TIPS FOR HIRING A WEDDING DJ
TIPS FOR HIRING A WEDDING DJ
Beautiful, glamorous, and fancy wedding dress, inspiring wedding ceremony, Hollywood like photos and video coverage made you think that you have the most perfect wedding of the century, when out of the blue you suddenly heard the music that ruined your dream wedding. Wedding day is one of the most memorable events in one’s life but the question is, is it really for the best or for the worst? Most people don’t take much thought of it but having a great wedding DJ to cater for a wedding event can make a huge difference. The songs being played by the wedding DJ radiates an impact to the wedding attendees, especially for the newlywed couple since their own love story can be related to the songs being played.
Here are the tips to consider when hiring a wedding DJ:
A great wedding DJ knows that it is the most important event in your life and treats it as one. He also makes you feel that you are the most precious person in the event. The success of the event is his success and he goes an extra mile to achieve it.
A great wedding DJ plans and correlates with you to know what music should be played and those that will not. He also offers advice and suggestions on things that will create a perfect atmosphere in the said event.
A great wedding DJ makes a perfect blend of music and announcements. He knows when to turn on the microphone and when not to talk. He talks in a very clear, smooth and professional manner.
A great wedding DJ must look and acts professional, he dresses appropriately for the event and treats everyone with respect.
A great wedding DJ does not directly invite the guests to go to the dance floor. He does it by capturing the crowd’s interest and playing the music that they want.
A great wedding DJ makes a quality sound using high quality sound systems. He plays the music just right, not too loud neither too soft.
A great wedding DJ is ready to accommodate any special request by the bride and groom and even from the guests.
A great wedding DJ delights and impresses people. He does not just play music and perform but he entertains and makes everyone feel that they are being considered concerning the kind of music to be played and enjoyed by them.
A great wedding DJ should always have his alternative plan when unexpected things happen such as emergency cases on his part, breakdown of instruments, or transportation concerns. In this kind of situation, the DJ must assure that the equipments needed in the occasion will be brought in the event.
A great wedding DJ is prompt and always in action. He arrives on time and always ready to entertain everyone.
Your wedding day should not only be memorable to the bride and the groom but to the guests as well since they are sharing the most noteworthy occasion of their loved ones. The tips above are useful and functional guide in choosing a great wedding DJ to create an alluring, classy, having a sweet, and an inviting ambiance of music; indeed a perfect wedding ever.
Hotel MacDonald Corporate Christmas Party DJ
December 11, 2009 – Edmonton Disc Jockey for Davis & Company
It has been 2 years since the last time I was with my friends at Davis and Company and boy it was good to be back. The weather outside was frightful and inside it was delightful with great food and friends coming together to celebrate everyone’s favorite time of the year.
The Hotel MacDonald is the most beautiful venue in Edmonton at the best of times; and this time of the year takes it too a whole other level. The Christmas decorations are so well done and really add to the look of the hotel. So much so that people were taking pictures of each other in the lobby in front of the great tree and reindeer.
As an Edmonton DJ it is always great to DJ at the MacDonald Hotel and tonight was as good as always. Over the years I have gotten to know some of the staff and on this night a couple of people were there that I have gotten to know. A special thanks to Chris for his unequalled service and helpfulness. He treated me like a guests rather than the hired help and that says a lot about him and the MacDonald Hotel. If other venues could understand this it would server them well as I have customers that call me and ask what is a good venue to hold a function at and I always mention the Mac.
Dinner was served just about 7:30PM, which was a little late, because of the poor road conditions making people run late getting to the location. Dinner was, simply put, amazing and I could not have had another bite as I over did it. It was great to sit a relax and enjoy a great meal and my dinner guests were great to visit with and we had a great conversation over dinner.
After dinner we had a couple of quick speeches and the highlight of the night was 2 things. 1st was the slideshow and video presentation that the interns put together. There were a few slides shown on the screen that were doctored in Photoshop that had everyone laughing as the interns made jokes about the office staff.
The video presentation followed the slideshow and that was a spoof in the TV show “the Office” and boy was it funny. It must have taken days to put that together and was one of the best presentations I have ever seen and all I can say was the bar has been set high and will be hard to beat.
The 2nd thing was the “Family Feud Game” where 2 teams were picked and competed against each other to answer a few fun questions about the staff and partners based on how well they new each other. This was very well done and the MC did a great job of preparing the game in advance. I will be sure to recommend this to other companies in the future.
The dance got started about 10:00 and it was just like old times. Since I had been with this group before and had a good understanding as to what they liked and that was a good starting point and we were able to hit the ground running. There were lots of requests and everyone just seemed to cut loose a little and have some fun and relax, something we all need to do once and a while. What I love about the Hotel MacDonald is the atmosphere in this room. With a great look and feel and add in great lighting control you can really set the tone for an inviting dance floor where people will want to be.
Please see the attached video for some highlights of the day from “Edmonton DJ”
Your Edmonton Wedding
Edmonton DJ at Hilton Garden Inn
Lonnie and Christine were a lot of fun to work with. When it comes to slide shows and what I do, it takes a leap of faith to do this type of slide show. I am so glad that they took the chance to this and boy it was worth all the hard work. We shot the video footage for the slideshow almost a month prior to the wedding date and we had been trying to get together a number of times but the weather just wasn’t cooperating. It was raining a little that night and we just had to go for it as I was running out of time to build the project. The rain let up and turned out to be a great night to shoot the video and the back drop of the small lake worked great. I even got lucky and shot a few frames with my new Canon 5D Mark 2 that turned out really well.
The day of the wedding I arrive 3 hours prior to the doors opening and it was one of the tightest rooms I have ever been in. After I setup my show and the screen and projector there wasn’t an inch to move in the room. It is great to be at or close to capacity of the room as you never want a room looks empty or like people did not come and this was not the case at all.
The room looked great and the decorations were great with chair covers and ties that really added to the overall look to the room. They rented everything from River City Rentals including the dance floor which we helped setup that afternoon.
The guests started arriving at about 6 pm and everyone was having a great time right from the get go. The bride and groom arrived about 6:30 and picked, what is becoming the number 1 entrance song, “Black Eyed Peas – I Got a Feelin” and everyone was clapping and cheering as the wedding party came in the room.
This was my first time to the Hilton Garden Inn and dinner was very well done with some great deserts and a special thanks goes out to the staff that worked hard to make sure that, not only the guests, but me as a contractor had everything I needed. When we got there they asked if we needed a drink or if they could help with anything. The only thing could be a little better was that the air conditioning could not keep up as it was a little warm in the room and it is a bit of a challenge to get gear into the room if you do not have a ramp to get up the 6 in curb on the outside of the building.
I must say that speeches were GREAT. The best man stole the show with his very funny opening that took a direct shot at the groom and had the room in stitches. They were a very well spoken group that helped set the tone for the rest of the night. I have always said that the better the front end of the night is; leads to a better back end.
The formal end of the night ended with the slide show and it went better then even I expected. I am a little used the response I get from the slide show I build because it is very unique. Add in that the bride and groom had great personalities led to one of the best received slide shows I have ever had the pleasure of building. The laughter at times was so loud and long that we almost needed to show it a second time so that you could hear what was said during that laughter. It was a lot of fun for me to just watch the people in the room as the slide show happened.
What can I say about the dance but WOW. This summer continues to be one of the best ever and people are in the party mood. Simply put this was a rocker. Being an Edmonton DJ is by far one of the best things you can be. I have always said that what makes the difference at a party is the bride and groom and if they are on the dance floor or not. Christine and Lonnie spent a great deal of the night dancing which help elevate this party to a great time. The highlight of the night is when I played an Eminem song and gave the mic to Lonnie and sang along to the lyrics like a pro. Everyone loved it and it helped take the party to another level.
Edmonton Wedding Slide Show
Edmonton DJ at the Radisson Inn for a Corporate Christmas Party
December 19, 2009 – Edmonton Corporate Christmas Party for WIKA Instruments Edmonton 
It is great to back with WIKA again this year to do their Christmas party. They are a great group of people that like to have fun. In order to elevate a party to a higher level we decided last year that we would add in a couple of games to make things a little more interesting. Corporate functions can be a bit of a challenge as the employees bring a spouse or guest and since they don’t really know anyone they can feel a little out of place.
My goal is to add in some activities that help to break the ice and get everyone to relax a little more so they intern enjoy themselves and stay a little longer.
Last year we decided to play “golf”. Simply put everyone that comes get a chance to go golfing and every time you sink a putt (best of 3) you get entered into a separate draw then everyone else. It went over very well last year and everyone lined up to play and it was great fun as everyone cheered and sometimes booed for the person putting. We decided to leave the golfing in this year and see what happens. The funny thing is that I think that it was better this year than last year and that is because people knew how it worked and it was so much fun as people that never really golf came up and gave it a try and when they sunk a putt everyone cheered and it was ton of fun.
For dinner we played a game to pick the table order. Santa Bingo is a fun game that is more luck then skill but is better then simply picking number out of a hat. The fun part was the ribbing people where giving me as we did the game as there was a lot of banter which turned out to be a lot of fun.
Dinner was very well done at the Radisson Inn. The Radisson is a really nice venue to hold a function at, but is one of the hardest venues to get equipment into and out of. Also, with the dance floor at the opposite end of the room from the entrance to the room make it even a longer distance for an Edmonton DJ to have to move their gear. Also, the room is quite nice but is in need to painting and a little T.L.C. to keep it current and maintained.
After dinner we played 2 quick rounds of “Name that Tune” and this was great fun as everyone was involved and engaged making it a lot easier to do. I had a volunteer run my computer which really sped up the game and me running around like a chicken with my head cut off.
The highlight of the night was when myself and 2 managers and the president of the company performed a rewritten version of “Kenny Rogers – the Gambler”. We did a rehearsal before dinner and that went off without a hitch and we had an almost flawless performance but we all had a little bit of the nerves. I think the 4 of us had more fun doing this then everyone watching. I think it is great to see management step outside the box and have a some fun. I hope we can talk everyone into doing this again next year.
We finally started the dance about 9:30 and we had people on the dance floor the whole night thru. It was the ladies that really got the ball rolling with some line dances and top 40. We mixed in a few slow songs, as anyone can dance to a slow song and by 12AM we had a good core group of people left and I played their requests and we had a great time.
Please see the attached video of some highlights of the day from Edmonton Disc Jockey.
Denham Inn in Leduc Wedding DJ
December 12, 2009 Wedding for Murielle and John
It might have been –46 degrees Celsius outside but the wedding was on FIRE!!!
As an Edmonton DJ I can’t remember the last time I was this concerned going into a wedding. The weather can play a major role in a function but not tonight.
The Denham Inn in Leduc is a very nice location to hold a wedding as I have been here a few times before I was very familiar with this venue. When I arrived to the venue, which was nice and early to allow my equipment enough time to warm up from the freezing temperature outside, I was very impressed as the how the room was decorated. Murielle and John did a few things that I have never seen before.
The first thing I noticed was the socks as favors. This was a great touch as there was a story with the socks and the first date the bride and groom shared. This was brilliant as it made things more personal and socks were favors that people could actually use. At most weddings there are always favors left behind but not today.
Second was the game played during speeches… but I will get to that in a minute.
The bride and groom wanted to set a great tone for the night and by picking “Black Eyed Peas – I Gotta Feelin’” as their grand entrance song that definitely worked. With aunty “M” getting married, everyone was very excited for her on her BIG day.
This was an advanced wedding for me with not only DJing the function but built my advanced slideshow with video interview. This type of function puts a great deal of work on my plate but the rewards are well worth the effort. The Denham Inn has a couple of limitations when it comes to what I do and with a slideshow being a big part of the evening the very low ceilings makes it very hard for all the guests to see the image on a small screen. Since I had been here before and was aware of this limitation I brought as second screen and projector so that the projectors and screens could be placed at opposite ends of the room allowing for easier viewing for the guests.
Dinner was very well done and I really enjoyed the meal as it was a good home cooked meal that covered all the basics and then some. Everyone really seemed to be enjoying themselves with lots of visiting and laughing around the tables.
I cannot remember the last time I was this stressed at a function. This was caused by a computer malfunction during the rendering of the slideshow. Even though I am well prepared with a backup slideshow in hand, I like to add in a few pictures and video after the bride and groom to the hall into the slideshow and re-render the slideshow during dinner so that it is ready to go at the end of speeches. Things were going perfectly until my PC got hung up and I had to exercise a hard reboot and then again render down the slideshow again. This whole process took me until about 7:45 which would have been fine had I not made the mistake of not double checking my changes to the slideshow after the reboot. Realizing my mistake after rendering put me in a big time crunch and I had to render the slideshow again for the 3rd time and the process takes about 40 minutes to complete. We pushed the speeches up just a little and we were only delayed in showing the slide show by about 5 minutes. The slideshow ended up going over in a huge way and at time the laughter was so loud that we almost needed to show it twice to catch everything the bride and groom said. When you get a big huge from the bride you know you did a good job and that is exactly what I got from Murielle.
A big thank you goes out the their photographer. Sonia allowed me to use a few pictures from the ceremoney and formals at the end of the slideshow which really blow everyone away as I was not at the ceremony or formals yet there were pictures in the slideshows from the day. It is great when vendors work together for the good of the client as most people only have their own best interests at heart. Sonia’s company is called PhotoArt by Sonia. Thanks Again.
Lets get back to the second thing I had never seen at a wedding before. The MC’s were simply put… AWESOME. They were very well spoken and creative and did there homework. The highlight of the speeches was a game that was played with the bride and groom. First the groom was blindfolded and several different women were asked to come up and give him a kiss (they were picked in advance) and the bride was also one of the kissers. After the women kissed the groom he had to pick which one was the bride and boy when he guessed WRONG the roof almost came off the building with laughter. One of the volunteers nailed him with a good kiss and that really throw the groom off the trail. The bride then had her turn and was also blindfolded and the male volunteers came on up. She had to squeeze the butts to see which one was the grooms. This was so funny and they got more volunteers than that had planned for as lots of men want to have their butts squeezed by the bride. What was even funnier was after she took off the blindfold she also picked the wrong man saving the groom from years of humiliation.
After the speeches and slideshow we quickly went into the first dance once the head table was taken down via the hotel staff to accommodate the dance floor.
There were only 2 special dances and we were off to the races with everyone in to mode to have a good time.
Even though it was one of the coldest nights ever in Leduc it was one of the hottest parties I have ever done. I thought for sure that the room would be empty by 11:00 as people would not want to be stuck out in the cold or worry about trying to start their cars. This was not the case at all as everyone stayed, danced and enjoyed themselves. At 1:00AM I still have 50 people in the room which was a total surprise. A BIG thanx to Murielle and John for putting up with me and really taking it upon themselves to have fun and really enjoy themselves on their special day.
Please watch the video below for some highlights put together by Edmonton DJ.
Edmonton Disc Jockey for Amen Construction
December 5, 2009 at the Nisku Inn Edmonton
The Nisku Inn has 2 rooms (1 Bigger and 1 Smaller) and the smaller room seats about 120 people which was perfect for the Amen Construction Christmas Party. The day began with a bit of challenge as it had snowed quite a bit through the night and with a little bit of wind led to some drifting which made it very difficult to get my trailer out of storage. It is always important to give yourself a little extra time when it comes to traveling at this time of the year and today I really needed that extra time.
To make matters a little more challenging, when I arrived at the Nisku Inn the front doors wore not working forcing me to load in a small side door that had a small step which was not helpful when it came to moving all of my equipment.
With all the small things happening I had just enough time to setup my show. The doors opened at 5:30PM and I was ready at 5:20PM. I have played in this room before and what was better this time was the placement of the dance floor. It was right in front of my location which was exactly where I wanted it to be. Last time the dance floor was about 20 feet from where my table could be placed.
With the weather causing everyone a few problems our evening ran a little behind schedule as we waiting for people to come. Dinner started about 1/2 hour late which was just fine as the staff at the hotel rolled with the punches and worked around what the customer wanted.
Dinner started about 7:30 and we had a little fun picking the tables based on who was dressed either in Christmas colours or had on festive attire. The food was very well made and there was a very nice selection of items including porgies which are generally a crowd pleaser. The only thing that would be a little better would have been using both side of the buffet line but only one side of the table was used therefore, taking twice as long to put everyone through the buffet line.
Just after dinner the owner/president of the company said a few words about the past year and was looking forward to 2010 with new contracts coming up that will put Amen Construction in a good place next year.
What I really like about Amen Construction is that they are not only colleges but friends and family. Everyone gets along and is there to relax, kick back, and enjoy themselves. As an Edmonton DJ I consider myself pretty lucky to do what I do. It is a great honor to be invited back year after year by the same company. I am lucky to work with companies like Amen as they are the reason I am still doing this and hope to be back next year… in Canmore.
A special thanks goes out to Lynn and Bob as they are great dancers and break the ice for everyone to enjoy themselves. I wish they could come to every one of my parties as they have such positive energy and are genuinely great people.
Please see the video below for some highlights of the night from an Edmonton Disc Jockey.
DJ Edmonton for Intuit Canada
November 28, 2009 at the Edmonton Westin Hotel
As an Edmonton DJ I have pretty much seen it all and all I can say is that Intuit did it all at this function. From the minute you came up the stairs at the Westin Hotel there was something for everyone. So where to begin. As a guest you came in to the reception area where there was a piano player and bass player playing a variety of Christmas songs that just filled the air.
Down the hall was a room where you could have your picture taken via a professional photographer. These pictures would then be made available to everyone in the weeks following the Christmas Party.
Everyone was mingling and visiting and enjoying themselves and there was a couple of magicians walking around performing close up magic. This is a great add on to any function as it creates a great conversation starter that breaks the ice and leads to a better evening. When the staff and their spouses come together for a function the spouses can feel a bit out of place and anything that can make everyone feel at ease creates an even better event.
The doors to the ballroom opened about 6:30 PM which was a little late to allow enough time for everyone to get into the room and find their seats prior to dinner. The room was very well decorated with a back drop of Las Vegas as a background image that tied into the theme of having a funny money casino after dinner. There was nothing new here for decorations that I have not seen before but what the organizers had done was well and all tied into the overall theme.
Dinner was very well done, served buffet style and everyone made it through the line in a very short period of time. When you are feeding 300 people it is important that they all get through the line as soon as possible to all for a better evening. The Westin did a great job of keeping the food on the buffet line so that there were no delays.
Dinner was followed by a couple of short speeches and a few door prizes that both very well received. We then went into the informal end of the evening where there was both a dance and a funny money casino.
When there are two different things for guests to do that can be good and it can be bad. If is always a balancing act trying to make as many of your guests happy. The thing is that not everyone dances and the fun money casino was a great add on that appealed to allot of people.
The fun money casino ran from about 9PM to 11PM and the dance ran right along side it for those that did not want to gamble.
The casino was very well received and by most of the guests and those that did not want to play were on the dance floor. There was not anyone sitting in the entire room so it was clear that everyone was partaking in all the activities provided via the organizers. After the casino ended the person with the most money was awarded a prize and rest of the door prizes were given away and the dance finally got going. With such a bigger distraction the dance generally suffers until the casino ends and that is exactly how it was on this night.
We did lose a few people after the casino which was expected for a crowd of this size but this size but those that stuck around danced their butts off and had a great time. I was a little surprised that we had a good crowd still left at 2:00AM when I had to stop playing music as the crowd that was left were chanting “one more song” over and over again.
The challenge for next year will be to top this event.
Please see the video below for highlights of the event for Intuit Canada.
Edmonton DJ for Leduc Junior High School
June 4, 2009
Leduc Junior High is one of my favorite places to DJ. With the best staff I have ever worked with I consider myself lucky to be a part of their special events. I am treated like family every time I am with the staff and students at Leduc Junior High.
This year’s grade 9 farewell was one of the best. All the students showed up well dressed and ready to have a great time. You can tell that this is a great place to go to school as the kids are very well behaved and I have no problems DJing there.
We began the night with O Canada that was performed by 3 very talented students that did a very nice job of our national anthem.
The evening was hosted by two very well spoken students that did a great job of MCing the night.
The Principle of the school, as always, did a great job of sending the students off and providing some great words of wisdom as the students get ready to head off to grade 10 next year.
The evening was closed out with a great slide show that covered the entire school year and this year they moved from power point to a digital format that made for a very nice ending to the evening.
The Dance
The dance gets started and we start the night off with social dances. This is one of very few schools that has dancing as a part of the phys-ed ciriculum and it GREAT. The students all have to participate and right from the get go they are all on the dance floor having a great time. From Fishin’ in the Dark to O Johnny they are all signing the words and having a great time. What is funny that there are more kids on the dance floor for the social dance songs then when I was playing a request like Poker Face.
What suprised me the most about this time a Leduc Junior High as as the night went by the kids started asking for more of the social dance songs and when I played them they all go their partners and hit the dance floor.
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A big thanx to the teachers and staff at Leduc Junior High, I hope that more schools follow in your foots steps of doing more than the minumum. Have a great summer and Looking forward to see you at Christmas.