Blog
Random
Jun 8th
It’s pretty late, i’m not normally awake this late but I was doing my usual rounds of the many different blogs I read and suddenly felt the urge to post here. It doesn’t happen very often, but an urge I felt so we’ll see where the keyboard takes me.
Had a weekend off, needed it. The week before I did Thursday to Sunday and the week before that I did Wednesday to Saturday so I was feeling pretty knackered. This weekend is a bit sparse with bookings only on Friday and Saturday, both at Upwaltham Barns near Midhurst. I absolutely love that venue, it’s my favourite without a doubt. There are a load of barn venue’s around Sussex but this one has “something” that makes it a really beautiful venue.
Oh, something exciting! I’ve just struck a deal with a software house to start offering a fantastic piece of software designed to make wedding planning an absolute breeze. I’m going to start designing a special web page for it over the next day or so so keep a look out for that. Planning a wedding is a very tiresome job, or at least this is the information i’m getting from my clients. This software helps you plan everything, it keeps track of your suppliers, invitations and RSVP’s, your Gift-list, budget planner, a timeline system for keeping track of things that are happening on the day, and more! On top of this it’s an absolutely visually stunning piece of software and very easy to use. Naturally it will be available at a special price to all current DISCOfever clients, and at just £19.99 it won’t break the bank, but it will surely help you plan your perfect day!
Something that some of my clients have been asking for will be coming to the website shortly. It has been asked on several occaisions if I can put online some basic information and pictures of the DJ’s we use here at DISCOfever. Not a problem at all, but getting DJ’s to stand still long enough to take a nice picture is a headache in itself! I’m compiling all of the information together and will be putting it online shortly. Remember, DISCOfever is not an agency and doesn’t work in a secretive way. If you want your DJ’s details we’ll give them to you and you can call them direct rather than pass messages to them through me. One of my biggest critiscisms about agencies is that they will never tell you who your DJ is and what his telephone number is. The main reason for this is that they don’t want YOU going to THEM direct and cutting out the middle man. It does happen unfortunately, but not at DISCOfever.
I think that’s pretty much it for now. The e-mail machine has stopped bleeping which means that everyone must be in bed and it’s time for me to knock off too. It’s still raining as well and the outlook doesn’t look too good for the weekend either.
Goodnight!
Sussex Wedding Venue’s
May 4th
It’s been a long time since I last wrote on here, and especially now that there are a few DISCOfever Blog readers, I really need to give you something new to read.
The summer is now here and that means the Wedding Season is almost in full flow. It’s the most popular time of the year to get married, those lazy, hazy summer days attract romance and love is in the air. Most of this years summer dates were booked up last year and it’s only when you look at the diary you discover which are the most popular wedding venues.
Now you would think the warmer weather would attract more marquee weddings and normally I would agree with you however I think the dodgy summer last year steered people away from having a marquee-based event. Barns again seem to be the most popular destination for this years weddings, the most popular ones being Upwaltham Barns, Farbridge and Fitzleroi Barns, Pangdean Farm and of course the Tithe Barn in Petersfield.
Country House hotels are also getting a huge slice of the action and Sussex has some of the finest hidden away amongst the rolling hills of the Downs. South Lodge, Ashdown Park, Powdermills and Buxted Park are very popular venue’s for DISCOfever.
If the smell of freshly cut green grass is not your thing and you much prefer the whiff of Fish & Chips and the salty air then maybe a Brighton seafront hotel is more to your liking? The Old Ship, The Grand, The Hilton, Ramada Brighton, Brighton Hotel and the Kings Hotel also feature heavily in this years schedule.
I hope that this little post has given you some ideas for a venue for your special party, but wherever you choose to host your wedding or party, it will be special regardless.
ITV Confessions
Mar 31st
I’ve just had to sit through 30 minutes of the most cringeworthy TV i’ve ever seen in my life. Basically it is a program where so-called Wedding Professionals (DJ, Photographers, Wedding planners, etc.) all tell the truth about Weddings they’ve worked at.
For example, there was the Toastmaster who knocked the top-tier of a wedding cake off onto the floor and rebuilt the 2nd tier and the Bride never noticed. Then there was the wedding dress maker who pinned a wedding dress to show the Bride what it would look like if she lost weight, and then having made the decision that there was no-way on this God’s earth the Bride would lose weight, she unpinned it when the Bride walked out the door. There was also the DJ who forgot his trousers one night and DJ’d in his underpants and dinnerjacket, and the Wedding Planner who claimed that DJ’s run to “their own time” and they are “always the cause” behind a late-running party. The Wedding Planner is obviously booking the wrong DJ!
My jaw was firmly dropped for the whole 30 mintues as I watched a selection of sub-human so-called professionals rattle on about how they got their own back on the Bride and Groom without them actually knowing. I can quite categorically say that in the many years I have worked in this business I have seen absolutely no evidence whatsoever of any of the stuff they were talking about.
I would post a link to the ITV website and the “watch again” player but it really is rubbish TV and not worth looking at.
Finally, I would like to inform all current and future clients that DISCOfever does not condone ANY of the items in this programme and I am utterly utterly disgusted that they even spent money creating the film in the first place. Oh, and we don’t DJ in just our underpants either!
Totally bizzarre.
Ipod Weddings
Mar 10th
Something very interesting landed in my inbox this morning. It was a blog post by a bride living in Orange County, California. Her husband to be felt that investing in a real-life DJ was wasted money and is sure that he could do the same with a Mac, an iPod and a wedding guest. The Bride feels that this may not be such a good option and would really prefer to book a DJ.
One of the problems is that they have been to weddings before where they have used iPods and there have been some “technological issues”, likewise they have also been to weddings where the DJ hasn’t been so great.
Have a read of their post and we’ll see what happens over the coming weeks!
http://www.weddingbee.com/2009/03/09/our-greatest-debate-thus-far/
There’s also this VERY famous video on YouTube about iPod Weddings…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXj4P3iz2yg
Now, I have to go and try and find a good hiding place for my brand new box of 50 Bic Pens. The kids keep nicking them you see.
Online planning tools preview…
Mar 4th
Up until now we have only allowed access to our online planning tools to those who have booked their parties with us. In an effort to further entice those who enquire about our services we have now opened up our online tools so that prospective clients can now see just how helpful they are.
When you fill in our quote form not only will we send you back a competitive quote for your entertainment, but you will also receive your own personal username and password which you can use to access our online planning system. Once there you can browse our music library and fill in our event planning forms.
Now that we have opened up our website for everyone it will further compound the fact that DISCOfever really is your best choice for entertainment!
ProDub Meeting
Feb 19th
If you have read our Questions section you may have heard about ProDub which is a licence introduced in 2008 aimed primarily at DJ’s and Gym Instructors. It basically controls the business of converting music from CD into a different format. You yourself may even be ripping music off a CD into MP3 format to put on your iPod. There is a law printed on the CD itself which basically says that you’re not allowed to do this, but everyone does it anyway.
The association that looks after the rights of the artists and bands, the MCPS/PRS Alliance decided that their members are losing out on income from people freely copying and ripping their music. Now, you may argue that if you rip a CD onto your computer just so you can put the MP3 on your iPod does not constitute “making a copy” but you have. Two physical copies of that track or CD now exist and this is where the MCPS/PRS Alliance have introduced controls so that money is given back to their (poor) members to cover all of these copies sitting around. The casual “home ripper” has not yet been targetted, but performers have – I guess because we are an easier target!
Every year we have to report back to the association exactly how many tracks we have ripped and how many we expect to rip in the year ahead. We then purchase a licence that legally allows us to copy any CD’s we purchase and rip them into MP3 format. As you can probably imagine the introduction of the licence has been met with much disgust from DJ’s all over the land. Some DJ’s aggressively oppose the licence and others (such as DISCOfever) are against the introduction of the licence but have purchased it anyway as it makes the copying process we use legal.
There are also other possible implications of this licence being advertised to venue’s asking them to check if a DJ is correctly licenced or not. It is quite possible that this licence could be closely tied into a venue’s own entertainments licence meaning that the hotel could suffer from having it’s own licence taken away if it does not keep records of who performs at their venue and if they were licenced or not.
I actually have a meeting with the guys behind the licence next week to discuss taking the licence forward. I am, for many reasons, well respected country-wide in the DJ industry and to have an audience with them is something not offered to your regular Dave Double-Decks. In essence, anything that makes the DJ industry look more professional gets a big thumbs up from me. For too long now we have been seen as a bunch of hairy-chested, long-haired Whooh Gary Davies wannabe’s earning casual “tax-free” money at weekends. For some, this may be the truth but for me personally, I pay my taxes and DISCOfever pays my mortgage so for me it is a professional job that I rely on. For many reasons it is hoped that the introduction of this licence will go towards regulating our industry which will ultimately help separate the chaff from the wheat, making your job easier when looking to book a DJ!
February = Exceptionally Busy
Feb 16th
Traditionally January and February have quiet periods giving us the opportunity to chill out after a very busy Christmas period. Not for me though, February is mental as far as weddings are going. I had weddings last Saturday, Sunday and Monday (yes, Monday!) and again tonight, tomorrow and Saturday.
What I think is happening now is that weddings are now becoming more of a “all year round” type affair rather than the traditional summer wedding. As the weather here in the UK is so up and down (remember last year’s so-called summer?) good weather cannot be guaranteed and there’s something quite alluring and romantic about a winter wedding. The same goes for the day you actually have your wedding, with most venue’s offering generous discounts for midweek celebrations the traditional “saturday night” party seems to have gone out of the window. Sundays are very popular as are Fridays. We have several celebrations on Thursdays this year as well. It appears that there quite literally is not enough weekends in the year to accommodate all of your parties!
Old Ship Wedding Fayre
Feb 15th
DISCOfever appeared at the Old Ship Wedding Fair today. It wasn’t as well visited as we had hoped especially after investing some serious money in a huge pull-up advertising board. Still, we made the best of those who came to see the fair and spoke to a lot of interesting people! It’s also fair to say we also took some business on the day after speaking to several couples.
The Mother of one couple expressed a concern over booking small companies especially during troubled economic times. Whilst I agree with her concerns, especially with badly run and managed small companies the same can be said for huge companies, for example Woolworths. You can all be assured though that with over 134 confirmed events for the remainder of 2009 “so far” there certainly are no concerns over DISCOfever becoming a victim!
eBay Wedding
Feb 3rd
Some of you may have seen this item of news on various wedding and news websites in the past week. It is of course the story of a couple from Brighton who bid for a wedding reception at the Brighton Best Western Hotel on the 14th February 2009.
Luckily the hotel is just one of the many hotels we provide wedding entertainment for therefore we get to do the disco on their very special and unique day!
It does highlight an interesting point though. More and more couples are turning to eBay to source items for their weddings. A client of mine back in 2007 boasted how she had ordered her wedding dress through eBay from China for just £4.00! She submitted the all-important numbers relating to her size and it arrived a few days later. But it’s true, you can order practically ANYTHING from eBay, favours, place cards, centrepieces…it really is a one-stop-shop for everything and now it seems wedding receptions as well!
Debenhams Wedding Fayre
Jan 8th
DISCOfever will be promoting their services at the Debenhams National Wedding Fayre at the Brighton Churchill Square branch from the 31st January to the 1st February. The store opens at 9am and closes at 7pm on the Saturday and 11am to 5pm on the Sunday. The fayre itself is held inside the store in the Weddings area.
If you’ve already booked your party with us or are still thinking about it, it would be good to see you. We’re also taking one of our chocolate fountains with us flowing with very moreish white chocolate so if you fancy a chat (and a dip) we’ll be there! We will also be hopefully giving away a free copy of Your Sussex Wedding magazine, a great magazine containing lots of useful wedding information and links to venue’s, photographers, cake makers and more!
