25 years this November. I didn't have a DJ, I hired real talent, a band.
In fact I had two bands at my wedding. The second band was a local rock group friends of mine who kept the party going after the first band left.
It was 1998. I had been a DJ for 14 years before I finally found her. During those years, particularly when I was working a wedding, I would think about my own wedding day and wondered what it would be like. The biggest problem was that I always imagined it with me working my own wedding party. Fat chance of that if I really wanted to be married!
I almost decided to get a band instead of a DJ. The only DJs that I knew well, and would trust to do my own wedding, would naturally not work it, but be guests. If a band was good, then great. If they were bad, I could say, "Should have gotten a DJ." Of course, either way, people would say, "He's a DJ, but he hired a band?"
Fortunately, a buddy owns party specialty company, and he books DJs. He often uses me, and was able to recommend one of his other DJs.
He allowed me to do something I refuse to let my own clients do. I visited him at a gig. But we both knew I would do it right. My wife and I got to the venue about 15 minutes before the end of coctail hour. We didn't take more than 5 minutes of his time. We then sat outside the room and listened for about an hour to the intros, initial dances, etc. I then poked my head in, he saw me and came out. We spoke again for about 2 minutes. I knew he could do the 'important' part, but had no clue if he could work a crowd during the 'party' part. I rolled the dice and said he's our man.
For my wedding, outside of the songs for first dance and parent dances, I gave him no instructions, no requests.
Was he any good? I thought so, but if you asked me the next day, I really couldn't say. Just about the only time that I actually heard him was during the initial dances, cake cutting, etc.
I was so absorbed with the other things going on, and schmoozing with the guests, that I barely even heard him or the music.
In fact, at one point, I surveyed the room. I saw some people sitting, some dancing, some walking, talking and milling about. Then, after a few moments I started to hear the music. It hit me like a ton of bricks. People were dancing and having a good time, but I didn't hear the music. The party was more than half over, and I had not only not analyzed the DJ, but I barely even noticed him!
Months later, when we got the video, I discovered how good he really was. In a word, fantastic. And, I also discovered that I was dancing a lot more than I realized!
How much did I pay? I don't know. I normally work alone, and he had an assistant. I did two free gigs for the party company to pay for it.
I also gave each of them a $50 tip because I knew the party company was cheap.
