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Wedding season in Minnesota is in full swing and we’d like to share of few tips on making your reception the PARTY of a lifetime!

So dinner has been eaten, the speeches are done, and cake has been served…  Now what?  First and foremost, you’ve hired the most EXPERIENCED, RELIABLE, CUSTOMIZABLE, and PASSIONATE DJ service in the industry, that can execute your vision of great night of dancing!

Planning the dance portion of your reception is crucial to the success of your night.  Midwest Sound DJs are trained to effectively manage “Happy Chaos” without being overbearing or obnoxious.  You’ve heard the horror stories from brides who’ve selected unproven “DJs” on the biggest day of their lives, so fear not, you are in capable hands!

THE FIRST HOUR – Avoid at all costs too much of a “lull” before the first dance, it’s time to entertain your guests, not give them a reason to “check-out”.  Spacing & pacing your important spotlight dances/events while considering how much longer your photographer is contracted is key.

SPOTLIGHT DANCES:

• BRIDE/GROOM DANCE  - The “Stars” of the show go first.
• WEDDING PARTY DANCE –  Avoid a romantic song unless each member of the wedding party has a date to dance with, your best bet is to play a fun upbeat song to get the party really started….  Bonus points, invite all guests to join in 1 minute into the song!
• OPENING DJ SET – A 20-30 minute DJ set of “Instantly Recognizable & Danceable” songs that specifically caters to the “Older” guests.  Hint…  They brought the best presents, probably traveled the furthest, and will leave the earliest.  Lil Jon can wait.
• BOUQUET TOSS – Ladies first…  Popular favorites are  Beyonce’s “Single Ladies”  , Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”, or Luke Bryan’s “Country Girl” (Shake It For Me) Make sure that prior to your first dance, your bouquet is positioned at the DJ’s table and ready to go.
• GARTER TOSS – Want to avoid the embarrassing?  Keep the garter at “calf-high”
• FATHER/DAUGHTER DANCE – You have everyone’s attention during the bouquet and garter toss, time to transition into a dance with your proud poppa.
• MOTHER/SON DANCE – You want to pick the song, but letting your future Mother-in-Law have her way makes the next Thanksgiving dinner a lot less stressful.
• DOLLAR DANCE – Set a limit (3-4 songs), and avoid the sappy romantic songs (Motown is a great substitue), remember you may have to dance with your father’s work buddies.  Maybe the dollar dance isn’t your thing… Remember it’s not about the money, ok maybe it is:) but everyone wants special one-on-one time with you, why not raise money for a cause that close to your heart?  We had a bride recently hand out Breast Cancer Awareness ribbons to everyone that participated.

GUEST REQUESTS –  Allow your DJ to take appropriate requests, knowing that your DJ will NOT play songs on your do not play list.

WATER & COCKTAILS –  Want that wedding day glow?  Avoid alcohol the night before and get some rest.  Also try to establish a perfect water-to-cocktail ratio so getting to the airport the next day isn’t more of a headache than it already is.

BAR LOCATION/DANCE FLOOR –  The two focal points during the dance are the bar and the dance floor, make sure neither is located in separate rooms, but are adjacent in proximity to one another.  Don’t be afraid of a small dance floor, they create the illusion that everyone is dancing, so if your guests walk away that night saying “Oh my gosh the dance floor was so packed” that’s a compliment!

LIGHTING – Your photographer wants to capture you in the best light possible, so once your DJ starts their opening set, instruct the hall manager to turn the lights down as low as possible… People will get their “groove” on when they don’t feel like 200 people can see them.

FOOTWEAR – Bring some cute comfy shoes that you can slip on after the dollar dance… It’s a long day and your feet will remind you about it later.

See how we did that?  Nobody got bored, your photographer got the best shots, the tone was set for the night, and the bar was raised for all other weddings this year… and it was totally free.

Cheers!

Hi Everyone-

Just wanted to remind you that Record Store Day is 3 days away!  There is no better listening experience than the warm sound of vinyl.  Each year a number of artists issue a very limited amount of music to celebrate this special day for die-hard music lovers.  For a link to the stores participating in the Twin Cities click HERE.   A quick poll was taken by the DJs/Office Staff and the top 3 stores in no particular order were…  Fifth Element, Cheapo Records, & Hymie’s Vintage Records.  Take a break from i Tunes & Amazon and visit your local record shop!

Cheers!

By now, I’m sure you have heard of uplighting. But do you know exactly what it is? More importantly, do you know how much of an impact it can have on your special event? In short, uplighting is the art of painting with light to create a truly magical background!

Uplighting can turn a boring room with plain walls into a unique and colorful space. If expertly coordinated in advance, these color schemes can be used to bring out the accent colors at your event and it works especially well at weddings! The colors can match your bridesmaid dresses, flowers and more. When used properly, uplighting can greatly enhance the ambiance of the room in an elegant way.

A popular choice for brides and grooms is to uplight the head table. Not only do uplights draw attention and make the head table a nice focal point for your guests but they also look great in photos. Your photographer will have a wonderful opportunity to capture special pictures during the toasts with a uniquely lit background tailored to your specific tastes!

The secret to creating this ambiance lies in the type of lighting, where to place the lighting, and using it to enhance and boost the already beautiful aspects of your venue. Uplighting can come in many different colors but Midwest Sound makes sure to use only the latest in event lighting: LED’s or Light Emitting Diodes. These lights are made up of red, green and blue individual LEDs that, when combined in different intensities, blend together to create just about any color. They draw very little energy and there are no bulbs to burn out and replace, making them the most environmentally friendly light available on the market today. In addition, these lights are very lightweight, emit virtually no heat, have saturated and deep colors and are easy to customize and control the way the light looks. They can recreate just about any color that a TV can. When it comes to important events, it’s best to leave a job like this to the professionals. Midwest Sound has lit events from six to sixty lights and anywhere in-between. We would love to invite you to contact us to create an affordable custom package tailored to your event.

Paul Singh
Venue Relations/Marketing Director

Kudos to ALL of the proactive Brides who have been getting ahead of the curve when it comes to planning their weddings for 2013, and believe it or not 2014! We get a lot of calls from brides who have visited with us at bridal fairs, and venue tastings who are a bit overwhelmed on where to start the planning process and this is our advice…

Secure your venue/ceremony site (BTW Midwest Sound offers ceremony sound support for on-site and off-site locations). Secure your Photographer, your DJ (us of course!) and your transportation…. Why? We all sell out…Cakes, decorations, and invitations, etc. can all be thought out during the times we Minnesotan’s bunker down during the winter.

So in short, lock-in and secure the “Big Four” and you will find planning the biggest day of your life much more manageable and a lot more enjoyable!

Looks to be another great weekend of weddings and the weather is going to be NICE. We still have select dates in 2012 available so if you don’t have you DJ yet…”Don’t Worry, Be Happy”…we are still here for you.
And to our venues this weekend, thanks for referring us and taking care of all the wedding parties! Here is some of the places where we will be this week featuring golf courses. Always a nice play in choosing a ceremony and reception location!

http://www.stonebrooke.com/

http://edinburghusa.org/

http://mendakotacc.com/

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Want to share more with the guests on your wedding day? Share the memories of your childhood, how you met, and the life you have built together with our Projector and Screen package. Our package includes set up, tear down, projector plus back up projector on site, screen, sound, and a top of the line DVD player. If you need help creating or editing your slide show just ask, we have an in house editor who can help bring your vision to the screen. Otherwise have your slideshow DVD sent to our offices about a month before your wedding and we will take it from there!

For more information and a personalized quote, please call us to discuss your ideas.

Hey Minneapolis St. Paul, we have been honored by being nominated for Best Wedding DJ entertainment by Minnesota Bride Magazine. Thanks for all who voted for us and we’ll see who wins later this summer. Although we feel we have already won just by being nominated. http://mnbride.com/best-of

Many happy, planning brides walk away with a bit o’ green from the March TCBA Wedding Fair booth of Minnesota DJ company Midwest Sound.

See for yourself!

One of our lucky winners

Check out all the action from the  TCBA Wedding Fair:

TCBA VIDEO

We talked to, advised, and discussed all the wedding music details with over 200 brides at our booth! All in all, there were over 1000  brides ready to plan their wedding at the bridal show!

The Rochester Bridal Show was the first one of 2012 and it was huge! And Midwest Sound was the onlyMinneapolis/ St. Paul wedding DJ company there. We met with over 100 brides and talked about how to plan the perfect wedding entertainment. Click here to see more!

See VIDEO here