It is with great pleasure that we announce Matt’s Entertainment was awarded Wedding Wire’s Bride’s Choice Award  for 2012!!!

The below comes directly from the Wedding Wire website:

How are the winners determined?

The WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards ™ recognizes the top local wedding professionals from the WeddingWire Network that demonstrate excellence in quality, service, responsiveness and professionalism. Unlike other awards in which winners are selected by the organization, the WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ are awarded solely based on the reviews from over 1.2 million newlyweds. Awards are determined by a combination of four factors: Overall rating (quality), total number of reviews (quantity), review performance from 2011 (recency), and consistency of reviews from year to year (consistency). This year’s recipients represent the top 5% of WeddingWire’s vendor community, across all service categories and all regions throughout the US and Canada.

This award would not be possible without our wonderful, wonderful past clients. Thank you, all of you, not only for your kind words, but for allowing Matt’s Entertainment to be a part of this special day in your lives. Your trust means more than can be expressed in words… best wishes to you for an incredible 2012 & beyond!!!

Scheduled “alumni times” are Saturday 11:30a-3:30p and Sunday 12:30-3p. Plus, we have a comfy couch!!!

I look forward to meeting you at the Showcase this weekend. For directions, please click the Oregon Wedding Showcase link above

If you’re interested in meeting our past clients, I highly recommend you come this Saturday in Salem or next weekend in Eugene. Due to quirky schedules, Sunday 10/16 has proved difficult to fill.

The fashion shows are scheduled for 12:30 & 3:00pm! We hope you enjoy them!!!

And have I mentioned that we’ll have chocolate? And we’ll give away copies of Peter Merry’s “The Best Wedding Reception… Ever!”

The Oregon Wedding Showcase is located at the Americraft Center at the Oregon State Fairgrounds (formerly the Jackman-Long Building) and at the Lane Events Center in Eugene.

Mark & his wife Rebecca really “get it”.

Mark posted this on his blog recently. It’s a great read. The Marbecca Community is filled with fantastic, and extremely caring entertainers. The weird thing is that many of these entertainers (including Mark & Rebecca themselves) are mocked by the DJs that don’t “get it”, or the ones that simply don’t care.

Take a moment to read this. It’ll warm your heart about the DJ entertainers that are out there… those that are just WAITING to transform your wedding day into an incredible experience for you and your guests.

Best to you all,

Matt

HPE is short for Hip Pocket Entertainment, and every fun wedding reception requires it. It’s also called “lull repellent”… and it’s created ahead of time by the bride, groom, and the DJ/MC.

Why? Because life happens, and life is unscripted

Despite the best planning and the best efforts of everyone involved in your wedding… things are probably going to crop up on your wedding day that were not anticipated.

Maybe it’s rain. Maybe it’s a wedding wardrobe malfunction. Maybe it’s heavy traffic on the way to the venue. All of these events can throw off your wedding time line and cause lulls for your guests. A lull (which conveniently rhymes with dull) typically causes a wedding to guest to 1) yawn 2) look bored and 3) ask their wedding date if they’re ready to leave yet.

You get the idea… lulls are bad.

But Hip Pocket Entertainment takes the lull right out of your reception. Instead, your guests will be 1) entertained 2) engaged and 3) frantically calling their babysitter so they can stay until the end of your reception.

Sounds cool… so why keep it in your hip pocket?

Because sometimes “less is more” and it is possible to put too much into a wedding reception. Over-stimulated guests may not have enough opportunities to be sociable with their friends… or with the guests of honor. Or if the party has already reached “critical mass” and the dance floor is packed, unneeded entertainment may actually serve to detract from the energy of the party.

If your entertainer is focused on the party, they’ll pack plenty of HPE.

I don’t really worry about the “performance” hours when setting my fees, apart from how they affect my preparation time. I’m a big believer in “stacking the deck in our favor” when it comes to planning a successful event. As a DJ it means that I do my homework and plan sets ahead of time that should work well with the audience. The songs in these sets can always change during the event, but there is no substitute for having a good plan… so much easier to amend than when you show up with no plan.

As an MC, preparation is essential. I am my clients’ spokesman. There’s no way I can perform that task adequately if I just “show up and take the microphone”. I’m usually charged with directing the event from start to finish, as well as connecting the guests to why they’re there. The words I choose will help everyone laugh, smile, and feel comfortable enough to stay and celebrate, so I need to be sure I understand what’s supposed to happen, when it’s supposed to happen, and especially, WHY it’s supposed to happen. I need to ask good questions about the party plans and the guests in order to best deliver a great time!

There is no charge for “gear”, provided that I carry it in my regular inventory. My philosophy is that if I own it and it fits easily enough in my vehicle, there’s no reason to charge an additional fee for bringing it. Every system I bring has a backup, right down to a battery-powered speaker array that could provide music and amplification if the power went out. If my clients were tasked with determining the equipment I bring, they would be conflicted: do they save money or go for the best? My approach ensures that they don’t have to worry about it… they get the best I have!!

One other thing that may differentiate me from other performers is that I do not double-book contracts on the same date. That is to say that I will not have contractual obligations that cause me to be late or require that I leave your event before (potentially) you and the guests are ready to end, and there won’t be an additional charge if we decide to play an hour longer.

Ask other DJ/MCs how they charge and find the best fit for you!

Hope this helps you plan great entertainment!!!

Oregon presently has only one member of the W.E.D. Guild, but I’m proud to say that there will soon be more!!!

Enjoy the interview!!!

Hire a professional… a professional will take care of you even if the stuff hits the fan!

She should have gotten much more than $3000.

Not by a long shot.

Believe it or not, while there might not be a ton of weddings scheduled during the next few months, this time is BY FAR the most important for brides, grooms, and their wedding vendors.

Did I really say BY FAR? Am I crazy?

While the answer to the “crazy question” may be debated by many, the above statement is still very true, and here’s why:

During the next few months, brides, grooms, and vendors make RELATIONSHIPS. They meet each other, establish rapport and trust, and sign contracts. It is the relationships between clients and vendors that will determine whether or not the wedding day is an epic celebration, a hum-drum affair, or an abject failure. These relationships will determine whether or not a vendor succeeds in business, struggles, or fails. Just as in marriage, trust and communication are the ultimate keys to success… and if vendors and clients communicate well… the odds of celebratory success shoot through the roof. If you don’t talk, don’t listen, and don’t trust your partner (or vendor)… it ain’t gonna work in the long term.

So… make the right relationships. Brides and grooms… make PERSONALITY your number one concern in finding a vendor. Is their personality a good fit for yours? Vendors… make PERSONALITY your number one concern in finding the right clients. A personality match gets you 90% of the way to a successful wedding. Successful weddings bring about happy clients and more referrals, and more demand for the unique talents vendors possess.

So get your feet off the couch, put your personality to work, and plan on an epic celebration!!!!