Hiring a wedding DJ means more than finding someone who can push PLAY and stick to a playlist.
Hiring a wedding DJ means finding the right personality and pizazz that’ll help ensure that your wedding turns out to be the ultimate celebration you’ve always envisioned it to be.
A DJ doesn’t just play the music; he or she helps your wedding flow from start to end. The DJ works hard to ensure everyone in attendance is having a good time.
But how can you make sure your wedding DJ has the skills and personality to make your wedding rock? Check out these must-have character traits every wedding DJ should have.
The ability to communicate clearly
Wedding DJs have to take the visions and dreams of every bride and groom and turn those visions into reality. That requires the ability to plan, prepare, and speak clearly with not only his clients (bride and groom) but with the photographer, videographer, rental hall, family and more.
One of the easiest ways to assess this skill in your potential DJ is during your vetting process. Chances are your first encounter with a prospective DJ will be over the phone. How did they sound? Were they energetic? Could you hear them clearly? Did they seem focused on the conversation?
If so, you might want to schedule a face-to-face. During this face-to-face, ask yourself the same questions above, but also ask yourself: do they make eye contact? How is their body language? Do they look presentable?
If after these two conversations you feel comfortable with your DJ, he or she is likely an effective communicator.
A willingness to please
Wedding DJs are at the mercy of their audience. First and foremost, the bride and groom’s needs should be met; however, every DJ should be willing and eager to please the rest of the party in attendance as well.
A wedding DJ has to be a people pleaser – it’s almost literally in his job description! People pleasers are flexible, even-tempered, and have a tremendous amount of patience.
During your face-to-face with a prospective DJ, ask them to discuss some of their most particularly challenging events, and how they got through them.
Listen carefully to their responses. If the DJ is quick to place blame on his clients, or uses negative words, this may not be the right DJ for you. You want a DJ who has respect for the people who hired him – even long after the event is over. This type of quality speaks volumes to how hard the DJ will work to make sure you and your guests are happy.
It’s all about the details
There are a ton of moving parts that go into the execution of a wedding. Your DJ often times serves as the hub of this wheel; he needs to be able to manage his time and figure out how to make these moving parts work within the confines of one event.
This includes being able to manage his own duties as well as work closely with the venue, caterers and more. He shouldn’t have to be told – by you – what to do or whom to talk with. Your wedding DJ should take the initiative.
Wedding DJs should also test everything out ahead of time, not just at their own studio, but at the venue itself. That means coming to the event at least two hours beforehand to set everything up.
How can you determine how detail-oriented your DJ is? During your interview, have the DJ go over exactly how he or she prepares for an event. That includes whom he/she talks with, when they arrive at the event and more.
If your DJ goes into great detail, then you know that not only does he sweat the small stuff, but he’s been doing this long enough to be able to rattle off his routine from the top of his head.
Your DJ should be a mind reader
OK, this might be a bit far-fetched, but hear us out: First and foremost, your wedding DJ should always play your requested music (it is your party, after all). But you could get anyone to agree to play your music, right?
A DJ will also know how to read the crowd (ah, the mind reader!) and mood of the event, and keep the party going with specific in-the-moment music selections. If, for example, everyone is finally dancing to a fast tune, your DJ might delay that next slow song so that he can keep folks dancing.
How can you determine the ESP-qualities of your DJ before you hire him? This one’s a bit tricky, but we suggest asking your prospective DJs if they ever play music “off script”, and if so, why.
Those who have never are likely too afraid to trust their own instincts, or are new to the scene and haven’t emceed enough weddings.
For your upcoming Virginia or Destination wedding – choose wisely!
Even with the latest smartphones being able to play hours of music on end, DJs remain an integral part of any wedding.
Here in the Virginia/DC area, more folks turn to Planet DJ Productions than any other DJ service out there. That’s because we not only bring our decades of experience of DJ’ing to each wedding, but we also specialize in other event-planning areas, including lighting, sound, live entertainment and more.*
Contact us today to learn more about our team of DJs, and what stands us apart from the rest.
*We even help plan – and DJ – destination weddings to venues located across the globe!