A Night to Remember DJ and Wedding Services

We used Mike from ANTR as the DJ/MC for our wedding ~two weeks ago. I’d say our experience was a mixed bag (2.5 stars), so I wouldn’t recommend him as a wedding DJ though I am sure he’s great for parties and other events. The good:We were very impressed with Mike when we first spoke to him. He’s knowledgeable, experienced, and he knows the flow of weddings so he can provide input into a logical day-of schedule. He seems to have good equipment, and he’s flexible when things change (as they did with our wedding – we had to move the outdoor ceremony indoors due to rain). He has a large library of music (and accepted our mp3s for songs he didn’t have) and an online tool to use before the wedding to give him the information he needs. He also provides a link for guests to use to request music, which we encouraged our family and friends to use.The not-so-good:* The biggest complaint my husband and I have is that we don’t think Mike played the “must play” music we selected. We are huge music fans, and the DJ was one of the most expensive items in our entire wedding budget (behind only food, venue fee, drinks, and photographer). We invested dozens of hours before the wedding listening to songs, looking up lyrics, deciding the style we wanted, and then searching for the music in the online tool. We provided him with mp3 files of songs he didn’t have or couldn’t find, and we outlined via email the details of the genres and styles that we wanted to have played. We expected that our wedding would reflect all the time & effort we spent, and that the music would be something that would anchor positive memories for us. My husband and I feel like the music played at our wedding and reception incorporated very little of what we provided. Mike asserts that he played “more than 75%” of the songs we selected were played, but the math just doesn’t work for us. Due to the rain, we took two short breaks from the reception (less than 30 minutes total) to go take pictures; between the two of us, we can count on one hand the number of “must play” dance songs we heard at our reception. In the end, it felt like I attended someone else’s wedding, which is disappointing.* Several times in the process, Mike didn’t do what he said he’d do in the time he said he’d do it. For example, one day he told us he’d send the link for our guests, and it took several extra days (and my husband calling/emailing him) to receive it. Not a big deal if it happens once, but annoying as a bride if it happens a few times. One time we didn’t hear from him for a while, and when we finally reached him he told us that our email had been in his spam file. Another time, he told my husband he had some computer problems (I can’t remember the details). About 10 days before the wedding, when we’d already paid in full, he was unresponsive to our emails again. When we reached him, again the answer was that “it was in spam.” But he was waiting for this information from us, so I would have expected him to check his spam file if he didn’t receive it when we said we’d send it (especially since he knew our emails had previously landed in his spam folder). Obviously not a dealbreaker, but it does add an extra level of stress to an already-stressful time. Another recent reviewer on Yelp mentioned this challenge with pre-wedding communication, too, so I know it’s not just my experience.* We had a few glitches the day of the wedding (partly because we had to move our ceremony indoors due to rain). Rather than Mike addressing the music-related and DJ-related issues, my mother-in-law and the wedding coordinator were troubleshooting his issues. * The online tool is helpful, but some of the features aren’t intuitive to use, even to those of us who are tech-savvy. Twice I was “kicked out” for no apparent reason and none of my work was saved. I’d recommend Mike as a DJ for a party or event, but unfortunately I can’t recommend him as a wedding DJ for the reasons outlined above.