s the cover photo suggests, things could get weird. They generally don't, but they could.
Twenty years from now when people reminisce about your wedding or event, all of your vendors will likely be forgotten. Except your DJ, and probably only if they were really bad.
Have you attended an event, other than your high school prom, when the DJ thought they were the world's best MC? They may have had a blinky light tree stand. This can be hilarious in an awful kind of way, unless it's your wedding. And then the sting can last a long time.
Here's the root of the problem. The barriers to entry for becoming a DJs is so low that the profession attracts a lot of hobbyists. Since we all have a smart phone in our pocket, all of us think that we're now a DJ. But in reality, that just makes us all what we call a Push-Play-DJ.
Before we recommend how to go about picking your DJ, let us tell you how not to do it. If you have a friend or family member who is gifting you the service, or giving you a discounted rate, don't do it. Merely knowing someone doesn't provide any indication of the quality of their work. And if the friend or family member is gifting the service, they really should be attending the wedding and not working it. Who gifts an expensive service out of friendship and isn't even invited to the event?
Also, don't select your DJ based solely on cost. DJs, like most vendors, start in the business by heavily discounting their rates. They shouldn't go to school on you. We do our very best to prevent this from happening with our curated approved vendor DJ list.The Push-Play, blinky-light variety is a distant memory as a result, thank goodness.
And when it comes to cost, some DJs like to add on additional services. We seem to be living in an add-on world these days. DJs may charge extra for speakers or lighting. We've even some get into the cold spark fountain game for send offs. Our venues generally provide ample lighting and audio for DJs, so these are likely a wasted cost. DJs new to our venues may not to know this and often hate to walk away from extra income.
Unlike bands, most DJs don't know much about sound engineering, so their sound may suffer as a result. They may talk a lot. They may play music the couple doesn't care for, or they may not have a broad range of music knowledge. There are so many ways to go wrong with a DJ.
I remember our very first event at Clementine. A condescending British DJ, "DJ Tom", kept telling us he was hearing a "clipping sound". Over and over. Imagine a DJ, in a snooty British accent, repeatedly saying "clipping sound". Not pleasant. Well, the culprit was that he couldn't manage plugging his rig into a concert quality system and engineering the sound. As a bright side of that experience, we now make all DJs perform a sound check and lock down the system afterward. Ground control to DJ Tom, no fiddling after the sound check.
Then how do I pick a wedding DJ?
Unfortunately, determining the quality of a DJ is difficult. It's not as easy as picking a photographer based upon their website. So we highly recommend sticking to our curated list of approved DJs.
Don't use DJs that are insistent upon upselling you on speakers, lights or sparkler sendoffs (which are forbidden in Nashville). Don't use DJs that don't know how to engineer sound. Don't use a DJ that cannot play music from every decade from the 50s to the present.
And as a rule of thumb, if they spin vinyl they probably know what they're doing.
