Why You Should Hire a Wedding DJ
Updated: Dec 1, 2022
Think you can’t afford to hire a wedding DJ? Think again!
You can’t afford NOT to hire a wedding DJ.
The Master of Ceremonies is the heartbeat of an unforgettable wedding celebration.
Over the years of being a wedding DJ, I have ran across random Instagram posts where someone is talking about saving money at their wedding by not hiring a professional DJ, instead they want to have a homemade playlist on a smart device hooked up to a speaker. In their mind, a wedding DJ will, set up a couple of speakers, and hit play on a laptop. Yes, as a wedding DJ, I do do that, but there is a mountain of pre-wedding work that a professional DJ has to climb before the day of the event, not to mention during the day of the wedding. While it is true they will be saving money on their wedding, there are major (and very practical) drawbacks to not hiring a wedding DJ.
The fact of the matter is, these couples aren’t seeing the wedding DJ’s worth. What people can’t usually see is the amount of experience the DJ comes with coupled with the expensive equipment a professional DJ has acquired over the years and brings to the wedding venue. The DJ gear alone can easily be several thousands of dollars (or more if you add the 360 booth and event uplighting). Add in decades of on the job training at audio troubleshooting and you can clearly see why these two facts alone make a professional wedding DJ priceless. When you compare these facts to the portable speaker and laptop these people have imagined, you can see that they aren't seeing the wedding DJ’s worth as the master of ceremonies. This is a wedding rookie mistake but it’s most likely their first marriage thus first time planning a wedding and I’m going to let them off the hook.
In reality, a professional DJ is the glue that holds the wedding day together for 8 hours because as the master of ceremonies, the DJ keeps the timeline of the itinerary on point, they keep the guests entertained with dancing and the evening flowing on time by hyping the guests and redirecting them to each new event within the evening. In fact, the wedding DJ just might be the most important vendor you have at your wedding because the DJ will work directly with your wedding planner to help keep the evening on track with all the highlights that you have planned for your wedding guests. The wedding DJ is the background maestro that will announce the bridal party entrance into the reception, let the; guests, photographers, and videographers know when the cake is going to be cut, and announcing the last song of the evening before the couples sparkler send off into the night. These are all priceless moments you can’t get back and a wedding DJ is behind it all conducting the event and curating the perfect blend of songs for each moment.
Today, I’m going to blog about why you should hire a wedding DJ for your big day, even if you decide not to hire my company, U7 Austin DJ. In fact, I believe even if the wedding DJ company you choose is less experienced than I am you should still hire them for the job because having a professional DJ at your wedding is worth every hard earned penny. Let me begin my case by saying, I believe a professional DJ is one of the most important vendors you will work with at your wedding and my goal in this post is to prove it to you by starting at the beginning, which for a professional wedding DJ is weeks before the day of the wedding.
Firstly, a wedding DJ will spend a lot of time working on creating a master playlist of 100’s of songs for the day of the wedding, making sure he/she/they have the right sub-genre(s) of music, your favorite songs and that all of it is digitally organized with order. A professional wedding DJ will spend roughly 10 to 15 hours prepping all the music for the wedding day. When you add that to the day of the event, your 8 hour wedding day equals about 20 to 25 hours of total work for the professional wedding DJ. If you also add in other services such as; event up-lighting, a 360 booth, lasers or drapery, that said DJ will have quite a bit more hours of pre and post event workload for a 8 hour wedding.
Furthermore, a professional DJ is the master of ceremonies for your wedding day. As the MC of the evening, a professional DJ will set the pace of the wedding processional and recessional. The DJ will sound check the equipment and mic your officiant before the event begins and your guests are starting to be seated. A professional wedding DJ will work at both; song selection and as the sound tech running the audio through the speaker system for guests to hear all the way in the back. All while transitioning in between songs during the ceremony flawlessly, which in return helps to keep the officiant on point and the sacred ceremony flowing and running on time.
I still haven’t convinced you?
If you are still asking the question, “should I hire a DJ or just hook up a smart device playlist of music to a speaker”, than I have created a pro’s and con’s list, to prove my point that a wedding DJ is more than just worthy of a slice of your wedding budget but is the conductor of an epic wedding dance party. Let’s dive into the list of pros and the cons of not hiring a professional DJ as Master of Ceremonies for your wedding day:
Pros of not hiring a wedding DJ
It is much cheaper and you save money.
You can control the entire playlist of songs by creating it yourself.
It will be less of a dance party and more of a simple get together with loved ones.
Dancing is against your religion or cultural belief system.
You hate having fun and getting sweaty with your friends from dancing all night.
You don’t want to live in the moment with the people you love most.
You would rather be seen as hot in photos and not as a hot mess that had the time of her/his/their life and got caught up in a happy dance floor moment and let go.
Marrying your best friend is not a time for celebration or fun!
Cons of not hiring a wedding DJ
No personality, a master of ceremonies brings the hype and energy to the dance floor and supplies the wedding vibe while the music set’s the mood for the different parts of the evening.
No expert to advice you on music. You will have to do the work yourself and you might not have the time or energy to go song hunting and create multiple playlists for the evening.
If something goes wrong with the audio, you’re in charge of troubleshooting problems.
No wireless microphone on the officiant or soloist and your guests might not hear the ceremony in the back of the venue without a proper ceremony PA system to assist.
No handheld microphone for speeches from family and friends or blessing of the meal at dinner.
No transition of songs or fading of music so you will have dead air in between playlists and events throughout the evening.
Smart devices aren’t that smart (yet), someone will still need to push play and stop on the device for electronic music during the wedding processional and recessional during the ceremony and throughout the evening which is usually 8 hours.
No announcing the entrance of the bridal party, first dance as Mr. and Mrs., last call, cake cutting and the couples send off at the end of the evening.
No light show or lasers on the dance floor to create the mood.