Rabbit, rabbit friends! Today I’m sharing a great article from a friend, Michael from Wedding DJ. Definitely a great read if you are considering hiring a DJ for your wedding! Lots of great tips!

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Your wedding day is said to be the most significant event of your life. Studies have also shown that as much as 80% of your big days success is influenced by the entertainment you choose. Factoring in both these claims, to make sure that the day you and your partner marry is a hit with guests, securing professional entertainment is integral.

Every wedding is different, and each celebration has different requirements. Depending on the style of wedding that you plan of having, hiring a DJ to service your entertainment needs can be a fantastic choice. As opposed to a band or a musician, a DJ can offer a very cost effective resolution. Apart from a disc jokey being the cheaper option, they have the capacity to procure a more diverse music library, cater to more genres and tastes than live entertainment. In saying this, we are not bagging bands and musicians, it just boils down to what type of wedding you are hosting. Booking an experienced and trustworthy DJ for your big day can be a very difficult task. With quite a large number of companies to choose from and a majority of those agencies being online, it can be very arduous to detect which DJ entertainment companies are legitimate, professional and trustworthy of carrying out the task of entertaining at your reception on your big day.

Below are Top 9 Tips to hiring a professional Wedding DJ:

1. Hire an experienced DJ: This tip is top of the list for a reason. Albert Einstein noted that “the only source of knowledge is experience”. Prior to making any bookings with any company, it is best to see firstly how much experience the DJs at a particular agency have under their belt. A well seasoned wedding DJ will know the proceedings of a reception like the back of their hand, they will know the perfect song to suit the perfect moment and they will add a touch of class to your wedding. An inexperienced DJ, simply will not. Take the time to know the agency, the DJs they send out, and their previous experiences dealing with weddings.

2. Make sure the DJ is licensed: With music piracy and illegal downloads on the rise, it is essential that the wedding DJ you decide to hire is authorised to play music and songs commercially and is licensed with the appropriate bodies. Depending on which country you are in, this will be different. This is important for a few reasons. If a DJ is unlicensed, and a venue or a representative of ARIA obtains knowledge of this, you put your wedding at risk of not having entertainment for the rest of the evening as they do have the power to order the DJ to stop playing. A licensed DJ obtains all their music and songs from reputable outlets such as iTunes and other retailers. Not only is this music legally attained, it also ensures that it is the highest quality version of the file or song. Sure, it is easy for many DJs and regular people to download and acquire songs from illegal music piracy sites. However, these versions of songs are often very low quality, odd remixes or even cut short. When these songs are played out loud on speakers and systems, it is apparent that they have been pirated and sound distorted.

3. Ensure image & presentation indicate quality: This tip can be difficult to gauge when a lot of wedding entertainment vendors are now online and do not have physical locations that you can visit. However, from our experience, a poor website, online presence and branding usually results in, you guessed it, a poor quality DJ and even worse equipment being sent out to your wedding. You would like a DJ to come out who is presentable, respectful to the dress code and is also friendly and constantly smiling. If you would like these qualities in your wedding entertainment, you need to hire from a company who has those same values instilled in their marketing and the way they represent themselves through their branding. A professionally made website is a key factor into determining whether you are dealing with a professional DJ Agency or not. If you are browsing a site that is old, out-dated and tacky, then chances are the DJ service you will be receiving will be similar.

4. Pricing: As the old adage goes, “You get what you pay for”, most definitely remains valid in this regard. We understand some companies charge more so than others. Please do not let pricing be the leading decision making factor when choosing the entertainment for one of the biggest days of your life. Instead of looking how much an agency costs, try to look at the value that you are getting when you hire a DJ for your wedding. You need to try and think to yourself, what am I really getting when I am hiring from these cheaper agencies. This stands testament to booking all vendors and aspects of your special day. The difference between a lower tier and a top range DJ is a maximum of $300. For such an integral component of your wedding, something that comes around once in a lifetime, a small increase in price can make a huge difference in value. Don’t be left embarrassed and regretting your decisions, this is the most special day of your life, so don’t be afraid to spend a little bit more to ensure quality.

5. Make sure they are a Wedding DJ: Yes, there are different types of DJs and entertainment agencies out there. Some specialise in parties, others in corporate entertainment and some specialise in weddings. Book with a company who strictly deals with weddings, this will ensure your big day gets the attention it deserves and everything will go smoothly. Niche wedding DJs know what they are doing, always come prepared and can make the difference.

6. Listen to live samples: When booking a DJ online, it can be hard to substantiate the DJ’s mixing abilities, experience and the sounds they play without a demo. You should ask all agencies that you are considering booking if they have any live samples that you can have a listen to. These days, this can be done very easily over the internet, either on their website or via sites such as Soundcloud. Here are a few live samples from a Wedding DJ so you are able to hear their mixing abilities, the styles and genres that they specialize in and weddings they have done in the past. You would not book a wedding photographer without seeing their previous works, in the same sense, do not book a DJ until you have heard some live samples from previous weddings that they have provided entertainment at.

7. Equipment: A DJ is only as good as the tools that they use, and their equipment needs to be top notch to ensure reliability and trust. For your wedding day, make sure that the company you choose use reputable and trusted brands. The thing with poor equipment, it not only sounds terrible, looks old and bulky, but it is also unreliable and could cut out at any second. Cheap companies usually use cheap equipment. Also, be sure to ask the agency if they have back ups on hand in case anything goes wrong or any of the equipment is faulty and stops working. These things do happen (hopefully not to anyone reading this), but did you book with a company who has the capacity to deal with these issues? Let’s hope so.

8. View their playlists: Ideally, you would like to make sure that the DJ agency you are booking with has the music that you want, and if they do not have it, they are at least willing to source the music in time for your wedding day. Due to weddings usually having people from a wide variety of age groups, it is also good to have a company who has a wide database of music available. To keep everyone happy, the DJ should have an array of genres that they can call upon, and classic songs from every decade from the 60’s to current music. Check if the DJ is open to requests from guests. Some DJs refuse to take requests and find it offensive. Attempt to steer clear of DJs with egos. You want the music at your wedding to reflect you and your guests, so you should have as much say as you are willing to put into the entertainment. If the DJ agency does not have the music you want, or is not willing to organize the music you want for your wedding, there is no point in booking with that company. The DJ should be bending over backwards to make sure their client is happy.

9. Make contact with the agency: Don’t just email the manager, or read information on the company website. You can tell a lot about an organization and a person by talking to them on the phone. Have a quick chat to the DJ or Manager on the phone about the details and requirements of your wedding. If they are confident and friendly over the phone, then proceed to organising a consultation with you and your partner. If you are happy with the meeting, and all the above tips are checked off, then it is safe to say that you are ready to book a DJ to entertain at your wedding.

I hope the aforementioned tips prove helpful in your endeavors to booking professional, reliable and quality entertainment for your big day, and assist in making a more informed decision regarding one of the most important aspects on one of the most important days of your lives.

Michael
Wedding DJ