1. When doing seating arrangements, don’t put older guests in front of the speakers. Your older guests usually want to chat. Even at lower dinner music volumes, they may have a hard time doing so. The most ideal spot for older guests would be as far away from the DJ as possible. Typically, your younger guests should have no problem hearing & engaging in conversation at those tables closest to the sound system.

2. When making your floor plan, let your DJ help. Catering and wedding planners can put together some beautiful floor plans that work well for food & beverage. However, an experienced DJ will be able to give you some great tips on arranging a room to maximize the overall success for the entertainment portion of the evening.

3. Have a flow chart for the evening. Flow charts are the best way to organize everything from cocktails & dinner to cake cutting & dancing. Your DJ can help make a flow chart that works for you. The specific times you outline may not actually work out to-the-minute, but it will for sure make the evening flow smoother without accidentally leaving anything out.

4. If you have a wedding planner, don’t forget to connect them with the DJ. This is overlooked more often than you would think. When it comes to a well-planned reception, it’s always best when all of your vendors are on the same page.

5. Hire a DJ you trust. This person will play a big part in the most important day of your life. Regardless of price, make sure it’s someone you like, understands what you want & don’t want, and can Help Make Your Reception as Successful as Possible.

6. One mistake some people make is to give a huge playlist of 50-60 songs to the DJ to play at their wedding that may have been compiled by many guests or a few guests. One thing to keep in mind is that a wedding can only fit in about 60 songs during the dancing portion of the night. Generally speaking, giving the DJ no flexibility to select songs himself will likely end up in a weak dancing crowd. A request list given usually doesn’t consider music to fit all the different types and ages of people at the wedding. Most guests may just be picking their favorite song and not necessarily everyone’s favorite song. Don’t restrict the DJ too much. Remember, he does this for a living and should know how to read the crowd and play what will keep the dance floor full.

7. If you are giving the DJ requests, I suggest using the DJ’s expertise and experience to play your song when he finds it appropriate to play. Brides and grooms may make requests such as “play this song next” or “only play rock for the rest of the night”. This is usually a bad idea because you are basically doing the job of the DJ. Your DJ is there to try to play what everyone wants to hear and he knows what music works together. Help him figure out your style but don’t restrict him because he usually has some sort of successful dance formula or “music strategy” that works at a wedding. Make sure you don’t cut out all of the cliche wedding music as you will find this will negatively impact the dance floor. Remember that your DJ does this for a living and he knows from experience which songs will get more people to dance. Weddings aren’t the time to prove to your friends and family that you’re into obscure music. Remember that you have a lot of different types of people into different music who all want to have a good time dancing to songs that they know. One of the hardest jobs for a DJ at a wedding is to create a balance in music to make everyone happy. Not everyone will have the same taste in music and you should trust your DJ’s opinions on how to make the music work.

8. Play some games during the reception like the shoe game, or identify the bride/groom. If you set the mood for a party early on in the night, guests will be more inclined to dance and have fun later on.

9. Arrive to your reception on time and stay there front and center. What can we say? We have seen the bride and groom arrive as late as 2 hours after their first guests have arrived. Here’s a test: sit and stare at a wall for the next 2 hours and see how “excited” you are to be a part of that function. We have also seen the bride and groom leave the reception hall during the reception. Your guests are there to celebrate with you and will end up leaving early if you are not there.

10. FINALLY, DON’T STRESS OUT. If the bride and groom aren’t having fun, the guests won’t have any fun. Put a big smile on your face, despite anything that might go wrong, and relish in the excitement of being a newlywed.

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