We believe that weddings should always be important, fulfilling experiences for everyone… especially the couple! We want all of our interactions to be positive, professional, constructive and productive for your planning process, so we’ve put all of the important details about booking, payment, and service on this page for your reference.
Don’t worry… We’re 100% flexible when it comes to your music and timeline preferences and planning needs after we’re booked and confirmed! Because we get hundreds of requests for our services each year, we will always follow these simple rules and policies to ensure a fair chance at booking us for your wedding date, and to provide a professional and predictable experience throughout our relationship.
Booking Policies
Because wedding dates in Maine can be highly competitive, especially during peak season (April through November), we operate on a first-come booking system, just like all other professional event vendors.
When you contact us for services, you’ll receive a custom quote for your event based on which DJs are still available, the services you request, the length of your engagement, and the location of your venue. Our most popular package includes five hours of reception service. Quotes may vary based on these factors. If you select additional options like ceremony service, additional time, extended travel time to multiple locations, or multiple sound setups at your venue, those options may increase your quote above our standard package rate. Locations inaccessible by mainland roads, like outlying islands or mountaintop venues, are not eligible for our standard package quotes. Locations or events requiring more than one person to safely provide service may not be eligible for our standard package quotes.
The quote that you receive is valid for thirty days, or until the date is no longer available, whichever comes first. Quotes aren’t finalized until we sign an agreement.
Quotes may change if you change your wedding date, your service preferences, or if the DJ originally quoted to you becomes committed to another engagement before you book the date.
Our quotes are customized for each wedding, based on your needs and plans.
We don’t have one-size-fits-all pricing, and we base our starting prices on the length of service time, and how many sound systems we’ll need to set up and use to provide service. A five-hour reception package will not be priced at the same level as an eight-hour reception with ceremony service. Our affordability guarantee of a starting price under $1200.00 applies to events of less than 5 hours in total, and for service at venues less than 100 miles by road from Portland or less than 50 miles by road from Bangor. Some examples of events not eligible for our affordability guarantee include those held at venues not accessible by a vehicle on mainland roads (ferry to islands), events held on mountaintop venues, events outside of Maine, and travel significantly outside of the southern Maine or greater Bangor areas. Events that require more than one staff member to effectively or safely provide service may be quoted at a higher starting price.
We can’t “hold” dates for anyone without a signed agreement.
Even though we want to make this process as easy and stress-free as possible, we just can’t do this. Because of the volume of requests for the same popular dates each season, we can’t “hold” a date for any potential client. The only way to secure our services is to complete our agreement and pay our retainer. Because of the number of requests we receive, we can’t make any exceptions to this policy. For the most competitive dates on the calendar, it’s not uncommon for multiple parties to speak with us about the same wedding date in the span of just a few hours. The first party to sign our agreement will receive our services on that date.
To book the date with us and confirm your reservation, we require a signed service agreement and retainer payment.
“First-come” means that we will accept the first contract and retainer payment that we receive for any open date. “First-come” does not mean that the first party to contact us for a specific date will have first refusal rights for the date. Whoever returns a contract and pays the retainer first will secure our services on each available date. It’s not uncommon for us to provide potential quotes and contracts for the same date to multiple parties. We will always accept the first contract that is returned for each date.
A signed agreement without a retainer payment does not complete our contract to appear at your event.
As indicated in the first term of our contract, retainer payment is required to complete our agreement. If you sign our agreement but don’t pay our retainer fee, your date is still available to be booked by another party. The only way to confirm our reservation and book the date is to sign our agreement AND pay our retainer. Secure digital payment options are available for your convenience at MaineMadeWeddings.com/Payment, so you can pay your retainer at the same time that we sign our agreement. If you choose to mail payment in the form or a check or money order via US Mail or other carrier to our physical address, your reservation will not be confirmed until we receive and process your payment, which could take up to 10 business days. During that time, your date is still available to be booked by another party.
Once a date is gone, it’s gone.
We have multiple DJs available to book, but once they’re all committed to engagements, the date becomes unavailable. We will accept the first contracts that we receive. Simply inquiring about availability or discussing options does not grant you a right of first refusal.
Payment Policies
Retainer payment is due at booking, and your balance will be due one week prior to our booked engagement.
The balance remaining on your account after you have paid our retainer fee will be due one week prior to your event date. Payment can be made securely on our website at MaineMadeWeddings.com/Payment, or via check, mailed to our physical address indicated on your invoice.
We offer simple payment options for your convenience.
Our standard payment plan requires a $350.00 deposit upon signing our agreement, with the remaining balance due one week before your wedding date. If you would like to pay in installments, we can set up recurring payments at any interval and in any amount leading up to your wedding date. Just contact us and we can arrange any plan that would work for you, keeping in mind that the full remaining balance (if any) on your account will be due one week before your wedding date.
Please let us know if you cancel your event, or if you can’t pay your invoice.
Because we offer simple and customized payment options to allow for the most flexibility with your planning needs, we do require all payments to be made on time, and we are unable to offer extensions or exceptions to our payment policies for any reason. Per our contract agreement, if final payment is not made by your invoice due date, we reserve the right to require final payment to be made in the form of cash or a certified check before the date of our engagement. If you cancel or otherwise postpone your event on our contracted date, we will utilize Term 1 of our agreement to calculate your remaining balance due at that point, if any. For the purposes of our agreement, the date you inform us of your cancelled event is the date we will consider your event to be cancelled. Due to the nature of booking events, all retainers are nonrefundable. Your retainer ensures our appearance at your event, guarantees our commitment to your event without cancellation, and covers the cost of communication, planning, phone calls, our time, and denying service to other interested parties. Because we turn other potential clients away once we agree to work with you, all cancelled events, even with ample notice, are losses for us.
All retainer payments are nonrefundable.
As indicated in Term 1 of our signed contract agreement, all retainers are nonrefundable, and we can not make exceptions to this policy for any reason. Nonrefundable retainers protect you as well, by serving as a guarantee that we’re locked into your event. Retainers are nonrefundable because of the amount of work that has already gone into planning your event *before* you make the decision to cancel. Retainers cover the time and work that it takes to communicate with you prior to booking, transacting signed agreements and payment, for giving you access to our client planning services, setting up app accounts, and communications time with your planners or venue staff. Not only has all of this work already been done before you make the decision to cancel our services, but we’ve blocked your date to other couples, and turned away other business because we had an agreement to work with you. For all of those reasons, retainers are nonrefundable.
In extraordinary circumstances like unexpected deaths, cancellations immediately after booking with a valid reason, or other rare circumstances, we reserve the right to grant limited exceptions to this policy based on supporting documentation. To request a change to an agreement with our parent company Maine Vibe, please visit https://mainevibe.com/info/
Because of the volume of requests for our services and the nature of date-based reservations in the Maine event entertainment industry, we are not able to make exceptions to any of these policies, and we reserve the right to alter or change them at any time.
