By: DJs are an interesting breed, coming in all shapes, sizes and abilities. It’s the abilities that separate the best from the rest.
When you’re hiring a DJ, inquire about their services and abilities. A few questions to ask:
- “If we have a coordinator, will you work with them or will you handle all the details?” There are some DJs who feel when you’re hiring them, you’re hiring for all of their abilities, whether you want them or not. Find a DJ who is willing to work with your needs, and not the other way around. A good, professional wedding DJ will be able to take what’s given to them and create a masterpiece for your wedding day.
- “Do we have to have you provide uplighting, photo booth, video screens, etc., or can we choose anyone else?” While a lot of companies offer add-ons like we do, we don’t require you to use us. Why? Because you may have seen something you like from someone else. There have been many instances that we’ve provided a gobo installation for a couple while they hired another DJ because they liked what they saw in the design. A professional wedding DJ won’t have their feelings hurt because you didn’t want them to do more than play music.
- “Will you take requests?” While this is a question we ask couples during our initial meeting and even have it on the Online Event Planner. There are some DJs who feel they know it all when it comes to playing music, however you should still have some input on what is played. Some couples have given us a list that would have provided for 16 hours of music, to pick and choose from. We’ve had others who give us five songs and say, “GO!”. On your wedding day, you want to have elements of you, and to a lot of people, music is an important part of being together. Work with your DJ on special songs. Don’t be surprised if there is a song you absolutely have to hear, being played during dinner because the DJ knows it works best there.
- “My aunt is helping us out on the wedding day, can you work with her or do we need to rely on you for everything?” Listen to the answer, because it’s important. If the DJ says they’ll work with your aunt, but wants to talk with her ahead of time, that’s a good sign. If the DJ indicates he or she would rather work alone, then you should ask more questions. The DJ should never make your wedding day about themselves, but about you!
- “What other vendors should we have call you?” This is kind of a loaded question, intended more to find out if the DJ wants everyone to come to him or her. Typically, the DJ or coordinator will want to contact several of your vendors beforehand to go over details.
- “I want my friend to be our coordinator, can you work with him/her?” We have found some of the best coordinators have been friends/family, we’ve also found some of the worst as well. However, the same can be said for professional coordinators. However, you want to find out if that DJ is willing to work with someone, not just the day of, but in advance.
- “We don’t have a coordinator right now and have been thinking about hiring one. Can you handle what we want or should we find a coordinator?” This is very important because it gives the DJ an opportunity to sell themselves on what they can do and leads to a lot of questions. If you like what you hear, ask more questions, if you don’t, then you know that you will want to hire a planner.
- “Would you recommend we hire a planner?” This is a question designed to get the DJ to sell themselves to you. If you know you’re going to have a lot of different and difficult elements to a wedding, then you’ll want someone to assist. Do you think the DJ can do that? We’ve had some weddings where we played music from the entrance to the ceremony, so we were able to handle lining everyone up with music playing. This is where the DJ should be asking you about some of the more intricate details of your wedding and/or ceremony to get a better idea of what they can do. Ask for examples.
- “Is there anything you can’t provide?” The answer to this should always be yes. Why? Because even the best DJs know they can’t control everything. They need assistance, but at the same time do you want a DJ who is also worried about 10 different things going on all at the same time. Uplights, gobo, table lighting, extra sound systems, etc. can all be arranged so they’re being set-up or broken down before and after your ceremony. But if he or she needs to move more than a speaker or two, or move the lights, or set-up/breakdown a video screen and equipment during cocktail hour, or set-up a photo booth after the dancing has started, then you need to find someone else to help coordinate and take some of those duties off the DJ. Or make sure the DJ has someone qualified to assist them. You also need to know that most professional wedding DJs will have contacts that can get you just about anything, but don’t rely on them to set it all up for you, ask for referrals which brings us to number 10.
- “Can you make referrals for other things we need?” This gives you an idea of how well connected they are and a way to get professional opinions on potential vendors. Think about some of the other referrals you received for various vendors, or other services you may need. You’re more likely to go with someone who has experience with that company.
Use these questions when talking to a DJ who is experienced in providing many services. If you’re hiring a DJ to simply bring a sound system and play your music, you don’t necessarily need to run through all of these questions. However, when talking with companies like ours, please ask. A good, professional wedding vendor will be happy to answer your questions.
