• What can our bands do for your wedding? •
We make your wedding the best time for ALL your guests by getting everyone up dancing & listening.
Music is non stop at your wedding as we always DJ on our very short break.
Introductions & emceeing are professional & eloquent.
Our unsurpassed reputation of customer service means YOU don't have to worry about anything
it just happens
you get more compliments on your wedding & have more fun than you ever dreamed.
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• When do we need to "line up" our band? •
As soon as you feel comfortable with your decision - you should NOT wait a minute longer! - We've had instances where we were unable to accommodate requests for given wedding dates almost 2 years away! Though very generally speaking, most arrange their bands for their wedding between 8-14 months out, with the "one year" mark significant in terms of increasing Bride's & Groom's & their families focus on lining up wedding related venues & vendors. BUT... sometimes certain dates remain open, or people need to try to change dates, postpone, or have other circumstances that cause "closer in" dates to again become open... SO you never know!! ...THE BEST THING IS TO ASK!!
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• Who do we speak to & work with? •
When you work with us, you are speaking to people who have themselves personally performed for a LOT of weddings and WILL be doing so at the time of YOUR wedding - not a salesperson who may be gone by the time your wedding rolls around. You have direct access to John Parker and to the bandleader performing for your event. You are NOT "assigned" to a salesperson, or "sales consultant" While a salesperson may be very good at selling you stuff, they might not be so "helpful" when it comes to advising you on details about what really counts - YOUR wedding - which we pride ourselves on!
With us, the person you are directly working with has personally been to & performed at HUNDREDS of DIFFERENT weddings in MANY cities with MANY different groups of people & varied settings. We KNOW WHAT TO DO BECAUSE WE PERSONALLY HAVE DONE IT. Having a salesperson sell you a car, for example, is one thing - but for your Wedding, that ONE day of your life.... that's a time when the trust you place in people working with you, and that person's integrity being beyond reproach, is critical. Our reputation speaks for itself. (But we have hundreds of testimonials from our previous brides, grooms & parents to speak about our service too ! :)
Having that kind of direct & knowledgeable communication means peace of mind, and an assurance that the information you are getting about your wedding is not only timely - but also completely unbiased, accurate and relevant.
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• What's the difference between you guys and others? •
We SPECIALIZE in Weddings. We know how to make a wedding great & EXACTLY what to do.
(
There are great nightclub bands out there, but most often they have limited songlists & wedding experience, are not able to switch gears musically if needed, and are used to taking long breaks. Not to mention will often "require" things like huge stages, massive power requirements, dinner with your guests, bar access, etc...
These often are great bands - just not right for weddings!
Not to mention, certain things that might be ok to say or do, or music to play at a club are often NOT good at your wedding
)
We're a real company yet NOT a middleman.
This has been our only business over 20 years, and will be here when you need us.
We have very significant financial resources, and a depth of personnel & stability you can trust your wedding to.
Yet, when you ask "can the band do ____ at our wedding? It's not a guess - WE KNOW - because WE are the ones who personally make it happen for you & your family !!!
We are well educated & well spoken. (and friendly, too)
Doesn't matter? Then let's give some props to our peeps da Bride-n-Groom up 'er. Y'all give 'em a shout out !"
Seriously though - this might not seem a problem until your wedding day. Of course then it might be a tad embarrassing.
Mispronounced names, uninformed gaffes about family situations the emcee never took the time to learn about, tactless attempts at humor, ways of speaking that might be humorous otherwise - might not be so appropriate at the wedding.
Yinz homeys know what I mean? :)
You work directly with us - & Our focus is YOU
In the planning stages - you'll get intelligent, relevant & timely wedding advice that will make sense for you.
Compare us to other companies in terms of our conduct, professionalism, customer service, & experience;
We provide a balance of smart personal service and solid financial strength that is uncompared.
Planning assistance that's not just a one size fits all form
Event planning forms & song selections are all done with us in YOUR private client area.
Our business IS weddings & specifically your wedding. John Parker, as a 100% Full-time band entertainment professional, is not booking clowns or jugglers or DJ's for that matter. He gives his full attention only to a few select clients every week.
We have multiple professional equipment setups to perfectly match your venue
Our professional stereo sound systems are matched for your reception venue. We don't do bars so there's no smoky smelling equipment - AND it arrives together in one setup vehicle BEFORE your guests arrive!!
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• How many times will you pester us if we call you or email you for info? •
ZERO. We are full time professionals who are fortunate enough to have plenty to do working with our existing clients, learning wedding related trends and music, improving our performance, etc... Our clients typically are quite busy people too.
There is NOTHING and we mean NOTHING more annoying in our opinion than some "salesey" pressure or tactic. Maybe it works with a certain group of people, but we STILL refuse to do it! It's rude! Our servce philosophy is "we're here anytime if you need us & and always happy to help you quickly"
We call ONCE in the beginning after you initially contact us to say hello, get to know you & give you information. (We do feel it is nice to know who you are working with & think that goes both ways) - BUT, until YOU invite us to work with you & become a client, we NEVER further call you unless YOU REQUEST our contact! Nor do we send you 1000 emails. We respect your time & space exactly like we would prefer to be treated ourselves.
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• Do you work with Party or Wedding Planners ? •
ABSOLUTELY! - In our opinion, the best thing for you is to hire a Party Planner that works on a FLAT OR HOURLY RATE, and as such then gets the very best vendors for their clients, giving their clients a LOT of choices among several entertainment agencies, and direct vendors (like us) be it for bands, photographers, cakes, caterers, etc... A great Wedding Planner is not inexpensive (and shouldn't be!) but worth every penny in terms of their expertise. There are several wonderful planners in the area.
Increasingly, though, of late, many planners will tell you they work for "free" or for a (too good to be true) low rate, or get you a "discount" but then only recommend certain vendors - (certain entertainment agencies, caterers, videographers, etc..) When this is the case, you can almost be assured they are receiving consideration (a.k.a. $) from the vendors for their recommendation. This means they aren't often recommending what is best for YOU, and not providing you with several otherwise worthy choices, and in our opinion this is making them more like agents than providing the kind of unbiased advice you're hiring them for.
Consider this quote from a very successful & respected planner in Philadelphia; "As a planner, I am appalled that someone would take money from a vendor for referring them to a couple! That is my JOB!. The couple is paying me to help them find reputable vendors that fit their needs, not to make more money off of them. I would never take money from any vendor. In fact, if someone wants to pay me for referring them, I have to say to myself "can't they get business without a hook?". It is shooting myself in the foot to take kickbacks. When the brides find out you do it, they run the other way. When I refer a vendor, my conscience is clear. I refer those I feel confident in, not those who are putting money in my pocket. Not all planners are created equal.."
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• Do you work with Entertainment Agencies? •
In general we do not, we only offer our band services directly to our clients. This is the only way we feel we can maintain our level of direct communication & service to our brides, grooms & their families. There are a few well known entertainment agencies for wedding band entertainment in the area. We are not such an agency, but are happy to tell you who the agencies are so you can investigate what they have to offer. Some offer several dozens or even hundreds of band choices including national acts and even clowns and jugglers - many of them offering the very same choices as their competing agencies... In our opinion, by offering hundreds of "acts" which they do not in any way oversee or take any responsibility for, they are hard pressed to offer the same personalized level of service as we do... Nor do we feel, that the services of someone who is not personally running weddings for clients (as we are) could possibly be as relevant or on top of all the various aspects of successful receptions. But we encourage you to compare.
ON THAT SUBJECT: If another agency tells you one of our bands is "Already booked for your date, sorry" - or - "You don't want that band, they all have 2 green heads and are unreliable" - OK, we're being facetious here, but you get the idea... they probably have another band whom they would like you to consider. We would like you to consider ALL of your options, including bands from other agencies - THEN ASK OUR PAST WEDDING CLIENTS - about our bands, and our level of service that we provided to them.
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• Our Venue is "pushing" vendors or has a "book" of vendors •
In our fantasyland, our hope would be that Venues offered you recommendations for all reputable wedding vendors - in every category (caterer, entertainment, flowers, photo/video, etc...) AND that their recommendations were because they thought those vendors would be GREAT choices for their clients weddings!
Sometimes there are certain practical considerations as to why they can't do this, such as the caterer owns the Venue, or the kitchen is Kosher, etc... BUT for entertainment, photography, & similar outside services, if the Venue is ONLY telling you to go to ONE wedding vendor, (or saying "we use the X agency") OR has a colorful book of vendor advertisements from the vendors they "recommend", you might consider it might not be because those vendors are the only "good" choice around!
We LOVE to get a recommendation from a Venue - but we will NEVER pay for one! Either through a "kickback",
OR by paying exorbitant fees to "advertise" in a venue's "preferred vendor publication" :)
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• We went to see a band - they were playing some songs that we do not like ! •
It's tough to go to see bands at private functions, often the venues are exclusive private clubs, or the event rooms are hard to get into or watch from without being obtrusive. Most importantly, the event is NOT that of the people who are going to "see" the band! It's the Event of the people who's party they are "crashing" ! - and the band will be doing what THOSE people want - not necessarily what the people crashing want :)
Nonetheless, we've had people come into the venues and proceed to come up and ask our bands to play songs for them! Wow, that's out! Even if we DO think the movie "Wedding Crashers" was funny, we think invading someone else's wedding or other event is rude! When we are at YOUR event, we will play the kinds of songs and specific songs that YOU request. BUT, conversely, if you see a band performing at another event, they likely are playing the songs another bride or groom (or their parents or grandparents) have requested the band to perform..
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• On the subject of band's song lists •
Many times brides and grooms look at a list of songs that has literally many HUNDREDS of choices, and proclaim - "we're not sure about this band - they play a lot of XXXX music (substitute "Country" or "Big Band" or "Oldies" or "70's" or "Jazz" for XXXX) Point being, even if there are 300 songs on a band's list, 100 songs the couple likes, because they see dozens they don't like, they won't consider the band... that seems crazy to us...
2 THOUGHTS: A band playing 4 minute songs can, at most, play 15 songs in an hour- and that's only if music is NON STOP! Also, there are usually people of ALL ages and musical tastes - and almost ALWAYS our brides and grooms are at least a little surprised by what kind of music their guests like and/or request or ultimately wind up dancing to. (and are happy that our bands can usually play it!)
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• Why don't you offer photographers (or videographers) ? •
We can tell you about a LOT of photographers or videographers which you can check out. FREE. You can see many of the photographers pictures on our site. We take ALL photographers submissions of weddings we have done and offer NO special consideration. The pictures are there & you decide if you like them. We don't "book" Photo or Video because we specialize in MUSIC for your wedding - Moreover, in general the top photographers don't need an agency to book them... why would they want to forfeit as much as 40% of their fee to an agency who has no bearing on how good your pictures will be...? Wouldn't you prefer your money going towards a better photographer, rather than a salesperson's commission?
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• If our parents really like you guys, how could we? •
You have very cool parents.
OR: Your parents aren't as crazy as you thought, and they realize that most of our bands play a HUGE variety of music - meaning that quite likely EVERYONE at your wedding - of ALL ages - is going to have FUN!!!
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• How can we help make our reception great that day? •
Want your guests to dance? - come out and dance yourself!
Having a bar? Have it in the same room as the band if at all possible to avoid "polarizing" your guests !
In general, RELAX - once you get to this point, you might as well sit back and enjoy it!
TRUST - if you've hired reputable, experienced and knowledgeable professionals,
they are going to simply "make it happen" for you, without your having to do or worry about a thing!!
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• How could we really mess up our reception? •
That question is just wrong! - in truth you probably can't do anything to change the joy people will have in sharing in the celebration of your marriage. But we do have a somewhat facetiously titled page "how to kill the party" which you might find helpful - click here to see it!
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• We don't really know why we're on your website, what we really want for our wedding is a DJ!
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A LOT of people who thought only a DJ could play the variety & authenticity of music we have to offer are very pleasantly surprised to learn that not only do we play the music they like, but bring to it a personality and sophistication and energy that you get with a band! Not to mention if you really MUST have that obscure song in Russian from the "Burnt Zucchini Orchestra" or the Trance version of NIne Inch Nails tune by "Squished Lizard", we can certainly play it on our sound system for you!
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