Modern Brides Require A Wedding Planner To Hire The Best DJs

After performing at hundreds of weddings, I have a major announcement to make in regards to my wedding DJ company. Recently, my total body of work as a professional wedding DJ was trampled on and ignored, and as result, my entire reputation that I've built for so many years was put at risk. There's no easy way to put this. In order for me to believe that my prospective clients are serious about having the absolute best experience on their wedding day, I will not be able to take on their wedding WITHOUT a wedding planner. This is a decision that's been a long time coming, but one that I don't take lightly, and also one that looks to serve as an insurance policy to protect my reputation as a top wedding DJ. I am at peace with this decision and I look forward to a future of continued positive growth of my brand and reputation.

Let me first start out by saying that I did not just start my wedding DJ company. What you see on my website is a digital snapshot or resume of my personality as a wedding DJ. The first impression that most of my clients have gotten when first visiting my website is classy and elegant, with the perfect voice for "minimal" announcements at their wedding. I've lost count at how many brides have paid a compliment on my website. My website has been an excellent tool at weeding out people who probably would not fit well with me. One more thing. I am NOT an amateur wedding DJ. From Day 1, I've always operated my wedding DJ company with the utmost professionalism. From my choice of equipment to my professional demeanor and manner by which I work with my clients, I leave no doubt with anyone who hires me knows that I am truly a professional. DJing a wedding is not for the faint of heart and I take doing them very seriously. So this means when I step foot on site at any wedding venue, I am treated with the utmost respect. What exactly does this mean? This means I am treated with a level of respect for someone who has put together a great web presence with a world class website and amassed an impeccable reputation with plenty of 5 star reviews. Being treated any differently than the latter is simply not acceptable and won't be tolerated.

This is one reason I cringe when someone calls me on the phone to ask me how much I would charge for a wedding. Hiring a wedding DJ is a way more serious transaction than ordering a pizza for delivery to your house. These two types of transactions should never be treated the same way, even though booking agencies tend to have some type of middle man on the line when you call to force a DJ on you that you don't know. The standard process (until websites go away) is for the prospective client to find me online, review my website and reviews, then contact me. Prices are on my website for a reason. Savvy modern brides and grooms should use Google to find their wedding vendors because a lot of spammy and scammy wedding vendors use social media accounts and fill them with a lot of stock imagery to make it look like they are successful.  For more information about Searching For Your Wedding DJ On Google <---Click HERE

Where DIY Brides Might Get It Wrong

I personally don't believe that planning a destination wedding can be done by reading blog articles, watching You Tube videos, or even finding all the cute pins on Pinterest. You might be able to piece together a few thought-leader type blog posts about timelines, or find some pretty dreamy decor websites, but there are very few guides on how to treat wedding vendors. Have you ever thought about how to treat wedding vendors? HINT: No wedding vendor should ever be considered "hired help".  Modern brides who opt for a DIY wedding need to know that there are some wedding vendors out there who make their living working at weddings. Recent experience with DIY brides has me believing that these brides possess no experience in how to treat any type of wedding vendor. DIY brides may get all excited after creating their Pinterest account but there is a lot more to planning a wedding (especially from a distance) than spending your day collecting pins. DIY brides begin their wedding planning journey with good intentions but tend to look at each vendor as a line item on an Excel spreadsheet instead of the human talent that each vendor is and what each one brings to the table. 

Experienced wedding vendors are great people who enjoy serving people and usually bring at least one exceptional skill to each wedding. They've put in the long hours honing their craft and creating content so that they can find the ideal clients to work with. For me personally, I'm a professional wedding DJ who decided long ago to focus on the music, therefore the one exceptional skill I bring to the table is music; I have a vast experience with all types of music,  my passion is putting together soundtracks for my clients, and of course, my MC skills. For more information on Why I Don't Offer The Upgrades, <---Click HERE .Since experienced wedding vendors are "professionals", the last thing they need is to be disrespected by a DIY bride who wanted to cut corners and not hire a wedding planner. You'd think if someone was dropping close to $60,000 on a wedding, they would want an experienced wedding planner to do all of the grunt work of setting everything up.  Perhaps if DIY brides knew they had to go the venue on the morning of their wedding at 6:00am to set up tables and chairs, they might consider hiring a wedding planner :) Modern brides who truly want the time of their lives on their wedding weekend will be sipping on mimosas at 9:00am on their wedding morning with their besties and will leave the heavy lifting to an experienced wedding planner and their staff.

Learn How I Was Grossly Disrespected As A Professional Wedding DJ 

No matter how successful any wedding vendor is or how much they have it together, weddings are highly stressful and emotional times.  You've got numerous moving parts that are loading into a wedding venue to set up what should be the best day for any modern bride and groom.  You've got numerous wedding vendors arriving at the wedding venue and trying to set up their little piece of the couple's wedding day. We're all working together and trying to stay out each other's way all the while feeling very stressed out. As I've mentioned previously through my blog, it matters not if you've been a part of 1 wedding or 1,000 weddings, the nervousness can be the same because professional wedding vendors not only take what they do seriously, but also know that each wedding is different. Ok, let's cut to the chase. In my contract that my clients sign and have never questioned, I state that I reserve the right to not set up in any location that could compromise my wedding equipment. You would think this is a no-brainer. I mean, if my equipment is damaged, there is a delay in music, and of course, there are insurance claims to file. It's a mess! Why would anyone put their own desires in front of a professional wedding DJ? Well, if you read up above, these DIY brides have no clue on how to treat people.  Upon arrival at a wedding, I was told by a DIY bride / groom that I would be set up outside and not under a tent as was discussed in hundreds of emails.  Hindsight is 20/20 but I should have honored my contract and refused to set up in that particular location.  After a healthy debate with the client, I agreed to set up outside (not under a tent), but with some beach umbrellas moved over my gear in an effort to protect my gear from the sun.  While I was extremely disgusted at this situation, I was not going to let this situation develop into a negative review. No wedding vendor should ever have to do something they don't want to do at any wedding to avoid a negative review.  Let it be known that any client who appreciated your service would never have placed any wedding vendor into a compromising situation. EVER.

I can hear you asking already. Why was their no room under the tent for me to set up? Well, I'm no wedding planner but I only dreamed that some of the best ones I've worked with were there to defend me at this ultra low point in my wedding DJ company.  Regardless of expense, this was a DIY wedding orchestrated and put together poorly by family members.  There was too much furniture underneath the tent. When you combine that with all of the tables and a stage for a band, bar and etc, the tent was too small.  Had it rained, half of the guests would have gotten wet because there were no sides. I won't go into all of the email details but there were so many that came into my email box in the month leading up to this wedding. Some would come in at random times and provide me with details I simply did not care about or needed to hear as a professional wedding DJ. 

One detail though that I did hear in the weeks leading up to this wedding was that there would be a tent. Hearing that a tent would be on site offered a lot of relief, so you can imagine how frustrated I was to find out that due to poor planning I would not be under a tent. Poor planning because of a DIY situation.  Poor planning because the wrong size tent was erected. Poor planning because the DIY bride thought they were doing the right thing. Experienced wedding planners would never let something like this happen.  When I am greeted with "It's not going to rain" from people who have no clue what weather can do in Charleston, I am even more disgusted at the unprofessional situation I found myself in. Thankfully, I was not the only one who was disrespected during this wedding. I got the feeling that all wedding vendors had been disrespected in some way. 

So for 4 hours, I was set up and playing music out in the open without any real protection from any rain. Luckily, the weather forecast improved in the days leading up to this wedding. Under no circumstances is it EVER a good thing to grossly disrespect any wedding DJ or vendor for that matter in this manner.  At this point in my career, I can afford to be selective in who I work with. I'm not a dorky amateur who stalks a competitors website to see what they are up to and to steal content and call it their own.  Haha! I've got bigger fish to fry.   One thing I did learn about DIY brides is that they appear to have higher powers in being able to tell me that it's not going to rain.  Don't make outlandish statements like this when you don't live anywhere near Charleston and have no degree in meteorology. I have been at weddings where there was not one green dot on the radar, but it still rained. Despite telling this client that story, I still had to set up outside the tent.  I wonder if they would also tell me that they were also electrical engineers in telling me that the sun did not have the ability to damage my equipment. Ha! 

Looking To Hire DJ Mike Bills As Your Wedding DJ?
So, there you have it. My story of being grossly disrespected as a professional wedding DJ.  The good thing about being a thought leader with my blog is I can effectively tell stories and educate people about certain situations without naming any names.  I can still feel my pulse begin to elevate even a week after this event. I will NEVER put myself into a situation like this ever again. I can afford to be selective in who I work with, and it's a freedom that is very liberating. it's liberating because I don't need to be hired by everyone who contacts me. It's important to remain selective so that one can sift through the people who would not appreciate you.  I am a non-traditional wedding DJ who loves to work with non-traditional brides and grooms. You know, those brides and grooms who don't want the cheesy line dances and want something more than Canon In D played during their wedding ceremony.  I hope that this post can not only educate brides and grooms about not going the DIY route, but also other wedding vendors so they can also avoid the situation I found myself in. 

It's easier said than done, but maybe we could eliminate any chance of this happening again by not doing DIY weddings at all? For modern brides thinking about DIY, why don't you just elope to the Carribean and save any professional wedding vendors the potential heartache and frustration. I would like to think what happened to me was an isolated incident, but in recent years, I've heard similar stories of DIY destination brides and grooms coming to the Holy City and grossly disrespecting other professional wedding vendors who make a living doing these events year-round.  I don't have any regrets in my decision to tighten my standards as to who I will work with. If a bride and groom don't think it's important to meet me, then I don't think it's important for me to be the DJ at their wedding. Part of my process includes getting to know the bride and groom's musical tastes. For those brides and grooms who don't care, please click over to that dorky DJ who will work ANY wedding, because I am not your guy.  But, if you are looking for a professional wedding DJ who has a passion for the music that exceeds most of his competition, then I invite you to fill out a contact form on my website and let's start a discussion.  I would love to hear from you.