No matter the size of your budget. No matter the size of your wedding party or how big or small is your guest list.
Indifferent to whether you are planning to have your wedding in a castle, luxury hotel or “posh” venue. The day belongs to you the couple. This means that you should be offered any choice limitations.
Absolutely nobody and no organisation or venue has ANY right to tell you that you cannot have this DJ, or that photographer or venue dresser etc. Assuming of course that any such supplier has all their legal documents, licences, permits etc in place of course.
A few venues, thankfully not many, still shamefully operate on a “residential supplier” basis. At times also have the audacity or I should more appropriately say cheek to charge couples a premium for them to appoint their own suppliers of choice. A good clue to this is when visiting a wedding show at such a venue and there is only one photographer, one DJ, one venue dresser etc present. Always make sure that you will not be restricted in your choice at all and to any degree. When it comes to DJs’ in particular this is a very typical example.
Certain venues would advise you that they have a “team of DJ’s” they work with. In actual terms what this really means is that they have a DJ agency or DJ appointed for their venue who in returns re-subcontracts your wedding entertainment to anyone or the first available DJ for a fraction of the earnings. This further means that the venue is most often than not taking a cut on the DJ’s substantially reduced fees. Hence why they would charge you a fee to make up for that lost cut on the service you decided to appoint someone of your preference for. A practice may I add that is totally unacceptable and arguably even illegal to do, none the less there are still a few venues that do it.
It is for this reason Derbyshire Wedding Events has NEVER subcontracted, never double booked any wedding or other type of work and why Derbyshire Wedding Events has NEVER offered services to an agency or subcontractor. I have always taken pride in offering a totally personalised service and package to all my previous couples and customers.
Being entrusted to play any part at a couples’ wedding is a privilege, no matter how big or small the part that the suppliers plays. Not delivering what the supplier has promised to or letting the couple down to any extent is a betrayal of trust and the industry in which that supplier operates.
Remember this is your day. The venue and the staff are there for you. You should not be limited to any degree, especially supplier choice. As for every supplier you'd check on reviews do the same for venues and speak to respected wedding suppliers to and get their view. Remember Most suppliers have probably visited and worked with your preferred venue a number of times before and hence are best positioned to offer you a non biased professional view on that venue.
@carlolaurenti