DJ horror stories & questions to avoid this happening to you
We should have hired the DJ my sister had
“Oh my God !! Our DJ was the worst ever. He was a friend of my maid of honor and she said he was good so I hired him. The music was outdated and he did not play any requests, everybody hated him. He was obnoxious and rude on the microphone. I could not believe some of the things he was saying at my wedding! It got so bad my husband had to ask him to stop talking. We should have hired the DJ my sister had at her wedding. He was very professional.”
LESSON LEARNED: A friend may mean well, but often lack the experience that a professional has. You need someone with a gift for public speaking, who can manage the mood, create an organized flow, make clear concise announcements and keep a positive fun energy at your event, not just play music.
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR DJ: Do you have references from weddings couples from the last year?
Different DJ than who we were told we would have
“We hired a DJ company for our wedding, the DJ we received from this company was a different DJ than who we were told we would have. We met with him 2 days before our wedding to go over everything and he seemed confident that we would do a good job. However, during our reception, he played the wrong wedding party entrance song, mispronounced the names of my mother, my maid of honor, and the best man. He sounded very unprepared and unprofessional. Not only that, he barely spoke for the rest of the evening, and failed to announce our cake cutting so that half the guests missed it. I would never recommend this company to ANYONE.”
LESSON LEARNED: Some DJ companies you find on the Internet are more like booking agencies that contracting the cheapest DJ they can get. These DJs often lacks the critical experience needed to do your wedding.
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR DJ: Will YOU be the DJ at my wedding? Or, Can we meet the DJ that will be at our wedding?
The opportunity to meet your DJ face to face:
“He played the wrong song during the Grand Entrance, and he played the wrong song during the father-daughter dance, caught the mistake and then played the correct song. He also announced my one of my bridesmaids for the toast instead of my maid of honor. All errors could have been avoided if we had an opportunity to meet my DJ face to face prior to the wedding date to clearly review what I wanted. Unfortunately, the DJ did not take the time to meet with us face to face until the day of the wedding. The only communication we had was through the owner who told me that he will not be at my wedding.”
LESSON LEARNED: ALWAYS meet your DJ face to face! These days many people try to take care of things online. But when contracting for a service, especially one that requires talent and experience, you need to meet them in person. Your DJ and MC will be the “Voice” of your celebration, the host who represents your family. This is one vendor you should always meet in person.
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR DJ: Can we meet our DJ a week before the wedding to go over announcements, special music selection, pronunciations, the agenda, and any other details?
This guy who DJ’d “on the side”
”A friend told us about this guy who DJ’d “on the side.” He was a fraction of the cost of other companies and we found out, the hard way, why. We gave him a $300.00 deposit over a year before our wedding. About a month before our wedding we called his number and it was disconnected! It was so stressful trying to find a DJ a month before our wedding. We still don't know what happened to him, or our deposit. We learned our $300 lesson, to hire a professional.
LESSON LEARNED: Professionals must earn a living from good referrals, and will always have a contract. Another important feature of a professional is being licensed & insured. DJs that do it “on the side” will not invest time & money into becoming licensed and insured.
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR DJ: Are you licensed, insured & do you have a contract?
I don't think he had any idea what he was doing
"Our DJ was a nice guy, but I don't think he had any idea what he was doing, he didn't introduce our bridal party correctly, he forgot to announce the cake being cut, the caterers kept telling him to release tables because he wasn’t and it took us forever to start dancing after dinner. When we finally did our first dance, the DJ did it so abruptly that our photographer was still in the lobby taking pictures of our parents. Not only did the photographer miss the dance, so did our parents! Shortly after the DJ announced the father daughter dance and my dad was still not in the room. It was a total disaster."
LESSON LEARNED: Although the DJ is there to play music & make announcements, that is only about 40% of what a professional DJ does. A professional DJ will take responsibility of almost every aspect of the wedding like dinner, formalities, cake cutting, crowd control, even pictures (like sunset or after the ceremony). This ensures that everything runs as smoothly as possible and in sync with all vendors at the wedding.
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR DJ: Do you work with the photographers, hall managers and my other vendors from my wedding?
