Prices for wedding DJs can and do vary greatly. The good news is that there’s a wedding DJ out there for most budgets. From zero for a friend with a Spotify playlist, to $3500 and above for a premier DJ. Knowing your budget before you begin your search is a great starting point, but you’ll also want to consider what you’re expecting from your wedding DJ, the scope of your DJ services and how important your wedding entertainment is to you.
Having realistic expectations for your wedding DJ is crucial. Imagine you’re buying a car. You know that a Rolls Royce costs more than a Honda Civic. The same logic should be applied to wedding DJs. A highly skilled, experienced and in demand professional wedding DJ – the Rolls Royce is going to cost more than the laptop and playlist DJ – the Honda Civic. The art of the DJ is reading the crowd, setting the mood and playing the right music at the right time and top DJsdo this instinctively. Most importantly, the best DJs know exactly when to switch gears and can do it seamlessly. If you want an experienced, club-trained ,in demand DJ be prepared for higher rates, you’re not going to get a Rolls Royce for the price of a Honda Civic.
The scope of DJ services also has a direct impact on cost. The general rule of thumb here is the more services you need your DJ to provide, the higher the cost will be. Consider the flow of your wedding – ceremony to cocktail hour to dinner to dance party. More often than not these events will take place in different spaces at your venue, so multiple set up will be required. It’s not uncommon for a DJ to have 3 set ups to ensure the seamless delivery of music and AV services. After all, the last thing you want your guests to experience and remember is a lull in proceedings as you wait for the DJ to move equipment. If you want a DJ to provide music and AV services for your entire wedding expect to pay more than if you’re just hiring the DJ for your dance party.
Finally, let’s talk about the importance of your wedding entertainment. You should think long and hard about this question because it might have an impact on your DJ budget. Do you want a party for the ages or just another party? The one thing wedding guests remember beyond the beautiful couple and the ceremony is the party. Close your eyes and think back to all the weddings you’ve been to. Can you remember how beautiful the couples looked and the ceremonies? If so, well done! Can you remember what you ate for dinner? The flower arrangements? The color of the napkins? Don’t worry if you can’t. You’re not alone. Now think about the parties. Which ones can you remember? Probably the ones with packed dance floors filled with guests of all ages, smiling faces everywhere and the chant of ‘One More Song’ at the end of the night. The point here is that the right music can turn a good wedding into one of those great weddings where everyone is having so much fun they don’t want the night to end. However, it is all too easy to ruin a special day if you get the music wrong. We’ve all been to one of those weddings. The dance floor fills for a song then empties, same cheesy wedding music or worse still no one is dancing. If wedding entertainment is important to you then booking the right DJ is a decision that you don’t want to take lightly. Again, the art of the DJ jockey is reading the crowd, setting the mood and playing the right music at the right time so make sure you book a DJ with the right skillset to deliver the memorable day that you’ve been dreaming about.