Here
are some guidelines to keep in mind when planning.
- Never place tables between the DJ and the dance floor. The DJ should always be next to or touching the dance floor.
- Don’t arrange older guests near the speakers. This will create an issue between the younger guests who keep coming up to ask you to raise the music and the older guests who will be uncomfortable about how loud the music is all night and wish to talk.
- Keep your DJ table near the dance floor and visible. A visible DJ will entice more guests to the dance floor. If the DJ and the music are placed properly as opposed to a sideshow, more people will be willing to dance.
- Consider not cutting out all of the cliché wedding music (Electric Slide, YMCA, etc.), as you will find this will negatively impact the dance floor. Understand that your DJ knows from experience, which songs will get more people to dance. Weddings aren’t the time to introduce to your friends and family obscure music. You will have a lot of different types of people into different music who all want to have a good time dancing to songs that they know. One of the hardest jobs for a DJ at a wedding is to create a balance in music to make everyone happy.
- If you are giving the DJ requests, I suggest using the DJ’s expertise and experience to play your song when it fit best to play based on tempo and style. Brides and grooms may make requests such as “play this song next” or “only play rock for the rest of the night”. This is usually does not work well in keeping the guest happy, so help him figure out your style, but don’t restrict him.
- One mistake some people make is to give a huge mandatory playlist of 100 songs to the DJ to play at their wedding that may have been compiled by many guests or a few guests. One thing to keep in mind is that a wedding can only fit in about 60 songs during the dancing portion of the night. A request list given usually doesn’t consider music to fit all the different types and ages of people at the wedding. Most guests may just be picking their favorite song and not necessarily everyone’s favorite song. Don’t restrict the DJ too much and consider he knows how to read the crowd and play what will keep the dance floor full.
Our Asheville weddings blog has a lot of great ideas at:
Our Asheville weddings Pinterest page has a lot of great ideas at:
www.pinterest.com/acelebritydjs
Our Asheville weddings website at:
AshevilleWeddingDJ.wix.com/ashevillecelebritydj
Our Asheville weddings website at:
AshevilleWeddingDJ.wix.com/ashevillecelebritydj
James Herrick has been a mobile DJ for over 32 years and brings his 10 years radio and TV experience as a professional announcer and host. He is a certified ADJ Professional and has worked at such stations as: 98.7 KISS-FM, 94.5 WWWI Country, WKLM, WGLD Oldies, AM 950 WPET, WLXI TV-61 The Triads Video Music Channel, The Music 106 WUAG, and 90.9 WQFS.
