Finding the Prefect Vendor

After years of paying for advertisements and years of working with the most amazing vendors, it is my turn to find them, hire them, and pay them. Here is the hard part: there are some vendors, I have only met briefly, seen at a bridal show, and otherwise do not actively work with during an event. I also don't have a clue to what they cost or what is appropriate. These are the things I know to do:

Step 1. Join the knot at http://theknot.com Great place for dresses and to chat with other brides.
Step 2. Get the Austin Wedding Guide and go to http://austin.texasweddingsltd.com/ I love to write in the time line area of the book.
Step 3. Ask for the list of preferred vendors from Vintage Villas Event Center and do not stray from that list. I repeat, do not stray from that list and if you must, ask your venue about the vendor you want to use.

Then another problem crept up, there are all these advertisements, even from people I have never met or have ever heard their company name. Then, I realized anyone can advertise. So how do I know who is great, that wonderful PREFERRED VENDOR LIST. All the wedding venues have them, use them, your professional wedding venue is telling you they are reputable.



Here is what I know to avoid:

Step 1. If other wedding vendors have never heard of the company, I am staying away.
Step 2. I make sure there is always somebody on call for that company. If my vendor is in a car accident, while I am deeply sorry for their pain, I still need a photographer to attend my wedding. I do not want to have to hire a vendor the week of my wedding due to an emergency. (I can tell you, we get at least one phone call every 2 weeks to replace a DJ who has canceled.)
Step 3. As much as I like my budget, if a vendor is really cheap, there is a reason they are really cheap. One will always get what they pay for.



Sadly, I want so many people to be a part of my wedding after I have worked with them for years, but I only have room for one photographer, one DJ, and one florist.

For a list of all my favorite preferred wedding vendors check out: http://www.cmaustindj.com/preferred-vendors/index.htm

Listen on the Austin Radio

Tune into several radio stations to hear Tara talk about Brides Against Breast Cancer.

Listen for Chris Sanchez of Inside Austin on Sunday.

6:00 am mix 94.7
7:00 am magic 95.5 and at
6:00 pm TALK RADIO 1370 AM

Interfaith Happily Ever After

Over the years, interfaith marriage has become more and more frequent. Of course, as a wedding DJ company in Austin, so many of the ceremonies we participate in include a wide variety of religions and cultures. (Maybe I do use that Anthropology degree) I have always enjoyed the creativity I have seen many couples use to tackle what can be a sensitive and divisive subject.

It is now my turn. I am Jewish and Brandt was raised Baptist who now enjoys dabbling in Buddhism, meditation, Christmas, and whatever else sparks his interest. Early in our courtship, we discussed our differences matter-of-factly, put our cards on the table, and promised each other our religion would not be an issue. What is that cliche? Ah yes..."easier said than done."

I know some people don't care, convert to their future spouses faith, or never had a life of religion, however, both Brandt and I were raised with heaping spoonfuls of religion every day. Never a meal without a prayer or a holiday without purpose. While Brandt and I have come to our own agreements that work for us, it is not without difficulty. There are times both of us, and our families, have to grieve the loss of our expectations and dreams.

I can honestly say that each person, on either side of our families, always wants and tries to do the right thing. I can see us all working so hard to be kind and respectful as we make a path into the unknown. All of us, are amending our prior biases and ready for the next hurdle spurred on by Brandt and myself. We are the ones getting married and creating a rather interesting union.

Our daily religious life is up to us and rarely a light shines upon it, but with the birth of our daughter, and now a wedding ceremony, we have to make decisions for all to witness. While Brandt and I can talk all day along about the music, when we get to the ceremony our conversation begins "Are you ready to discuss the particulars of the ceremony?" The next sentence is "How do we please and respect our families?"

We still don't know. We decide on one detail each time and one of us usually sighs and gives up. This is what we have so far: We will have a chuppah (Jewish tradition), we will have a unity candle (a Christian tradition), Brandt and I both will be escorted down the aisle by our respective parents, if they want,(Jewish and feminism) and no religious music. No religious music is mainly due to working in the wedding industry and hearing the music one too many times. I do not want to feel like I am at work on my wedding day. Our plan is to make one more decision a week until we can complete this overwhelming task. I am so relieve we can and do communicate. It is exhausting, but worth every bit of energy.

Now, all we have to do is find an officiant to handle all of our innovative requests.

The Venue: Vintage Villas

Brandt and I agree on many things and 2 of which are: if Austin had an ocean it would be the perfect city in the US and we must get married by water! Austin may not be able to boast an ocean but it has several beautiful lakes with many fabulous wedding venues. I would like to tell you that after seeing every venue in the city, it was an easy decision. But it wasn't. My knowledge only made it harder! I wanted to work with all the wonderful people I know and relive the best experiences I saw at each of those facilities.
After weighing all my options, I chose Vintage Villas Event Center on Eck Lane!

Let me tell you why from a brides perspective: Vintage Villas is on gorgeous Lake Travis and who wouldn't want to get married there! The ceremony will be on the arbor and the reception will be in the Travis Room. Have you seen the view? They also have a great hotel I knew my mother would love and since 50% of our guest list will be coming in from out of town, it is a great way to have an intimate reunion for family and friends. I also knew they would do the catering, the bar, and the linens with ease. They make it so easy and I like to work smarter not harder.

Let me tell you why from a wedding vendor's perspective: Lauren is the Lead Wedding Specialist and we have worked on countless weddings together. I realized I have never seen Lauren, Lisa, or Samantha without a smile. This, to me, is amazing. They are always on top of their game and put each bride and wedding vendor at ease. Did I mention the food? Well, I love their chef and the food that comes out of his kitchen. We have chosen our menu with delicious prime rib, vegetarian fare, and chicken to please all of our guests. Of course, Complete Music and Video DJ's regularly at Vintage Villas and I thought it would help me understand the Vintage Villa's bride's entire experience.

Now that I am a bride, I feel like a different person when talking about Complete Music to a bride!

This past December, I took Brandt and my mom out to Vintage Villas for their approval. I was right, they were both overwhelmingly pleased. We booked! There was no doubt in Brandt's mind and he is the happiest groom in the world to have to only go to ONE wedding venue.

Rosa Clara and Brides Against Breast Cancer

This is the dress I want, not necessarily the dress I will be wearing. After all the discussions about should we have a big wedding and the budget, I wanted to get down to business. I wanted tomes of wedding magazines filled with pretty gowns and frivolous lace. I love dresses, especially ones that say "wearable art". I stalk the Betsy Johnson store in the Domain and buy whenever possible. I like simplicity in a dress, but not without a bit of drama.
I purchased Grace Ormonde's Wedding Style magazine and stopped on page 39. My search for a dress concluded. I got online and looked up Rosa Clara, I looked for the dress, but I still can't find out the name of the dress, however, I did come across the prices of Rosa Clara dresses. Ouch! I paused again. Then I started looking for used Rosa Clara wedding gowns and came across a wonderful charity.
Brides Against Breast Cancer
http://www.bridesagainstbreastcancer.org
BABC travels from city to city across the US selling designer gowns to brides at a fraction of the normal couture price. The gowns are donated from designers, stores, and companies and 100% of the proceeds goes to charity. I looked on their calendar for Austin, but we were sadly not there. I emailed, "Come to Austin"! They emailed me back and said "We are looking for a city coordinator in Austin". I agreed immediately. Good for charity, good for work, good for brides, and good for my future dress.

So here it comes, a weekend of gorgeous dresses and generous vendors. July 2nd and 3rd at the Renaissance Hotel. I hope we can bring them back every year. If they don't have a Rosa Clara gown, I will just have to settle for a Vera Wang.

BIG WEDDING! No Debt!

That's right, I said, no debt. I will say it again, NO Debt.

The urban myth says "a bride's wedding day is the happiest day of her life". I hope not. How would the birth of my child or hopefully the day I see my own grandchild being born compare to my wedding day? How about the day Brandt told me he loved me for the first time or the day we moved into our first house? How about every day knowing we don't live beyond our means and I can stay at home with my daughter and work part time?

I have seen many couples take out $30,000 to $40,000 worth of loans to pay for their dream wedding. Too often, I see couples forget there is a marriage after the wedding. Do I want to start our life together in debt? No. Do I want to have a college education fund to help my children go to college? Yes! Do I want to be at every PTA meeting, stay at home with my kids, and volunteer at school to give them a wonderful foundation? A Resounding yes. Do I want to have a mortgage I can afford? You bet. This is how Brandt and I agreed to live our life and set a budget accordingly.

I have found discussing a wedding budget and every day finances with Brandt was one of the best things we could do for our relationship. Money is the biggest cause of divorce and we needed to come to an agreement before we realized we didn't agree! We have situated our finances based on our strengths. His strength is saving and mine is spending: he deals with stocks and bonds, I deal with coupons and sales.

While I will be sharing my budget tips and highlighting each of my vendors in future blog posts, here is a short list that got us started.

1. The number one thing that saves money on an Austin wedding: Choose a Friday or a Sunday wedding to get married. This saves a couple lots and lots at the venue and with all of their vendors. You can also look at having a daytime wedding! We chose a Sunday evening wedding to get the most bang for our buck. It is in our budget and we we are extremely happy.
2. The second: Choose a month that is not in the peak season for Texas. Months that could potentially save you money in Austin are: January, February, July, August, and December.
3. Some venues have several sites to get married. Our venue is Vintage Villas and they offer "The Travis Room" as opposed to their larger event facility. We chose "The Travis Room" that still holds 100 people and has the most amazing view.
4. If a particular wedding item is stressing me out and it isn't necessary, then I have to rethink if I want to pay for said item.
5. We also chose to go semi-formal instead of formal so we can save a little more.
6. We also talked about what is important to us as a couple and the 3 vendors we did not want to go cheap on: food, booze, and music.

Out of all the weddings I have attended, well over 1000, the only things I remember is if the food was good, if the party was fun, and if the room was pretty. This is our focus.

Why get Married?

An Introduction to the Blog, Relationship, and Brief History of Wedding DJ Experience

Written by Tara Humphrey



The Premise: Our wedding is April 17th 2011. We have 10 and half months to go and this is the beginning of what I hope to be a blog that can help other brides as I muddle through the experience of booking my vendors, finding my dress, creating an interfaith ceremony, and dealing with the ever ugly budget! After 10 years in the wedding industry, let's see if I can put my knowledge through the ultimate test!



When I was a child in the glorious 80's other little girls set out planning their weddings scribbled in spirals. They used their mother's dresses, kissed mirrors as their grooms, and used sheets to act as veils while they took big strides in their bedrooms. Not me! I talked about eloping to a faraway country on a beach, and played Michael Jackson on my record player that lit up to the beats and made my girlfriends shriek in the dark during slumber parties. I loved books, not dresses, preferred New Wave over pop and dreamed about travel and writing over boys. I wanted a CAREER and I was being raised by a FEMINIST with serious capital letters.

Absolutely nothing changed through the nineties. Imagine shaved Sinead O'Conner hair, Amnesty International, and spirals full of sometimes bad, but overall decent youthful poetry. After years of college, backpacking and sleeping in my car as a traveling poet and waiting tables periodically, September 11th hit America and the economy and I needed a second job. Badly. However, with a background in Anthropology, Philosophy, and writing, jobs were then, and still are, a bit sparse. I was very lucky to meet the owner of Complete Music and Video in Dallas, while I waited on them at a Chili's restaurant. He offered me a job on the spot! I thought “I can play music, how hard could it be?” What can I tell you, I was naïve.


The first year I was a DJ in Dallas I learned mere mechanics. It is true, I had no idea what RCA cords were or how important they were to a DJ system. Then I learned to battle the fact that very few people wanted a female DJ and I had to make myself better if I wanted to pay my bills. After I had gotten a bit of confidence I began to be swept away by the beauty of the dresses, the shoes, the scent of flowers cascading from the reception hall. When brides cried as I cued them to walk down the aisle, I was moved. For the first time in my life, I started to think a wedding was worth the trouble, the money, and the time. I still had no desire to get married, but on Sunday nights when my girls and I got together to watch Sex in the City, I planned their weddings for them, suited to their eclectic tastes.


I moved to Austin, TX in 2002 and continued to DJ for the Austin Franchise of Complete Music and Video. By that time I had accomplished the tasks needed to become an excellent wedding DJ, but I had a lot to learn. And I did learn.

I learned what a bride wanted and needed. I learned I could still love The Flaming Lips, but play the YMCA to get the guests dancing. I succeeded at bustling dresses, holding a tearful bride's hands, pouring champagne when they didn't hire a catering company, I have worn a firefighter's costume, all the while trying to find the perfect piece of music for every moment of their wedding. I learned I was no longer hip or cool, but I brought JOY!

These lessons are what gave me the many awards I received as a Wedding DJ, including DJ of the Year, Best Evaluation (on a yearly basis), and the promotion to Director of Sales.

Soon after, I, like so many women before me, fell in love. My now fiancee, Brandt, did not even flinch when I said I worked in the wedding industry. The day we met, he asked how I would like to get married and I said “If I had to get married, I would like to elope, but my mother would be furious”. He laughed. I did concede later that after watching so many other loving couples get married I had warmed to the idea of a lifetime of companionship.

Many years later, as our daughter celebrated her first birthday, Brandt looked at me and said it was time for a wedding.

I still struggled with the concept of marriage and a big wedding. I already have the marriage I want, a loving man and father, a beautiful daughter. Why then would I choose a big wedding? Is it really my “special special day” like everyone says. I don't think so.

The truth is, I don't think weddings are just about the bride and groom. I think these lavish affairs are for the family and friends who may never have met, who brought them together, and who may never meet again. But for one day or long fantastic weekend the bride and groom can pack their loved ones into a room and say thank you. What better way to say “thank you” than good food, good wine, and music that makes everyone want to dance.

Of course, what Brandt doesn't know, I filled out my own spiral notebook of our wedding after our first year together. Yup,we are in for a ride.