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When you’ve pictured your wedding day for as long as you have, you want all the right details to come into place. You want to marry your favorite person. You want to wear a picture-perfect dress. You want to eat delicious food, and you want to listen to the best music. Unfortunately, all too often, finding a great wedding DJ proves to be a challenge.
Why is that?
Your wedding DJ is the person who sets the mood for your entire reception. They serve as your master of ceremonies, get people out onto the dance floor, and listen to your desires for one of the best nights of your life. That can be a pretty tall list for anyone…which is why you need an experienced DJ in your corner that night.
When it comes to selecting an awesome wedding DJ, make sure you choose yours based on these 7 signs. This list will help you find a talented, thoughtful, and prepared DJ to add to your team.
1. Your Wedding DJ Should Have Experience in the Industry
Unfortunately, one of the biggest and costliest mistakes that couples can make when choosing a wedding DJ is selecting someone without experience. When you settle for someone who hasn’t been in the industry for some time, you’re leaving room for a lot of error.
Remember, once hired, a DJ becomes part of your wedding team, and they need to work seamlessly within that team to ensure everything goes smoothly. They must show up on time, act professionally, and abide by event protocol. When you hire someone experienced, you give yourself peace of mind. You’re also much more likely to check off the other six items on this list.
Don’t forego experience! It’s the number one indicator that something may go amiss.
2. Your Wedding DJ Should Be a Good Listener
When you hire your wedding DJ, they should listen closely to your desires for the day and instructions for the reception. This is the biggest day of your life up until this point. You’re trusting this individual with the flow of the event, and they should take that responsibility seriously.
Often, a solid sign of listening is whether your wedding DJ is asking questions. Do they know exactly what your wishes are? Do they feel confident that they can make it come true, or are they helping to reset expectations according to what is realistic according to your timeline or venue?
3. Your Wedding DJ Should Serve as Your Master of Ceremonies
When most people think of a wedding DJ, they think of an individual who provides music all night. In reality, a wedding DJ is much more. They serve as the “master of ceremonies” who introduces the wedding party, engages with guests, and ensures that the reception flows smoothly.
If a wedding DJ ever falls short at a wedding you attend, you’ll know. For example, names in the bridal parties may be mispronounced. Maybe there could be confusion regarding who goes to the buffet when. Or perhaps the dance floor just never gets going like the bride and groom envisioned. In all these scenarios, the wedding DJ had a hand!
4. Your Wedding DJ Should Set Your Reception’s Tone
When you think about your wedding reception in your mind, you probably think of the decorations, the food, the cake, and the dancing. But all of that is visual, and it’s unlikely that your memory is playing any music in your mind. Yet, when you look back on your wedding memories, one of the first things you’ll probably think of is whether you got down on the dance floor or if you hated the music.
A wedding reception’s tone is set by the music that your DJ plays, and knowing how to set the correct tone requires experience and preparation. You want your wedding DJ to be able to read the crowd while incorporating the couple’s favorite songs and getting the crowd excited. Not everyone is able to do it — it takes skill!
5. Your Wedding DJ Should Work with Your Wedding Venue
As noted above, your wedding DJ is a larger part of your wedding team. Therefore, they should work not only with you (the soon-to-be-married couple), but they should also coordinate with the venue. This involves contacting the reception hall, making arrangements for setup and logistics, and reducing the couple’s stress (not adding to it!).
6. Your Wedding DJ Should Be Punctual and Professional
It can take hours to prepare a DJ setup for a wedding reception, and an experienced wedding DJ will know this. An amazing wedding DJ will arrive well before necessary to set up everything they need, test it out, and get the reception venue ready to go. They’ll also have backup equipment just in case anything malfunctions on the day of.
You should also expect professionalism from your DJ. They should be well-dressed and well-groomed. While not every situation can be planned for, an awesome wedding DJ will be sober and in control of any situation that arises.
7. Your Wedding DJ Should Make Your Day Less Stressful
There are so many elements of your wedding day that can be stressful, and your DJ simply shouldn’t be one of them. A great wedding DJ will know that you’re coordinating a million logistics, and as such, they’ll want to reduce your load in whatever way possible. A few ways that they may alleviate your stress is by:
• Arriving early
• Taking care of the venue and any equipment they use
• Helping your guests have a good time
• Paying attention to the details you’ve communicated
o Ex: important songs and bridal party name pronunciations
Final Thoughts
Are you searching for a Charleston wedding and event DJ? At Shane Griffin Entertainment, we’re here for all your major events. From weddings and parties to corporate and community events, we proudly offer our services after 16+ years in the industry.
Visit here for more information about our services.