Buckeye Entertainment

09/02/2022

We love opening our inbox in the morning and seeing emails like this! It's our 599th review on the Knot and we have a 4.9 overall rating. That's a LOT of happy couples!! 😍

01/19/2022

Buckeye Entertainment Reviews - Columbus, OH - 377 Reviews

We won the WeddingWire Couple's Choice award yet again! That's 12 years in a row that we've won this!! Thanks to all of our amazing couples that left reviews for us on WeddingWire and the Knot. :)

Buckeye Entertainment is a wedding entertainment company based in Columbus, Ohio. Owner Byron Gunter is committed to providing an exceptional experience. A true scholar of his craft, Byron’s work has been published in a number of industry magazines.

12/20/2021

Christmas Light Show

The owner of Buckeye Entertainment was live on WSYX ABC 6 tonight! He and his neighbors put on the Lucy Depp Park Light Show . Check it out!

10/20/2021

Our latest company photo! The best damn DJs in the land right here!

09/15/2021

Buckeye Entertainment is hiring yet again! I'm looking for the next awesome DJ to add to my roster. Pay starts at $600 for a 5 hour Saturday summer wedding, and you could earn $1600+ a weekend on busy weekends if you're willing to work Fridays and Sundays as well (depends on the amount of weddings booked and time of year).

The right candidate must:
1. Have never been a DJ before (that's really important)
2. Be willing to book events a year to two years out.
3. Have reliable transportation
4. Have a decent knowledge of music
5. Have weekends and at least two weeknights a week free
6. Not be a fuddy-duddy. DJ's are supposed to be fun, damn it.
7. Be an OK salesperson. I can train the right person.
8. Able to lift heavy gear unassisted
9. Be punctual as hell. And by that I mean shows up early--to everything.
10. Not afraid to speak in front of large groups
and finally,
11. Be able to make it through "DJ Boot Camp" which is 20-30 weddings that you roadie and train for meh pay.

Ability to dance and/or sing is a plus.

Know that this isn't necessarily a full time job, but if you're willing to work the gigs it potentially can be. Also, you cannot have a history of flaking or moving, because the clients are booking YOU as much as they're booking Buckeye Entertainment. For that reason I'm extremely picky as to who I bring on board to represent my company.

If you aren't interested but know someone that might be, please share!

If you or someone you know might be interested, have them email me at [Email hidden] and we'll go from there.

-Byron

03/30/2021

At the office late bumping tunes and updating the award wall with some new plaques! WeddingWire Couple's Choice for 11 years running, 2011-2021. The Knot Best of Weddings for 7 years running plus the Knot Hall of Fame. The Best of Columbus Weddings the last two years, plus a whole bunch of others. Thank you to all of our past clients for the votes!!

03/03/2021

Ohio loosens COVID-19 capacity limits on sports and entertainment venues. Read the health orders here.

WOO HOO!! DANCING IS NOW ALLOWED!!!!!!!!

The revised health orders limit attendees a percent of fixed capacity at entertainment venues and lift the 300-person capacity limit for banquet halls.

12/18/2020

Last year Buckeye Entertainment won best DJ in the Best of Columbus Weddings, and it's that time to vote again for 2021! Head over to http://cbuswedmag.com/vote and vote for us and your other favorite wedding vendors!!

11/11/2020

Is 2020 over yet? :(

08/02/2020

This picture was taken in February, right before the world changed.

2020 was supposed to be our best year ever. We were going to slam through the 500 wedding mark, on target to do a record 550 or so weddings.

And then Covid hit. So far, we've had over 260 weddings reschedule or cancel, with more reschedules and cancellations coming in daily.

Unlike many small businesses, we have not been able to get back to work, to do what we love. We can't offer curbside service. We can't deliver our services to your front door. We are in the business of getting people together, which is the *worst* business to be in right now.

Our industry is unique. When a doughnut shop runs out of doughnuts (inventory), they make more. Our inventory are Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. We can't make more of those. Additionally, when someone books us, we hold that date for that person and turn countless others away for that particular date. The doughnut shop just makes another doughnut to sell to others that want a doughnut. We can't do that.

So that makes what is going on even worse. I'm sure you've heard of multiple venues in Central Ohio and around the nation closing. We too had to permanently close our small ceremony space.

Most of that has to do with reschedules.

Let's say someone has us booked for October 10th. They are (understandably) freaking out about potential restrictions at their upcoming wedding. They decide to rebook until 2021. Here's what happens. The DJ they had booked for 10/10 now is sitting at home, unpaid, on the original date. This is the same DJ that hasn't been able to do weddings for 5 months (7 months when October rolls around), the same DJ that does this as a full time job, the same DJ who uses this income to pay their bills, feed their kids, and keep a roof over their heads. With the reschedule the DJ is now booked for a new date in 2021. However, they have now lost the ability to sell the one thing they can sell, that new 2021 date. Which means they have lost the ability to collect a new deposit and make the full amount that they otherwise would have on the new date with a new client.

And worse? That new deposit (booking) would have normally come in the off-season (the winter) which is how we pay our bills that time of year.

So now, if we have enough of these reschedules (which we most certainly do) the guys and gals in this pic are going to be sitting at home for the better part of an entire year, devoid of any income. Of their livelihood.

We still have fixed expenses. We still have bills to pay.

There are lots of vendors out there (in particular photographers, cake people, planners, etc) that do this as a part time job. They have another full-time job or a spouse with a full-time job that pays the bills. And that's ok. But most of these types of vendors maybe only do a handful of weddings a year. So to them, rescheduling weddings or refunding deposits isn't a big deal because this isn't their only source of income.

That's not us. We're all in. And we've been all-in on weddings for a decade. We've been able to weather the occasional slow month or random cancellation over the years but NEVER could have anticipated nearly a year of little to no income.

No business in the history of business can survive a year with no income.

But we're going to try to do that exact thing. So when you email us, please be patient. I had to let my office staff go, so it's just me, Byron, answering 100 emails a day. Understand that I'm trying to balance the worst 5 months of my life with somehow trying to save my businesses while somehow making sure my staff will be ok while somehow trying to reschedule 250 weddings.

Long story short, I wish we sold doughnuts.

-Byron

02/26/2020

Here's our yearly Buckeye Entertainment photo shoot! It's tradition to do a serious one and then a not-so-serious one. :)

01/02/2020

Did you know that Buckeye Entertainment has DJ'd 3,287 weddings in the last 10 years? That's a LOT of celebrations that we got to be a part of!! THANK YOU to all of you that trusted us to make your day perfect.

Here's to another 10 years and thousands more weddings!! 😍😍🍾

12/25/2019

Merry Christmas from all of us here at Buckeye Entertainment!

09/28/2019

We have our first full date of 2020! On May 9th 2020 all 10 of us are booked for weddings!!

Next year our schedule is well over half filled, 2020 dates are going FAST!!

07/10/2019

Tax-haven wedding venues become nightmare for NH man and other retiree investors

If you (or someone you know) are considering Noah's as a wedding venue: don't. It appears the owner has created a giant Ponzi scheme using his venues and it's only a matter of time before the one in New Albany closes. The one in Dublin most likely will never be built. We had a bad experience with their corporate staff from Utah last year and after reading this article it all makes sense.

A small group of retirees, including one from New Hampshire, paid a combined $6.2 million last year for ownership stakes in a fancy event-rental space.

05/26/2019

We got new security cameras at the office and the uplights changing color are tripping the motion sensors.

On a related note, check out all the cool colors our uplights can do for your wedding! 🤣

05/16/2019

2019 Weddings

www.haileylaurenphotography.com

Venue: The Westin Great Southern Columbus
Planner: Cathy Mehrle Tuthill
Florist: Sherwood Florist, LLC

04/02/2019

Local Caterer Rebrands to Together & Company

One of our favorite caterers in town officially has a new name!

After more than two decades and 25,000 events, Two Caterers is rebranding. The catering and events company started by Angela Petro in 1997 will now be known as Together & Company. “When I…

02/14/2019

In the wedding industry, dates that have a repeating number (we call them "repeaters" at BE) are usually pretty popular. With next year being 2020, a repeater the whole year, we are expecting to see a record amount of weddings booked at Buckeye. We've already far surpassed our amount of bookings for next year that we normally have this time of year.

That being said, if you haven't picked a date next year and you want a really cool repeater date, check these ones out before they completely book up!

01112020 (a Saturday)
02022020 (a Sunday)
02222020 (a Saturday)
0314 (pi day, a Saturday)
04042020 (a Saturday)
06062020 (a Saturday)
08082020 (a Saturday)
10102020 (a Saturday)
12122020 (a Saturday)

Now, if you want to save some serious coin, consider a weekday repeater date like 03032020, which is a Tuesday. Venues will discount heavily for weekday weddings, so you can get your dream venue for less than half of what a Saturday would be with the added benefit of it being a cool date! And we at Buckeye will never turn down the chance to rock out a wedding during the week! :)

02/03/2019

Buckeye Entertainment updated their phone number.

Buckeye Entertainment updated their phone number.

01/30/2019

We do our best to be The Best Damn Entertainment Group in the Land, but sometimes we still get reviews like this. Unfortunately the only negative reviews out there for us are from people that never actually used our services.

In this case, the bride set up an in-person meeting with us on Monday for Tuesday, and then cancelled the meeting 9 minutes before the meeting saying she had booked someone else. Never mind that it wasn't a phone meeting (like she said in the review) and that Wade had already driven to the office and was waiting for her when she cancelled.

Here's the email exchange:

She inquired on Monday 1/28/19, my reply a few hours later "Becca-

First of all, congratulations! Secondly, you are in luck--a few of us are booked that day, but my DJ Andrew Wade is available! If you'd like, Wade would be more than happy to meet with you at our office to talk about your wedding. Normally he is available Monday after 5, and Tuesday through Thursday after 7, just let me know a time that works for you!"

"On 1/28/2019 6:40 PM, Rebecca wrote:
7:30 Tuesday would work

Sent from my iPhone"

"On Jan 28, 2019, at 7:47 PM, Byron Gunter (Buckeye Entertainment) wrote:

Tomorrow at 7:30 at our office works for Wade, thanks!"

"On 1/29/2019 at 7:21 PM, Rebecca wrote:
We actually picked a different vendor. Sorry for the last minute notice.

Sent from my iPhone"

When we get unfounded, untrue reviews like this it really takes the wind out of our sails. And the fact that websites like the Knot allow them to stay up even though 1. it's false and 2. they never booked us or even MET with us. It seems unfair, which is the point of this post. We'd like others to remember to read reviews (any reviews, not just ours!) with a grain of salt.

Stay warm today everyone. -Byron

01/21/2019

Our 2019 WeddingWire Couple's Choice plaque is on the wall at the office. 9 years in a row!!

We are beginning to run out of room on our award wall, which is not a bad problem to have!

01/17/2019

Our 2019 company photo shoot! Thanks Jorgensen Farms for allowing us to use the beautiful Oak Grove for our company photos!

01/08/2019

Buckeye Entertainment Reviews - Columbus, OH - 170 Reviews

This is the 9th straight year in a row that we've won!! THANK YOU to all of our awesome couples that have reviewed us on WeddingWire (and The Knot, and Google)!

Read the latest reviews for Buckeye Entertainment in Columbus, OH on WeddingWire. Browse DJ prices, photos and 170 reviews, with a rating of 5.0 out of 5.

01/02/2019

Congratulations to Casey and Tyler! You two had an amazing New Years Eve wedding. An incredible party and a wonderful couple to end the year with a bang. @ The Boat House Restaurant at Confluence Park

12/26/2018

Buckeye Entertainment's Social Booth

Our new Social Booth video!

Our new Social Booth is sure to be a hit at your next event! More than just a booth, it can do GIFs and boomerangs. You can immediately send them to your pho...

12/20/2018

We are excited to announce that we've just purchased TWO(!!) Social Booths!

Be one of the first in Central Ohio to have this at your wedding. It's the next "big thing" to hit the wedding market! We're always on the lookout for new things to bring to Central Ohio weddings and this is most certainly it!

It's a "photo booth" but so much more. It can do standard photos, GIFs (a few shots looped), boomerang GIFs (20 burst shots looped), virtual props on screen, animations over the pictures, the list goes on and on! The guests choose what kind of "experience" they would like when they approach the booth via the touch screen. Then the photos or GIFs can immediately be shared on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, on your phone, email, etc! In addition, you get a customized website where you (and others that you choose) can see the photos uploaded in real time!

The super-cool thing (well, there are LOTS of super-cool things about the Social Booth) is that is much smaller than our traditional style booths and you are not confined to a box--so you can use whatever backdrop you'd like (a venue's cool wall, pipe and drape, a Christmas tree, whatever!) AND since there's no curtain your group size can be as big as you'd like!

ALSO, IT'S CHEAPER THAN OUR CURRENT PHOTO BOOTHS! Our current big-box non-gif, non-social booths rent at $599 for 5 hours. Our new social booth is $445--$150 cheaper! And, if you book one before we go live on the website I'll sell it to you for $399!!! *paid in full upon contract signing.

Does it print? No, because it doesn't need to! The idea is that the pics & GIFs are shared right away in social media, as opposed to a traditional style print that you would have to take a cell phone picture of and then re-upload. Technically there is a print option if you'd like (I don't think you need it), just ask.

Also, just like our other booths it doesn't come with props because there are virtual props on screen (think Snapchat). The advantage there is that no one has to put on an icky hat that was used by hundreds of other drunk sweaty people at other events. It also de-clutters the area around the booth.

Let me know if you are interested and want to be one of the first with a Social Booth at your wedding! I'm only buying two and with 9 weddings every Saturday they are sure to book quickly (especially at $399!)

12/06/2018

2018 Lucy Depp Park Light Show

The is what the owner of Buckeye Entertainment does with his neighbors in the slower wedding months. Come check out the show in Powell!

2018 LDP Light Show promo video! Our second year, and we're bigger and brighter than last year! Our free drive-through show is in Powell Ohio and runs nightl...

12/05/2018

When one of our DJs gets married but can't stop being a DJ. LOL Dana Harian told Gene to move out of the way and took over at her own wedding! :)

11/05/2018

Our own two photographers are out this week to stay on top of current wedding trends!

@ Las Vegas Convention Center South Hall- Con Expo