You go to a hockey game and you are going to see all sorts of advertisements for businesses all around the ice. This is expected as they pay a lot of money to be seen! You should not see this type of advertising at a wedding reception.

Did they pay you to advertise their company on your special day? Did they discount their services to make sure they were allowed to put a large banner with their company name on it at your reception? I’m sure they didn’t!

I used to be one of those that promoted myself at other people’s event. That was the way I was trained when I worked for Complete Music and that’s the way I thought it was done. I didn’t think much about it until I had my own wedding. One of the pictures of our first dance (seen here) had a big sign with the disc jockey’s name right behind us ... and this guy was a friend of mine! I looked at the picture and thought "How incredibly tacky!" As I thought back to my performances over the years I came to the conclusion that only disc jockeys and bands advertise themselves at an event. You don’t see a banner hung for the photographer, the florist, or the minister.

As I was researching the idea of signage at weddings, I saw a lot of comments, and there seems to be a quite a divide among entertainers. A lot of them believe that no matter what, they should be able to advertise themselves. They figure the restaurant or reception hall has a sign outside so why shouldn’t they be allowed to put their sign up in front of all the guests. Others hide behind the fact that they need something to "hide" their electric cords, not mentioning the fact that there are items on the market that do just that with out advertising.

When asked about their advertising being caught in pictures, they reply that it’s the photographer’s job to make sure the sign is not seen in any pictures. One disc jockey even commented on a forum, "I'm one that puts up a banner at weddings and I have no problem with doing it." "Its just another part of my marketing." Do you really want your wedding to be part of someone’s marketing campaign?

Other entertainers fall into my thought process and think that it is inappropriate to have a big sign in front of everyone. They believe that if you do a great job people will seek you out for more information. You don’t need to erect a billboard so it’s captured in all the pictures of the formal events and acts as an eyesore for the guests in attendance.

Again, there is a division here on signage. If you don’t mind sharing your wedding day between yourself and the entertainment then by all means let your disc jockey erect his/her sign. However if you want the entire day focused on YOU, then make sure you get it in writing that there will be NO SIGNAGE in front of your guests.

For those entertainers that continue to place signage; to me they seem to be all about their own self-promotion and not about making the day about the bride and groom.