a state park pavillion. Many times throughout the event, everyone went outside to smoke and drink, leaving the dancefloor totally empty. I informed them that I was ready to leave as long as everyone was gone (it was well after midnight, and I was 7 hours into it). The groom told me that they had several more hours left, and to keep playing... I packed up and left, and immediatgely changed my contract.

I only allow 5 hours now, and charge for overtime. If you insist on keeping "Unlimited", then put a clause in there that specifies the number of guests left, or something about use of the dance floor by guests... so that you can get out of it if needed.
 
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