HOW TO CHOOSE A DJ
By: Jeff Ostroff

hoosing the DJ for your wedding is the most fun during your wedding preparations. You get to meet a lot of people who are generally nice, outgoing, and personable. Of course the big debate is DJ or Band. That's always one of the hard decisions a newlywed couple must make. The biggest advantage a DJ has over a band is cost. And Let's face it folks, there are some lousy bands out there. We've seen a few awesome bands too, but the good bands CAN cost a lot of money. I saw an excellent band at a function 2 years ago that charges $4000 for the 8 member group. One problem that plagues MANY weddings with bands is feedback. Let's just call it Jeff's Law of Wedding Acoustics: Keep the microphone away from the speaker! But many bands can't grasp this simple concept and too many times the result is ear piercing feedback. We were at a wedding last year where the band produced feedback half a dozen times. Wedding guests do not like this. So there are pros and cons to both sides, but we chose a DJ for our wedding due to cost, and we did not have to worry about some marginal singer crooning our favorite songs out of tune. Since we were going to hear top 40 anyway, why not hear the real thing. We were anal about not hearing ANY feedback, so the decision was made. And many bands will wish I believed in UFOs hidden inside comets for this one, but there is the risk that they won't show up. Sometimes they party hardy and decide they don't want to show up. This probably happens more than a DJ not showing up. A recording engineer friend told me they always arrive late at the studio. And before you musicians get all indignant, it happened to my sister. She hired a highly recommended harpist who was out getting drunk when she should have been at the wedding. Luckily I had brought a wedding CD and the catering manager brought out a player.

Get References From Friends, Coworkers, Reception halls.
Your best resource is people you know. Ask around, try locally famous DJs from radio stations. Some people moonlight as DJs and are great. Talk to recent newlyweds. If you are having the reception at a decent hotel or resort, they may have a list of preferred vendors that you may want to call. This list contains vendors that the resort has worked with and knows to be reliable and professional. Remember, the resort's reputation is stake also. But beware of secondary hotels or reception sites that might not be as scrupulous. Some caterers may get a kickback, so know who you are dealing with. Our DJ was recommended to us by the catering manager at the Boca Raton Resort where we had the reception. Our DJ did her wedding, and she oversees numerous weddings every year so she knew who the right DJ was, and boy was she right!

Interview 3-5 Disc Jockeys.
Don't just rush right in to pick your DJ, they all have different personalities. A truly professional DJ will have videos to show you. This is the best way to see the DJ in action, and is the single best tool for the consumer aside from seeing the DJ in action at another wedding first. If you have any special songs, ask the DJ if they have it or can get it. Depending on how complex your reception is, if your reception is in a big well known resort or hotel you really want a true professional who works in the big places, not someone who travels around the condo clubhouse circuit. Many DJ's may get offended by this, but you really want someone with the experience of working with the catering departments of these larger venues. This synergy between DJ and catering manager is what keeps your function running smoothly.

Here Are Some Questions To Ask Your Prospective DJ:

Ask the DJ if they have ever performed at your reception site before. It helps that they know the place, how to get there, and they have a repor with the staff there. Every little thing like this just makes it less likely that you will have any problems.

Ask them about their company, their experience, and if they will play CD's you provide. Some DJ's will have a stock list of songs they play and except for the first dance, do not give you much choice. You want a DJ to allow you to choose at least 50% of the songs like ours did. And never let them turn down a request from one of your guests. You want a DJ who is flexible, and has a HUGE selection, so that any request from your guests can be fulfilled. This step is VERY crucial, because the DJ will be playing about 60 songs during your reception, and you want nothing but the best tunes to keep your dance floor crowded. Many DJ's play too many 70's disco, that just sounds old and stale. While there are some great disco tunes from the 70's many of them are not really danceable. "I Will Survive" is an old stale one that we hear a lot of and with its negative views is not appropriate for a wedding. You want partying themes like Y.M.C.A.

Ask the DJ where they will setup in the room, and if they bring a dance floor with them. Some reception sites require the DJ to bring the dance floor. You MAY not want a DJ who comes in and elevates themselves on the stage. We liked our DJ's philosophy that the DJ should NEVER overshadow the bride and groom and he did NOT want to be up on the stage. Rather, he setup off the right, and bucking tradition at the resort, we put the entire bridal party head table up on the stage. This allowed more space in the room for the guests, and ALL of them could see us too.

Ask the DJ if they need to be fed. The catering department will need to know so they can bill you accordingly. They usually make sandwiches for the DJ's, musicians, photographers, etc. Our DJ also refused to be served food. He feels we are spending enough money and should not have to spend more to feed the DJ. He also felt it was unprofessional for the DJ to be eating when they should be working. We really admired his philosophy on this topic. The hotel would have charged $18 for his food. We could not even get him to take a Coke.

Ask the DJ if they have a list of top wedding requests and song suggestions in all categories. Some DJs will also have a request form for you to fill out.

While not a necessity, ask the DJ if they ever do corporate functions. If you can get one who does, then you really have someone worth their weight in gold, because these are true professionals dealing with large scale projects and all the Snafus that go along with them. The DJ we chose does numerous corporate functions and companies have paid to fly him there. If you are a DJ, this is an impressive selling point. Not a deal maker, but impressive.

Ask the DJ what sort of problems they have encountered at weddings and how they got around them. And of course, what's the cost? Most DJ's charge $500 - $800 for a typical 4 hour reception. As an example, our DJ's employees are $500. But we chose the owner, who was $750.

Let the DJ ask you questions too like what you do or don't want to hear. You want someone who takes an interest in what YOU want. We also met with the DJ one last time a few days before the wedding where he phonetically went over each person's name he was going to introduce at the wedding. This is a great added touch because no one likes to have their name mispronounced at their wedding. You may want to hire the owner of the DJ company, like we did, even though they usually charge more than the employees. The owner usually is the smartest one and has the most experience.

These are stupid things we've seen DJ's do that you should be aware of. You do not want this to happen at your wedding:

No Business Cards On Display!
We were at a wedding where the DJ had about 5 different vendors' business cards sprawled out on top of one of his low speakers, and it just made the place look like a flea market. If anyone wants the DJ's card, they can ask for one. Your reception is not a community bulletin board.

All DJs take note: In our opinion, this is one of the tackiest things DJs do. This was one of the first things we demanded but of course our DJ does not like this either.

No Revolving Police Lights!
See this light off to the left? You don't want it at your wedding. You don't want your reception looking like South Central Los Angeles. This is just OUR opinion, but this is on the Tacky Top Ten.

Not enough music selection!
In 5/97 we attended a wedding where my own 430 CDs were more than the DJ's! He may only play 60 songs the whole night, but they BETTER have the music that guests ask for. This DJ was not even facing the dance floor!! Could anyone be more stupid! He spent most of the time with his back to the dance floor flipping through his small collection of CDs for the next song when he should have been reading the crowd. Then he complained to me that no one was out there dancing. He played way too much older disco and too much rap, which alienates most middle class white people. So no wonder the dance floor was empty. A BAD DJ CAN RUIN THE BEST OF WEDDINGS! He ASKED ME to pick a few songs from his collection to get the crowd going, which I did. He lacked 2 songs which every DJ should have. One is the classic party tune "Bang On The Drum All Day" by Todd Rundgren, and "Born To Be Alive", one decent classic from the disco era. The DJ did not even know these songs. Hello, McFly, anyone home? Also, he did such a poor job wiring his Karaoke monitor, that he had to fiddle with it a few times during the reception. This same DJ hardly ever got on the microphone to motivate anyone to dance. It seemed like he was there to just queue up CD's and nothing else. Heck I'd have done that for free and saved my friend money. No wonder the DJ complained to me there was no one on the dance floor. We had to choose a couple of tunes for him which DID fill the dance floor. If the DJ is not constantly motivating the crowd, the floor will be empty, and your reception will be a bust. It's like a strange quiet party. You need that constant communication and motivation from an experienced crowd pleaser. This same DJ did not even help us during the Macarena. At our wedding, the DJ and assistant both showed us the moves so we did not all crash into each other and abandon the floor like my friend's wedding.

DJ's Who Don't Know The Itinerary!
It is the DJ's responsibility to know when all the events are supposed to occur during reception, like cake cutting, bouquet tosses, birthday surprises, etc. The DJ we mentioned in the preceding paragraph did not know when anything was being done. Around cake cutting time, I asked him when it was going to occur and he had no clue. The DJ's job is to work with the catering department and know when meals are being served and when the milestone events are to take place. NOBODY in the whole wedding knew when anything was happening so it was somewhat confusing. The DJ and the caterer should have this under control before your reception begins!!!!

No Corded Microphones!
I'm sure a lot of DJ's will gripe at me for this, but many of them don't realize that the microphone chord is a safety hazard, and it is restricting. A wireless microphone system, if properly setup and sound checked, and stocked with a redundant backup with batteries, should work out just fine.

No Chicken Dance, No Hokey Pokey Dance!
The consensus among our friends and numerous coworkers was we made the right choice in NOT allowing it in our wedding, and we were firm. I believe this practice is outlawed in fifteen states now, anyway. Most guests feel Uncomfortable doing these cheesy dances. We hear that the Macarena is already on a downward trend. But the electric slide always fills the floor.

In Short, you want a DJ who can motivate a crowd, like this guest at our wedding.

Technical Issues.
I bet everyone overlooks this one, but in our opinion it is one of the most important factors when choosing your DJ. You are paying money for a professional and they better know their equipment. Ask them what speakers and amplifier they use. Some of the better names are JBL and Electrovoice. You can tell the Elctrovoice by the "EV" on the speaker. This is one reason why you asked the DJ if they do corporate affairs, because they may use the same high quality equipment at your wedding. We were at a wedding last year and could not hear the DJ announcing the bridal party because the volume was too low and it was VERY muffled. This DJ obviously did not test the acoustics of the room with a simple sound check before they started. This is why they must have good equipment. A DJ with a wireless headset is a plus. With the headset microphone, the element is always right in front of the DJ's mouth, and the gain need not be set as high as a handheld microphone. Thus the headset is less likely to cause feedback. Also the DJ can easily roam around hands-free, or even blend in with the crown to help out with the Electric Slide. I've seen DJs walk around swinging the microphone, not noticing they are about to step into the Twilight Zone in front of the speaker and violate Jeff's Law of Wedding Acoustics mentioned earlier.

Lighting is another thing to consider. Can your DJ get additional lighting? Some people want it, some could care less if they want to save money. But we wanted to put on a show they would remember. If you want state of the art lighting, some of the bigger DJ companies can master this for you very easily. Again, this is where DJs with corporate event experience really excel. They usually have the top notch lighting, not old cheesy disco balls, and 2 glorified lawn lights. We did go a little overboard, spending $800 on an intelligent lighting system consisting of 4 intelligent units and 2 sound activated gobos. Man what a show that was. The ballroom was FILLED with light. Many guests told us it looked like a rock concert, with numerous beams everywhere. And this did not upset the older crowd either, which was a worry of mine. We were pleasantly surprised to see many of them out there dancing the new tunes with us. This may not be for all of you, but if you have the means, go for it. Our wedding video looks like Soul Train. I was actually surprised that our DJ tried to talk us out of this package, stating corporations are the typical customer. Be he admitted more and more "consumer" affairs are going this way.

CONSUMER ALERT!!

You Must Have A Clear, Concise, Written Contract!!!
If you end up in court disputing your DJ, the first thing the judge will say is "Where is your contract?" Make certain the DJ has a written contract and that everything you expect of them is in writing. If they refuse or give you nothing but a bunch of verbal claims, get up and leave. Do you think they will remember 10 months from now what they promised you? No way, but a written contract will help them remember. The contract should clearly state WHO will be your DJ. If it is the owner, you definitely want that name on there. You spent time interviewing the owner and you want that DJ listed. Be wary if they try to leave the name off, there could be a bait and switch. If they are using an assistant, make them itemize that as well. Did you buy any lighting,? Better have that on there too. Also have them list what their overtime charge is in case you decide to run late. You don't want any surprises there. Make sure all correct dates, times, address, phone numbers, and deposits are listed.

So what was our final package? We had the owner for 4 hours at $750, plus $850 for the computerized lighting. This also included an assistant, which is a great thing for a DJ to have. We ended up keeping the DJ for an extra hour and paid another $150, which was already stated in the contract. Sure this seems steep, but it was a typical wedding for professional working people like my wife and I. Not the way to go if you are trying to save money.

And please do not misread what we are saying. There are plenty of inexpensive DJs out there who will also give you a wonderful evening. Some of you may not want all the glitz and flash we had. Some of you will be happy with an informal DJ who DOES do the condo or bar circuit. We just wanted to shed the light on all your options and abuse our First Amendment rights by stating many of our opinions on certain subjects. We did find the DJs however, to be the easiest of all the wedding industry people to work with. And you don't have to spend $1600!

By the way if anyone is interested, We supplied the CD for our First Dance, which was The very romantic "Anyone Can Light A Candle" from the Jon & Vangelis album "Page Of Life". The First Dance for the rest of the crowd was And When The Night Comes from the Jon & Vangelis album "Private Collection". Both songs will leave your guests breathless. We had a very beautiful grandiose 7:00 minute piece called "Antarctica" from the Vangelis album of the same name playing as the guests filled the ballroom. If You want to hear hear it, click here.Of course the CD sounds better. Our DJ liked our choice of this song and may use it at future weddings. If you ever decide to have CD's playing at the ceremony, I highly recommend "Hymne" From the Vangelis album "Opera Suavage". This song was popular on the Gallo Wine TV ads in the late 80's If you want to hear "Hymne", click here: Hymn.mid Again, the CD sounds much better.

This should get you going. Remember, do what YOU want to do, not what other people expect of you, and and stay sharp. The only one looking out for you is YOU. And remember, if they don't put it in writing, it means they won't do it!

Good luck, and let me know how it went.

Jeff Ostroff ejo@zim.com