Imagine Your Perfect Wedding
Imagine the chills running down your spines, when you hear a crowd hollering and cheering as the DJ calls out your married names for the first time, Mr. & Mrs.! You skip to the beats of your favorite song as you make your grand entrance into the center of attention. The energy is so high that everyone naturally rhythmically claps to cheer on this milestone!
No awkward pauses or DJ glitches. You want to feel each other’s hearts as you sway into your first dance song.
The energy is so high that guests enjoy a nice break from all the hype, sit down for their salads, and get their champagne ready for hilarious and teary-eyed toasts. The rest of the night of your reception is a breeze, everyone loves the transitions in between songs, and almost every person is enjoying dancing with you! The DJ isn’t trying to beg people to get on the dance floor, they’re “feeling out the crowd” and picking songs that will orchestrate guests to have a good balance between lively chats, slow and fast dances, and being just plain silly rocking to 80’s or 90’s music (or whatever songs you chose!).
If you’ve ever been to a wedding with a terrible DJ, you know how painful of a feeling it is when nobody loves the songs enough to want to dance. Or even worse, the DJ makes the weirdest, stupidest jokes trying to be everyone’s comedian, killing time, and then the microphone stops working. (No joke, this is real, we heard this from one of our photographer friends!). Or maybe the wedding DJ is just a grumpy old man hiding behind old school speakers, flipping through CD’s, who doesn’t want to talk to anybody. So how do you make sure that you have the best DJ ever?
How do you find the best wedding DJ ever?
It’s an endless scroll on Weddingwire or the Knot, where there are hundreds of wedding DJ’s listed. How do you know which DJ company is the right one to service your wedding? We have some tips on how to figure this out, and get one major thing checked off your wedding planning t0-do list!
#1 - Friend's referrals. Take note of fun DJ's from past weddings you've attended.
This may seem like an obvious tip, but many brides and grooms just hire the cheapest DJ they can find. We advise against that, because you know that old saying, “you get what you pay for”! If you’ve attended any awesome weddings where you loved the DJ’s style, find out what company your friends used. That way, you know what to expect for your wedding dancing experience, because you experienced the DJ’s service, first-hand!
#2 - Wedding Venue Referrals
Venue referrals are why many couples choose Champagne Toast Dj’s. We work with any wedding venues, but there are some venues that love our style, communication, and have had great feedback from THEIR clients! Wedding venues that post pictures on Instagram, tagging their vendors like Dj’s, can often help in finding out what DJ’s they’ve worked with.
Each wedding venue likely has a list that’s available either online on their website, or in a printed packet of information you can get when you schedule a visit. Venues that have modern, updated-looking websites, or modern-looking lists or pamphlets are likely to be trusty sources of current information. You can search each DJ they have listed, read online reviews for the DJ. Venues love certain DJ’s because of how well the DJ’s communicate with their planner or day-of coordinator. In addition, the DJ companies that function almost as a day-of coordinator for reception events are often preferred by venues. Otherwise, some DJ’s aren’t assertive at all and won’t take charge of the party or announcements, making venue coordinators or caterers frustrated over the execution of events on the timeline.
Champagne Toast Entertainment is a preferred DJ at these venues (as far as we know!):
- The Barn at Wight Farm, Sturbridge, MA
- The Barn at Blackstone National, Sutton, MA
- Chocksett Inn, Sterling, MA
- Colonial Hotel, Gardner, MA
- Zukas Hilltop Barn, Spencer, MA
- The Manor, West Boylston, MA
- The Publick House, Sturbridge, MA
- Salem Cross Inn, West Brookfield, MA
- Pleasant Valley Country Club
- The Grand View
#3 - Wedding Vendors
The only other wedding vendors that stick around for dancing during a reception would be photographers or videographers, or caterers. These are the top 3 types of vendors that typically pay attention to the quality of DJ’s they work with…because it affects their job directly! Photographers and videographers know who the great DJ’s are because it makes for a good time to capture, and to service!
Photographers, videographers, and caterers work with the DJs on the night’s timeline, so that they can do their job well. Any DJ that doesn’t communicate with caterers or the photographer, doesn’t sit well. In fact, if your DJ wants to be secretly hated and cursed at by photographers, videographers or caterers, all that DJ needs to do is to ignore all vendors. Communication is key, and that’s one reason why we are loved by so many different vendors (not to brag, but it’s true.)
We also have our own list of preferred wedding vendors if you’re also looking for other vendors.
#4 - Online DJ Reviews. The more, the better
Read reviews by real clients on any of these websites:
If the DJ has dozens, or if not hundreds, of 5-star reviews, you know that you’ve stumbled upon a gem! There are a million wedding DJ’s out there, and one way to figure out who is great, is to read what past clients have to say about the DJ team’s personality, process, and experience.
DJ companies that have been around for decades, and consistently get awesome current reviews, are typically invested in their clients’ experiences. Well, they’ve been around the block and they know how to handle wedding receptions, especially after having years of experience.
#5- Talk to the DJ team!
Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and call the DJ company. Ask any questions, get to know them, and see how the DJ would guide you in your wedding planning process. Whether it’s the lead DJ of the company who would arrange a chat with your assigned DJ, overall, the general “vibe” and personality of the DJ company should shine through to you. We don’t recommend booking a DJ without talking to them first!
You can contact us anytime, we would love to hear from you.
