Musician's Union Fee?

Lorena just told me the exact same thing except it was 150.00 per musician. For some reason she thought I was bringing a mariachi group in, which I'm now glad we chose against. She was also trying to talk me into a DJ, and she would get me a DJ for a good price, but all I want is a sound system. I'm just so tired of dealing with them.

My experience with this Hotel (The Westin) is that they do a very good job at keeping outside vendors out!!, they always "try" to make sure that "no outside vendor" gets hired by the bride directly or at least try to do that, I have had only about 4 weddings at that place and I know for a fact that it is because they try to get the bride into thinking that the vendors they have are the best and to look no further. This is normal with most hotels, you just have to know what you want from a vendor and if the hotel does not have the vendor with what you need, then look outside for one, and if the hotel is asking for a fee I guess you have to pay because those are the rules they have. The bride did not have to pay for my services when I went but maybe its just for the music, not really sure.

My recommendation is to ask the hotel for those rules before you hire them and that way have no problems later.

Hope this helps.

Juan

Barrie,

I just got my final BEO and in the small print it says that we should go through the hotel for flowers, music, etc. If you want I can send you a copy of that, but nowhere does it say I must go through them. I told her we had found our own flowers and photographer, and she said they would make an exception! so nice of them, but there really wasn't anything she could do. As for the music, I did find an email from her from long ago that did state we had to use their union musicians.

I contacted another wedding planner who is helping with the legal part of our ceremony and she said it was best to use who the Westin offered. I only want live music for the ceremony anyway. We got the A/V system so we can use an Ipod for the rest. I am bringing my own photographer and the issue of fees for that never came up.

Hi there,

Wow, I am a Dj in Los Cabos and I've been doing this for more than 20 years and believe me, ther is not a Djs Union, and certainly we don't belong to the musicians Union wich it really exist, now, maybe in some other cities in mexico that fee may apply, in Cabo doesn't. The big hotels want you to spend untill your last dime in their services, and ofcourse they will charge you big time. The hotel doesn't have Trio, Mariachi or Dj in their payroll, they just sell the service but they hire Djs or Mariachi or Trio from outside and then lies to you about the fee and all that. Please, do not let the hotel manipulate your budget, if the hotel doesn't want you to have outside vendors, try a different option for you wedding location, there some Villas, houses and even small and nice hotels where they will be happy to help you with your wedding.

And this is for Maura, I attend an event as Dj every monday at Club Regina at Westing Los Cabos Hotel, and I'm an outside vendor, so please, don't let the hotel charge you any fee for Dj services for your wedding.

I'll be searching for Villas, Houses, Resturants and Small Hotels to tell all brides at the forum that there is different options for a wedding location and try to skip the big Hotels, they are a pain in the butt.

Hope this is helpfull girls,

thank you,

Dj Paco.

[email protected]

Hello Again Everyone,

I've been doing a research with the hotels events coordinators about this isue, there are some rules that coordinators must follow, and one is to charge a fee if you bring an outside vendor, specially for musicians or djs, I don't like this but is the way it is, even if you pay the famous fee at least you will save money and the best is that you will have the musician or dj you really want.

There is a copy rights fee all business have to pay to the musicians unions and like I said before, even that there is no Djs Union, we the Djs use music and then hotels, restaurants or bars have to pay that fee.

That is what I found in my research, I don't like it but those are the rules. I hope this will help future Brides.

Sorry guys,

Dj Paco

Baja Pro Audio

[email protected]

thanks paco -- even if i pay the $150 fee to the westin, i am still saving $630 by bringing my own outside DJ!