How to Choose a Wedding DJ
In my experience, music plays a very important role is most people’s daily lives, therefore the music for their wedding is that much more important to them. You most likely have never hired a Wedding DJ for any event, let alone your wedding, and you might be uncertain of where to begin the process. If you have already hired a wedding planner or a photographer, ask him or her for their favorite Wedding DJs.
They most likely have a short list and ask them for some details about what differentiates one Wedding Reception DJ from the next. Their answers to your questions could assist to narrow your selections. Some questions you might have are how interactive and involved in the entire process is each DJ. Meaning do they have one initial meeting in person and the rest of your communication is via email or on the phone?
As compared to a Wedding DJ that meets you in person, not just to sign a contract or collect a check, but do they do a walk through of your wedding venue, do they have a final meeting in person just prior to your wedding to go over your time line and your final play list?
Ask your planner or photographer how each Wedding DJ handles their master of Ceremonies and how do they behave at the reception? ? Are they very interactive, do they dance with your quests, do they use their microphone for more than the necessary announcements or are they more low key?
Once you have a list of possible Wedding DJ’s, I strongly suggest that you speak to them on the phone and if you like their response to your questions, make an appointment to meet them in person. Remember that the DJ acts as the MC for your wedding, this necessarily means that the DJ makes announcements throughout the event, so that your guests will not only hear their voice and the music that they play, but that they will be seen as well.
A face-to-face meeting enables you to get a better sense of what this Dj is about and how they approach DJing. A good DJ is more than someone who just plays music, they are an entertainer.
KEY QUESTIONS TO ASK A PROSPECTIVE DJ
- Is the person who you meet going to Dj your wedding? Many companies have one person meet you, answer your questions, go over your play list, time line etc. and a completely different person, whom you have never met, DJ’s your wedding.
- How would they describe their style and approach to MCing? Some couples want a DJ to be very interactive, while the majority of brides and grooms today prefer a DJ to be the facilitator who ensures that everything happens on schedule and when it is time for dancing, they get everyone on the dance floor without being the center of attention.
- What is the process for making the play list for your wedding? Do they have a song list and how do they accommodate songs and or artists that are not on their list? What about the do not play list, how do they handle requests that are on the “do not play under any circumstances?”
- How do they interact with the other wedding vendors? In spite of the best intentions, sometimes the various events don’t happen as planed; the DJ needs to be able to be flexible in regards to the schedule, making sure that the photographer is ready for the next event on your time line etc.
- Does he/she have a professional website that includes glowing reviews from satisfied brides and grooms? Will he/she give you the names and contact information of some of these brides and grooms. Make sure to contact a few of their past clients and ask them some of the above questions.
So you interviewed some prospective DJ’s but what about the bottom line? I know that most brides and grooms need to be price conscious however, if the DJ’s fee is the guiding principle for your decision you might be doing yourself a disservice. The technical advances of the ease of downloading music from ITunes, as well as relatively inexpensive laptops and dual, IPod mixers most anyone can call themselves a “DJ.”
All of the areas that I just covered point to the fact that a lot more goes into a great wedding DJ then playing music. So you have an overall budget for your wedding, but sometimes brides and grooms set an arbitrary figure for each component, such as entertainment, flowers etc. At the end of the day you have to ask yourselves to rate your priorities from most important to least important, this will help guide you in the budgetary process.
Each profession has a range of least expensive to most expensive and after speaking with a number of Disc Jockeys you will get a pretty good idea of where each of these Dj’s fits within the price parameters. Finally, ask yourselves which candidate that you interviewed made the best overall impression. Often times you can’t always put your finger on it, but usually one person stands out above the rest and this should always play an important role in your decision making.
If you are in need of a Wedding DJ, I would be delighted to speak with you about all that I can do to provide the soundtrack for your special day.