New Years Eve is a popular night and djs are being called left and right. I already had a few inquiries for two different locations. There are different factors to consider. Is the dj bringing their gear or tapping in the house system. Djs what will have to bring their own gear will have to charge more since they have to set up and take down the gear as opposed to a dj who uses the house system would only need to bring usb sticks or a laptop to the show.

Our business has two locations in California. In the Bay Area, we can easily do a mobile event for 300 dollars an hour for New Years Eve while in the Los Angeles area last year we booked a last minute private 4-hour event for 150 dollars an hour. Wait!  Its California and why the big price difference? Supply and demand. There are so many djs in the SoCal area that people can pay less to get a dj. That is the way it is. I mean there are different tiers of djs. There are the local djs who can charge more then there are the established djs who have a big social media following and there are the high end djs who maybe turntablist or producers will be in a whole other level. Different price points may include more lighting and sound quality such as how many speakers are needed. There is a vast diversity of djs in California and they are available based on your budget.

Finding the right dj is a crucial step for the perfect wedding. We all want the perfect wedding. To have a perfect meal you would need the perfect ingredients to make it perfect and having the perfect dj will make your special day perfect as possible. 

1: Don’t feel obligated to go with someone in your circle of friends and family. It should be based on their ability to do the wedding. If you know that they do good work and seen their work then go with them. A lot of djs are bedroom djs or night club djs and haven’t done a wedding before. Make sure they do have experience. A wedding is no joke and there is a lot of work that goes into it. At the same time too, if it’s a family member you would want them to enjoy the wedding and not stress about it. 

II: One of the first vendors that are booked is the venue and once that is secure, they can be your best ally is finding vendors. They usually have a list of vendors that they enjoy working with. They like djs that are professional and do quick set ups and quickly take the gear down. They also like them since they are easy to work with. They may give you a list of djs they prefer and you have a good start to find your dj. 

III: Go on social media and ask if they have any recommendations for wedding djs. This will help you with your list. Ask someone who got married recently and asked how their dj was and if they would recommend them. 

IV:  go under google reviews and yelp. You will be able to see what people said about the djs performance. The most reviews do not mean they are the best. There are companies that are called Mulit ops that have multiple djs so the reviews will be numerous compared to a single op. A single op means its one dj so all the reviews will be about that dj. 

V: Make a list of djs you want to interview. Let’s see how quickly they respond and if they have time to meet. If they are too busy to meet then it’s a good sign that they may be too busy to give you the time when prepping for your wedding. Once you speak with them and you feel that you can be comfortartable with them then you are one step closer with finding your dj.

VI: Ask about what kind of music they are comfortable with. Your future spouse and you like certain music and want to make sure the dj is familiar with it. Ask your dj if they beat match or do, they fade in and out the music. To Beat match is a skill some djs have not mastered and it does give the party a certain nonstop feel. See if they have a mix page with their mixes to share. You can get a good feel on how well they mix and see what songs that they use. If you are into Spanish music and check if your dj can tell the different between a cumbia or merengue song. 

VII: ask for pictures of their set up. You make to make sure it’s nice and clean for your wedding event. You want to look at their cabling of their gear and see their dance lights. 

 How much for a wedding dj? It all depends on where you are planning to get married. I hear some djs different parts of the country charging 600 for a wedding. The djs in California hear that and that is unheard of in these necks of the woods. I believe some folks get confused since when they google what price wedding djs are then they get these numbers from a national average. One site says the average cost is 780 to 1495 for a wedding dj. But if you google wedding djs in California costs then you get more of an accurate number and its higher than the national average. Prices may go up in case there needs to be multiple music set ups. People get confused on that what means. Let me break it down. Most weddings just require a reception set up and it has the dj set up which includes two speakers. Say the cocktail area is in a different area then the dj has to connect more speakers or set up another set up to play the cocktail music. Or perhaps there has to be sound for the ceremony. A dj can set up the sound for the ceremony and set up multiple microphones and play the music during the ceremony. This would require another set up. 

For a wedding, djs are going to charge more. There is more to a wedding that a dj just playing music. Doing a birthday party, a dj can just play music during dinner and the dance portion thus the rate would be lower. But a wedding Bay area Djs can charge 200 to 300 an hour. Some may see that as too much but they do not know what goes into a wedding. Djs have to meet with the bride and groom in person or virtually. They have to prep the order of events. They have to make sure they have the correct songs to play at certain times. They have to direct the guests multiple times during the night. There is about 15 to 25 hours of prep work before the wedding that people don’t see. 

Are tips mandatory? Tips are not mandatory but definitely appreciated especially if the vendor made sure everything ran smoothly. If vendor was hard to reach and did a subpar job, then they should not be tipped. But if vendor was easy to get a hold of and responded quickly and did a great job at the event then a tip would be nice. But for some reason if the budget does not allow a tip then a review on a few sites would be appreciated.