The job of the wedding DJ is not simply about playing music. A good DJ should be able to cater for most requests and blend them well into the overall mood of the evening.

Choosing your wedding DJ

So where do you find your DJ? Well the first thing to do is to search our directory for a wedding DJ / mobile disco. Contact a few and ensure that you speak to each directly and at some length.

Deciding on which DJ to employ always carries some risk, but you should be able to gauge a lot from speaking with them on the phone. Firstly how interested do they seem about accommodating your specific taste in music? How large is their collection? How do they organise it? Are they adept and prepared to accommodate requests? Try to assess their professionalism; how do they react to the idea of drinking on the job?

Some cowboy DJs care more about any free drink they can get than the job they are supposed to be doing. In conversation it is easy to drop in a few questions or comments about music that you know about or are interested in. Are you satisfied that their answers reflect a genuine knowledge of music on their part?

Also ask about the equipment they use. If you haven’t heard of any of the equipment brands this is probably a good thing. If you have you may have to worry.

Most professional DJ equipment is designed for home use and not necessarily for playing loud music for long periods of time. Professional sound equipment is much more powerful and versatile. Jot any equipment down and check it for quality. The most important thing is to ask lots of questions and preferably see the DJ in action before the event. Best of luck choosing your wedding DJ.

Prepare in advance

Don’t give your wedding DJ music lists to play throughout the night! Place some trust in them. They are after all the expert and should be experienced in entertaining at all manner of functions. Yes of course it is your special day and you should get exactly what you want, but don’t forget that your taste in music might differ considerably from that of your guests.

If your guests don’t hear music that they like you might find they start to make excuses to leave early! Providing all the music in advance also does not leave any room for requests. It is normally considered appropriate to give the DJ a list of 10-15 songs that you would like to hear and also any specific ‘must haves’ such as a song for the first wedding reception dance.

If you are still thinking that you want more control over the music the other thing to bear in mind is that over a period of 4 hours a DJ will only play 40-50 songs and most brides and grooms are so busy talking to all the guests that they don’t end up hearing half of the music anyway!

The focus should be instead on choosing a personality who you can rely on to entertain and do their job well, rather than trying to do their job for them. See some of our related articles for more ideas for your wedding music.