Every once in a while I stumble upon a well written, well thought-out article by someone who – for lack of a better term – ‘get’s it.’  One such article was written by a wedding vendor that is not a DJ.  Her name is Stacie Tamaki and she is a wedding videographer in California.  Her blog, The Flirty Blog, is chock full of a lot of creative ideas for any wedding as well as containing several informative articles such as:  (more…)

In my quest to find excellent examples of WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR when hiring a DJ while writing the forthcoming book Wed Without Regrets, I have been quite appalled and even disgusted at times by what I have found.  This particular video demonstrates several of those completely unprofessional behaviors that I have been educating brides about for the past ten years.  Aside from the fact that this DJ is either drunk and/or high while performing at this wedding, the incoherent shouting into the microphone, the mostly empty dance floor and inappropriately dressed companion with him, you will witness one of the worst acts of socially stunted behavior that I have seen caught on video to date!

WARNING: If you are easily offended, please DO NOT watch the following video clip – the content is inappropriate for minors!!!  (more…)

A common theme that I have addressed here on this blog is warning newly engaged couples, who are planning their wedding, to be extremely wary of the ‘too good to be true’ deals that other DJs offer.  True to that warning, I was made aware of yet another couple who were taken advantage of just over the state line in Maryland.  As I have been writing about in my new book – Wed Without Regrets – far too often, people do not realize the value of professional service until it is too late.  (more…)

It has been a very busy wedding booking season and the inquiries for 2011 are starting to really roll in too.  One of the most common questions I am asked by couples planning their wedding is what a good rule of thumb is for pricing DJ services.  It’s actually a pretty easy to answer question, since many of the wedding planning websites such as The Knot, Modern Bride (Brides.com) and many others have wedding budget calculators on their sites.  Another great source of information can be found on the American Disc Jockey Association website too.  (more…)

Recently I returned from a much needed vacation in the U.S. Virgin Islands.  However while I was there, I had the time away from everything else to sort out my thoughts in regards to the “Wed Without Regrets” book that I am currently working on.  After an extremely busy wedding booking season for 2010, it was a great change of pace to collect my ideas. (more…)

This girl finds out the hard way that there is a lot more to hiring a DJ than price alone.  This particular DJ charged $500.00 for “services” rendered and unfortunately for the girl, he fulfilled his contract and her guests are truly offended.  Just as unfortunate, she hired the DJ without ever meeting him or checking any references.

It’s an awefully hard way to learn the minimum basics of hiring a DJ for your wedding or special event…  (more…)

Along the same lines as my previous articles on DJ pricing, a good friend of mine that is a professional DJ in Florida posted a great article on his blog recently.  He made a lot of great points about school dances, so I asked for permission to use it on my blog, just paraphrased to apply to wedding entertainment.  If you like good, solid reasoning, you will love this article!  (more…)

Here’s the bottom line; low-priced DJs are ripping you off and they are ripping themselves off too – it is the biggest scam of the last five decades!  I cannot remember how many times I have heard from brides stating that DJ So-N-So said that they can do everything that I do and for less than half the price.  But I am not the only one, all of my friends from across the United States that are award-winning wedding entertainment professionals have also run into the same scenario time and again.

They do everything that I do?  How is this even possible?  Seriously.  (more…)

In a survey that was done with brides just a few years ago, entertainment was one of the lowest priorities and lowest valued services for a wedding reception.  Yet just one week later, those same brides said that if they had it to do all over again, entertainment would be their number one priority and it would have a much bigger budget.

Why such a drastic change of heart? (more…)