The Right DJ For Your Wedding -Your DJ Might Embarrass You

Sorry for the delay. Been a busy week. Part 4 of my blog series “The Right DJ For Your Wedding” has to explain a lot of the situations that cause a bride and groom to be embarrassed by their DJ.

You’d like a mild mannered “professional” acting DJ, especially as he or she needs to make announcements.  Talking to a true professional DJ is usually a good indication of how they will sound at your wedding.  I might be one  of the biggest proponents of  the “Anti-Cheesy” DJ in Charleston.   There are some DJs who show up to your wedding thinking they need to perform and put on a show and actually entertain guests with an auctioneer voice or game-show persona. An overly-hyped tacky and cheesy voice during the announcement of your bridal party is often one of these times where they like to show-off.  After many years of being behind the mic on the radio, it is my firm belief that the best DJs have former or present radio experience. Look for this when you book your DJ. We know how to mix music and most importantly are more disciplined on the microphone than the club DJ who is more likely to say "Put your hands in the air, grandma is in the house!"

In all honesty, this is your wedding. This is not a club gig. So many DJs try to cross that line and fail and bring down the industry. Only in really rare instances can you see a DJ successfully drop the club persona and crank out wedding after wedding like a true pro. 

True professional DJs will never overpower or take over your event.  It’s been one of my strong suits to always “compliment” your wedding, but never take it over. If you bring in a DJ who is making offensive jokes or comments, they are taking the spotlight off the bride and groom and putting it on themselves. If they end up talking like a gameshow or auctioneer, they are once again taking the spotlight off the bride and groom and putting it on themselves.

Another way that DJs can embarrass you and your guests is if they are not the one who are even supposed to be at your wedding. This brings up an experience I had back in October 2015 when a competitor asked me to pick up a wedding with 8 days to go. There were some extreme circumstances that caused this request to come down. It was a wake-up call to me to see a snapshot of how some of my competition deal with their couples. At 4 days out, I had received no music until late in that day and when I did, it was 10 songs, which ended up being 10 song requests from the guests of  the wedding. I was not allowed to speak with the bride and groom beforehand because their wedding planner hired would not allow it.  Since I had never met the couple, they knew nothing about me. I knew nothing about their likes and dislikes in music. The planner did not tell the bride and groom that I was not their DJ either, which really put me in a pickle and made it not so fair for the bride and groom either.  

Ladies and gentleman, that is NOT how I operate my business. I will always take time out to meet my brides and grooms at least one time and possibly more to get a feel for musical tastes, and also for you to get to know me a little better. After all, you are putting your trust in me to entertain you and your guests. This is the only way to go. If you sit down with any planner or coordinator, make sure they allow you to meet your DJ. Also, make sure that the DJ you hire is going to be the DJ that shows up on your wedding day. The company that passed this wedding to me at the last minute was a multi-system company and you can generally find a lot of this smoke and mirrors behavior with those types of companies. It would have to be at LEAST one month out and I definitely would need to be able to speak with and meet the bride and groom prior to the wedding IF I am going to accept any referrals from any competitiors. In other words, my terms. 

Mike Bills Entertainment is a single system company so there simply won’t be a surprise who your DJ will be.  No shock-jock entertainer voice here for your wedding, just a consummate professional on the microphone that is more natural and suitable for weddings. I promise I won’t ham it up, just a warm and professional voice. Next up is Part 5 and we get into some of the gimmicks that "average" DJs will use to get you to book them. Coming this weekend.

Are you liking what you are reading? Care to meet Mike and talk about your wedidng music? Click this link. Contact Mike NOW