As the headline says it is award season, and not just in Hollywood where the Golden Globes kicked off their annual award season but in the wedding industry as well.  The Knot and WeddingWire have both announced their “Best of the Year” awards and once again we at Elite are honored and humbled to have received these awards.

I have a very clear memory going back ten years when The Knot first announced that they were giving out awards they were calling “The Knot Best of Weddings.”  We were blown away when Elite Entertainment was on the list.  We hadn’t submitted anything for a contest or had to fill out a form or anything.  The Knot just came out with this list broken down by state and Elite was one of the few companies on it from New Jersey and one of only two from Monmouth County.  It was a very nice recognition for all the hard work we do trying to  make our clients as thrilled as possible.  The following year, 2008, we were given the award again and we were no less excited.  Then the following year this new, upstart website called WeddingWire announced that they were giving awards.  They were calling their award “The Bride’s Choice” and once again Elite received recognition in that very first, exclusive group.  We were one of the few wedding DJs from New Jersey in that first group and one of only three or four wedding DJs from Monmouth County.  It was quite an honor!

Things have changed since those early days.  Wedding Wire, for example, has changed their award name to the more politically correct “Couple’s Choice.”  And, oh yeah, the awards are no longer as exclusive.  Or so it seems anyway.  Almost everyone I know in the industry has been sharing their badges and announcing their wins so either I’m only connected with the best of the best (which is certainly a possibility) or both of these online platforms have decided to expand their criteria and offer their awards to more and more companies.  Either way, we at Elite can still say we’ve gotten them all and, to steal the great line from Jaws, we’re going to need a bigger trophy case.

Here’s one thing though that is very important: we don’t do it for the recognition.  Like I said, when we got those first few awards we weren’t even aware that they were coming.  So it’s not like our motivation is to please our clients so we get a badge or door decal every year.  No our goal has always been to make every client we work for as happy as they can possibly be.  We do that by listening to our couples, collaborating with them to put together a perfect and personalized playlist and then getting as many people dancing at their event as possible.  We do that by being enthusiastic, upbeat and interactive.  We were doing that 25 years ago when Elite first started (long before any online review sites even existed) and we’ll be doing it till we hang up our microphones.

So no doubt, getting that annual email saying “You’ve been named . . . ” is a thrill.  It was back in the day and it still is today.  And no matter how universal it may seem now, we are still proud and happy to have all of these recognitions.  Take a look:

Elite Entertainment _The Knot Awards 2009-2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EliteEntertainment_WeddingWireAwards_2009-2017