Why Choose SoundONE Cornwall Wedding DJ?

We are one of the most experienced wedding DJs in Cornwall and have a proven and verifiable track record for providing entertainment for some of the best wedding receptions cornwall has had. Not only do we supply some of the highest quality disco systems in Cornwall but the standard of our service is far beyoned that of most.

We do not make wild claims like some claiming to be the best or they have 25-30 years experience. We only tell you the facts, we are very, very experienced and for the last 5 years we have do over 100 wedding receptions per year. How do we do so many you ask? simply becasue people have been more than satisfied with our service and so we get a lot of recommendations. There are less than a handful of DJs in Cornwall who can honestly claim this.

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Choosing the right venue for your wedding:

What should you look for when choosing a venue, some personal experience

Having worked for many years as a professional sound and lighting technician and DJ involved in setting up various sound systems and lighting rigs, over the years I have worked in several hundred different venues. During this time I have noticed a few things that most people wouldn't even perhaps consider or take into consideration when they're looking for a venue for their wedding. But on a regular basis I come across similar or almost identical situations that I feel that you should be aware of. This is why I thought I should share with you some of my experiences in the hope that they may be useful to you when hiring a venue for your wedding.

Things you should Consider when Booking a Venue

Ambient Lighting
It is worthwhile checking that the main lighting in your chosen venue is controllable so that it can be dimmed when the entertainment starts. Some venues only have a bank of fluorescent strip lights which are either all on or all off. This can make it difficult to create the right ambiance. If the venue has dimmers check that your venue will dim the lighting to a realistic level as some will insist on quite high levels of lighting citing some bizarre "Health & Safety" reasons. Also bear in mind that inside a marquee, for example, at the height of summer it will remain very light until late into the evening. Some marquee companies are starting to offer a blackout area around the dance floor, sometimes enhanced with twinkling lights which works very well. Also check if your choosen venue has curtains or blinds and that they will actually block out daylight. If the event starts in the early evening and too much daylight is coming in, it could in some instances ruin the atmosphere of the first few hours of the celebrations.

Bar Prices
It is always worthwhile asking for a bar price list prior to booking your venue, particularly if it is a hotel function room. A lot of people have been quite shocked at the prices their guests have been expected to pay for their drinks. The cost of hiring of the venue may have been a little cheaper and in some cases a lot more, but the extra cost per drink that your guests are expected to pay, can spoil the reception. I have even observed several hotels charging higher prices in the function room than they do in the main hotel bar. Once this was discovered by the wedding party at one particular event, it led to most of the guests leaving the function room and heading down to the main bar leaving the function room and disco with just a handful of people!

Parking
Although most people do consider this, they can forget that when you have a hotel that's full of residents and a function room with 200+ guests, the car parking facilities may not meet the demand, this could lead to some of your guests having to pay for 4-5 hours car parking fees or end up walking quite some distance to find a suitable place to park.

Sound Limiters
Installed at some venues but not always brought to your attention when booking, are sound level limiters. These work by measuring the level of sound in the room in decibels (db) if a predetermined sound level is reached, the power to the stage area is cut off automatically and will need to be reset. Whereas most of these limiters are professionally installed and don't usually present a problem, I have come across a few venues that have these devices set so sensitively, that the output volume of the sound system or disco has to be set so low to avoid the power cutting out, that it simply spoils the event. If a sound limiter is installed at a venue it is worthwhile asking to go along to an event so you can check for yourself that sound levels are to your satisfaction. Do this later in the evening at around 10pm when you would expect things to be in full swing. It's a good idea to ask the DJ or technician if they have had any problems with the system. Some sound systems and discos will actually refuse bookings at these types of venues because sudden cutting off of the power supply can cause damage to certain equipment such as computers, used to control lighting or computers that are used to play music because a full system reset and drive scan is usually required and this can take around 2-10 minutes to get the music or the lighting working again.

Smoke Detectors
Many lighting effects used by DJs and entertainers these days are of a scanning beam, moving head or laser type, you will have seen these on programmes such as the X Factor and numerous other entertainment programmes. You will notice that you can see multicoloured beams sweeping around the venue. The main reason you can see these beams is that there is an almost invisible artificial haze being generated into the air by use of a hazer or smoke machine. Without such a device being used, these beam effects would be minimal and you would only see patterns on the walls, ceiling and floor, thus losing these dramatic room filling effects. Some venues ban the use of smoke or haze machines for fear of triggering a smoke alarm, banning is usually the simplest solution for them. However, it can sometimes be possible to disable a specific area's smoke detectors and still remain within fire safety regulations (manually operated "Break the Glass" alarm triggers would remain operational). The problem is most venue managers either don't know how to do this or are reluctant to pay for an engineer to do this safely for them, but if pressed, some venues will put a bit more effort into accommodating your wishes and possibly learn something they didn't know themselves!

Poor Access or Stairs
Poor access or upstairs function rooms can cause problems not only for elderly guests but can be a hindrance to the entertainment, if the DJ has to carry all the equipment upstairs, it can be quite a task if they have a lot of equipment. You may think this is no concern of yours, but if the DJ is unaware of this and only discovers that the venue has poor access or a lot of stairs to carry equipment up when they arrive, it could well mean they may not be setup on time. If they are not aware that there are stairs or problems with access, they will then need to rush around, which could lead to mistakes being made in setting up equipment, again leading to delays. They will also be tired and so now won't be on such good form as they would have been had they known in advance. If the DJ had known in advance they would have allowed more time to get the equipment in and out. More often than not the DJ will know the venue and will know what's involved, but no DJ knows every venue so if you think the venue has poor access or you are in an upstairs function room, ensure the DJ is aware of this before booking.