Is Riviera right for you?

They're Riviera's two small private rooms, built into the old bank's own architecture. The Banker's Office was the bank manager's office and seats about 12 for a semi-private dinner. The Cellar Vault was the actual bank vault and also holds about 12 guests as a private room. Neither needs much of a rig - a clean small system for toasts and background music does the job.

For a full restaurant buyout it's up to 140 guests for a cocktail-style reception or 60 for a seated dinner. Confirm your exact number with the venue, since it depends on the layout you pick, and I scale the sound and lighting to whichever version of the room you book.

It's a heritage building on Sparks Street that opened in 1869 and became a bank, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, by around 1900. Riviera opened in 2016 and kept the marble, travertine and brass, including that 80-foot bar built from the old teller counter. I keep the lighting and gear in step with the architecture instead of covering it up.

Yes. When a couple books the whole restaurant, I run the reception across the full room, working with the marble and brass instead of against it, and keep the sound tuned for a hard-surfaced, high-ceilinged space so speeches stay clear and the dance floor still hits.

Yes. Sean has DJ'd weddings and events at Riviera in downtown Ottawa. It is an upscale restaurant and private-event space set in a grand former bank hall, so he plans the night around a tall, hard-surfaced room rather than a soft, low-ceilinged hall.

Yes. Sean brings his own DJ sound system and dance-floor lighting, and tunes both to the room on the night. A high stone-and-marble hall like Riviera carries sound differently than a carpeted ballroom, so he sets levels for clarity over volume and keeps the lighting tasteful for the architecture.

Yes. Sean covers ceremony, cocktail hour and reception as one DJ and MC, so there are no handoffs across the night. Because every couple uses a space like Riviera differently, he asks for your exact run-of-show on the planning call and tailors the sound and timing to your layout rather than assuming a fixed setup.

Yes. Downtown Ottawa and the Sparks Street area are home turf - Riviera sits right in the core, and city-centre venues are part of Sean's normal coverage. No travel surcharge for downtown.

It depends on hours, whether you want ceremony plus reception, and lighting. Sean gives a real quote on a quick call once he knows the shape of your night - see the wedding DJ cost guide for the ranges before you reach out.

I set my speakers to throw short and focused, angled into the dance floor rather than filling the whole hall. The goal is a kick you feel in your ribs without the vocals turning into a wall of noise off the back wall.

I keep it understated. In a room with this much natural drama, the mic work should be warm and direct, just cuing the timeline without making announcements feel like a production.

There is no set clock. I watch for coffee service and the last round of table photos, then I start threading in tracks that tell the older tables we are dialing up the night, so when the floor opens, half the room is already primed.