Eeerrrrrgh....wedding DJ'ing...

Man. These guys sure do give wedding/party DJ's a bad name.

They probably charge a 1/4 of what I would for a gig just to get the work because it sure ain't their rep that lands them gigs.

@mikeyg3k & scrambled_egg81

Both of you have some valid points, so I thought I'd add my 2c for what it's worth.

I've been doing this stuff for a long time and have done it all, Radio Shows, Club Circuit (from TOP40 Commercial to underground house), and Mobile Parties.

Let me tell you that the hardest gig you will ever do is a wedding. You have everyone from gran and gramps to 5yr old nephew. Most of the guests are not big party goers and then you stuff them full of more food than they would normally eat in a week and then wonder why no-one feels like dancing. Music tastes vary wildly and it takes great skill to find a common thread and/or put the right genre on at the right time to keep the floor. A song that bombs now could have been a killer if you had played it 10mins later.

I hate weddings but unfortunately I am good at them so 70-80% of my mobile gigs are weddings.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying a purely club DJ couldn't make a good showing at a wedding especially if he know the crowd. Knowing some of guests personally always gives you some credibility even before you have switched your gear on.

If the bride and groom are pretty relaxed it won't matter and everyone will have a good time. But consider this.. if you are dealing with bridezilla and the dancefloor clears, all bridezilla will remember is that 'no-one' was dancing and its all your fault, even though it is not your fault because the venue chose to serve desert just as you were getting the crowd warmed up.

 

I started the wedding thing after I'd already been out in the TO club scene for a couple of years. You couldn't be more right - I DJ'd friends' weddings for a year or so till my mic skills improved, and then took my show "on the road" so to speak. The confidence boost from talking out to 200 of my friends per Saturday really helped. Turns out I'm an extrovert, LOL, and now I'm in corporate sales at my day job as a result (yay).

I'll repeat this about being a wedding DJ, in light of what CZ mentioned above:
I believe that every DJ needs to do a wedding gig or two. Like DJ Shadow says in Scratch about digging, it won't make a bad DJ good (and in fact if you're just a so-so EDM jock who doesn't care about anything but your own genre of music, a wedding could very well destroy your mind), but it makes a good DJ even better.

 

Wow, I really hope it wasn't as bad as expected!