When booking a DJ for your wedding, we recommend ensuring that you book the DJ to start from the moment your guests enter the reception at least. Sometimes people just want to book the DJ for the dance floor portion of the night only, but there are a few reasons that isn’t ideal.
First, it’s not a great look having your DJ dragging in gear and setting up the equipment whilst there are people sitting there having dinner. Even worse, they might arrive during speeches and this would be distracting for the speakers and the guests.
Some people opt to have the DJ set up early and then come back for the dance floor portion. This is fine, but we charge an early set up fee, and if not in the local area of the DJ to be able to head home, charge an hourly “stand by” rate to cover their time. By the time this is paid, it wouldn’t be much more investment to just have them also cover dinner.
It’s much nicer to have the DJ there and starting to play music as your guests enter the reception from our experience. This also gives the DJ the opportunity of “reading the room” and getting a good gauge of the guests over dinner to help plan the flow and music that will hit for the dance floor portion of the night.
If you didn’t want the DJ over dinner, what was the alternative? A Spotify playlist? Nothing? There is nothing worse than eating in a silent room with not music to provide ambience. It’s awkward, cold and clinical feeling. A Spotify playlist is a better option, but what if the music isn’t really flowing as well as you hoped? Who is going to change it to be responsive to the mood? If you have your DJ there, they will do this. They will assess the mood and curate the music to match the mood.
Many couples are now opting to have the DJ even before the reception starts to provide music also for the canapes time. This is a great addition as it helps to create a welcoming atmosphere with suitable music playing in the background whilst people enjoy their canapes and drinks.
We hope this has been helpful in helping you to decide how long to book your DJ for.
