[Callers] Re: Thoughts on fees for a wedding dance?

Thanks to everyone who has responded for your thoughtful and detailed replies! Point of order: I seem to recall that we are asked to include name and location with our signatures. I could be misremembering, and it’s not a big deal, but location could be particularly relevant information to this discussion. I confess my mind boggled a bit at quoted fees into 4 figures, although it helped to know that those figures were (I believe) inclusive of sound, band and caller, came from folks who do this as their livelihood and who, I humbly concede, bring a level of professional experience and knowledge that similarly dwarf my own. It feels a bit like the semi-retired small-town solo lawyer helping a friend draw up a simple will, talking shop with his big-city colleagues in a partnership about what they would charge for a will with complex assets…. I’m similarly boggled at this glimpse into the wedding industry and its costs. To know that a fee of $1250-$1750 in US dollars might still be the cheapest part of an event … well, my one and only wedding (to my one and only former spouse) was put on for $1000 exclusive of jewelry in 1989 – about $2600 with inflation today. We were a frugal do-it-yourself couple with similarly inclined extended families and friends, held the wedding in my parents’ back yard with potluck, did not have a dance of any kind, and eschewed most of the other trappings that have been laminated onto present day weddings. We hadn’t been exposed much to traditional dance at the time: if we had been, it’s likely our budget would have risen substantially to include it. 🙂 I believed then and now that the best weddings are made by getting your loved ones together to do something you’d do to celebrate and introduce them if a wedding weren’t involved, and then tack on a marriage ceremony. Never once have I considered fireworks as part of a such a get-together… I digress. Not to close the discussion, but this has been fun and enlightening. Thanks again for the comments so far and any yet to come. -j Joseph Erhard-Hudson Moscow, Idaho. Sent from my phone, which has odd ideas about formatting sometimes.