This is a million dollar question asked by many couples. We would advise as follow:
Before booking a package or any service or product from any vendor, you should first understand the background of the company that you are booking from.
There are companies who package what is the best selling package. Afterwhich, they will subcontract it to variouos different vendors. They make a certain amount of money from each subvendor they work with. Maybe some may feel that the packaged price is good because there are so many products/services included but since the products or services are being subcontracted out, the subvendor will try to give the least possible since their margins are low. Couples who book this type of packages tend to lose more than gain.
On the other hand, there are companies who actually own the equipments & execute the services personally . For instance, Party Purrfect has a few divisions: Eddy(WO and trained MC, professional dancer and Managing Director) heads the WO team directly with regular team members to provide direct services to his WO customers. Wendy(In house MC & singer, professional dancer and Managing Partner) heads the entertainment division & decides the type of mics, speakers, songs and musicians and which assistant MC to work with to match the requirements of the customers. Karen & Iin (WO & Shareholder) takes care of special effects and rental service required like rental of LCD screens, plasma, sound systems, confetti, pyrotechnic, dry ice and stage lighting, dance floor and dancers. We are able to control the quality of the WO, entertainment special effects and equipments. By putting our services in a package, we can pass on the savings in transportation and labour back to our customers. In this case, getting the service as a package benefits both the customer and the vendor.
However, some dishonest vendors may claim that they own their own equipments even if they do not. Therefore, we advise couples to ask more in-depth questions on all the services provided by that vendor. If the vendor is willing & able show you the hardware & explain in technical detail how the various services work together, you can rest assured that the vendor is professional & honest. You may also visit their office, checkout their website or ask to view their track records.
Some packages from venue include deco, entertainment, catering, video/photo & cake etc. Most of the time their partners are shortlisted by paying a fee, which is of no value to you. This is because any vendor, even if they have low standards, may be a partner in their package, as long as they pay the stipulated "fee". So caveat emptor (buyer beware)!
You should also beware of some WO packges which include MC & entertainment but do not have their own entertainment team. The WO will subcontract the entertainment to other companies. The scariest thing is that there is no way you will know who the entertainment company is who will perform at your wedding. Would you put the most important day of your life in the hands of an entertainment company you might never meet or hear of? What more, there is no way you or even the WO will know or be able to monitor the standard of the entertainment.
You should also be suspicious of packages offered by MCs which include WO & special effects. Do check what type of special effects are used. Make sure that they do not give you "made in china" effects which cannot activate most of the time. Check also if the WO team the MC provides are in-house or not & whether the team members have had proper training & system.
Nowadays, many video or photo companies package screens and plasmas into a package with photo & video for Hari H but have no knowledge of how multi visual works. They may not be aware what size of screens suit which venue & may not know the right kind of projector to be used for which location.
If you have a wedding organizer who not only understands how to organize your wedding but also has a strong technical knowledge on the lighting to be used, the sound system(how it is calculated for a certan location, using a 12" 15" or 18"), the size of screens, the type of projectors required, what kind of signal for the video, understands the different format that can give the best quality for the photo & video and the interlinking of the various hardware together to give you a seamless quality of video display.
At Party Purrfect, we pride ourselves as the best in understanding all the technical know-how and putting all these together to you the best for your big day.
To understand more, please visit our links to view our performances.
Party Purrfect Team
Originally from Singapore
To view all our performances on video, please click on the link below,
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=PartyPurrfect&view=videosSpecialise in cross border weddings in Singapore, Indonesia & Malaysia
Celebrating 7 Years In Indonesia
Wedding Consultant Division,
wo@confetti-cncs.comEntertainment Division,
ent@confetti-cncs.comSpecial Effects Division,
spfx@confetti-cncs.comContact (6221) 30164770, 70119548/9, 0815 8664 5570-80
In Tim's own words: The purpose of The Dollar Dance is to offer business and financial advice to small businesses, primarily to those in the wedding industry. As a business owner, you need to be able to concentrate on what you do best. Please allow The Dollar Dance to be a resource for you to turn to when questions arise regarding taxes, payroll, accounting, pricing and the like.
