After Dark Entertainment

I wish I could give John S. 10 STARS! I got married two weeks ago and John rocked the party!

We met with John in person a few months before our wedding and we knew right aways that he was the one. He is so friendly, personable and realistic. Planning with him was so easy. He responed to phone calls and emails within a day and the online planning service was a breeze. He called me two weeks before the wedding to finalize all the details and review the timeline with me. I gave him very little direction on music (I just said "you'll have a dancing crowd, mix oldies with top 40) with a few requests and he did amazing! The dancefloor was packed! We even had a very specific song and timing that we wanted for our grand entrance and he made it work perfectly! Also, my sister had a surprise song with her MOH toast and he worked with her and kept the secret, you should have seen our guests explode in cheers as the music began at exatly the right moment of her speech!

John was amazing, I would reccommend his services to everyone!

From our experience at a family members wedding we realized how important a GOOD DJ would be needed for our own and Eric did NOT disappoint for our 7/27/11 wedding at Crystal Cove.

We did all of our communication with John, but Eric actually DJ'ed our wedding. Working with both of them was an absolute pleasure. I absolutely love their website! You can view their entire data base and create play lists and time lines with only a few clicks of a button. Once the big day came around Eric was just enthusiastic and charismatic the entire night! I didn't want to stop dancing. We had some very odd choices of music (and had certain times to fade out of certain songs) and everything we had requested was followed perfectly! These guys offer a great service for a great price I could NOT be happier with our choice to book these guys.

John was great on our 8/7/11 wedding. He arrived on time, announced everything perfectly, kept us on schedule and played great music! He is very professional and has an awesome on-line website so you can submit all your song requests. It really makes it super easy! Overall great vender and easy to work with.

We booked John S. with After Dark Entertainment for our ceremony/cocktail hour/reception music. John also provided uplighting for our reception.

From our very first meeting, John was highly responsive, personable and professional. We knew from the get go that he would be fantastic and that we we would ultimately book him. John did an absolutely amazing job for our wedding, and really took into account all of our requests/ideas/suggestions. He even made sure that he had the specific version of songs that we wanted! John was not the typical "cheesy wedding DJ"... he was a true class act, and really made our wedding a success. Both my husband and I highly recommend John/After Dark Entertainment!

We used After Dark not only for the music but also for the reception lighting. The place looked amazing!!! The music he played was perfect for the night! Everyone had a blast!

We scheduled a meeting with John at Disneyland eight months before our wedding. I had seen a few reviews of his on PW and I had gotten a flyer of his at a bridal shop (he apparently provided services for the bridal shop owner's daughters' wedding) so he seemed like a great potential DJ. He was super nice and very professional.

We asked him a lot of questions and he was very laid back and not once did he try to sell us on his company. He actually saved us money by suggesting that we didn't book him for the ceremony. He said it wasn't worth it for us to pay him to cue music when he could be best used setting up the reception. He also helped me convince my FI on uplighting by assuring us that they don't have to be all super dark like at night-clubs and that with the use of the dimmers in the room, we could allow for it to be mood lighting rather than all dark so everyone could still get around without being visually impaired. He even stayed past our meeting time so we could look at our reception room. He would've come back to look at it another day, but it just made more sense for him to do it then. Our room was closed so I was able to get a very nice CM to get a Security person to open the reception room for us. It only took a few minutes but it gave John a good idea of what we'd need and how much lighting he could bring in to give us the look I was looking for. John was really friendly, had done a few events at Disney already, was local to Disney so we knew he wouldn't be late or get lost, and gave us the impression that he would really work to make the day about us and he had an unbeatable price so we booked him right away.

He was so professional and accommodating at our wedding. The minute we took a glimpse of our reception room prior to allowing guests to go in, both my husband and I gasped. The lighting was beyond what we imagined and truly completed the look. We were concerned about it because we had e-mailed John asking questions about what colors would look best but he missed the first few e-mails and later replied that he’d take care of it all. We wanted to just let him do his thing because we knew he had experience but we still felt a bit uneasy about not having a concrete answer. Our worries were definitely misplaced because the room looked gorgeous (and we didn’t even go “all out” with the lighting!) My husband raved about the lighting and I had to remind him that John and I had to both convince him to go with them at our initial meeting. He was so glad he listened to us.

John’s site was super simple to navigate. It made the planning process so much easier because we just had to peruse his extensive musical database and drop in our “must play’s”, “play if you can” and “do not play” selections and add some songs that he didn’t already have with great ease. He was so flexible about retrieving a great number of songs that he didn’t already have that we wanted to hear at specific times throughout our event and we were so pleased with how he was able to distribute the musical selections throughout the night. We had a great number of musical requests from guests that we had asked for on their RSVP cards so by the time we plugged in their requests and our own, we had over 4 hours of music allotted for a 2 hour event. We gave John free reign to play what he could throughout our event and he did a great job. A group of our guests inquired about him and told us what a great job he did.

He was also really great about juggling the various timelines that we had given him. We were doing so good on time that we were able to move some formalities up so that we could have more time to party. He was also really understanding about our family situation and was ready to proceed with formalities or skip over them if we couldn’t get to them depending on time or feelings. I think the only thing that I’d change is that I’d have him explain things more. I think since we were able to move up the timeline so often, some things were a bit confusing so I would’ve liked to have John pre-announce the money dance and explain how it worked (at least five minutes prior to it beginning) so that my husband and I didn’t have to stand there for so long waiting for guests to make change or figure out why we were dancing alone. It was our fault anyway, but I think that it was worth mentioning so that future clients can make sure to have him pre-announce and explain things if they can foresee it becoming an issue.

We also really appreciated that he kept the dance floor lively and respected our musical selections by declining requests that guests were trying to make at the reception. He checked with us to make sure it was okay, which is great because with so many songs that we had already pre-approved; it would’ve been unfair to honor outside requests. He was also wonderful about getting everyone on the dance floor for our final dance which ended up being one of our favorite moments of the night and has been mentioned by a few of our guests as also being a highlight for them.

If you’re looking for an affordable, professional, friendly, attentive and accommodating DJ in Southern California, call John – you won’t regret it. :)

After looking at a couple lighting companies for our wedding reception, After Dark by far had the best deals. Originally we were thinking of the standard uplights, but when John told us there was a special for LED uplights for practically the same price, we couldn’t say No. We also got pin spotting for our sweetheart table and the cake which added to the dramatic effect that we wanted for the wedding reception ballroom. The only thing was that the gobo we had was kind of small, but maybe we should have specifed the gobo to be bigger.

We could not have asked for a better DJ for our Wedding Reception. John was amazing! Not only did he play great dinner music and then really fun dance music, but he emceed our entire reception with warmth, timing, and professionalism. After Dark Entertainment provided everything we asked for and more!

John was great to work with. He stuck to our timeline during the wedding and made sure everything ran smoothly and flawlessly. He was very professional and everyone had a great time!

John from After Dark Entertainment was absolutely AMAZING! He did an outstanding job. John was great from the beginning to end, answering emails promptly, allowing us to view his work (he nailed a 700+ wedding that was chaotic). He even met with us at our venue to go over where we would like stuff placed. He was also able to get us a Gobo at the last minute. The day of wedding he showed up on time and kept the party going by taking request ect. We received LOTS of complements on the lighting, gobo, and the GREAT music John picked. Let's just say our reception ended at 11 pm but the party was still going until 2:30 am from the vibe John put out. THANKS AGAIN!!

Awesome - Awesome - Awesome. He was so flexible and responsive. We booked him and he really kept us on track. He made sure he had everyone's name correct. My fiance and I had an "idea" of what we wanted to do for our first dance but didn't really know how to do it. So John listened during the middle of reception and said "Got it, follow my lead". We did and our first dance was funny and very very appropriate for our guest. Also, I took too long to get back with him about the "gobo" (the thing that has your names in lights on the dance floor). It was four days before our wedding and John said "Sam....your idea is wonderful - but I would hate to order this for your because it is going to cost you an arm and a leg". Now what DJ would say try to SAVE you money? John did. I was prepared not to have one - BUT when we showed up at the reception we saw it and was pleasantly surprised. He said "I chose it for you because I know how busy you were." I was soooooooo happy and my husband was very impressed along with our guest.

He was the best - he made this sooooo easy. He kept the party going, played some great music and kept us on track. If you are looking for a wonderful, affordable and friendly DJ - look no further!!! Go online - book him - and you will not regret it.

Thanks for everything John :)
Sam & Devin

Although John wasn't available to do my wedding, Eric was a great replacement! He's really nice! We had a very unique venue (private estate with different outdoor "areas"). After Dark was very adaptable to the demands of our space - roping speakers 20 feet out from the dance room, changing our contract because there was not enough power to run the uplights, and using a unique gobo light to conserve energy. Although I didn't get to meet Eric before the wedding, John was very responsive over email and phone. They are reasonably priced and so easy to work with! I'd recommend them to anyone!

Afterdark came highly recommended to me by other brides on theknot.com. What was really awesome was that they also do lighting effects(uplighting and gobo projection). There was no room for guessing or misunderstanding with the online forms they provide online. My fiancee and I were able to pick out our playlist very easily, along with a do not play list, and "play if possible list." This helped tremendously, especially since I had a long-distance engagement.

The last 3 weeks leading up to my wedding, John(our DJ) and I were in constant contact due to a power issue with our venue. It turned out we needed a generator for our lighting(which they provided at a very affordable price).

There were times that I felt like I gave John to much information and to much detail with what I wanted him to do. For example, at my wedding I really wanted the Wedding party to be introduced with their significant others rather than be paired up with other bridal part members. John did that and did an amazing job. We also wanted to do an anniversary song(a song for all the married couples that were our guests, John did it too). I was able to design my own gobo projection, submit it to him in PDF format, and then they actually projected it on our dance floor. It was awesome :)

Even with pressure from guests to play requests(which he eventually did, but not before getting the okay from both of us), John stuck like glue to our predetermined play list. He and his wife, Haydee, were a pleasure to work with: approachable, attentive and genuinely concerned with making sure our wedding was not just a success but memorable for many years go come.

They are your best bet for a worry-free wedding. I would hire them again in a heartbeat.

Not only was John was an AMAZING DJ before and after our wedding, but he was reasonably priced! He communicated amazingly via e-mail, phone, and in person, and he answered every question and met every "demand" we had. He was so easy to get along with, and pretty much all of our guests raved about him! I have two friends that will be getting married who are asking about his contact information already! I especially liked the feature he has on his website that allows couples to choose 40 songs to play at their wedding. Due to his style and professionalism, everyone was on the dance floor, older people and younger people alike, and our wedding was a huge success. Thank you, John, for an amazing job. I recommend him to any bride out there!!!

John did a great job keeping my guests dancing all night! It was really easy to give him song requests and "do not play" requests, as he has the forms online. He also helped us feel calm by letting us know we were doing well on our timeline during the reception!

He played the type of songs we wanted for the cocktail hour, dinner, and then for the dancing! Afterdark Entertainment is very affordable and I definitely recommend them for your wedding DJ!

For a little bit of background: I used to promote night clubs with a girlfriend. Some of our guests were former DJs, club kids, owners, etc. so I was completely nervous about booking a "wedding DJ". In the end, given the variety of people there - my fiance is from Ohio, and I am from southern California - and the need to MC in addition to DJ we went with a wedding DJ. We took the bar exam this past summer so had to book in a limited time frame and booked him via e-mail without meeting with him - making me even more nervous! However, he was hands down our favorite vendor! Moreover, our dance floor was packed all night. That's not an exaggeration - I had the back-up dancers teaching my uncle how to do the Beyonce' video moves and a cousin teaching them how to Irish step dance to hip-hop ALL night. His dinner selection was impeccable and he hit all the favorites for our crowd - he was able to read them very, very well. My uncle, two engaged girlfriends, and our engaged cousin all asked for his information. He is also very, very popular on "The Knot" community boards where everyone dishes.
Music Selection
His music selection was wide and varied, he took the time to ask a few questions up front to be sure he had what we wanted and rounded out the evening with some classic and modern hits. There were no YMCAs, or silly confusing games, and that was our decision based on our wedding and being slightly older industry folks so he clearly listened to what we wanted and met it.
Professionalism
He was VERY professional, in fact he single handedly saved our wedding on many levels. He checked in with us periodically throughout the night to check in but also give us a snapshot of the next hour or so, which left us feeling prepared and really catered too. At the end of the night, he checked in to let us know he had about 4 songs left if there was anything we hadn't heard that we would like to.
Events
He announced all the events in a way that was not cheesy but tactful and kept the interest and pace up. He also, like I mentioned, made sure to let us know what was coming up and double check it with us.
Crowd
The crowd was eating out of his hands! Back to the music selection, there were very few [if any] requests we heard b/c the girls kept coming up to me saying he was playing exactly what they wanted. Everyone was sore the next day from dancing. He was really, really good with our guests.
Rating
For us, he was 10 stars and some bonus points. We wanted a specific feel for our wedding and he listened very well. In case you haven't met John he is one of those people who loves and focus on what he does.

The DJ can make or break your wedding! I was so lucky to find After Dark Entertainment! Unlike large DJ companies, ADE doesn't do a lot of expensive advertising...good for the budget friendly bride because it keeps their costs low. The money we spent with ADE was money very well spent. John responded to my millions of emails the same day, which means so much to me...brides wants answers ASAP! He was professional, reassuring, and experienced.

You will not believe the amount of compliments we got about our DJ. The music played during dinner was perfect! It really started the reception off on a high note. During the reception, he played just the right music to get everyone on the dance floor. He played a great variety of music (at my request)...70s to rap and everything in between. The most important part to me was that John was bilingual. It meant so much to me that he was willing to translate the announcements in both, English & Spanish. Unlike most DJ companies, ADE did not charge me a fee for a bilingual DJ. It was outraged that some places wanted to charge me an extra $100 for a Spanish speaking DJ!!! ADE was worth every penny...not to make them sound expensive, either. Their fees were very, very reasonable.