Whilst I appreciate that price is an important consideration with every aspect of the planning of your wedding, the quality, reliability, experience and professionalism of the DJ is paramount. I would recommend any couples looking to book a DJ, to do a bit of homework, and book a DJ based on recommendations and reputation firstly, and price secondly. A Google search will always give you the better-quality suggestions. I see many people post a search for a DJ on various Facebook Groups and names of ‘DJ’s’ fly out from everywhere. Whilst some people recommend or tag a DJ recommendation based on their personal experience, many of these ‘recommendations’ are from friends or relations. Therefore. I recommend by default to use Google every time for your initial search to filter out the many substandard suggestions that always get mentioned.

First and foremost, check out his credentials, word of mouth, client Testimonials on his website and the Reviews page on his Facebook page as this is like a ‘Trip Advisor’ for DJ’s and cannot be falsified or edited and will give a clear indication of the professional service and level of entertainment you can expect. Anyone can buy some equipment and call themselves a DJ, and practise their craft at the expense of your wedding or function, but not necessarily do the job professionally or properly!

The evening party is the perfect end to a perfect day and the wrong choice of DJ will certainly taint those happy memories at the very least and you cannot afford to have regrets after the event, as some couples have had with entertainment horror stories.

 You need a DJ with a vast musical knowledge and he needs the skill and experience to use his music collection to select his music to give you and your guests the best night possible with the experience to gauge the mood of your guests at any given time of the night and programme his music accordingly. Research has shown that in a few years’ time, the main things that wedding guests remember are the food and the DJ/evening entertainment.

 If your budget will stretch to a good band as well, the right band will certainly be a good enhancement to the evening, but a good DJ is still essential to fill in between and complement the band’s set and the wrong choice of ‘band fill in,’ i.e. the band playing music through their PA system, or offering to ‘do a bit of a disco,’ could prove disastrous! Another thing that couples tend to have low on their list of priorities until near the date is timings. An early wedding at, say, midday will give everyone the chance to enjoy the day and make the most of everything without rushing. If the wedding is late, then by the time they finish at the church, complete all the photo options, get to the venue, enjoy the wedding breakfast and speeches, turn the room around, it can spill over into the time allocated for the night party. Perfect timings for the night party are, DJ start at 7.30/8 pm with background music, food at around 8.15 pm, first dance at around 9 pm, then lights down and crank it up, party time!

The first question many prospective brides or clients ask is ‘how much for a disco’? Many of us DJ’s feel that the role of the DJ at your wedding is undervalued by some clients, but likewise there are many DJ’s who value their services very low and price accordingly, so beware of this as the adage in life is so true, you really do get what you pay for. So yes, again, price is important but it should never be the first consideration. That doesn’t mean to say that the good DJ’s are expensive as I feel that the price paid for the service we provide for a wedding in relation to the total wedding budget is very reasonable. Beware of the budget DJ’s as it’s too late for regrets on the night.