When Wedding Disco's Should Finish Early

[STEVE HANLEY]

The type of weddings I hate the are the ones where the people who off early are the ones who've been up dancing all night and the ones who stay to the bitter end are the hardened drinkers. Who haven't got off their all night and have no intentions of doing so no matter what you play.

[Jonny Boy]

Oh I hate The Long Slow Death too....

I usually say to the B+G that I'm happy to carry on but will finish early and give them some money back if they like.

Hang on....seriously?!?
That's a bit like going into a pub and barman offering money back on your perfectly good pint back because you only drank half of it!

I wouldn't offer a refund though unless it was down to me that it had to finish early.

What I have done before now is offer an "alternative" end to the night. The bride wasn't sure who'd stay and whether the hotel would want to quieten the place down at midnight, but was adamant she wanted music until 1am. (Post-wedding party.)
I therefore wrote a proviso into the planning to (if needed) wrap the "party" for 12am and then do an "after-party" with ambient stuff, trip hop, Cafe Del Mar-esque vibe. As it turned out, they kept the party going. Despite my suggesting 12 was a good stop time....

(In retrospect I could have just whacked on Mastermix Chillout if needed!)

[Johnny P]

Is the Pope Catholic? Do bears live in the woods?

Have you ever seen a dry squid? ( Tee hee. No smileys, on tablet. Sits back and waits for the inevitable response )

It's no a bad bait for catching Whiting.....

[musicology]

Oh I hate The Long Slow Death too....



Hang on....seriously?!?
That's a bit like going into a pub and barman offering money back on your perfectly good pint back because you only drank half of it!

If it's become pointless carrying on I'd rather call it a night and go home early for the sake of a 20 or 30 quid refund. I'm just not that desperate!

[Jonny Boy]

If it's become pointless carrying on I'd rather call it a night and go home early for the sake of a 20 or 30 quid refund. I'm just not that desperate!

Fair enough: I see where you're coming from. I agree 100% on your asking the client's input.

Personally I'd always wait to for clients to volunteer an early finish themselves, especially if finishing on a high has been and gone.
I'd never mention it myself: I don't want to appear eager to leave them...I want to be their fwiend, see... ;-)

Depending on client I might wander over and say
"Hey how is everything? Been a fab evening! I've noticed quite a few have snuck off to bed now and this lot <gesture at remaining alcoholics> are all having a great time with good chat and laugh rather than dancing.
You know: what might work well now is to move onto a chill-out kind of vibe instead of the big <singalong/arch/circle/whatever spotlight> thing we planned... what do you think?".

If they don't say "knock it on the head", then cue the mid-tempo stuff and a more muted finale. Badda-boom.
Kinda changes your official 'role' IMHO AND means you feel less conspicuous trying to lead a horse to water etc firing blank erstwhile floorfillers.

To my paranoid mind, offering a refund seems a little like admiting a failure! If that makes sense.
I hear a builder gave someone a refund", I'd think "substandard" not "the job got done quicker cos the weather was good." People are not very good at reading into the sub-titles of headlines.

[musicology]

To be honest they usually refuse the refund anyway.

[cdkdisco]

At a wedding a few years back, only the bride and groom were left for the last dance!!
One of the staff commented that was one of saddest things she'd seen.
I was just glad they stayed til' the end

[stormproductions]

Certainly can't remember that happening at a wedding (I don't however do anywhere near as many as some of you guys). But one of my most enjoyable DJing moments ever was in a marquee at a private party where virtually all the guests had to head off due to babysitters or work the next day (I'm guessing it was a Thursday or Sunday night), and we (yes, I'd got someone with me primarily to run the lights) ended up playing to just the birthday girl and her husband, probably for around 45 minutes after our alloted finish time, just because they were so enjoying it as both of us were too. It may sound sad but actually was extremely enjoyable at the time. And they seriously loved it.

[BeerFunk]

It happens quite often with weddings, because usually people are travelling from further afield and are either sober or need to leave earlier to catch the last bus etc.

I was a guest at such a wedding in Grangemouth a few weeks ago, and the DJ did something I have to admit I would never have thought to do. The last dance was scheduled to be Loch Lomond, but as guests were drifting off, he played it half an hour earlier, so that the dance floor could be full.

As for finishing early, no I would never ask or hint at that. What I tend to do is promote requests a bit more over the mic, to try to get the remaining guests more involved. This can work for or against you really, depending on the type of requests you get in!

[Excalibur]

As for finishing early, no I would never ask or hint at that.

Never say never. I often ask the customer what they want to do, and point out that I'm perfectly happy to go with their wishes. Yes, I've played to one man and his dog before, and usually they're more intent on drinking than dancing, but hey ho.

What I tend to do is promote requests a bit more over the mic, to try to get the remaining guests more involved. This can work for or against you really, depending on the type of requests you get in!

Absolutely. Totally and utterly agree.