Booking a DJ

Ok girls,

I don't know where to begin when booking a DJ because I really don't know much about it! Some say they offer 1-2 subwoofers and "intelligent lighting", I guess I don't know where to start because I don't know what is necessary and what is not. We are having our reception in a tent and there will be about 175 people there. We basically want to creat our own playlist, so we know we need someone that will abide by that, but other than that, we don't really know what to do.  How will I know if they'll be good?? Does experience matter if they will be playing our play list?  We really like to dance and so do our friends. We want to focus on our friends and family having a great time with us on our day. We have considered having a friend DJing with an iPod. Will it be just as/more expensive to have to rent all of the other equipment? Any advice is very appreciated!! You girls are awesome!!!!

Its hard to choose a DJ when its so important to you, we had this issue as well.  I basically checked pricing (Package & hours) and more importantly if I liked the actual person who would DJ.  I asked lots of questions at our meetings to make sure I felt comfortable.  I liked the ones with a lot of 'wedding' experience, as well as ones who could accomodate our requests.  You have to be able to basically 'trust' they will help facilitate a wonderful evening.  Try to choose one with great reviews, ask around, etc.  Most any DJ will accomodate your playlist and ideas, especially b.c all couples are so different they have to. 

We choose not to do the IPOD thing for two reasons- our wedding was too big for this IMO AND if I put someone in charge and it didn't go well then I would be PISSED.  So in all this wedding planning I have had no stings attached for this reason.  I wanted guests to be guests and not have to worry about being in charge of something.  I would personally rather have a cheap DJ then an IPOD I guess. 

Not all weddings need special lighting.  BUT you are having a tent, so that depends on time of day and year as well.  Flood/up lighting would be your cheapest option I would imagine if its needed.  OR could  hang outdoor lights back and forth across the tent....  Either way would be beautiful I think!

- HMM :)

I unfortunately don't have an answer for you, but wanted to chime in and say I have all the same questions as you!  We want a DJ that will play the songs we select, avoid any "typical" wedding songs as much as possible, and we want to make sure our guests our dancing the whole time.  I've been to a lot of weddings where the DJ will play one good song and then follow it with a crappy one, and the whole dance floor goes back to their tables.  I'm not getting married for another year and I'm already worrying about that!

I'm getting married in San Francisco next summer, and would love any good DJ recommendations in the $800-$1200 price range.

Thank you!

SF Brides....check out Denon & Doyle...

we hired http://www.projectwedding.com/vendor/show/m1djs for our ceremony and the reception. they  help us planned our whole entired wedding playlist.  they have high quality sound system and will work with  your needs. they charge per event instead of per hour.  our event starts at 5:30pm till 11pm but they were there before 3pm to setup and make sure everything runs smoothly.  they also work with our officiant to make sure the officiant mic. is clear enough.  they got everyone up and dance. we had a lot of fun and everyone loved them.  let me know if you are interested.

Thanks so much for the advice! It sounds like lighting won't really be anything we'll need. We plan on having paper lanterns hanging all over the inside of the tent. Also, I totally agree with you HMM, I would be pissed too if something went wrong if we had a friend do the iPod thing. And it seems like there is a good possability of things going wrong since the friend would probably have no dj experience! It's just one more thing that I don't want to have to worry about on my wedding day!!

Oh Dj's are tricky! My senior prom was almost ruined because we had the worst DJ EVER!!! I want someone to get the people to be loose and crazy! You know if you want to do your own playlist rental places (the place I am renting my tent from) they have this machine and it starts with a Q. But it is a computer with speakers that they set up and it has a playlist with over 7,000 songs!!! It is like an computer juke box because you just go to the computer and pick what you want.

It will definitely be cheaper than the DJ, and you can have as much music as you want!!! And its soooo easy to use!