My Weekend with another Wedding Fayre yesterday..

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Hi all,

Hope you all had a decent weekend.
Mine was pretty hard work this weekend as (my own fault), I had friday night off and sunk a few beers at my local and paid for it the next day.
Saturday saw me do my last wedding of 2009 and what a way to finish. I had a brilliant group of people there who were all into their Indie/Ska-Punk & Alternative stuff. It was a full dancefloor all night and best tracks without a doubt that had everyone singing and dancing along were Reel Big Fish - Take on Me and The Killers - Mr Brightside. There were moments when I had the old 'shivers down the spine' feeling because it was just a great atmosphere.

Anyway, yesterday I was at another wedding fayre. This was a big one with around 200 stands and I was the only Disco there again (that's why I agreed to it) and it only cost me £50.00 to do. My wife had her stand next to me (Bridal wear) and between us we had a brilliant day. It was a bit cramped to be honest. I just had 2 x monitors up on stands (I got the monitor brackets from CPC in the end at £19.99 each) with the DB Tech actives on the floor playing some of the more popular slow dances for background music.

I had a number of enquiries as the wedding fayre was very busy. I had 4 confirmed bookings on the day for Discos + Uplighting with booking fees paid. I also had 8 others which wanted me to email them full quotations as they didn't want to commit on the day but they are more than likely to come in. The best thing though was the fact that every confirmed booking and enquiry was for dates that were free. I went to this wedding fayre thinking that I wouldn't get much because I did so well a few weeks back at the other one but I was wrong big time.

As it stands now, for next year I have 22 weddings confirmed with another 11 possibles. This is by far my best tally for wedding bookings since I started my business and I am planning on having a good year next year.

One funny thing to mention was that a couple of stands away from me was a photographer. There were around 5 or 6 photographers there who all seemed like they were getting work but this guy had the personality of a slug. He left his stand unattended for around an hour and also kept talking to me and the missus. At one point he said to me "You seem to be doing very well...I haven't converted 1 enquiry as yet but 99% of the time, once I talk to them on the phone I get the job". I found that hard to believe as he came across quite creepy, geeky and had no personality.

I know wedding fayres don't work for some and others don't do them either as they think it's not worth it but take a look at this -

I never do them and I have done 2 this year in the past month. They have cost me in total £165.00. I have had 17 Confirmed bookings and around 11 maybe's so to me, it's worth doing them. At first I thought I will only do them if I am the only Disco there but that may change. Next year I will do the same 2 wedding fayres again but may do more.

My apologies if you think I am waving the old winkle...I'm not.

[Mark Wild]

Your reports back on wedding fayres Gary are great and are pushing me more and more into getting some done. I went to a wedding fayre yesterday with my fiance and there wasn't any DJ's there, the hotel is very close to where I live too, I knew I should have made that phone call damnit !

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Go for it mate.
As I said, they are not everyone's cup of tea but I think (judging on my results) that they are well worth doing. Yes, it's a knackering day, especially if you have had a gig the night before and a late finish but what you can get out of it is great. I had a number of people who asked for quotations for 2011 too and I said to them that I couldn't provide them with a quote for that far in advance but still took their details and they took brochures etc.

Good luck if you decide to do one.

[rob1963]

he came across quite creepy, geeky and had no personality.

I'm exactly the same, but I still manage to get work.

Congratulations on another successful wedding fayre, Gary.

[cdkdisco]

Hi
I found your advice on set up etc very timely. I have my first wedding fayre next week. Only got it yesterday so busy looking at previous threads to pick up some ideas.
Will be taking my deck stand with starcloth and have my 4 ledj uplights in back ground. In process of making a powerpoint type show which will run from laptop to monitor on a speaker stand.
Liked the idea of playing favourite first dance songs in background with maybe some party classics from time to time. Not planning on plating them too loud tho`.
Not sure of what turnout will be as there are 3 wedding fayres in Glasgow next week, but hopefully pick up some work. The experience will be invaluable as well and work out what to improve on for next one.
There is another disco going to be there so might pick upideas from them.
Query about uplighting.
Will be getting a dmx light controller for my 4 lights soon. Is giving uplighting package along with disco a good point idea or should we always charge as an extra?
Hopefully give good feedback next week.
Paul

[diydisco]

bit of an old thread youve brought up here

but in response to your post

Ive always seen uplighting as an extra, not as a standard. But then i do have 16 and its a hell of alot of work.

I do occasionally put a couple behind me as a backdrop though