First UK Chart 'Top 10'

Sixty years ago, on 14th November 1952, the first ever  the first ever Official Singles Chart based on record sales was published in the popular music magazine New Musical Express.

Up until that point a song's popularity was measured by sheet music sales.  The US, Billboard had been charting record sales since 1940.    The chart was compiled by telephoning 20 record shops up and down the country every week and tallying up their biggest-selling singles.

The first ever Top 12 (which was actually a Top 15 given that sales of the Number 7, Number 8, and Number 11 singles were tied) was published in the New Musical Express on November 14, 1952.  Here they are....

1	Here In My Heart	Al Martino
2	You Belong To Me	Jo Stafford
3	Somewhere Along The Way	Nat King Cole
4	The Isle Of Innisfree	Bing Crosby
5	Feet Up (Pat Him On The Po-Po)	Guy Mitchell
6	Half As Much	Rosemary Clooney
7	High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me)	Frankie Laine
7	Forget Me Not	Vera Lynn
8	Sugarbush	Doris Day And Frankie Laine
8	Blue Tango	Ray Martin
9	The Homing Waltz	Vera Lynn
10	Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart	Vera Lynn
11	Cowpuncher's Cantata	Max Bygraves
11	Because You're Mine	Mario Lanza
12	Walkin' My Baby Back Home	Johnnie Ray

Source and thanks: Official Charts Company

Mirror-ball magic

If there's one light fixture which has stood the test of time it's the mirror-ball.  A ball covered in mini mirror pieces to reflect light.  It's often associated with the golden - or should that be silver - age of disco.  However it's heritage is much richer.  The mirror ball was a staple of those dance halls in the 40's and 50's, spaces built and designed for dancing.  They were also seen in Jazz clubs in the USA in the 1920's.

 The technology has moved on. Traditional mirror balls need suspending, a motor to rotate then and a pin spot or two to highlight.  The new alternatives turn all that on it's head, literally.  So a one piece unit, sits or suspends, with a rotating hemispherere with gaps which the light projects through.  Some great extra easy functionality too which we love to use. With light control through DMX they can also variably dim and strobe, vary rotation speed and direction, and with modern LED bulbs can change and blend colours too.

And then there's the scale.  In October, London saw the largest ever spinning mirror-ball, about 1.5 tons and house sized, alongside the Millennium Bridge, with integrated LCD screens and live twitter feed too.  Described as the Death Star of mirror balls. While it was designed to be a reminder for the clocks to go back an hour, given it was sponsored by a Vodka brand, that's the pub and club association well re-enforced.

So while the machinery has moved on, things are not that much different 70 years on. Those mirror-balls and mirror ball effects are still there in the pubs and clubs, keeping a similarly watchful eye on all that boy-meets-girl dancing fun.

A Sound Effect

Modern DJ mixers come loaded with lots of 'sound' effects buttons to add an extra dimension to a music track.  Add in the extra potential with digital formats and there are literally millions of different possible combinations of effects.

What's emerged is a fascinating language to describe these effects.  At BPM 2012, the national UK DJ conference, there was an education session to demo some of the latest effects.  This was using a top end mixer (technically an Allen and Heath Xone DB4FX, retailing at c.£1600), working through the main effects and their parameters.  

To complemented the audio version, we've created the visual version of those effect words, which collectively give a lovely overall sense, and are maybe event visual art to complement the audio art...

NEC DJ Show - BPM 2012

For three days in October, Birmingham's NEC turns itself into the biggest UK annual get together for DJs and producers. BPM - in homage to the beats per minute - It's a real mixture of exhibition, education, conference, performance, networking and social.  So of course all the trade stands from the world's leading suppliers of DJ sound and light kit, plus the UK retailers.

We had a great time, mostly sitting comfortably in the various education seminars soaking up lots of learning and generating ideas. The new lighting effects were great to see both in the arena and on the various stands.  Some great conversations on those little specialist stands too.  Came away with some dance remix CDs.  Make lots of new contacts, and some great follow up learning too.

Dear Compact Disc - Happy 30th Birthday

Well the CD is 30 years old.  On 1st October 1982 the first commercial CD player was announced in Japan.  It was from Sony (a CDP-101, c.£450) and coincided with Billy Joel's 53nd Street album being released on CD.  That was followed by Sony's first portable CD player in 1984. 

The ideas of CD started early as 1974 with Phillips.  From whom the term originated... and evolution of the   "compact cassette".  While the default music format has now moved on to digital  the CD was also the pre-cursor to the visual formats of DVD and Blue-Ray. 

When CD arrived, many commented about "the silence is positively deafening"   with the absence of background hiss and crackle of vinyl.  Interesting of course that these days, music producer are often inserting that background crackle for an added effect.....

Mrs & Mrs Quiz Fun

This is a great game for a celebrating couple, such as at wedding receptions and anniversaries, and even engagements.

Mr & Mrs started life as light hearted TV programme.  A quiz show where a husband and wife would take it in turns to each answer some practical or preferential questions about each other - with the spouse out of ear shot - and then challenge would be to have both selected the same answer.  So for example...."For breakfast, would your other half prefer (a) a full English breakfast (b) cereal or (c) toast".  That's also appeared back on TV in the last couple of years, and in a celebrity version.

This has evolved into an increasingly popular party game, and especially at wedding receptions and in the USA.  Increasingly Known as the Shoe Game it's a faster paced and simpler solution.

So ...two chairs are placed back to back in the centre of the room for all to see.  Sitting down, Mr and Mrs can't now see each other.  Then it's both shoes off, keeping one and giving the other to the partner.  So they are now each holding one of their own shoes and one of their partners.  So then the questions....Quick fire questions simply involve both choosing him or her in response to a question, and raising the appropriate shoe. So for example, a practice question might be "Which of you drives fastest?".  They both raise a show at the same time, and the fun is all about in the seeing how much they agree with each other.

Here's ten tasters of those questions...

• When you were dating, who made the first move?

• Who's the better cook?

• Who said I love your first?

• Who has the strangest family?

• Who's the better driver?

• Who's in control of the TV remote?

• Who spends the longest in front of the mirror?

• Who is the better kisser?

• Who makes the first drink of the day?

• Who will be the first to fall asleep tonight?

A great fun game, and can be quite revealing too.   There's lot's of good possible questions, and while they do need to be surprise questions, it's worth taking some care to choose the right ones to match the couple and the circumstances. 

Retro Laser Display

In October 2012, BBC4 TV broadcast a concert from 1978, featuring ELO, the Electric Light Orchestra.  It was introduced by Tony Curtis (a global film "celebrity") as the best rock band in the world at the time. It was the time of big hair, white suits and white cellos. Their  most familiar music can still be heard on the radio today including... Sweet Talking Woman, Mr Blue Sky.  It was billed as having a pioneering laser display...

It creates an interesting reflection on progress.  That was 34 years ago.

Sure enough there were big effects, and big for the time too.   Over the last 34 years, lasers have advanced to be more powerful and more compact too, and even as handheld laser pointers. Great laser displays are now common place on those popular performance TV shows on Saturday night.... Strictly Come Dancing (by laser light).  UK Legislation is still such that need to be controlled by an "operator", hence the disco/club lasers have a key for on/off.  Then of course there's the £2bn  ational Ignition Facility in California USA, where 192 laser beams have this year been fired at a 2mm target, producing 500,000,000,000,000 watts of power, 100 times more than any other laser has produced.  That's 34 years of progress.

In terms of progress, what's perhaps more fascinating, is that 34 years before that the country was at war in 1944.  From food rations and blitzed London with search lights, to those white suites and cellos with pioneering lasers, to billion dollar lasers of today.

Musical Direction

There's a lot in the creation of music, from that conceiving the first elements of the melody through to the eventual performance.  That music is eventually likely to find it's way into musical notes on musical staves, whether on paper or computer.  When it's reproduced again it needs to be able to reclaim some of the nuances and subtleties which enhance those musical notes to provide that extra magic.  

That magic is often captured through musical directions to accompany the notes on the page.  These are the descriptive words to compliment the notes.  Traditionally these have often been in Italian, and especially for the classical and orchestral music.  Somehow those Italian words really do capture the emotion to overly on those technical notes....glissando, prestissimo, diminuendo, crescendo, espressivo, adagio....  It could well be that same smooth and emotive language that's spawned those wonderful coffee shop drinks names....

Here's a selection of those magical Italian musical directions....

Accelerando – get faster

Adagio – slow

Agitata – agitated

Allegretto – fairly fast

Allegro – fast

Andante – fast

Animato – lively

Arco - play with the bow

Cantabile – flowing in style

Con Brio – spirited

Crescendo – get louder

Da capo – play again from the start

Dal Segno – go back to the sign

Diminuendo – get softer

Espressivo – with expression

Forte – loud

Fortissimo – very loud

Glissando – play with sliding notes

Grave – slowly

Grazioso – gracefully

Largo – slow

Legato – smoothly with long notes

Lento – slow

Maestoso – majestically

Meno mosso – slower

Mezzo forte – moderately loud

Mezzo piano – moderately soft

Moderato – at moderate speed

Molto – much or very

Non Troppo – not to much, not exaggerated

Pianissimo – very soft

Piano – soft

Piu- more

Pizzicato – pluck the string

Poco – a little

Prestissimo – very, very fast

Presto – very fast

Rallentando – slow down

Ritardando – get slower

Sfotzando – play the note or chord strongly

Sostenuto – sustained notes

Sotto voce – whispered

Staccacto – short detached notes

Tremolo – repeat the notes rapidly

Vivace – lively

Decades of Dance

Never before have we had so much choice in the style of music to dance to.  Here's a take on that journey over the decades, with an ever expanding choice and genre of music.....

1920s

Jazz and big band.

1930s–1940s

Swing music

1950s

Rock and roll

1960s

Soul, funk, Motown, R&B.

1970s

Disco

1980s

New Wave, Synthpop, Funk, Contemporary R&B, House, Acid house, Techno, Freestyle, Electro, Euro disco, Italo disco, Eurobeat, Hi-NRG, Madchester, EBM, Cosmic disco

1990s

Eurodance, Europop, Progressive house, Techno, Trance, Alternative dance, New jack swing, Contemporary R&B, Dancehall, Hip hop, Drum and bass, Breakbeat, Rave, Hardcore, Happy hardcore, UK garage, Italo house

2000s

Trance, Electropop, Dance-pop, Snap music, Crunk, Reggaeton, Dancehall, Dance-punk, Nu-disco, Electro house, Minimal techno, Dubstep, Contemporary R&B, Hip hop, Drum and bass, Electronic dance, Progressive house, Hardstyle

2010s

Electropop, Hip house, Nu-disco, Synthpop, Trance, New Wave, House, UK Garage, Hi-NRG, Dance-pop, New Rave, Electroclash, Dubstep, Electro-industrial, Drum and bass, Electro house, Breakbeat, Hardstyle, Drumstep, Technopop, Hip hop, Moombahton

Ice Breakers 5: Give Me Five

Ice breakers, or perhaps more correctly mood makers, can help enhance the variety, fun and sociability during an event.  We've previously described why this works, and shared some ice breaker activities.

See:
Ice Breakers 1: Why do it?
Ice Breakers 2: Scenarios, favourites and experiences
Ice Breakers 3: Either Or?
Ice Breakers 4: Odd one out

Here's another ice breaker idea - Give Me Five.

Given a topic, it's about finding five things that match that topic. This can be played very simply by just using the topic heading, and finding five sensible answers.  Can be more tricky to find the 5 specific pre-determined, and for some added tension, to do this against the clock.

Lots of fun, nice and simple, and can have simpler through to more cultured topics

Here's a selection of 10....

Famous Brothers	Kray Twins
	The Jacksons
	Wright Brothers
	Brothers Grimm
	Mario Brothers
Types of Berry	Raspberry
	Strawberry
	Cranberry
	Blueberry
	Elderberry
Items of Jewellery	Earrings
	Bracelet
	Ankle chain
	Necklace
	Broach
Types of hat	Deerstalker
	Panama
	Fedora
	Top
	Bowler
Types of pasta	Cannelloni
	Spaghetti
	Tagliatelle
	Penne
	Lasagne
Mr Men Characters	Mr Bump
	Mr Tickle
	Mr Happy
	Mr Small
	Mr Nosey
Water based sports	Canoeing
	Diving
	Fishing
	Surfing
	Water skiing
European Capital Cities	Athens (Greece)
	Rome (Italy)
	Madrid (Spain)
	Berlin (Germany)
	Helsinki (Finland)
Sticky things	Chewing Gum
	Glue
	Toffee
	Treacle
	Sticky tape
Types of card	Birthday
	Christmas
	Mothers Day
	Get well soon
	Anniversary

Olympic Senory Spectacular

The London 2012 Olympics had a spectacular opening ceremony.  A feast for the senses and indeed the emotions too.  That's the power of entertainment.  The music itself was a major component of the entertainment, as were the lights, and indeed aroma too.

The music provided strong atmosphere.  The live element of 1000 drumming drummers was a big factor.  While technically more "storage drum" that purposefully acoustic drum, they served their purpose very well, creating volume, depth, energy and rhythm.   With specially created electronic music works from High Contrast and Underworld and add in some relatively contemporary empahsis with Emile Sande and Wretch 32, even Dizzie Rascal.  Overlay the some familiar nationally popular music (if historically heritage in flavour)  from Mike Oldfield and David Bowie, U2 and the Pet Shop Boys and make some significant space for the London Symphony Orchestra, and there's real opportunity to eclectically connect.  Even the visuals elements make reference to the rich music heritage, with the multi-coloured Beatles, used to define an era.

And of course there were the lights - wonderfully large scale and at the same time intrinsically simple.  A major component being the small matrix displays next to each of the seats.  That provided a huge matrix of lights and therein the intrinsic simplicity, in that that matrix was really just like a large spreadsheet of controllable lights, or as pixels on a screen.  The challenge then being the programming of that changing dynamic effect.   Those matrix displays required 40 miles of cabling and 40 days of installation, plus all the programming of course, and before that, all of the design work too.  And all of that cost and time for four 4 hours of display.  That's the level of preparation, planning and design to create really dynamic and engaging lighting effects.

So that's two senses stimulated, sight and hearing.  Substantive enough to warrant both an audio album and a DVD.  But it did not stop there.  There was also atmospheric aroma of cordite to accompany the Industrial Revolution element. The more each sense can be engaged, and more senses that can be engaged, then there's the greatest chance of there being a really encompassing emotional engagement.  And while all that production can feel quite technical, the real magic is achieved creating that overall entertainment, and that's the real art.

Chart What Chart?

Since the official charts came into existence in 1952, so they've evolved to reflect a divergence of genres and now increasingly a divergence of media.

So the idea of a singles or albums chart has been diluted.  These have evolved into sub-genres.  Officially there's classical, rock,Urban and dance, plus country, world, Asian, regional, alternative, and now heritage.  [Alternative....always interesting that a genre is defined by what it is not].

Add to that variety a range of different media and it all gets a bit more complicated. So having evolved from CD to  music downloads, now evolving to include streaming charts.

So the reality is there's three dimensions at work here now... the music genre, the source (single or album) and the media.  So underneath there's lots of micro charts all being distilled, and mostly automatically too.

And not forgetting the significance of the video charts now too - with DJs becoming VDJs - so there's that mix of genre and format ... DVD, Blue-Ray, children's, film, TV, sport....

Ice Breaker breakers 4: Odd one Out

Ice breakers, or perhaps more correctly mood makers, can help enhance the variety, fun and sociability during an event.  We've previously described why this works, and shared some ice breaker activities.

See:

Ice Breakers 1: Why do it?
Ice Breakers 2: Scenarios, favourites and experiences
Ice Breakers 3: Either Or?

Here's another type of ice breaker.  It's odd one out.  Given a given short list of say three or four things, the challenge is simply to identify the odd one out, and ideally why.  These can vary to quite light hearted, through to more thoughtful and taxing.

Here's a taster of those "odd one out" challenges that can really engage and entertain, and educate too.

	Choices	Odd one out because it's…
1	KCB
	MBE
	CBI	X - Not a British Honour
	OBE
2	Stain
	Blow
	Engrave
	Sew	X - No somehing done to glass
3	Boxing
	Judo
	Karate	X - Not an Olympic sport
	Tae Kwon Do
4	Silk
	Satin	X - Not a Wedding anniversary
	Lace
	China
5	Monaco
	Silverstone
	Melbourne
	Ottawa	X - Not a Formula 1 racing circuit
6	Juliet
	Kilo
	London	X - Not a letter in the phonetic alphabet
	Mike
7	Eastern	X - Not a London underground station
	Northern
	District
	Central
8	144
	84
	44	X - Not in the 12 times table
	24
9	Moderate	X - Not a world climate type
	Polar
	Temperate
	Tropical
10	Discus
	Hammer
	Javelin
	Shot	X - Not thrown but put
11	Garibaldi
	Nice
	Bourbon
	Dundee	X - Not a type of biscuit, but a cake
12	Pelican
	Camel	X - Not a type of predressian crossing
	Zebra
	Puffin
13	George
	Dick
	Julian
	Peter	X - Not a member of the famous five
14	Cane
	Able
	Seth
	Colin	X - Not a son of Adam and Eve
15	Tobermory
	Madame Cholet
	Wellington
	Bongo	X - Not a womble
16	Banana
	Grape	X - Not needing to be peeled before eating
	Orange
	Lychee
17	Barolo
	Valpolicella
	Rioja	X - Not an Italian wine, but spanish
	Chianti
18	Trigger
	Champion
	Silver
	Flame	X - Not a famous TV horse
19	Supergrass
	The Police
	The Clash	X - Not a trio.
	The Jam
20	Monkey
	Pony
	Carpet
	Monty	X -Not a slang term for an amount of money

New Streaming Charts

The Official Charts have been going for 60 years this year.  It's always being evolving.  From those single and album charts, through to the diffferent genres, and then to the different formats to include downloads.

So the Official Charts Company has now included a new format... on line streaming.  This includes audio streaming from both ad-funded and subscription services, to reflect the new generation of music services like Spotify.

How to be a Disc Jockey

With the current popularity of electronic dance music (EDM), the evolution of DJs playing music to creating and then producing music, and the ever decreasing costs of entry for digital DJ kit, there's more emerging guidance on how to be a DJ.

I recently came across a classic book How to be a Disk jockey by David Gee. Published in 1974, it was pretty much the only practical guide to being a DJ. I fondly recall reading some of this and feeling both inspired and educated back in the 1980s.  It was very much of it's time.  A really practical focus on running a DJ business,with all the administration, legal and financial guidance to support the technical music and amplification explanations

Now of course the skills focus has become quite different. Less about fixing amplifiers, more about using software whether for sound and even light.

While the world has moved on there there are still words of wisdom which hold true today as much as they every did nearly forty years ago.  Here are some of those perennial gems...


Disco music is all about people dancing, having a good time....as old as the hills but just has a new label (p.8)

Discotheques, whether in the club environment or portable, serve one basic purpose and that quite simply is entertainment in a place where girl can meet boy and boy can meet boy, etc. It is a participative environment, where the dancers are as much of the total atmosphere as any other factor, yet they are also the reason why the discotheque is there and why it survives. 

The bright lights, the enjoyment of music...a well paid and easy job - these are the attractions of becoming a disc jockey  It is not well paid and it is not easy. The hours are anti-social, the work is demanding (p.8, 85)

The main pleasures of being a successful disc jockey: keeping the customers happy. (p.85)

In the main the ability to put an evening together successfully cannot be taught.  It is a matter of experience which allows the disc jockey to read his audience, understand what they are feeling and seize opportunities as they arise to create and develop the evenings atmosphere along the lines which lead to the audience's enjoyment. (p.62)


Pre Saturday Night Fever, the disco industry as a whole was regarded with much scepticism and treated as a joke.  However since that memorable event the industry has accrued more publicity.  With that publicity, a level of understanding has developed, and from this a air of respectability. (p84)

To summarise, it the disc jockey's job to read his audience, find out what makes them tick, talk to them, become a part of them and watch their reactions carefully.  Only from this will he be able to programme to their desires and ensure that everybody has a good time. (p.66)

Disco as a dance form will never die. (p.84)

Here here.  And as a wordcloud...

Ice Breakers 3: Either Or?

People get together to be social.   Every social environment will be unique, a different place, different people and at least at a different time.  Even the same group of people in the same place but at a different time will have a different feel, those people will be at least be a little older, even wiser.

Add to that, some people are naturally more social than others.  So sometimes it's helpful to encourage things along a little. When individuals can relax into that social environment, they are more likely to have a more enjoyable time.  And so it then stands to reason, that the sooner individuals relax and get comfortable, then the longer they can spend enjoying themselves.  So there's great benefit in getting people comfortable and enjoying themselves quickly.... more people can have a great time sooner.

We've previously described and detailed various ice breakers.  See...

Ice Breakers 1: Why do it?
Ice Breakers 2: Scenarios, Favourites and Experiences

Here's another category that can be very easy and engaging, often described as either-or questions. These are quite light hearted but don't preclude some fuller debate emerging.....

• Bath or shower?

• Night person or day person?

• Christmas eve or boxing day?

• Saturday or Sunday?

• Crossword or Sudoko?

• Dr Who or Star Trek?

• Petrol or Diesel?

• Running or Cycling?

• East Enders or Emmerdale?

• Comedy or drama?

• Batman or Superman?

• Drums or guitar?

• Smartphone or iphone?

• Rugby or Cricket?

• Washing up or drying up?

• Cornflakes or Wheatabix?

• Brown sauce or tomato sauce?

• Chinese takeaway or Indian takeaway?

• Red wine or white wine?

• Sparking water or still water?

• Larger or bitter?

• Apple or orange?

• Coke or Pepsi?

• Strawberries or raspberries?

• Tea or Coffee?

• Hamburger or hotdog?

• Brown bread or white bread?

• Beef or Salmon?

• McDonalds or Burger King?

• Mars or Snickers?

• Roast Potatoes or Chips?

Some Sound Test Time

We're always on the look out to see how we can improve our technical set up.  Especially given the ever growing range of sound equipment on the market. Also, quality amplification at higher PA volumes is much more tricky than at lower home hi-fi volumes, really because the sound waves tend to need to travel further in a PA set up.  So there's real opportunities for new improved solutions to appear on the market, still being constrained by the laws of physics of course.

So, it's one of those indulgent pleasures.  An afternoon,  a hall, kettle for tea, kitkat, bananas, and of course some equipment test out and put through it's paces.  A standard playlist with some familiar and properly obscure music (with very deep base or very high top end) to really test all aspects of the amplified sound.  Add in some like minded friendly company with a mindset for audio perfection, and it's a recipe for enjoyable and thoughtful experimentation, learning and improvement.

This time it was testing out some amps.  Two new amps and three benchmark amps for comparison.  One new class D digital amp to see if it can generate as smoother sound as the class A/B.  And a new compact amp to compare too.

1. Testing a new top end digital amp.

So how does a new top end digital amp - just new to the market - compare to a top end class A/B amp?

Digital amps - Class D - can have tended to have a slightly harsher sound that the more traditional analogue - class A/B amps.  When music is amplified for several hours that harshness can get really noticeable especially in the mid and top end of the sound.  That said they are more compact, lighter and generate less heat.

In conclusion, the class D effect was not really noticeable on the bass amplification.  On the mid and top end the digital solution didn't beat the class A/B performance, but there was not that much in it.

2. Packing two amps into the space of one.

So how does a new compact 4 channel A/B amp compare to the typical 2 channel taking up the same space?

In our quest for ultimate stealth sizing without compromising quality of sound, this was really interesting.  Amplification usually needs 2 channels, one for each of the two stereo signals - left and right.   Given amps are full of electronics  and generate heat, it's always best practice to have a spare to hand.  In our typical set up we tend to use two amps anyway, one for the top and mid sound and the other for the bass, and the amps are just ticking over..  That means that if one amp goes down it's a simple job to convert to one amp, and it just means that the amp works a bit harder, but still within its comfort zone.

So we were naturally curious about the four channel amp that is still the smooth A/B class, takes up half the space, and is lighter. So smaller and lighter but is the sound quality preserved.

In conclusion, a very comparable performance.  In the end the best of the 2 channel A/B amps won out by a whisker. Just a touch warmer sound.  At that margin, this is also down to some personal preference too.

Wedding Wonder

The modern wedding is a wonder, and in lots of respects.  It's full of wondrous moments in a wondrous day.  It's still typically a once in a lifetime for the bridge and groom.  Behind the wonder of the occasion, it's certainly a wonder of choices, planing, co-ordination and logistics.

There's lots of choices to make, there's the where and when of course.  That's followed by lots of choices about what's needed to help make the day special, and who'll provide that help and those services.  There's plenty of bridal magazines and wedding fairs to choose from.

Here's the offer of a regional bridal magazine. This one is focussed on the East of England.  There's 865 offerings.  There's the usual suspects...gowns [77] and make up [28], catering [53] and cakes [46], and then cars [51], flowers [72] and photography [66].

Then there's the added extras... 18 choices for chocolate fountains , and 14 for fireworks.  Plus Toastmasters [9], wedding planners [21], and balloons and decorations [8].  And 11 insurance choices to cover all of those commitments.

Another wondrous thing is that, besides the fireworks, there's no reception entertainment options.  Research for bridal magazine shows that besides the actual wedding ceremony and the bride's dress, the thing people remember most about a wedding is the entertainment.

Entertainment is the active rather than passive element.  Flowers and balloons can create the environment, but it's the entertainment which creates the atmosphere...the potential harpist, jazz piano, band, and of course the disco.  Even the magician with the close up table magic.  A toastmaster can very helpfully bring structure and style but it's not engaging entertainment. Music of some sort is the added magic, even if it's it's mostly in background.. There's real magic in the bridge and groom's first dance, typically chosen with deep care.  And then of course the possible father and daughter dance....

So this is all about getting that balance right between passive things and actively creating that engaging, entertaining experience that makes magical memories.

Here's that list of choices from that regional wedding magazine...

Venues                    125
Cars and Transport         51
Gowns and Dresses          77
Flowers                    72
Photography                66
Catering                   53
Cakes                      46
Rings and Jewellery        45
Marquee hire               40
Men's formal hire          36
Lingerie                   36
Bridal make up             28
Shoes                      27
Honeymoon                  22

Wedding Planners           21
Horse and Carriage         19
Hen and Stag               19
Chocolate fountains        18
Fireworks                  14
Bridal beauty and health   13
Insurance                  11
Fairs and shows             9
Toastmasters                9
Balloons and decorations    8