7 helpful tips to hire a DJ for wedding reception

Music and entertainment is a huge part of wedding planning some of the brides tend to underrate. But, after the official part of the ceremony is over and everyone moves to the reception, the wedding turns into a huge fancy eating, drinking, dancing and chatting event, pumped up by an entertaining DJ.

Some people don’t think that it’s worth to hire anyone to provide music for their wedding, gather their own playlists, rent proper equipment and ask a good friend to serve as a DJ for the night. But, apart from the variety of music, endless songs, props and professional equipment that ensures great sound in different kinds of venues and special lighting effects, DJs are great at entertaining the crowd, making everyone move and enjoy themselves.

Finding an interviewing a potential DJ for your wedding might be a little bit awkward, partially due to the fact that you might not know what to ask and what to check. These wedding DJ tips will help you hire the best vendor in the local area and have a full-blown dance-off at your reception.

Tips to hire an awesome wedding DJ

1. Hire a full-time DJ who’s already performed at weddings and other events.

   You don’t want to deal with someone who bought a sound system, put together a few cheesy playlists and decided to earn some extra cash at your wedding. You need to find a real performer, who won’t just press buttons and play music at your reception, but also provide something original, entertain the crowd, pick up the mood and keep it high. Asking for references is a must, but seeing a DJ perform for a different event or at the nightclub he works at will be even better. If your friends and family can’t help you with their recommendations, HireRush.com is more than happy to match you up with awesome DJs in your local area.

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2. Look for a charismatic, energetic entertainer who keeps the party going non-stop.

   A great DJ stands not just for good music, blending and mixing, but also for an energetic dancing crowd of guests having the time of their life at the event. There’re numerous incentives a truly professional wedding DJ is able to understand the crowd and the moods, encourage different people, including the ones who’re not typically the stars of the dance floors, to come up and join the fun, as well as keep the atmosphere up throughout the entire reception. So, ask prospective DJs how they tend to interact with crowds, how they manage to hype up the energy and keep people pumped to make sure that the DJ of your choice is a good one and has good entertainment skills.

3. Check for the high-quality sound system.

   Talk about the equipment the candidate DJ has to ensure that it’s compatible with your venue’s acoustics and that the quality of the sound satisfies your requirements. It’s important for a DJ to have backup equipment not to ruin the reception in case if anything from his main sound system breaks down, so ask a prospective vendor about that as well.

4. The venue overview is a must.

   Ask your DJ to pay a visit to the reception venue to plan for the acoustics, meet up with other vendors (especially lighting pros and party entertainers) to talk about the equipment set-up plan and conduct a song check at least a few days before the big day. This will prevent a huge sound disaster, as well as save your vendors time on adjusting lighting and sound equipment and ensuring its proper performance and interplay.

5. Talk about must-play and do-not-ever-play tracks.

   Any professional DJ will say that it’s the bride and groom, but not a DJ, who’s in control of the music for an event. But, bearing that in mind, you need to spare some time to communicate to your entertainer and customize the music for your reception, agree on the theme and the list of songs to play, their order, etc. If you’re determined that certain songs should not be heard during your reception and if you want to incorporate your favorite music into the playlist, make sure to let the DJ of a choice know about that.

6. Extra services. Which ones would you like?

   Ask if your DJ&MC is able to provide additional services, like lighting effects, video screens, photo booths, projectors, karaoke and bubble machines to enhance your reception, make it more entertaining, engaging and spectacular. Be ready for extra costs, though, and, if you want to eliminate them, make sure that some of the additional services aren’t automatically included in the bundle.

7. Deal with organizational details to reach mutual understanding and avoid music confusions.

   For instance, your wedding DJ needs to know when to play the first dance, father and daughter dance, cake cutting, bridal bouquet toss songs, as well as when to start playing reception mix. So, provide your DJ with a schedule of your wedding so that he’s able to develop a music plan around it. Ask if you need to supply anything in addition to the equipment he already has, let him know how you want him to treat guest music requests, discuss the payment and the dress-code. Sign a written contract, of course. Generally speaking, you need to clear up mutual expectations and responsibilities not to let organization bugs ruin your wedding experience.