Your Questions, Answered

1. Can we customize a package or service?

Absolutely — think of your package as a full menu of options, not a fixed script. Live music for your Ceremony, Cocktail Hour, or a special live performance moment; full DJ service and MC for the Reception; all the sound and lighting you need — it’s all there for you to use as much or as little as you’d like.

Want your friend to DJ the dance floor while we handle everything else? Love it. Want your dad to play live during Cocktail Hour instead of us? Absolutely. Prefer an all-MP3 Ceremony with no live music at all, or the opposite — live music everywhere we can make it happen? All yours to decide. Even sound or lighting: if your venue already has something incredible built in, feel free to use theirs instead of ours.

The same goes for planning with Tarah. Some couples already have a clear vision and love planning most of it themselves — planning out their own decor, making their own calls — and just want someone to take the reins on the wedding day itself. Others want much more hands-on guidance from start to finish. Either way, you get exactly as much of Tarah as you’d like. Here’s the magic of it: no matter how involved she is, the same Wedding Blueprint guides every wedding we plan — so if you’re the type who wants to do it yourself, you’ll know you haven’t missed anything, and if you’d rather lean on us, you’ll already have the right questions in front of you to simply answer.

One quick note: since our pricing is all-inclusive, using less of what’s included doesn’t come with a discount — you’re not paying à la carte, you’re paying to have the wedding of your dreams. And everything in this package is here because we believe it genuinely makes a difference — not fluff we added just to make the list look bigger — so use it however serves your vision best. So mix, match, and make it yours. It’s still one price, and it’s still the same unforgettable, stress-free experience either way.

2. Do you require full-service catering?

Yes — every wedding we plan requires a full-service caterer. “Full-service” is an actual industry-standard term, and it has one specific meaning: your catering staff stays through the entire night, handling table bussing, kitchen cleanup, and trash removal, and leaves the space exactly how they found it.

It’s worth asking your caterer directly whether their staff stays through full breakdown and cleanup. Some caterers call themselves “full-service,” but if their team doesn’t stay until the very end of the night, they aren’t full-service — no matter what their website says.

Here’s why this matters to us: this isn’t a one-person job. Bussing tables, running food, breaking down the kitchen, and hauling out trash typically takes a team of several people — industry estimates put it at 4 to 6 staff, minimum, just for that end-of-night work alone. If your caterer wraps up after dinner service and heads out, none of that disappears — it falls on Tarah, and depending on your wedding’s size, we may need to bring in extra help just to get it done. And when Tarah’s in the back bussing tables, she’s not doing the job you actually hired her for: quietly watching over your night, keeping every vendor and timeline on track, and handling anything that comes up so you never have to. That’s the real cost — less of Tarah where you need her most.

If you’ve got your heart set on a caterer who isn’t full-service, we’re not going to tell you no. In that case, we ask for an additional $1,000, which covers our team — sometimes including extra hands we bring in for the night — taking on that extra scope. We’d rather you know that now than be surprised by it later — that’s exactly why it’s here on our FAQ page, and something we always walk through together on your consultation call too.

3. What do you need from us on the wedding day?

Just a few simple things:

• Covered performance space. Access to an indoor or tented area for each uncovered performance space — we provide one 8×8 pop-up tent with every package, so this usually isn’t an issue.
• A meal for Gordon & Tarah (and any assistant on-site). Whatever you’re serving your guests, or a vendor meal from your caterer, works great.
• Power within 100 feet of all performance areas. We don’t mind running extension cords to power, but we don’t carry more than a few hundred feet of cord. For Ceremony locations without power nearby, we’ve got you covered — we run a battery-powered system built specifically for remote Ceremonies, so there’s nothing for you to arrange. If your Cocktail Hour or Reception is at a fully remote location (sounds epic!), just make sure generators are rented for the vendor team as a whole — your caterer, lighting, and other vendors will need power out there too, not just us. 😉
• A 6-foot table, linens, and two chairs next to the dance floor for Gordon’s DJ setup.
• A free parking spot for us — we arrive early and stay late, so we just need somewhere reasonable to park for the day. (A few venues charge vendors for parking; if that’s the case for yours, we’ll ask that you cover it or help us find another option.)

4. What happens if we need to cancel — or if something happens to you?

Let’s start with the reassuring part: in all the years we’ve done weddings, we’ve never missed one. Woohoo!

That said, we understand couples want to know the plan for the truly unexpected — an accident, a sudden illness, anything completely outside anyone’s control. If that ever happens and we’re physically unable to be there, you get a full refund of everything you’ve paid us, and the contract releases us from any obligation to perform. Behind the scenes, we’d also do everything we could to find someone to step in — reaching out to our own network and working with your venue’s local contacts — though that part isn’t something we can guarantee.

If your own plans change and you need to cancel: your deposit is fully refundable as long as you cancel more than 180 days (about 6 months) out. Inside that window, the deposit becomes non-refundable, since we’ve likely already turned away other couples for your date. Cancel within 30 days of your wedding, and the full performance cost is due.

It goes both ways, too — if we ever need to cancel, we’ll give you at least 60 days’ notice and refund you in full.

Your contract covers a few more specific scenarios (like extreme weather), but that’s the heart of it.

5. Do you charge extra for travel or an overnight stay?

Nope — travel is included, wherever your wedding takes us. No mileage charges, no fuel surcharges. And if the drive means we need to stay overnight, that’s on us too — you’ll never see a hotel charge on your invoice.

6. How far will you travel for our wedding?

We’re a Colorado-based team, and we’ll pretty much travel anywhere in the state. But honestly, how far we’ll travel isn’t really the question worth asking — the better question is whether you’ll ever see a travel charge, and the answer to that one is “Heck no!” That’s part of the whole point of going all-inclusive: most vendors charge by the mile or the hour, so you’re stuck doing math on what counts as “too far.” With us, that’s just not something you ever have to think about. And “nearby” isn’t just a Colorado thing, either — depending on where your venue is, parts of Nebraska or Wyoming can actually be closer than some of our own mountain towns, so don’t count us out just because you’re technically over a state line.

For anything further out, we’re still very much open to it — we just talk it through together first, since a longer trip changes the logistics on our end. And if your wedding happens to be, say, in Italy? Gordon’s been looking for an excuse to go, so we’re honestly down — but let’s be real, that’s a whole different conversation, and those far-flung, one-of-a-kind situations get figured out together, wedding by wedding.

7. How far in advance should we book?

About a year out is the sweet spot — though we regularly see anywhere from nine months to a year and a half, and we’ve even booked as far as two years ahead.

Here’s why: Colorado is such a popular wedding destination that venues and vendors fill up fast. Your venue should be the very first booking you lock in, since venues typically need about a year of lead time (unless a Wednesday wedding sounds fun to you!). Right behind that, you’ll want your planner locked in early too — since we’re the ones helping you narrow down every other vendor, from photographers to florists, the sooner you bring us on, the more we can help shape the rest of your planning.

We do get couples who come to us three or six months out, and we’re happy to help if the date’s still open — but by then, we’re often already booked for the season, and we’d hate for that to happen to you. If we feel like the right fit for your wedding, don’t wait — let’s make it happen.

8. I’m ready to book! How do I secure my date?

Booking is simple: right after your consultation, we send you a Proposal with everything we discussed — all of the package details, pricing, the contract, and a place to put down your deposit. Signing the contract and submitting a 50% deposit is what locks in your date. Once that’s done, it’s completely yours — breathe easy!

Your final payment isn’t due until your wedding day, and you can pay it however works best for you — same card, autopay, or split into smaller payments along the way. Just let us know what’s easiest.

You also don’t need every detail nailed down to book — just secure your date and rest easy knowing you’ve got the perfect team locked in. Later, if planning your rehearsal dinner or welcome party makes you realize it’d be amazing for us to run that too, upgrading to Platinum is easy — your date stays secured, we just update the details, and only your remaining balance changes.

9. What types of payment do you accept?

We accept credit/debit card, bank transfer, check, and cash (cash must be paid in person). Your deposit and final payment don’t need to be the same method either — plenty of couples pay the deposit by card and the balance in cash, or vice versa. Whatever combination works best for you, works for us.

10. What is the Personalized Planning Hub? How do I log in?

Wedding planning generates a lot of moving pieces, so we keep it all in one place. Your Personalized Planning Hub holds every email between us, your contract, your invoices, and your Wedding Blueprint — which captures everything from your Ceremony songs and DJ preferences to your decor vision and every special moment in between. No digging through your inbox for that one link.

Once your booking is complete, we’ll send you an email to set up your secure password. From then on, just head to GTweddings.com, click “Planning Hub,” and log in with your email and password — everything will be waiting for you.

11. Is there a limit on our event hours, setup, or teardown time?

No hourly cap — your wedding is whatever length it needs to be to feel unforgettable, not stressful. That said, we’re big believers in a wedding having a clear, intentional start and end time (a 4 PM start with a 10 PM end tends to be the sweet spot). A defined end time isn’t a limitation — it’s what keeps your whole day running smoothly, honors the cutoffs most venues already require (music off by 10 PM is pretty standard), and keeps every other vendor on schedule too. We take that seriously — it’s exactly why venues trust us enough to put us on their preferred vendors list, and why photographers and videographers love working alongside us. It’s also why your guests never feel like they’re standing around waiting for the next thing to happen — the night just flows, exactly the way you pictured it.

Setup and teardown are the same story — always complimentary! 🎉 We typically arrive about four hours early and stay until everything’s fully broken down at the end of the night, usually about an hour more. You’ll never have to do math on how much of your “package hours” setup and teardown eat into, and you’ll never get a surprise bill because breakdown ran long. We’d rather just show up early and stay until the job’s done.

12. How many planning meetings do we get with you?

As many as you desire! 🙂 We’re here to walk alongside you through the whole process — whenever you get stuck, need a little support, or just want to talk through an idea, we’re a call or message away.

Here’s the wild part, though: even with unlimited to choose from, most couples end up needing just two calls with us, total. Sounds crazy, right — why would you pick two when you could have as many as you want? Here’s how that actually happens:

Your Wedding Blueprint lives right in your Personalized Planning Hub and walks through everything we could possibly need to know about your day. Since we’re the ones who built every question into it — guiding you through the same thoughts and details we’d cover together on a call — filling it out ends up feeling like having a 24/7 meeting with us. It saves your progress as you go too, so you can return to it anytime, days or months apart, whenever you’re ready to think through the next piece. By the time most couples finish it, they already know exactly what they need to work on next — so scheduling another call just never crosses their mind.

That’s how it usually comes down to just two calls: your initial consultation, where we walk through everything — how your package works, what your wedding day will look like, and how to get from booking to “I do” (couples consistently tell us this call answers questions they didn’t even know they had) — and our final planning call, six weeks before your wedding, where we lock in the last details together.

So yes, planning meetings are genuinely unlimited. We’ve just built the process so you’re not stuck guessing what to talk about next — and most couples end up wanting fewer, not more.

13. Can we send Gordon a playlist for the DJ portions of our wedding?

Absolutely — and I love it when you do! (Gordon here, by the way.) Unlike some DJs, I don’t want to come in with some agenda of doing my thing, I want to do your thing! I want you to feel like you showed up to your wedding, not like you wandered into someone else’s Reception. 😂

Your Wedding Blueprint includes a full DJ Preferences Suite: your favorite genres (and the ones to steer clear of), a Must-Have Playlist for any songs or artists you want, and a Must-Avoid list for anything — or anyone’s requests — you definitely don’t want to hear. Some couples hand me a massive playlist; others say “you’ve got this, Gordon” and let me read the room. Both are great!

What’s important to me is that you have as much input as you’d like on the music. Because, you know, music makes memories — so let’s make memories you’ll cherish for a lifetime.

14. Does Gordon just play a preset playlist at our reception, or is he adjusting things live?

Gordon here! So what I’m definitely not going to do is put together a playlist ahead of time, hit play, and hope for the best. 😂

A great dance floor really comes down to three things working together: knowing you as a couple, years of experience, and reading the room live. A lot of DJs are missing at least one of those — it’s the combination that makes it work.

The first piece happens well before your wedding — through our consultation call, your DJ Preferences Suite, and our final planning call where we go through everything together and I make sure I’ve got your vision right. By the time your wedding arrives, I already know the dance floor you’ve been dreaming of. Woo!

That said, I do walk in with a strong sense of direction — from experience, I already have a good idea of what tends to open a night well and what tends to close it out. What I don’t do is lock in a set order ahead of time, because every wedding brings its own unique mix of family and friends — and sometimes something that usually works just doesn’t land the same way with this particular group, and that’s okay. So once the party starts, I’m paying attention to your specific guests and adjusting from there, not running through a fixed queue.

15. Does Gordon play full songs, or does he mix and transition between them?

Typically, I transition — I don’t play every song front to back. Most songs have already made their moment by the second chorus or so, and stretching every track to its full length can actually stall your dance floor instead of building it. So I’m usually mixing into the next song once a track’s done its job, keeping the energy moving.

That said, it’s not a hard rule. If a song is genuinely killing it — the floor’s packed, everyone’s singing along, it’s clearly THE moment — that song’s earning some bonus time! I’m reading the room in real time, so whether a song keeps going or I move on comes down to what’s actually happening in front of me, not a formula.

16. Does Gordon take song requests from guests during the reception?

Totally up to you! This is actually one of the questions on your DJ Preferences Suite — how would you like me to handle guest requests? There are really just three ways to go: no requests at all, wide open (anything that gets people dancing), or the option most couples land on — I’ll take requests as long as they fit the vibe you’re going for.

And don’t worry about anyone getting upset if I have to say no — I’ve gotten pretty good over the years at declining a request without them ever realizing it, and them feeling great about it anyway. 😂

17. Will Gordon definitely be our DJ, or do we risk getting handed off to someone we don’t know?

It’s always me, personally (Gordon here again!) — no roster, no surprise assignment. With a lot of DJ companies, you don’t really know who your DJ is going to be. You never get to talk to them yourself, and sometimes you don’t find out who’s showing up until the wedding day. And unfortunately, that DJ might not have much experience — or your notes and preferences got lost somewhere along the way. 😬

That’s just not how we roll. Your wedding deserves the handcrafted treatment.

You’ll get to work with me personally every step of the way — from your consultation, through your DJ Preferences Suite, to our final phone call before your wedding. Kind of like a tailor who measures you personally and handcrafts the whole thing to fit you perfectly.

There’s no wondering whether your preferences reached the right person. They did — because I’m the one who has them!

18. Can Gordon learn a new song to play live for our wedding?

He’d love to! Gordon keeps a running setlist of 150+ songs he already knows and performs live — feel free to browse it and see what’s there. Got one special song you absolutely need him to perform that isn’t on the list yet? No problem, and no extra charge — just let us know and consider it done.

19. What’s actually the most important job of your wedding DJ — the music, or something else?

Honestly? It might not be the music. (Gordon here, by the way — stick with me on this one.)

My wife and I have done this together, full-time, for years, and we’ve debated this one a lot: what’s the single most important job of your DJ on the wedding day? After all this time, we’ve landed on something that might surprise you — it’s not the music. It’s the emceeing.

Here’s why. There are plenty of DJs out there with great music. But for whatever reason, the moment they grab a microphone, things get real awkward real quick — long pauses, clunky transitions, guests standing around not sure what’s happening next. Or worse, a DJ who takes over and makes the whole night feel like it’s about them instead of you.

That’s exactly what I work to avoid. My job is to keep everything flowing so seamlessly that most people don’t even notice it’s happening. Nobody came all this way to buy tickets to the Gordon Avery Show 😂 — they’re here for your wedding!

Here’s something interesting about emceeing: when it’s done well, nobody talks about it. When it’s done badly, EVERYBODY does! I don’t want the attention on me. I want it on you two. And on your guests having the time of their lives.

One more thing worth mentioning: being overly interactive, or pulling guests away from their food and conversation for random games, isn’t really my style — a lot of guests find that more disruptive than fun. And since Tarah and I are already planning your whole timeline together, we don’t need fluff to fill time — your night’s already dialed in. But let’s say you have your heart set on the shoe game, for example, and you really want me to do it — no problem, let’s make it happen! When couples want something like that, I place it thoughtfully — as a natural transition moment rather than something that pulls your guests away from what they’re enjoying — and keep it short and snappy so it stays fun instead of dragging on.

20. Will Gordon make announcements during the Reception? What about our grand entrance?

Yes to both! This is exactly what we mean when we talk about Gordon being your emcee for the night (see the question above for why we take that job so seriously) — he handles your grand entrance, introducing the two of you, announcing special dances, cake cutting, toasts and speeches, and directing your guests along the way so everyone always knows what’s happening next.

Take toasts and speeches as a good example of that philosophy in action: during dinner, Gordon will personally walk each speaker through the plan — where to stand, what order they’re speaking in, how to hold the mic — so everyone feels confident when it’s their turn (and so nobody gets called up mid-bite, wondering what just happened 😂). He’ll also give your guests a heads-up beforehand so the whole evening flows naturally from one moment to the next.

21. How do we “time out” our processional music for the Ceremony?

You don’t need to! Since Gordon performs your processional live in most cases, there’s no need to try to time your walk to a specific moment in the song — if you need a little more time, he’ll just keep playing until everyone’s in place, then bring it to a close. Walk at whatever pace feels natural, take the moment in, and he’ll handle the rest.

Since Tarah’s there too, she’ll be sending each person down the aisle at the right moment — so there’s really nothing on your end to stress about.

And if there’s a song you’d love playing while you walk but want it digital instead of live, that works too — Gordon can line it up to start right where you want, and edit it ahead of time to fit your walk perfectly. Want a mashup of a couple songs, or need it extended or trimmed down? He can build that ahead of time too.

22. Do you attend rehearsals?

Yes — for our Platinum couples! Having Tarah personally direct your rehearsal in person is one of the best parts of going Platinum, and it’s honestly less about what you get and more about how the whole wedding weekend feels. Check out our Platinum package page — we go into more of that there.

If Deluxe is the better fit for you, don’t worry — we’ve still got you covered. We won’t be there in person for your rehearsal, but Tarah will put together a Personal Rehearsal Guide that walks you (or a friend) through exactly how to run it, plus a Ceremony Map showing where your bridal party lines up and where you’d like family or other special guests seated in the first couple rows. Everything you need to run a smooth, confident rehearsal on your own.

23. What type of sound gear do you provide?

With every wedding we work, we bring three full sound systems. All of it is set up and tested before the Ceremony, so we can move from one location to the next with smooth transitions all day. At the end of the night, we handle the teardown too.

For your Ceremony, the system is positioned off to the side so it stays out of your photos while still covering the whole space evenly — no dead spots, no straining to hear your vows from the back row. We’ll have a wireless lapel mic for your officiant and a handheld wireless mic for readings, prayers, and vows. We recommend the handheld for vows specifically — having the officiant hold it (or letting you each hold it yourselves) sounds far better and avoids feedback issues that can crop up when two lapel mics end up too close together, like if the officiant and groom are both wearing one.

The sound systems we set up for your Cocktail Hour and Reception spaces are built to sound just as clear whether you’re standing right in front or off in a corner — full, crystal-clear sound with real bass, so you can actually feel the music on the dance floor, not just hear it.

You’ll also have a wireless mic ready for toasts and speeches — and behind the scenes, Gordon keeps his own dedicated mics for announcements and any live singing during Cocktail Hour, so nothing’s ever shared or scrambling. Basically, all the mics you could ever need — we’ve got you covered.

24. What if our Ceremony location doesn’t have power — can we still have sound?

No worries — we’ve got you covered! Our Ceremony system runs on a battery-powered setup built specifically for remote locations, so whether you’re saying your vows out in an open field, up a mountain trail, or anywhere else off the grid, you’ll still get the same crystal-clear sound and wireless mics as any other Ceremony. Wherever your heart takes you, that’s where we’ll go.

25. Do you provide lighting for the dance floor? What about uplighting?

FX dance floor lighting comes with every package. It’s exactly what it sounds like — lights designed to spread moving color across your dance floor to make it feel more like a party. There’s something about dim lighting and moving color that actually makes people want to dance, instead of feeling like everyone’s watching them 😅. That’s the vibe we’re creating: a room you can get lost in.

And it’s built to travel too: the whole system breaks down small enough to fit into tight venue spaces and pack right into our cars alongside everything else — so you never have to worry about finding room for a giant rig.

Uplighting is a different thing entirely — instead of moving light on the dance floor, it’s part of your room’s decor, highlighting walls, columns, or accent pieces in your exact wedding colors, not just close enough. They’re wireless and battery-powered too, so there’s no cords running across your venue and no worrying about where the nearest outlet is — we can place them anywhere the room needs them, even outdoors (weather permitting). It’s all included with your package, no separate add-on needed.

And here’s where it gets really fun: we can set the uplights to change with the music too, so once dancing starts, it feels like the entire room is coming alive with color!

26. How early will Gordon & Tarah arrive on the wedding day? How much setup time do you actually need?

We like to arrive at least 4 hours before your Ceremony. Here’s why that number matters more than it might sound like it should.

Venues will often tell couples “2 hours is plenty of time to set up” — but that’s not quite right. Everything needs to be fully set up and out of the way at least 30 minutes before your Ceremony starts, since that’s usually when guests begin arriving. So a “2-hour” window is really closer to 90 minutes. And 90 minutes to get three full sound systems and all your decor set up across your Ceremony, Cocktail Hour, and Reception spaces — while every other vendor is doing the same thing in the same rooms — doesn’t leave much room for anything to go wrong.

We’ve made it work in 90 minutes before, and we always will if that’s what a venue allows. But we’d rather not cut it that close. Arriving 4 hours early (really about 3.5, once you account for that same 30-minute buffer) gives us time to set up calmly, troubleshoot anything unexpected, and answer questions from family or other vendors — without ever risking your Ceremony starting late.

It’s honestly one of the biggest reasons our weddings almost never start late. If your venue is only offering a couple hours of vendor access, it’s worth asking for more — most venues can give it once they understand why.

27. Do you attend venue walk-throughs?

Typically, we don’t — not to save ourselves a trip, but because by the time your walk-through rolls around (about a month out), we’ve already nailed down the timeline, floor plan, and decor details together. Your venue will already have it all in hand, so instead of spending your walk-through nailing down logistics, you get to actually experience the space and fine-tune the details that matter. Here’s how we get there:

Six weeks out, Gordon and Tarah run your final planning call together, locking in every detail — timeline, layout, vendor coordination, and how it all comes together, from music to announcements to decor. From there, Tarah sends the finalized master timeline to your venue and every other vendor, and over the next couple weeks we hear back with confirmations.

There’s also a good chance we’ve already worked at your venue before — and if it’s a new one for us, that same process still applies, so you’re covered either way.

The honest version: a lot of planners use the walk-through as the moment they finally pin down details. We just do that work earlier, so the walk-through has nothing left to solve.

That said, if your venue specifically requires us there, we’re happy to go — no extra charge. 🙂

28. Do you carry liability insurance?

Yep — we carry full liability insurance, and if your venue needs proof, we’re happy to send them a Certificate of Insurance the moment they ask. One less thing for you to track down.