​You wouldn’t buy a house without looking first, would you? Then why do so many people just “Book” suppliers for a celebration without even so much as a meet and greet. This does concern me as it seems most people just hand over money with talking to a supplier first.

Put yourself in the suppliers shoes for a moment. You turn up to an event without even knowing who to speak to or who is the organiser of the event, all you have is a name, you don’t know what the person even looks like, this is big mistake people make most of the time. Taking time to meet suppliers allows both parties to establish your needs and wants.

A suppliers website is just like a window to a shop, it’s what’s inside that is important. In website terms that means contacting the business, just like walking up to the counter in a shop for assistance. What the supplier will then do is ask for a face to face meeting, just like the person on the counter asking for another staff member to help you.

People today want instant gratification; in other words, they don’t want to wait for an answer. You need to realise that in life many investments require more than just a click of a mouse or a swipe on a screen. Building a relationship for a business transaction requires information gathering first and that means sharing information with potential suppliers face to face.
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Please understand that when a supplier asks to meet you it isn’t a bad thing or a waste of time, it’s just the way we do business.

At home we spend a lot of time doing other things and music is just in the background, it is not at the forefront of our minds.
When we hear a well-known song, we tend to listen or turn up the volume and sing along.
The song takes us either back in time or just is familiar to our brain. Radio stations spend countless amounts of time and energy in programming music that flows, this keeps us engaged to the radio, streaming services are trying to do this as well however they have one downside, you can change the music easier that what’s on the radio.
When you are choosing music for a celebration the thinking changes because the mood is different as it’s a feel-good moment rather than the day to day grind. Think of music that makes you feel good, not music that is just there in the background.
Music is a form of enjoyment so enjoy it as much as you can.
In the comments tell us your favourite radio station and why?

When we hear a song or see a video clip it sometimes takes us back in time to a place in our lives where the song triggers a moment in time. The moment or memory is usually either a happy or sad memory, either way it is a memory.

Being that music is a big part of our lives we use it to rekindle old times, so choosing some of those life moment songs as part of the music mix at your next celebration will make it more of a personal entertainment experience.

Those who where born in the 50's through to the 80's, radio was an integral part of coming of age for those of the Baby Boom and Gen X, this is why it is important to choose some older songs at your celebration because the people of that age group are more likely to dance to music rather than teenagers or those in their early twenties.

Some of the music created today is in some cases is based on 70's and 80's music, take Walk The Moon's “Shut Up And Dance” for example, this is a song purely created based on a classic 80's pop song. Another that comes to mind is “Uptown Funk” a classic disco era sounding tune. Ed Sheeran's “Thinking Out Load” is a modern take on the classic 80's power ballad.

So as you can see what we all think is new music is really just a reworking of old music.

What's old is new again.

​This is a very touchy subject but one I have come across on numerous occasions and it's not always easy to talk about let alone create a moment to celebrate in a happy way the loss of a loved one.

Let's start with the time of the loss. Was it recently or some time has passed since the person died? Why this question is important is because how raw the loss is can depend on the individual, so making an honourary moment brings out different emotions in different people. The spouse or immediate family have come to your wedding to celebrate not to commemorate, so keep that in mind when creating the moment.

The subject of creating these types of moments comes when grandparents or parents have passed on, just keep in mind that these moments are sensitive in many different ways to different people so choose a commemorative moment like a song that the person loved BUT not a song played at the person's funeral.

One example of a moment I have seen had nothing to do with the reception at all, except it was mentioned that the bouquet would not be thrown, instead the bride laid the bouquet the next day on the loved one's grave. This moment was then acknowledged with a toast. Later in the evening, I played that loved one's favourite dancing song without a mention, but the family knew what the song meant to them.

Another example I have had to do for a client was to ask everyone onto the dancefloor for a commemorative dance, sort of like a slow dance for couples but it was to be played in memory of those who had passed on.

Just one this I would say in closing, make sure you ask the immediate family of the person who passed if it is ok to have a special moment in their honor.

​In today's wedding some couples don't want the cheesy idea of the groom sticking his head up the bride's dress to get the garter, well there is an alternative and it's not as tacky as you might think.

What about a garter presentation? Here's how it works, the groom presents the garter to his mother or someone special in his life. The garter is in his pocket, not on the bride's leg.

This is a great option for a groom who is a little introverted, meaning he is a little humble.

As a wedding DJ with over twenty years of experience, I have suggested this to many couples to have something a little different at their reception.

The best part about this option is it can even be done during the speeches, saving time, leaving more time for dancing later in the evening.

​As the title of this blog suggests we're talking about your first dance.

As Anne Murray sang in her beautiful song. Would you be my partner everyy night, this song is truly a real wedding song because it is also a true waltz as the music is in 3/4 timing.

I want to talk about the importance of the first dance song at your wedding reception, the song that will be etched in the memories of your guests for years to come. The choice of song is crucial to making this moment truly memorable. The secret is in the "Lyrics".

Choosing the song is not easy but can be very romantic as it truly will reflect who you both are as a couple and your journey to your wedding day.

Avoid choosing the hip song of the moment because that's what everyone tries to do, be different BUT avoid going down the path of novalty first dances as they can go horribly wrong.

Make your first dance a truly amazing wedding moment.

Below is a link to Anne Murray's song.
https://youtu.be/2wagjpWtRII

​So you've planned your wedding to the last detail except for one crucial aspect, your parent's favourite songs. 

Your parents are a big part of your wedding celebrations so why choose some songs for them to dance to, maybe a romantic classic hand picked from their own music collections.

So how do you find out their most a favourite song to dance to? Ask them and tell you, DJ, to play it as a special song for both sets of parents to dance to. Being that there will be differences between both sets of parents simply choose a song for your parents and your partner's parents.

Make your parent's part of your celebrations, after all, they are the most important people in your lives because they raised you.

​Getting a quote from a wedding supplier is only a small portion of what you should get from a supplier, getting more information is much more important.

Here at Nick Pollock Events, we're proud to say we offer the option of getting an instant quote but it's much more important for you to arrange a meeting time with Nick to find out more information and ask questions about the service we provide.

Do you ask for assistance in a retail store? Of course, you do then why just get a price from an entertainer? Because that's what is the status quo, don't be like everyone be unique 

We provide a service, not a product.

​It's a sad fact that top 40 music is fast becoming less popular, the reason I believe has come to a surge in people buying vinyl records.

People are now turning back to physical forms of music purchasing such as records and CDs, part of this could be that people sick of the low quality that electronic music downloads provide. With many popular music downloads like iTunes and Google Play only providing 256 to 320kps quality, only a select few lesser known sites provide lossless audio. I believe this is why people are going back to their local music store to purchase music again.

The secondhand music selling industry is booming as people find that older music has a better sound and feel and thus why many new artists are putting their music for sale on vinyl and cd.

Another rise in the music selling sector has been a website called Discogs, it's like eBay but it's for music enthusiasts, take a look at www.discogs.com

Take an hours or so out of your time and visit your local music store.

​Most people focus on things other than entertainment at their celebration and they discover during the course of the party that the entertainment takes centre stage over things such as decorations, and food. The reason this occurs is entertainment has some emotional feelings attached because the activities created by the entertainer or a person making a speech are created to maximize the impact of a moment.

A great example of this is when a person selected to do a speech makes a routine of forgetting to take their speech to the lectern, At a wedding I was entertaining at the weekend such a moment to place, the decision that the couple did was to select a videographer to capture their special day, the speech routine mentioned above is now captured on film forever and will be a moment in history for the family to look back on in years to come, choosing who you get to do a speech is crucial to such a moment be the best it can be.

Another memorable point at the reception was "The Shoe Game" this was something I had direct involvement with and this was again captured on film. So as you can see having "Quality" entertainment and videography is a major advantage at your wedding.

I must credit the Videographer, Paul Demunk for "Vision By Demunk" http://www.visionbydemunk.com/Home.html

Make your wedding memorable for years to come with memories made from moments.