Attention modern brides and grooms. Someone sent me an excerpt of a blog post that had been put together by a DJ company outside my market.  I got to thinking how I've been able to be very successful as a wedding DJ, while having a full-time job. You read that correctly. I am not a full-time wedding DJ. But you know what? It's ok. This post had insinuated that not hiring a full-time wedding DJ could be a mistake.  You don't need to click past my website, which I have spent thousands of dollars on over the years to try to find YOU. In 2023, I don't know anyone who has not diversified their income in some way. Perhaps someone has a side hustle that may include a part-time position as an Uber driver,  a bartender, or a waitress to generate additional income in this world of constant high inflation. Ever since I began my journey in this crazy, oversaturated wedding industry, I've poured my heart and soul into making sure each client of mine is treated the exact same way.  Let me make myself crystal clear. Your wedding day is very important to me.  I never look at anyone's wedding as a "gig", but instead look at it as the most memorable day of your life filled with the music you know and love.

As an experienced and seasoned wedding DJ, it is my duty to ensure that modern brides and grooms and their guests have the time of their lives by putting together the best wedding playlist. I also believe that if you have the means of a great platform (i.e. wedding DJ blog) to provide quality content and even push the envelope, you should not be afraid to do so.  What exactly do I mean by pushing the envelope? Well, I gotta be honest with you, here in the fall of 2023, the new music inventory is about as bad as its been in my entire life. And if you've been paying attention to this blog, you know that I just turned 50. And actually part of the inspiration for this blog was due to my 50 th birthday.  With the lack of new music inventory available today to start mixing in for weddings, I truly believe that this is the ideal time for experienced professional wedding DJs to begin to dig deeper to freshen up the wedding playlists across the country. 

After a long, hot. but relaxing summer of 2023, we've flipped the calendar into September and are now ready to begin the fall wedding season.  This means if we stand on our tiptoes, we can see some cooler weather coming down south. September is my birthday mnoth and this year I've hit a milestone. I've hit the Big 5-0. Honestly, I'm not sure how one is supposed to feel when they turn 50. I really don't feel any different at 50 than I did at 40. You've probably heard the old saying. "Age is just a number.". Well, I truly believe it is. Perhaps it's because I am in some of the best physical shape of my life? While I'm ecstatic to be in excellent physical shape, i truly believe that it is "music" that is responsible for feeling youthful. Every single DJ I know whose sole focus is on the music is young at heart. This includes the guy who got me started as a DJ on the radio who stands at 71. I swear though when I spoke to him over the phone last week, I was talking to a 40 year old. I'm going to embrace the new perspective this milestone will bring, because at the end of the day, different ages do bring a new perspective. I'm sure you'll never meet a more cooler 50 year old. But, as I turn 50, I only wish the music scene had as much to be excited about as this healthy 50 year old right here.  I wanted to take this time to reflect where it is we exactly are in the world of new music.

You know it can be kind of painful as a seasoned professional wedding DJ looking around online and seeing a lot of amateur wedding DJs try to convey what it is they will provide you and what you should be looking for in terms of your wedding DJ. I'm not sure why I even try to waste my time seeing what other members of the industry are saying. Most of what I read tends to be flat out "entertainment".  Over the years, this blog you are reading has become one of the most travelled wedding DJ blogs on the internet. Recently, I've been up in the Top 2 if you search for Wedding DJ Blogs. I'm are very proud of the content I've been able to pound out for my blog that helps modern brides and grooms find the best wedding DJs for their all important wedding day.   As you search for your all-important wedding DJ, you need to know the traits that the very best wedding DJs have mastered. Perhaps you are on the fence between deciding between a few wedding DJs. Feel free to use this post to narrow your search down. 

Oftentimes when I am creating content for my current and prospective clients,  I think about the basics. The basics of finding the best wedding DJ that fit you as a couple. While I've covered in earlier posts this year about how to find the best wedding DJ in 2023, a lot of my couples come at me with some repeat questions.  One of the first questions that the majority of my couples inquire about is whether or not I am going to be their wedding DJ on the day of their wedding. If you click back a few posts, you'll find out the answer to that question. The second most asked question when I conduct a consultation with my clients is whether or not they should allow song requests during their wedding reception. The answer to this question is gonna depend on a variety of factors, which I will try to cover in this post. Thank you for stopping by my blog, but don't go anywhere because this is going to be good.

You are a modern bride or groom who is now into the thick of things as it pertains to wedding planning. You might just be in the midst of your search for someone who will help you put together the best mix of music that caters to your musical tastes on your wedding day.  YOUR wedding DJ. You have been doing your due diligence in performing all of the proper Google searches that put you in contact of the best wedding DJs. You click over to some of these websites and you and your fiancee have mixed feelings about what you are seeing. You notice that most of these website showcase multiple wedding DJs. As a matter of fact, one of the websites looks to have 17 wedding DJs. You begin to look through the profiles of each one of these wedding DJs but don't seem to feel any connection at all. You call this company to try to get some more information and you are met with a barrage of questions leaving you feel overwhelmed. You hang up the phone with your questions unanswered. What will you do next?

Even after being a part of hundreds of weddings over the years, I still have actually not seen it all. What exactly do I mean by this?  Only the true professional wedding DJs will meet with you and sit down with you and actually tell you that no two weddings are alike.  YOUR wedding is going to be much different than your best friends. Perhaps your best friend had the worst wedding DJ on the planet? Even if they had a top wedding DJ, YOUR wedding is still going to be much different. Different guest lists. Different bride. Different groom. Different venue.  Now, I don't want to scare you but there are probably young, amateur wedding DJs who are trying to mimic my success by looking at this blog right now who believe that they can just set their Ipad up through some speakers and be done with it. I apologize if I just scared you. Just seeing that on my Macbook screen scared me to death. Now that I have your attention its time to discuss this non-traditional wedding client.  Darden and John found me by way of the fine folks at Hopsewee Plantation. The rest is wedding history.

A prospective wedding client recently asked me what some of my least favorite wedding songs were. Even if I weren't a successful wedding DJ, I truly believe that you can learn so much about a person by getting to know their musical tastes. After being a part of hundreds of very diverse types of weddings, I can honestly tell you that my list of least favorite wedding songs might be shorter than the average wedding DJ down the street from me.  I can begin to try to answer this question by telling you this. I've never been your stereotypical, "cheesy" wedding DJ, so some of the songs I'll mention on this post may not surprise you.  Over the years, I've been blessed to have some of the best clients who tend to contract me for their wedding because they have very specific tastes in music. That being said, there are the very few instances where some songs will be mixed in that I am just flat out burned out on. 

I've reached a point in my career as the owner of a successful, highly reputable wedding DJ service where I am completely at peace at what I am going to discuss with you in this post. Some of what I am going to talk about in this post may dove-tail off my last post where I spoke of a horrific experience I had during the spring wedding season that could have hurt the reputation I've worked years and years to build.  While other wedding DJs boast about "how many" weddings they are doing on an annual basis, I've chosen to whittle my bookings down into a select group of brides and grooms who have taken the time to research what it is they want in their wedding DJ.  Why did I decide to do this? Well, after that horrific experience earlier this year, I needed some sort of "reset" as it pertains to my business.  I began to think about clients who hired me 8 - 10 years ago, and actually considered reaching out to some of them because some of them were some of the most memorable experiences I've ever had as a wedding DJ.  Then I started to look at all that was on my plate and realized I can certainly afford to be selective in who contracts me and when you reach that point as a business owner, it's one of the most liberating feelings.

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.