Posts Tagged ‘Entertainment’

If you are getting ready to set up your meeting with your entertainer, ultimately, you are going to be thinking about the music that you want played at your wedding. Are you going to go with a club vibe, full of dance hits and club classics? Will you be more traditional and request a lot of wedding standards for your request list? Somewhere in between? Here’s a few suggestions to hopefully guide you in the right direction, musically.
1. What is the age range of the guests who will most likely participate on the dance floor throughout the night?
This question is important because if you want to get the most out of your crowd, you need to be in tune with generational style changes. The baby boomer generation will most likely want to dance to some Disco, Funk and 80’s Pop and Rock. The Golden Oldies generation will usually respond to Motown, classic standards like Frank Sinatra and Bobby Darin and Dion. The younger 15-30 age group will most often want to dance to Top 40 and some 90’s. Knowing the different age groups at your wedding and choosing music accordingly, will ultimately lead to a packed dance floor filled with memories and laughter. If you stick to one or two genres of music exclusively… you might find that a large percentage of the party socializes from their seats or around the bar, instead of the dance floor.
2. How many choreographed “line dances” will you want on your big day?
Songs like the Electric Slide, Cupid Shuffle, The Wobble and the Cha Cha Slide can motivate guests to participate. They also can frustrate guests who either don’t enjoy this kind of choreographed dance… or are tired of it. Understanding how many of these songs to request at your wedding is important. For some, you will put these songs on your “Do Not Play” list. Others will specify a few to play. Whatever you choose, understand how it will play to your crowd, as well as for yourselves. If you can’t stand them, don’t play them!
3. Are you willing to be flexible with your own musical tastes and interests to allow for the flow of the night to determine the way things go?
If the answer is “yes”, you now leave the entertainer a lot of leeway to read the crowd and react to what is working… as well as to understand what isn’t and move away from that. This is where your choice in entertainer is very important to the overall style of party you will have. As long as the DJ is understanding your vision and wants to provide exactly what you are asking of him/her, you will have a very successful event. In the same sense, if you are willing to be flexible and adaptable with your music choices based on what is working, you will contribute immensely to that event’s success.
4. What is the overall “tone” you are looking to achieve during the party?
Do you want the party to be as traditional as possible, with many breaks in the action and plenty of time to sit down and socialize while you eat? Are you looking for a dance party that infuses just enough tradition and format as you need, without having to ask the guests to sit down multiple times? Whichever you choose, have a clear goal in mind and we’ll work together with you to achieve that goal. In the 18 years I have been entertaining for my clients… I have seen many ways for a party to unfold. Some start out more mild mannered, laid back and social. Others start out with a BANG! and get the crowd going immediately. Then, there are cocktail receptions which don’t have as much structure and format and allow for more of an “anything goes” approach to the music and dancing. There are no wrong answers here. There’s a vision in your head and we’d like to make sure that vision becomes reality.
By the end of the night you want your guests smiling from ear to ear and talking about the great time they just experienced. However you choose to provide that atmosphere, we’ll be right along side to help walk you through it, lay the foundation for the party and then watch the memories create themselves. We never aim to be the focal point of the party. Instead, we hope to be remembered for creating the perfect atmosphere of fun and excitement, complete with the right songs at the right times and by facilitating all of the dance moments you’ll remember most. If you want someone motivating, exciting and music savvy without all of the “me first” and personal agenda that sometimes comes along with that… we are confident that you’ll make a great decision by choosing Essential Sounds Entertainment for your affair. You won’t see us constantly talking on the mic about who we are, what we’re doing and how people can get a hold of us. The night will speak for itself. If you have a great time, tell your friends and family. A call from one of them when it comes time for their special day will be all the recognition we require and could hope to achieve.

Asbury Park, NJ – January 10, 2013 – WeddingWire, the nation’s leading online wedding marketplace, is thrilled to announce that Essential Sounds Entertainment has been selected as a winner of the prestigious WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2013 for DJ/Entertainment in Asbury Park, NJ!
The esteemed annual awards program recognizes the top five percent of wedding professionals in the WeddingWire Network who demonstrate excellence in quality, service, responsiveness and professionalism. Essential Sounds Entertainment’s selection as a Bride’s Choice Award 2013 winner was selected based on the positive experiences expressed by past clients on WeddingWire, the world’s largest wedding review site with over one million reviews. While many industry awards are given by the host organization, the WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ winners are determined solely based on reviews from real newlyweds and their experiences working with Essential Sounds Entertainment.
The WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2013 are given to the top local wedding vendors in more than 20 service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers, based on professional achievements from the previous year. Award-winning vendors are distinguished for the quality, quantity, consistency and
timeliness of the reviews they have received from their past clients. As a Bride’s Choice Awards winner, Essential Sounds Entertainment is highlighted within the WeddingWire Network, which is comprised of over 200,000 wedding professionals throughout the United States, Canada and abroad.
“Each year, WeddingWire looks forward to celebrating the success of the top-rated wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Network,” said Timothy Chi, CEO, WeddingWire. “Now in its fifth year, the Bride’s Choice Awards™ program continues to recognize the elite wedding professionals who exemplify a commitment to quality, service and professionalism. These businesses were chosen by our bridal community for their responsiveness and dedication to their clients over the past year. We are honored to recognize {Enter Your Business Name} for their impressive achievements within the wedding industry.”
Essential Sounds Entertainment is thrilled to be one of the top DJ’s in Asbury Park, NJ in the WeddingWire Network of sites, which include leading wedding sites such as WeddingWire, Project Wedding, Brides.com, Martha Stewart Weddings, and Weddingbee. We would like to thank our past clients for taking the time to review our business on WeddingWire. We value all of our clients and truly appreciate the positive feedback that helped us earn the WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ for 2013.

As many of you well know, Hurricane Sandy plowed through the east coast a few weeks ago and turned the Jersey Shore on its head. Many families are displaced from their homes, lost many possessions and are needing assistance to recover from this storm. The past few weeks has turned New Jersey into a very compassionate state, in my eyes. The way that the community as banded together and extended a hand to help one another out has been incredible. Strangers are helping other strangers, families in need are overwhelmed with the generosity of their neighbors and businesses are doing a fine job being creative and assisting in any way that they can. We turned our office into a donation and food drop for the last week and have gone out on numerous volunteer assistance missions. There is still so much work to be done but it’s a great feeling to see those in our industry working hard to help in any way that they can.
The next few months are going to be especially important for everyone along the Jersey Shore. Thanksgiving is right around the corner and this year, if you have a table to sit at, hot food provided and family to eat with… you should definitely be thankful for such things. I for one know how lucky I am to have everything still intact after the storm, living in the shore town of Asbury Park. We had some trees come down outside but luckily absolutely no housing damage. That’s a very fortunate thing. We were without power for about 8 days… but many are still without power as well as being displaced from their home and have been trying to retrieve their personal belongings from that home for the last few weeks. Homes can be rebuilt, stuff is just that, “stuff”… but the comfort and support that you get from the community in a time of trouble is an everlasting feeling that those who need it, will NEVER forget. If you have the capability, donate, if you have extra food in your cabinets, bring it to a shelter, if you are cleaning out your closets, give clothing to those who need it.
Now is the time that we show our true colors as a community. Now that people are getting back to normal and into their everyday routines again, it’s more important than ever to make sure you are still giving what you can. We will accept donations in our office as long as people wish to bring them to us. I will make sure that those donations go to people who are in our community and the surrounding towns who need it. The list of most needed products at the moment are mostly cleaning supplies, masks, rakes, baby food, diapers, toiletries, etc.
The storm definitely left damage in its wake but I truly believe it also brought with it a sense of community and outreach that might have been lost on some people otherwise. People everywhere are stepping up. Not just locally, but throughout the country. This really validates my feeling that when there are times of real trouble… the American spirit shows a willingness to help those in need, to be selfless and provide for the less fortunate than us. This is a great feeling to be a part of. If everyone helps in their own way… we as a town, a state, a nation, will be just fine from this storm. I thank all of you who have offered clothing, food, water, support and most of all, your time. We all know that time is a valuable commodity and when you take some of it out of your day to dedicate to helping others, it’s felt throughout the entire community. To all of the volunteers, the drivers, the fund-raising organizers, the organizations that are popping up everywhere to coordinate the relief efforts… KEEP IT UP. You are doing an amazing job.
Here are some really valuable links that might assist in the volunteer efforts of anyone willing to make a difference:
Asbury Aid – Founded by John DeFiora – Local AP wedding photographer & contributions from PJ Windle – Owner of Essential Sounds Entertainment
Save our Shore – An amazing relief effort with contributions from Greg Lassik – An awesome wedding and event videographer
Project Rebuild and Recover – A massive undertaking by the guys at Sounds to Go DJs in Red Bank

I was down in Atlantic City the past few days for the yearly International DJ Expo. I have participated in this Expo for about 8-9 of my 14 years in the industry and I must say, I always take a few nuggets of info away from the seminars that I attend. This year was no different. One of the seminars was hosted by an industry professional named Mike Walter. Mike was my boss for 8 years while I started in this industry. He’s always been a wealth of knowledge and I often go to him for advice. Mike presented yesterday morning and the theme of the seminar was “How to Run a Successful Multi-Op”. In laments terms… this means, how to successfully book entertainers who work exclusively for your company and represent your company in the same way that you, yourself do. One of the biggest pieces that I took from this seminar was during a portion of the presentation where Mike talks about the power of words and how the things you say can have completely different understood meanings, just by delivering them differently. He picked someone out of the crowd and stated “You are so beautiful you could stop the hands of time. Then, he turns to another person next to her and says “Your face could stop a clock…”. Both of these statements are SAYING the same thing, but are taken in completely different context and tone, therefore having a totally different impact.
When I heard this, I began to think back to all of the different times that I said something… meaning one thing, but having it taken as a completely different statement. Sometimes we say things simply thinking that the other person will “get it”. The fact of the matter is, we’re not in each other’s head. We can not always determine the exact intent of a statement and therefore we take offense to things that truly have no ill will, we tend to think someone is telling us one thing while they really mean something completely different, etc. I usually try to think about what I am saying on the mic, before I say it… as to deliver the message in a clear and concise way that the guests can understand. I think the seminar just re-enforced something I already know, but made me a little more aware of how I need to take that into my every day life and think about what I am saying before I say it. It’s not always INTENT that matters most, it’s the way in which something is perceived that is the true value of a statement or act. If people don’t understand, comprehend or accept what you are doing or saying as genuine, honest and helpful… they might not understand you as a person as well as you would like them to.
Mike played a video that had significant impact on the crowd of roughly 200-300 people. I’m going to link you to the video so you can take a look at how different words can “say the same thing, in different ways”. A word of warning, this video tends to bring out some emotion… as it did in the seminar. So be ready to be affected, in whichever way it might.
The Power of Words – Click the Link
So as I left the seminar, I couldn’t help but think about this video, over and over again. The impact it’s had on me is a lasting one. I thanked Mike for his presentation and for making me think once again about how I say things. This will not only help me professionally, but personally as well. Sometimes it’s not a NEW idea that sparks the most introspective thoughts… but re-enforcing the things you should be doing daily, by showing you the clear impact of it, visually. It certainly had an affect on me and I hope it does to others as well! Here I am, paying it forward, in a sense, Mike!
If you want to learn more about Mike Walter’s training videos and book, check out Mike Walter – Training Your Next Great DJ
I’ll blog more about the AC DJ expo as well but I wanted to share this as its own topic for now. Thanks for reading!

If you are currently in the market for DJ Entertainment, one of the questions that is bound to come up either by you the customer or the DJ him/herself… is “Are you interested in any enhancements for your event?” The most popular enhancement at the moment is uplighting. If you are like me, details are important. I’ve always thought very detail oriented when it comes to event planning. The idea of uplighting, just a few years ago was not as popular as it has now become. People everywhere are excited about the possibility of not only great sound and hosting by an entertainment company, but also about TVs, Candy Stations, Photo Montages, Photo Booths, and LIGHTING.
Uplighting is a very creative way to set your wedding apart. You choose the color or colors… you decide how much color you want in the room, decide if they are going to be static or dynamic (which means to change at any given time or to dance to the beat of the music, chase patterns etc). All of these options allow you to customize how your facility is going to look. This is why the option is becoming so popular. Brides and Grooms book a banquet hall or restaurant knowing that others have had their weddings there. You love the food, the atmosphere, the decor. That is what stood out initially. So you book the location and now is your opportunity to create the vision of your dreams. Are your bridesmaid’s dresses aqua? Are your flowers purple? Is your favorite color fuchsia? Coordinating your room to your colors will not only set off the room from the previous wedding that took place in that space, but it will also set a “mood”. I am a true believer in the subconscious and it’s ability to control our thoughts and emotions without us having the slightest idea as to why we feel a certain way. Blue colors tend to put people at ease, relax them and soothe. Red tends to lend itself to romance, love and attraction. Greens often make people feel excited, emotional and liberated. These colors and their effect on a crowd can not be overlooked for that reason alone.
Whenever I set up a room with uplighting, I get excited. Not only because it looks amazing… but because I KNOW that night is going to feel special. When I hook up dynamic uplighting, I strategically change colors to set moods in the room. As people enter the room, I might have a blue setting on, with the option of alternating another color to offset the blue. As the first dance begins, I like to change the color to red. This usually gives the crowd a warm, loving feeling inside and ultimately the Bride and Groom’s love for one another grows palpable. These subtle changes allow me, the DJ/Host to further control the excitement in the room. I look at lighting just as I look at my hosting duties. How can I be different? How can I put my spin on it? How can I affect the overall success of the party in a positive way? With this passion, I decided to learn as much about color and the subconscious as I could. Now, it allows for a lighting set up to not only be beautiful, but to also be an “experience”.
If you are thinking about possibly enhancing your event with uplighting, I strongly advise you to learn about how colors make you feel. Choose colors that make you feel happy, bring out the most excitement for your event and also coordinate with your decor. This is just another fabulous way to create that everlasting memory for you and your guests that you have been picturing since you were a child.
(*) Photos courtesy of Kristen Driscoll Photography

It’s just after Christmas and chances are if you are hearing wedding bells going off in your head… it’s because you have just received a shiny new ring! Statistics show that 77% of all proposals take place between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. So now is the time where your excitement leads you into the wedding planning process. What do you book first? How fast should you lock up your location? How far in advance do you need to book your entertainment? Videography? Photographer? All of these questions are important in making sure you have little stress throughout the process of planning your wedding.
The best advice that I can give you during this process is … set priorities. Rank your list from most pressing to least pressing. It’s not to say one thing is so much more important than another… but often one booking leads to another. In most cases, searching for and finding the spot for your reception should be a top priority. If you don’t have a location, it means you don’t have a date planned. There would be no clear way to determine which vendors are open for your day if you have yet to lock a day up. If you plan on getting married in a church, I would suggest checking with the church to make sure the day in which you plan on selecting for your chosen reception location is also free for the church.
I don’t want to walk through what I feel are the more important aspects of the wedding because I’m sure that would lead me to be a bit biased (I feel entertainment should be a very high priority, obviously). What I will do is suggest what type of day you are looking to have. What do you want people to remember most? Do you want to make sure your wedding reception is filled with action on the dance floor, along with being able to influence the music play list as much as you would like? Are you more excited to look at awesome photos of your day and purchase them to hang around your house, grandma’s house or your in-laws? Are you someone who feels that nothing tells a story quite like cinema and therefore you are psyched to have a professionally shot and edited movie of your special day? These aspects are all important and all deserve focus. How much focus and therefore, what percentage of your budget, is the determination that only you can make.
By prioritizing your interests, you will naturally be able to determine what to loosen the purse strings for and which you can cut some corners on your budget with. Every segment of the wedding industry has a high-end and a low-end for prices. Determining where you want to spend the extra money to get the “high-end” quality and which items you can leave to the lower end side of the budget is the task you have when planning your wedding. Everyone sets a number that they would like to fit their entire wedding budget inside of. Ultimately, it’s a guideline. Set that guideline at a number that you can be comfortable spending but also understanding if you decide there are enhancements to each product or service that you would like to add, the price will move higher. Weddings are expensive. This is an inevitable fact. The amount you spend should reflect the priority you set for that specific product or service. Every wedding vendor would like to be priority #1 for you. That is a fact. If they don’t, it’s probably not a service you want to select for your day. The fact is, every wedding has a different set of priorities and therefore a different way of ranking which to focus on first. Understand that if you put off one aspect of the wedding until late into the planning, there will be fewer choices available to you. This could be completely fine if you decide that the flowers aren’t something you need to book far in advance or the cake you choose is not that important to you. Most often, items of this nature are something that you can book closer to the date and still get what you want. On the other side of the coin, if you want ultra rare flowers that you need to import from another part of the country or another continent… move that up in your priority list. It will take longer to get those things.
In the end the priorities you set will help you set budgets for each vendor. Being educated about why vendors charge what they do will lead you into making the correct decision for your big day. No two vendors are the same, they might offer a similar service but they all come with varying degrees of experience, expertise and demand. Think about what you want your day to reflect… the memories you wish to create, and start your planning accordingly! Good luck with all of your wedding plans and if you would like more information on how we can help you plan the day of your dreams, give us a call or email us!

Tis’ the season to start thinking back about the year as a retrospective and thought-provoking topic for a post. Today I sat at my desk and started to think about the fact that another year is almost behind us. It’s just about 2012. When I first entered this industry it was 1998. I was 16 years old, still in high school and fell into a job that allowed me to express just how much I love music. To say it was my “calling” might not be exactly what I believe… but it certainly spoke to me. I went to my interview about the job with nothing but excitement in my body. I could tell this was going to be a special job. Since that point, there has never been a day gone by that I don’t realize just how lucky I am. I’m sure you have all heard the saying “Do something you love and you will never work a day in your life”. This holds true for me. I absolutely love being bestowed with the honor of entertaining for families and friends of all nationalities, races and creeds. I meet literally hundreds of people on a weekly basis and many of them etch a special memory in my mind.
From an early age, I knew that I was somewhat of a “people person”. I always aspired to do something on the radio or announce at a sporting event… be a host of a show or something to that effect. I now feel that I am doing exactly what I set out to do, which is to affect the lives of many people, hopefully positively. Being a DJ in the wedding industry, to me, is a very special job. I can’t explain the feeling that comes over me every time I do introductions exactly as we’ve planned… and the Bride and Groom’s smiles light up the room. I always like to take a walk over to them after they are seated and comfortable… and check with them to make sure everything is going well. It’s a bit of a personal gratification to hear the excitement in their voices as they let me know how fun their introductions were and how they can’t wait to start dancing. That pumps me up for the rest of the night.
The point I am getting at here is that I know we all have dreams, aspirations and goals we try to achieve. Every New Year that comes brings with it another chance to do it however YOU decide. To make what might be wrong in your life, right. I’ve recently started working out again after some time off from the gym (too much time, admittedly.) I am glad I didn’t start this task as a “New Year’s Resolution”… not to say we can’t set goals as resolutions and stick to them… but the stigma it brings makes it that much easier to just quit on them and say “oh well, try again next year… resolutions are made to be broken”. Waking up, eating some breakfast and then going and putting a good hard hour in at the gym is setting the tone for the rest of the day for me, again. It’s putting me back in my routine that I craved so much for a few years. Routines can be positive or negative, if you get “stuck” in a routine… it certainly isn’t beneficial… but if you motivate yourself to embrace routine and substantiate a strong reason for why it is important for you, it has a seriously positive affect.
As we turn the page on 2011, think for a moment about where you are in your life. I completely understand that the economy and the current job market makes things pretty tough for “following your dreams” and trying to do what you love. I simply suggest that you find something that makes you happy…however small or large it may be… and incorporate it into your life. Make sure you take time daily to think about, act on and accomplish whatever it is that you are aiming to do. The feeling of satisfaction and being proud in your own accomplishments is something that I think we take for granted. If you aren’t currently proud of yourself for any specific reason, change something about your routine. Make the mundane, exciting again. Start to train for that Half Marathon you were always talking about doing… Ride a bike a few miles more each time you ride… take a risk and go after that “dream job”. At the end of the day… we live in our own minds. If that mind is excited, fulfilled and inspired, your whole outlook on what the future holds for you, changes. I am starting to feel the tingle of inspiration again in my own life… through the love of my girlfriend, the fulfillment of my job and now the effort I’m putting in again at the gym. 2012 is shaping up to be an amazing year for Essential Sounds Entertainment, for myself and for my girlfriend Jillian who is so dedicated to her own profession, and to me. Without her never-ending support and drive… mine would fall short. I’m thankful for her, thankful for every single one of my clients – past and present and future… and extremely excited to celebrate with all of the amazing people I am sure to come in contact with in the coming year. Make 2012 the best year you’ve ever had.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!!!
PJ Windle
Owner – Essential Sounds Entertainment

This is a loaded question, but it’s another one that I get often. What are the bullet points that go into picking a good DJ, especially for MY event? In all of my posts, you will see a running theme. Personalization. Customization. These are two words that I choose to build my business around. There is a slogan in the business industry now: “The Power of Personalization”. It couldn’t be more true in our field. Personalizing the experience makes your clients feel at home. Comfortable, at ease, willing to entertain new ideas and suggestions. Right off the bat, if a DJ tells you “I know best, so I’ll pick out the music for your wedding”, in my opinion, you should cross him/her off of your list. The fact is, we all have experience, some more than others, but I can promise you that I have never DJ’ed YOUR wedding before. I know what will motivate most crowds. I will offer my input and expertise the best that I can for you. What I will not do, is tell you that your input doesn’t matter, that I am the “Pro” and therefore you should just allow me to “do my thing“. If the client suggests that I do what I think works best, I’m all for it, because they chose that route. I didn’t force it on them.
When I sit down with Brides and Grooms, the first thing I ask them is “If you are cruising in your car… whether it would be to the radio or to a CD/iPod, etc… what do you choose to listen to? What is your go-to playlist or band?” The response is often “Well, I know this band won’t be wedding appropriate, but….” and that’s usually where I stop them. I’m not even worried about the wedding at this point. I want to know what gets YOU going. What gets you excited, passionate, happy. This, to me is so important. I connect with music. Just last night, a song came on the radio as I was coming home and I said to my girlfriend, “This song gives me goosebumps. I couldn’t tell you specifically why, but it does. The lyrics, the passion in the words and the melody… it just makes me feel good“. That is what I want to know, when I ask that question. Sometimes, I will find out that music doesn’t specifically touch them on that level like it does with me. That’s completely fine too. At least I am learning about who my clients are. I am delving deeper into their likes/dislikes and interests than I would if I just listed off some styles of music and asked “Do you like this one? How about this one?” Passion comes through in many ways, and one of them is with music. The more passionate you can make your clients feel about their music, their day and ultimately, the DJ they picked, the stronger your relationship with them becomes.
I personally feel that many of the Bride and Grooms I DJ for, become my friends. I keep in contact with many of them, checking in regularly to see how they are, thanking them again for the confidence they had in me to give me the honor of entertaining for them on such a big day in their lives. Some people do this as a “job“. I entertain because it’s something that makes me feel good. It is my passion in life. I get such a sense of satisfaction when I receive emails, letters, reviews and phone calls from happy clients. Not simply because they felt the need to tell me, but more specifically, the things they say. When they point out that entertainment was a worry for them, picking a DJ was a concern, and that they wondered if they would ever find the DJ that would truly listen to them, I smile. Simply because I know that is the reason I am in this business. To listen. To take notice of things. To remember small comments they might make and use that to enhance the overall experience.
If the DJ doesn’t feel that he/she is there for YOU, and instead is trying to make the experience about themselves, it’s probably not the DJ you want. Never hire a “Me-First” entertainer, in my opinion. Your wedding day is such a personal, intimate experience with your closest friends and family… why would you ever want an entertainer who was going to turn the spotlight and fixate it squarely on themselves? Generally speaking, I make mention of my company name 2 times throughout a wedding reception. Once during introductions, to make people aware of who I am and where I am from. Once more at the end of the night, to wrap up the evening and thank everyone for coming. I mention the Bride and Groom’s name at least 5 times that number. Personalizing the experience is what sets apart the generic from the custom. If I ever feel generic, I need to change something. If I ever lose sight of the fact that I am here for YOU, I need to get out of the business. Ultimately, if you are happy with your experience on that day… I will reap the benefits of referrals, reviews and praise. I don’t need to seek it. To me, that is how you find a legitimate DJ and separate them from the run of the mill. Anyone can play music, simply by hitting buttons. It takes more dedication to make sure the entire event is a reflection of you, the Bride and Groom.
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