Newport Wedding DJ Q&A: Luke Renchan Entertainment!
Live band or DJ? Live band or DJ? Why not both, or some advice on how to pick one over the other. We enlisted the help of Luke Renchan Entertainment to help make your decision a little easier. With over 200,000 songs in their library the possibilities are endless. They even offer an online planning system where you and your guests can personalize a playlist! Or, on the other hand build a “Do Not Play” list! Luke Renchan Entertainment‘s services even go as far as lighting your event to the ever so popular photo booth! Read below, to have all of your wedding day entertainment questions answered, and even hear some great advice!
NWG: What are the pros about hiring a DJ over a band?
LRE: I love bands and think they’re great. I may even have one at my wedding coming up next April. The best of both worlds would be to have a band and a DJ. Some bands won’t MC the event and then also they take a few breaks during the reception so then a DJ can fill in those slots instead of just a CD or iPod being played. I understand that some couples don’t have a budget for both so you have weigh what’s most important to you. Do you want original songs or covered songs? Do you like your music on the louder side throughout the day/night or would you want the sound control you get a with DJ? We also have the ability to make the dancing a continuous mix and play some mash-ups if that’s the type of crowd it is.
NWG: Can clients hire just for one of the services- just for lighting for instance?
LRE: Yes, most definitely. All our services (DJ, uplighting, monogram and our photo booth) can be hired separately but if you package them together you will get a multi-package discount off of the additional services you hire from us.
NWG: Why is it nice to have one vendor do all of these services?
LRE: As I stated in the previous question, if you package multiple services together then you will save some money on the overall package most likely by bundling them together. You do want to be careful though. If you find a company that offers every wedding service available (or many) I suggest still interviewing each professional from the company that will be providing that service to ensure they’re the right fit for you and your wedding day. It’s important to make sure they have a solid network of professionals with passion for their service so they’re not just sending “anyone” in to provide a very important service on one of the most important days of your lives.
NWG: How does the song choosing work? Do you watch the crowd or work right off of a song list provided?
LRE: We offer a online planning system for our couples so they can build a personalized playlist and we even offer a guest requests system where our couples can send a link to close family members or members of their wedding party to make request in advance and then play DJ when reviewing them for the final song list. Although not all requests will always work for the reception so that’s why we sit down with each of our couples and go over everything to offer our professional opinion based on our experience. We have different categories on the online planning to help us have the ability to be creative if needed. We have “must plays” which are songs that it is our job to get played that night at the right time, but we prefer most of our advance requests to be listed as “play if possible” which gives us the freedom to deviate from them if needed in order to read the crowd and maintain the energy on the dance floor. Then of course there is also the “Do Not Play” list which is also very important to most of our couples to ensure we stay away from the songs they do not want played at their wedding reception.
NWG: What is the range of music you can play?
LRE: We try to very versatile so we can adapt to our couples taste and their friends & family that day/night. We have a library with over 200,000 songs from everything from the early 1900’s to today’s hottest tracks, mixes and mash-ups.
NWG: How far in advance do you suggest couples book their wedding dj?
LRE: As soon as they’re ready and have their date & venue selected. It’s important that if you have a particular DJ or vendor that you want for your wedding to book them as soon as you’re ready. We have 6+ great wedding DJ’s at Luke Renchan Entertainment but if you had seen one of us and wanted that particular DJ at your wedding reception then you’d want to lock them early as there is only one of each of us. We don’t enjoy telling bride & grooms we’re not available. We already have a few weddings booked in 2014 so many couples book early to get what they want for their special day.
NWG: What should everyone know about Luke Renchan Entertainment?
LRE: That we go above and beyond with all of our services. We want our couples and their guests to have the absolute time of their life and they’re remembering that wedding for years to come. When it comes to DJ service we go way beyond just showing up and playing music. We act as your entertainment director during the planning process leading up to the wedding, by having at least 2-3 planning meetings with our couples and then the day of we are your DJ, MC and also work with the wedding, venue or caterer coordinator on the day off to make sure things run smoothly and seamlessly so our bride & grooms have the best wedding reception possible.
NWG: And now for one last piece of advice…
LRE: Be sure to do your homework when selecting your vendors on this very important day in your life. You want to make sure they have the right credentials and know what they’re doing but also you want to find that right fit personalize wise, especially with the ones that you’ll be around all day like your photographer, DJ and videographer. You want to hire professionals that have a passion for what they’re doing. There is no do over for your wedding reception so take the time to interview everyone, watch demos and read reviews on line.
And now for their service demo video:
Thanks so much for all the insight Luke Renchan Entertainment! Please comment with any further questions and we will try our best to get you an answer!
Photo Credits from Top to Bottom: Eloquent Images by Curtiss, Luke Renchan Entertainment
