In this day and age a disc jockey is no longer a "Disc Jockey." It's absolutely true! When a customer calls or inquires to book an event with your service, they are (in addition to finding someone that can spin their wedding tunes) looking for an "Entertainer." The DJ concept has incorporated a master of ceremonies, crowd motivator and even games master. To top it all off their also looking for a side line party coordinator. All of these things to a beginner may sound like an insane process. And for those of you who are professionals may think, brides and grooms don't pay us enough to do what we do best. I have some solutions and tips to help you look and be amazing without actually having to kill yourself out there during the event.
Having a music list from the customer is definitely a plus. Now many DJs out there get really annoyed when a bride emails a list of 100 songs to play. But why would the bride take her time out to send this ridiculous list of songs? She obviously wants to hear a good portion of her playlist. Unlike many of the DJs who are 20 year veterans and crank up a storm.......you can use this to your advantage. Once you receive the brides music list back start putting it together right away. Whether you use a laptop or computer for DJing or CDs, you can compile the songs that are slower for the cocktail hour and dinner and use the rest of the more danceable songs for later on. The strategy I've come up with is have your music pre-set on your software (Virtual DJ, Serato, PCDJ) or create a CD or CDs with the tracks for each part of the night. You can even use a program like Nero to add a crossfade to the CD so you don't have to do it. Your CD decks may even have a auto crossfade feature on them. Now a lot of DJs may think that this seems like tedious work putting together all the music mixes. Well let me tell you what I do. I have several pre-made dinner mix CDs or mixes on the laptop. I put one of those on and walk away. I don't have to sit there and mix track to track. If the bride gives me a dinner I put the music on auto-pilot and come back 30-45 minutes later about the time to dance and didn't have to do a thing. You can also do this with your ceremony music and have all the songs lined up in order. I'm telling you, having everything pre-made a week or 2 before the event or however long it takes to get the music back from your brides and grooms gives you a stress free reception.
This is another must for any wedding reception. Send the bride a wedding timeline with fill in the blank areas for all of her songs and announcements. Take that wedding sheet and put all the songs in order track by track on a CD or on your computer and its totally hassle free. You just can't go wrong with organization, it makes the day so much easier. Plus sometimes I give the wedding CD to my brides and grooms with a business card and they actually refer more work to me. They always tell me that they loved the wedding CD I gave them and recommended me to another couple getting married.
One more good tip for you mobile DJs out there. This is self explanatory but it's also an extremely important detail. Call the bride (or groom) the week of the wedding even 3-4 days prior to the day. Ask for about 10 minutes of their time to go over the details one last time. Go through the timeline from beginning to end and double check all details. Make sure to check that everything you have is all the information the couple sent you. Once you have went over the names of the bridal party, announcements, activities, songs and music you're good to go. You absolutely cannot go wrong once you've taken these steps. All the preparation prior to the wedding can be a lot of work. You will be so happy that everything is practically on autopilot the day of the reception.
What do you do as a mobile DJ to prepare for a wedding? Do you have any tips to getting the details together?
- Billman
DJ Port St Lucie
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