There’s no denying that weddings are one of the larger investments people make in their lives. Couples only have one shot at their dream wedding. Because of this, it makes sense to use wedding professionals. The old adage “You get what you pay for” is never more true than with those you choose for services on your wedding day.

That said, there is a difference between a higher cost and VALUE. A vendor that offers services with lots of value translates to “more bang for your buck”. There are many parts of a wedding professionals cost that you might not see. Least of which is employing top tier talent. Be careful of a company that offers the absolute lowest prices by a large margin. This means that they are also paying their staff the least amount and the chances of a true professional working under these conditions is doubtful.

Keeping that all in mind, here are just 10 easy tips we’ve learned over the years that can help you save money on your wedding day:

1. Decide what is important to you. Different aspects of your wedding might be more important to you than others. Ranking what’s most important to you as a couple will let you know what tier talent you are looking for while searching for the right vendors.

2. Set a budget. Seriously! It may sound easy and you may THINK you have one but…write it down. Create categories and assign dollar amounts. This way, everyone involved will have something they can look at in black and white. This could potentially stop arguments before they get our of hand! It might make better sense to get a feel for what prices are for wedding professionals in each category first.

3. Give yourself enough time. If possible, give yourself as much time as possible between looking for wedding professionals and your wedding date. Being forced to act quickly will result a less educated decision making process.

4. Consider a Friday or Sunday Reception. This trick is widely know. What isn’t known by many is that people love to party on Friday! After working all week, people really like to blow off steam and usually eat, drink, and dance more because of it. Sundays also present a unique opportunity. Interested in a really elegant and different reception? Try a brunch! Caterers are able to offer you their most competitive prices for such menus and guests really enjoy this relaxed setting.

5. Off-Season Weddings. The best wedding professionals do not have as hard of a time booking events between May and October on the Eastern side of the United States. Because of this, many offer price breaks for weddings taking place between January, February, and March. You would receive the same professional services this way, but often at a lower rate.

These are just a few tips our event specialists have to help you for your unique wedding day. Selective Sound Entertainment has been helping couples in the Cleveland area and beyond since 1987 with DJ and MC packages as well as event lighting (such as uplights, gobo monograms, feature lighting, and lighting design). We now offer a variety of types of photo boooth and photo magic green screens for your upcoming wedding.

Ask us more at www.selectivesound.com 

At the end of each event we love talking to our clients about the evening because it really gives us a sense of pride in what we do. To be chosen to be part of some of the most important days of our client’s lives is something that we take very seriously. Often on Monday mornings we receive phone calls from our clients and their families.

Here’s a quick example of one of the voicemails we receive:

Don’t you want to be able to leave a message like this with your choice for your event’s entertainment?

Give us a call today: 440.516.0020

Cleveland wedding DJs from Selective Sound Entertainment helped host a reception at the Bertram Inn & Conference Center. This venue is very unique for creative and fun wedding receptions. This event had acustom gobo design of the Bride and Groom’s initials. This made their head table and dance floor really pop in photos.

The DJs provided music and MC services. Almost every guest was on the dance floor for a long period of time. SSE also provided wedding lighting services for the celebration throughout the whole facility. Guests had fun with friends and family celebrating. Check out the Selective Sound Entertainment website for more information on wedding DJs or other production service.

Here are a few photos that show what is possible with our professional event lighting for your event. These photos were taken at the following venues: 700 Beta, Cleveland Airport Marriott, Embassy Suite in Independence, OH, and Wagner’s Country Inn.

Let us show you how we can make your event just the way you always wanted: www.selectivesound.com

Cleveland Wedding DJs, Selective Sound, at Windows on the River for a Beautiful Wedding Reception in Cleveland, Ohio.

A great view of the city view room at windows on the river

Cleveland Wedding and Lighting DJs at Windows on the River

Selective Sound Entertainment Djs for Lighting and Dancing All Night

Beautiful Cleveland wedding lighting windows on the river

Great view at Windows on the River with Selective Sound

Alright…..After years of hearing about this, I am going to clear the air with all of the prospective brides and grooms in the Cleveland Ohio area, getting married at the Cleveland Courthouse.   The first questions always asked when someone calls us when planning a wedding at the Cleveland Courthouse is the acoustics. Please let me explain the difference between a DJ/MC entertainment company that has extremely high end sound equipment and one that uses “standard” budget equipment.

Wedding Ceremony at the Old Cleveland Courthouse

A full time MC/DJ entertainment company like Selective Sound Entertainment, uses the highest quality sound systems for this type of application. Most of the systems that are used here are Bose or QSC systems that specially compress and equalize the sound evenly to provide a smooth sounding area. We do not use less expensive 2 way speakers on a stick that are designed to “blare” sound at a very uncomfortable level. this is what you will surely get with less experienced and cheaper DJ services.

Guests dance to the beat and Rythym of the music, so having Subwoofers is a plus and almost a must in this application. However, having too much “bass” can ruin the sound and sometimes the event. You must place these cabinets with precision. Because Selective Sound Entertainment has played at this venue on so many occasions, we have pre-equilized the sound for both ceremony and reception music. This makes all announcements be heard with clarity.

The Cleveland Wedding Courthouse was not designed to accommodate powerful sound

Systems, thefore you must have excellent quality equipment to do the job correctly.

CALL US TODAY to discuss what we can do for you and transform you wedding reception into one your guests will never forget.

Cleveland, Ohio Wedding DJs, Selective Sound are more then just reception and ceremony entertainment leaders. We are also lighting event producers who can transform event spaces to create your specific vision. The Cleveland Courthouse is one of our favorite locations for events like weddings. We can also provide music, MCs, DJs, Photo booths, videography, and much more. Look through our website for more information: www.selectivesound.com

Above is an amazing shot of a Gobo/Monogram in front of the head table at a Cleveland Wedding Djs lighting wedding reception at the Cleveland Courthouse

Uplighting from a Cleveland Wedding DJ company at Selective Sound Entertainment

Where: Executive Caterers at Landerhaven (Grand Ballroom)

Lighting Company: Selective Sound Entertainment and lighting design

MC/DJ Entertainment company: Selective Sound Entertainment

Video: Cleveland wedding dj lighting Live video of a cleveland wedding uplighting 

A great Cleveland DJ company with some amazing wedding lighting

Grand Ballroom of Executive Caterers at Landerhaven

Stairs of the Grand Ballroom of Executive Caterers at Landerhaven

Where: Pine Ridge Country club

Photography: Imagen

Lighting Company/DJ/MC: Selective Sound Entertainment and Lighting Design

Surprise Band: Ohio State Alumni Marching Band

Date: May 6th, 2011

Used: 20 heads LED uplighting, Custom Monogram, Dance floor wash lighting

Custom Gobo Monogram and Uplights at Pine Ridge Country Club

What an amazing couple Jake and Kate were to work with.  We started this planning process almost 1 year ago and clicked right away with them and their families. When we sat down with them to start the planning process they spent some valuable time online with our online wedding planner. As a full service Cleveland Ohio wedding DJ and Cleveland wedding lighting company, we strive for perfection. After bringing Kate and Her Dad out to our offices and showed them our Demo room, they were amazed and added the lighting in to change the atmosphere right away. Pink was the choice of color and it popped right away.

Uplights and Lighting Create a Custom Wedding Reception

Dancing the night away!

We customized the introduction with Jake as a surprise to his new wife Kate and the guests. We started off with The Final Countdown by Europe for the Bridal Party and went into a very high energy “we will rock you” for 40 seconds and had the guests chanting and singing along, all looking around for the bride and groom. The doors flew open and the entire room was on their feet as we welcomed the new Mr and Mrs. Jake and Kate Stretar to the sounds of The Black Eyed Peas “I gotta Feelin”

Pine Ridge Country Club is Even More Beautiful with Lighting

Dancing at Pine Ridge Country Club with Uplighting

They then went to the cake to the sounds of “Going to the Chapel”  It was electrifying at the beginning and it totally set the tone. We then went into some toasts and a Blessing and then Dinner began with some Sinatra and Dean martin mixed in.

THEN……………………….The surprise

The Ohio State Alumni Marching Band walked right into Dinner. Watch that link to see the amazing atmosphere they brought to the wedding.They played a 1/2 hour bit and had the bride and groom hitting the drum a few times. WOW! what a fun surprise.

Your colors match our lighting at Pine Ridge Country Club

The night was energized and we continued the fun into the wee hours of the morning. They danced to an array of music all evening.

What a great group of guests to work with and special thanks to our friends at for the images to share as well as our friends at Imagen Photography and Pine Ridge Country Club. The staff is amazing.