Three Awesome Tips For A Successful Wedding With Your DJ
Your wedding is both an exciting and sometimes a taxing new chapter in your life. The Interviewing and hiring process for choosing your vendors, booking your venue and preparing for your family and guest arrivals, can be an exhausting time. Everything about your wedding is important to be sure, but working with your entertainment and/or DJ is one of the most important for a fun, dance-able and memorable evening of celebration.
One of the most difficult things for a DJ, or any DJ for that matter, is to put together a correct playlist for a bride and groom that are not engaged in the musical portion of their special day. Sometimes, a couple will go through the process of meeting and hiring their DJ and then just disappear off the DJs radar until the day of their wedding. Sometimes It seems that a couple expects the DJ to read their mind and come up with the perfect music for them. While it is true, many DJs have a lot of experience with a variety of venues and events, including weddings, and each wedding has its’ own unique characteristics that only the couple can communicate to their DJ.
#1 Don’t Hide Behind Your Wedding Planner
Some couples tend to hide behind their wedding planner as well and not be in touch with their DJ. Although a wedding planner is excellent at organizing and taking much of the pressure off of the wedding couple, music is not their specialty. It is important not to have a third party between the bride and groom and the DJ. I have heard of an example where the DJ had to ask all of his questions through the wedding planner and then wait while the wedding planner asked the bridal couple and then got back to the DJ. Not only did this take a long time but the DJ was getting vague answers…such as “play up-tempo music” and “we will leave the music in your hands.” Well, come the wedding day, the DJ discovered the bride had wanted club mix versions of Top 40 music, with the song lyrics, and only wanted the DJ to play a few minutes of each song before moving on to the next song. Had the DJ known, they could have had those club mixes in their library at the wedding. Like anything else, you need to have the right tools for the job and preparation is key to having the correct music for the event. So, be engaged directly with your DJ.
#2 Communicate Well With Your DJ
A second tip on this topic is actually the next step in expressing your wishes to your DJ. Try not to be vague in what you want your DJ to do. Music is often a personal thing and can be subjective so getting a clear picture of what a couple wants, in terms of music, is part of the DJs job. Periodically, guests at an event will say, “can you play something faster?” I will often ask for a specific example but they may say “I don’t know, you are the DJ“ So, I will play what I think is a good fast dance song and they will still come back not happy with what I picked. I am sure you can see my point. Be concise with examples. Ask the DJ for ideas if you are not sure or brainstorm with your fiancé.  A little bit of planning will go a long way to making the music at your wedding be successful and to the liking of yourself and the majority of your guests.
The opposite side of the coin is not to get mired down in music choices. Remember, you can’t please everyone all the time. For the dance music, don’t be too concise on music playing times, switching up or order of the music. The best wedding events are where the music flows freely with the couple’s, and the guest’s requests mixed in the DJ’s choices.
#3 Give Feedback Early And Be Patient
The third tip is to give time for changes. Try to avoid last-minute changes in the music if you can and certainly don’t change the whole theme of your music at the reception. It is often possible for the DJ to do that because of their large library of music, but not always, and it is not advisable. Here again, I have heard of a couple who decided in the dinner section of their reception, that they didn’t like the dinner music they had chosen and wanted to switch over to a blues-themed music style in the middle of dinner. The DJ was able to do that but did struggle to find enough blues music in their library to fulfill the request. The music selection did not flow well with the classy location of the venue or with many of the guests for that matter.
Some cultural weddings can be notorious for this and requests such as “Quick, play another song just like the last song!”  are not uncommon at a crucial spot in the wedding reception. Although I’ve had a lot of experience with this and prepares ahead whenever this is likely to happen, other DJs may not have as much familiarity with these types of weddings or at the last second requests. Just keep in mind too many last-minute changes can throw things into disarray.
To be sure there are lots of things to be aware of when working with your DJ to put on a musically entertaining wedding. These three items are a few of the things to keep in mind when coordinating with your DJ at your wedding reception music.
Also read the article on Planning Your Pre-Wedding Workout Routine!