I have 2-3 hr minimum in my contract otherwise additional help will be needed at a rate of $250 per person
On Average, How much time prior to event start time do you leave your house?
- Thread starter DJ Ricky B
- Start date
This one venue in NC a very upscale venue allowed only 1 hour for setup and 1 our for tear down of equipment. I hated that venue because I had to nearly kill myself to get the equipment in, setup, sound check and quickly change into my Wedding Reception attire. If there was up-lighting involved, I had to hire my son and wife to help with the setup. Wife and son returned at end of night to tear down. It was a mad dash to get everything out of the building. I had a 5x8 trailer with drop down ramp door.
I got to know the manager quite well and on occasion I was able to get inside a half hour earlier on occasion. That venue was a pain in the a--, but the money was good. Average $1500 for 4-hr reception with up-lights back in 2013 forward.
My monogram photo shows the arch and fountain. It was the focal point. There were 6 other arches around the room. I'll drop a photo sometime.
I got to know the manager quite well and on occasion I was able to get inside a half hour earlier on occasion. That venue was a pain in the a--, but the money was good. Average $1500 for 4-hr reception with up-lights back in 2013 forward.
My monogram photo shows the arch and fountain. It was the focal point. There were 6 other arches around the room. I'll drop a photo sometime.
@djtasso...never said I couldn't get that amount at other venues. It had to do with the combination of lighting and monogram projection and cost of additional manpower. I've done $800 receptions there as well. IT ISN'T NEW JERSEY where the cost of living is much, much higher than my service area.
I wasn’t talking about the price itself. I was simply asking why is it that this venue gets you higher paying events? Can’t you do uplighting or monogram at the other venues as well?
It's in my contract, and it literally has never been a problem in 15 years. If it were, my contract states that I cannot DJ if not allowed enough time to set up, and I would have to hire an assistant and charge the client.
Yes. My prospects hardly ever requested uplighting or monogram projection prior to this venue. In fact, it was at this venue that two prospects inquired about uplighting and monogram projection. I fibbed a little saying that I had them. I quoted based upon how much money I was going to spend to upgrade my current wash lights. Up to this point I had minimal lighting limited to par 38's and gel-cans mounted on T-bars, and several low power up-lights and NO monogram projection. Keep in mind, I am a single-operator and was in my 60's back then. Believe it or not, each event covered the cost of the additional purchases; Neeva 100 LED Monogram unit and 6 more powerful Blizzard Puck 3 NX.
Hence, my introduction to "upscale" pricing.
I am now quasi-retired and no longer have many of the Blizzard uplights and Neeva Monogram unit. Never did get into DMX auto changing lighting. Used static color only or sound-activated.
After purchasing the additional lighting I did offer it as an add-on or included it a package.
Looking back, I should have pursued the sale of add-ons. Thanks for asking.
The DJ Industry is a profession with a large populous of older DJs who are now "quasi-retired" or semi-retired. My Dad has been semi retired for like 9 years now. He is really getting to the point where he truly needs help though. He can barely set up his single sound system and is really worn out by it. My brother has been helping him on his hand dance club events lately. He is 77.
I don't want to think about myself in my 60s deejaying, and having to provide multiple sound systems and up lights without solid, reliable help.
I do it all myself now, and I sweat profusely running around doing it all, and I'm still in my 30s. I am hopeful that my son really likes being my roadie in the coming years so he can help his Dad out on these weddings. He is 12 now, and I think he has two more years to go before he is ready and of the size to do some speaker lifting...maybe 18 months if he has a sooner growth spurt.
Anyway, I don't think the industry will look anything like it does today by the time I reach 60 years old so I may not have to worry about it at that point. I might just be phased out of deejaying weddings all together due to various changes with weddings and technology. But who knows. Maybe it won't change at all in the next 20+ years, and all the big changes have already occurred. Who knows!
We allow 5 hours setup time plus driving time which we calculate at 50mph to allow for any needed stops, slowing down through towns, etc. At a new location we may add on an extra hour for unforeseen challenges such as undisclosed difficult load in or power issues.