This is not really a secret to people with years of experience in the wedding industry, but most couples just don’t know what will lead them to a good DJ. There are two very big secrets that couples should know, but that aren’t always told. First, it’s common practice for mid-to-large scale DJ companies to assign your wedding to other DJs. Second, I’ve learned that some companies market very ambitious claims surrounding the DJ or teams experience level. Oftentimes, this leaves couples stuck with a “professional DJ” that’s actually incredibly new with little or no experience or knowledge about how to DJ. The secret to finding a good DJ is simple; it starts and ends with who the DJ actually is. You need to get the name of the DJ that’s going to make your event the best day ever, because talent isn’t universally shared or distributed evenly and one DJs level of experience isn’t necessarily the same as their associates. Talent and experience are both associated with an individual’s ability, not a group’s performance, and as such are both things you want to secure for your wedding.
Most people don’t know that subcontracting is prevalent in this industry and that not every DJ a company sends out will have the same level of experience. Years ago, a friend asked me about DJing his wedding in KW and unfortunately, I was already booked. I offered him some advice which was to chat with a couple of DJs to see who’s a good fit, and he found one. However, at his wedding, a random DJ showed up, because his DJ wasn’t feeling well. Things were fine until he asked the DJ if he could mix the music to which the DJ responded, “I’m not that type of DJ, that’s not something I do.” The importance of mixing to him was something he had discussed with the DJ/company prior to the wedding. He wasn’t happy about this, understandably, and the next day he noticed his “sick” DJ had posted of pics of himself with a different bride and groom on social media, which just happened to be the same date as his wedding.
There’s experience, and then there’s work experience, which I consider to be completely different criteria. There are a lot of DJs in the industry right now who claim to have 10 years of experience that really doesn’t add up to 10 years of experience DJing weddings or even just in public. There’s simply not that many DJs with that amount of experience working weddings. The reality is that the average career span for wedding DJs is short and turnover is very high. Real working experience is what really matters, and will help you get a better DJ for your wedding. Something couples should really be asking is “how many weddings has DJ (name), done?” If the answer is something like, “Our company does 100+ weddings a year” or “We’ve done 500 weddings total” that’s great; but clarify with them that you want to know about the DJ for your wedding. Get that information, then validate their working experience by reading online reviews. A DJ with 10+ years experience will have at least 20-25 reviews mentioning them by name and these should be over the span of many years.
If you’re hiring a DJ for your wedding based on skill and experience then your DJ should be named in the contract because the better DJs are going to be booked first. These are the DJs that account for 50-75% of the 5-star reviews at companies with multiple DJs. If the owner is also an active DJ, the owner will generally account for 30-100% of the positive reviews depending number of DJs the company hires. Some DJs are going to be a better option for your wedding day. There’s a numbers of reasons for this including experience, skill, education and training. While some DJs are learning on the job, others may have 10+ years of experience and others still may have a combination of experience and professional training. Each of these factors can considerably change the quality of your wedding day. In contrast, if the DJ isn’t named you can’t research them and you don’t know who or what you’re getting. This is the number 1 reason why couples would end up being disappointed with their DJ, or, if they know exactly who they’re getting, helps to ensure their wedding day stays smooth and stress-free.
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