September 19, 2009

If you are considering booking your next funtion at Snow Valley you NEED to read this post by Edmonton DJ.

Being an Edmonton DJ for almost 10 years has taken me into almost every venue in and around Edmonton and Snow Valley for the most part is pretty decent location for a function.  Except on September 19, 2009.

Lets start with the good stuff.

My bride and groom (Carrie and Jason) were awesome people to work with.  I did all my communications with Jason and he was easy to get along with and open to working together to make their wedding the best that it could be.

Even though it was a little cool out that day, the ceremony was out side the front door of the Lodge at Snow Valley.  Providing the music for the ceremony generally adds about an hour to two of extra work for most functions.

The bride and groom had provided me with all the songs that were required for the ceremony prior to that day.  This made it very easy for me to provide sound for the ceremony.  The only thing that I would have done differently would have been to make sure that the justice of the peace wore a wireless lapel microphone.  This would have made it easier for the guests to hear and therefore enjoy the ceremony that much more.

The bride and groom did amazing job at planning their wedding in providing some of the most interesting and well planned details I have ever seen at a wedding.  As you will see from the photos provided herein the bride and groom spent a lot of time creating a very unique and creative wedding experience.

It started at the ceremony with the program that was passed out prior to the ceremony.  The program was actually designed by the bride, as she is a graphic designer.  The program had all types of interesting tidbits about the bride and groom along with crossword puzzles and games that could be played to pass the time both waiting for the ceremony and in the reception hall.  I had never seen anything like this ever before and would recommend stealing this idea for your next function.

The ceremony went off nearly perfectly.  The only thing that could have been a little better was the weather as it was a little bit chilly that day, therefore making it a little uncomfortable for those attending.

This is only the beginning of the uniqueness and creativity the bride and groom provided on this day.  As soon as you walk in the front door was the sign in table.  It turns out that the bride and groom, in the early days of their relationship, went to a lot of movies and therefore tied the movie theme into their entire wedding.

The seating arrangement was a beautifully designed and laid out table arrangement using movie themes with everyone’s name that was assigned to that movie and the table then had the associated movie placed at that table so you were then able to know where to sit.

Also at the sign in table were some photographs that were placed into a picture frame in the form of a film strip.

Once you made your way upstairs into the main room of Snow Valley you noticed again the attention to detail.  The bride was a country girl and the groom was a city boy, there had table tied in the country theme with a wooden fence placed behind the head table.  It was simple, yet elegant, and really made the head table standout.

Each table had a DVD with a movie jacket and DVD label custom made for each table with the names of the guests at the table printed on their, and as well some other details for the evening.  Each DVD was associated with the seating chart from the main floor and was used as a table number for each table.

After the ceremony the guests were permitted to come straight into the room.  Everyone couldn’t stop talking about all the details the bride and groom had taken into account for their wedding day.

The master of ceremonies did a great job of leading the evening’s festivities with some very entertaining stories and good jokes.  Dinner was then served buffet style in the adjoining room making it a lot easier for the staff at this venue to be less disruptive by not having the buffet line on the dance floor.  The only challenge with dinner was that they ran out of perogies.  I cannot remember the last time I had seen a facility run out of food, and especially pierogies, addin you can simply boil some more BUT thet did not.  Lucky enough this happened with about the last three or four people, including myself, going through the buffet line.

Speeches were short and sweet followed by a very well made slideshow that was put together via the bride and groom.

Shortly after speeches we moved into the first dance.  The bride and groom had decided to do something a little different.  They decided to use “AC-DC – Hells Bells” as their first dance song.  This definitely caught everyone off guard but really broke the ice and set the tone for the entire night.  With a good number of requests and the bride and groom being on the dance floor most of the night helped to produce a great reception.

Now the bad Stuff.

September is a great month to book a venue like Snow Valley where there is a tremendous amount of glass.  This is a venue, in my opinion, should never be booked in June, July or early August.  As nice as it is to look out the windows the challenge one faces is that there is too much light coming into the room until the sun falls which can be as late as 10:30 p.m. at the end of June.  This poses a challenge when getting people to dance as most people have a fear of being watched and generally like the room a little darker which generally leads to a better dance early in the evening.  I have done functions in the past in this room in early July and they generally don’t really get going until the sun falls.

I really do think a Snow Valley is one of the better Edmonton venues except for one thing.  Maria, is the lady that looks after/runs this facility and is truly one of the most difficult people I have ever had the displeasure of working with.  As an Edmonton DJ, I have been to this venue a number of times prior to this function and have always had very few issues in the past.  The biggest challenge is that Maria thinks that the DJ should set up in what I would consider an inadequate location for the type of show my customer has paid for.  When I arrived at the Hall I let her know that we were there and it was good to be back.  I then proceeded to set up my show in a location that would provide both the best sound and allow me to interact with the crowd.  The location I chose to set up my rig had no impact on any other component of this function.  It did not impede the movement of the guests in or out of the room nor did it detract from the look of the room.  Maria came to me when I was nearly finished setting up and asked if that’s where my rig would remain and my response was simply yes for the reasons I do stated above.  She then proceeded to ask you for my business card, politely at that point, upon which I gave her one and as she walked away she turned around and told me that I would never be allowed to return to this facility.  As far as I can tell the only reason she said this is because I did not set up my show in the location upon which she wanted me to.  I simply set up my show, where I had discussed with my customer prior to that date, where I felt would produce the best possible party.  This is the first time I can remember I was treated so poorly as a vendor coming into a reception facility.  It should be the goal of all parties involved in this industry to work together, and to provide the best possible environment for both the client and their guests on that day.  This is clearly not the case at Snow Valley.  My customer and other DJs have also stated that Maria can be very opinionated and rigid when it comes to planning or working at this venue.

I can only say that this was my experience on this day and had been to Snow Valley a number of times before without any incident, what is funny, each time I was there in the past I have set up in the exact same location without any incident or objection from Maria.

Please click on the Edmonton wedding DJ highlights video below to see Carrie and Jason’s special day.