Weddings Do you have your wedding clients fill out a planning form?

Provided at initial meeting when retainer is received.

Yes I have my planning form on my website.

I used to use Google docs. Should be simple, just send a share, but I had a never-ending stream of technical glitches where the client couldn't get to it. I finally gave up and now just email a Word document. I sent one out this morning in fact.

Clients get access to an online planner from the moment they sign the contract. Two months before the wedding I remind them to finish it for our final meeting 1 month before the wedding. The planner includes only stuff for formalities, NOT music requests.

for formalities I try to cover everything. Even little questions like are we playing a parent dance in short or full. I still get a healthy amount of couples asking for bouquet and garter. I don’t get any money dance requests so that’s not on there, but do get anniversary dance once in a blue moon.

For dance requests I prefer to have a conversation about the atmosphere they’re seeking and how they would like their night to flow. Once I start hearing them out, I structure their request lists (for example I may say give me 5-8 requests for the older guests for earlier in the night and 15 or so requests that are geared towards you and your friends for later in the night). Or once I get a sense of how much sit down time we have (usually only 30 minutes) I’ll say how many dinner style songs to provide.

I have a set of Information Sheets in a fillable PDF form. (thanks Tig)
I email them to a client once the gig is confirmed.

DJ Ricky B said:

One thing I took away because it's a pointless question since almost nobody is doing it any more is "Dollar Dance?" Yes or No...Got rid of that question on there. I am also debating getting rid of Bouquet Toss and Garter Toss questions as well...These traditions have just declined so much over the years. I haven't done a Garter Toss since 2018 at this point, and only like 1 or two Bouquet Tosses a year has occurred over the last 5 years.

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While I agree with the decline, it seems prudent, as your client's expert on all things wedding, to make them aware of any possibilities. There's nothing worse than having an older family member insisting on a "surprise" dollar dance and, because you didn't cover it up front, are now having to bug and explain to them what the hell it is, how long it will take, etc etc. Having all these possibilities covered before going in is, to me, the essence of quality recon.

I switched from DJ Event Planner's online portal for my couples to the Vibo app. I'm still tweaking parts of it (it's very much a learn-as-you-go experience for me), but my couples all rave about it, and best of all... they actually use it.

How much is Vibo costing you? Seems like too much $$ for something that is already easy enough to do with no app at all.

The thing is, if my clients can find music online - then they already have the tools to create and send me a list without any third party app getting in the way, or Google invading our privacy. I do care a lot what the bride and groom reveal about their own preferences in advance - that's a valuable list.

As far as guests also getting in on the act - NO thank you. Guest requests that I want to play are those inspired in the heat of the moment - not months in advance while they are engaged in some other unrelated experience. I don't care at all what a potential guest decides to add while out drinking at some other unrelated occasion, or night of web surfing at home. That's far too individualized and too far removed from the event that I'll be working. These request have little value.

I also think the latter feature places the couple in the unfortunate role of playing music police with respect to guest requests they don't want. I think these are debates that a guest should have with the DJ directly, not the couple. Removing this hassle from the couple is part of my job - it speaks to the very nature of customer service. My goal is the best event outcome - which means serving to the entire room rather than individually plated songs at every seat.

The cost for Vibo is $1000 per year if you pre-pay.

I agree that if couples can find music online, they can provide you with a list. The problem is that it's boring and leaves you out of the process, mostly. With Vibo, I can see what songs they're adding at any time during the planning process, and I'm given an indicator of how frequently they're logging in and where they're at with my timeline questions. I can see at a glance which of my couples will require more hand-holding, and which ones are on top of their game. I can also see what my couples actually look like - they're able to upload their photo right into the app. DJ Event Planner should have had this feature EONS ago, but they're not exactly quick to adapt to changes and customer requests.

I also agree with you that requests from guests have little value. Every time a couple tells me that they've included a space on their RSVPs where guests can write in the name of a song that gets them dancing, I explain why this is a fun idea in theory, but a terrible idea for their wedding reception (guests have terrible taste in music, they won't remember what song they wrote down when they're actually at the reception, they all request slow songs, etc). While Vibo does have an "invite guests to contribute to the playlist" feature, it's not one that I promote.

So... what's great about Vibo? It helps me stand out from a plethora of other DJs. My couples think it's all mine, and the coolest thing ever. They ask about it during my sales consultations, and mention it in their reviews of my services.

On the backend, Vibo pulls all of my couples' songs from my music library and organizes them into ready-to-use playlists in Virtual DJ. It's a timesaver.

B-Sharp said:

The cost for Vibo is $1000 per year if you pre-pay.


On the backend, Vibo pulls all of my couples' songs from my music library and organizes them into ready-to-use playlists in Virtual DJ. It's a timesaver.

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I too have been curious to know how much it cost, but was not going to sit thru a 45 minute sales pitch just to find out.

So that is very nice time saving feature.

azdeejay said:

I too have been curious to know how much it cost, but was not going to sit thru a 45 minute sales pitch just to find out.

So that is very nice time saving feature.

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Michael Mahler (Vibo's inventor) is a decent guy and not trying to sell it to everybody. If it's not for you, it's not for you and he won't try to change your mind - it's an enjoyable 45 minute chat regardless. For me, the features that it offers are well worth the price, and again, it's a differentiator. A lot of today's couples get more excited about apps than they do about wedding details anyway.

B-Sharp said:

Michael Mahler (Vibo's inventor) is a decent guy and not trying to sell it to everybody. If it's not for you, it's not for you and he won't try to change your mind - it's an enjoyable 45 minute chat regardless. For me, the features that it offers are well worth the price, and again, it's a differentiator. A lot of today's couples get more excited about apps than they do about wedding details anyway.

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I see a good amount of DJs on the Facebook groups commenting on it and how they like it, you are not the first to say its worth the money.

DJ Ricky B said:

A thousand dollars for a planning portal to me is a lot of money. DJ Event Planner is $120/year. I don't need to see a picture of my couples, especially if I had a skype meeting with them. There is also Face book if I wanted to snoop around to see what they look like, but I don't particularly care what they look like anyway. They are usually younger, and lighter weight than I am, and that is all I really need to know!

DJ Event Planner does have a Spotify playlist integration feature, but I don't push it.

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I've used DJ Event Planner for over a decade and couldn't run my business without it at this point. It does a lot of things well (DJ Event Planner no longer offers the $10/month plan, by the way. Also, Vibo has a monthly payment option... I just prefer to pay for everything annually).

DJ Event Planner's worst flaw is 100% its' user interface. It's not responsive or mobile friendly, even though its users have been requesting it to be since at least 2015. . It's client portal was designed for use on a desktop computer in 2005. Thing is, my customers aren't planning their weddings using the computer at their day job cubicles anymore... they do it all on their phones, at all times of the day and night. What's more, they're not even bothering with launching Safari or Chrome and typing in web addresses and logging in to sites... they're using apps. Only eight percent of time spent on mobile devices is spent using a web browser.

I started noticing a couple of years ago (well before COVID) that many of my clients had never logged into my DJEP portal, despite having been given their credentials at the same time they booked with me. It was so frustrating to prepare for detail meetings and seeing blank planning forms in DJ Event Planner. It wasn't that the forms were complicated... people just weren't taking the time to log in. Vibo is solving that problem for me. It lives on my customers' phones, it's lightning-fast, and it's so freaking easy to use.

I'd gladly pay more for DJ Event Planner if they had a similar offering, but I don't think they can do it and make it customizable for each and every company that's using DJEP in the same way that they can do it with their web-based interface. Paying a developer to build an app that links to my DJEP stuff would cost at least $600 anyway, so the $1000/year expense is worthwhile to me. I've currently got 65 weddings booked from this point forward.... based on that number, the cost breaks down to $15.38 per event. I used to spend more than that, per event, on music back in the day.

I have been using DJ Intelligence for 10 years and it provides just the ability to customize everything. It took a few years to get it the way I like with the right questions to obtain from the couple. It really helps keep things organized and we go over it all during meetings.

$100 a year.