Soundworks The Intelligent Choice for your MC & Disc Jockey
Wedding Secrets
---That will effect your wedding
Revealed to You
Something every couple takes into consideration when hiring their DJ MC is, “what is the quality of service and how much is it?” At some point they really think they finally have it down and know what they're doing, so they then hire their DJ. There’s one huge massive black hole in this line of logic, and that is “they are still utterly 100% clueless and don’t know what their doing!” So much so, that they don’t know that they don’t know! Very sad considering their wedding is a once in a life time event, costs money and time, and can not be redone.
But not you! I’m going to peel back the layers and reveal to you hidden Wedding Secrets that no one talks about and you will not find anywhere else; not online, not in books, and not from anyone else’s mouth. Get ready to learn this important information, so that you will know exactly what your doing!
Who am I? My name is Russ Messick. People consider me an expert in my field. Like a laser my sole focus from the very start over 20 years ago has been exclusively on weddings. I happen to be a wealth of knowledge when it comes to DJs and weddings and I’m here to help you.
Warning!
Warning: Your wedding has the potential to be completely destroyed if you don’t learn this information.
It’s important to understand the severity of the damage your DJ can cause, even with things you won’t see. This is the one part of your wedding that possesses the most risk and has the potential to cause the most damage. Yet even when couples take this into some consideration, most for reasons unknown revert back to thinking that they should be able to get a good deal on a DJ or not have to do much homework to understand what they are really doing when hiring a DJ. They don’t realize how much this way of thinking is unconsciously making the decision for them and can come back to bite them. The person you hire for your DJ MC is the one single make or break choice you will make and can’t be taken lightly.
If your wedding’s a disaster the pictures really won’t matter any more. If your wedding is a disaster an open bar isn’t going to be very much fun after all. If your wedding is a disaster the food is just that, food which everyone eats everyday anyway and can get anywhere. Your flowers and cake too are very limited in the damage they can cause. But if your DJ cancels, doesn’t show up, shows up two hours late, sends someone as a substitute that is just learning how to DJ, has the coordination all mixed up, says things on the microphone that are offensive or tacky, plays songs you hate, or one or more of the many things that happens to couples with their DJ, your wedding is done. Really done and not to be redone.
As you can see, you better know exactly what you’re doing and have all the confidence in the world that you are getting consistency, quality, dependability, and experience in your DJ, or your wedding day has all the true potential to be totally wrecked.
Methods Used To Select A DJ
Brides and Grooms commonly use several methods to choose their DJ in an attempt to make the most sensible choice. After seeing couples end up with very terrible results due to using these methods, I decided I should point out some of the problems they run into when using them.
References
Because of the many risky ways DJs run their business, it’s common for DJs to have a certain percentage of couples very upset from their work and a certain percentage relatively happy with their work. This still leaves DJs good references to give you. Doesn’t it ever occur to people that these are the references they give out? If you use references as a measure of quality or dependability, you are using an unreliable and small biased sample. This is of no use and actually causes brides and grooms to feel convinced they are being smart by using this as a measure of quality and dependability.
Awards
Awards displayed on DJs websites. Nearly all these awards are given according to number of votes that anyone can submit, similar to American Idol text in votes. In other words, I’ve seen most won by DJs having friends and family vote for them. A bit misleading.
Demo Video
In an attempt to sell their service, some DJs want you to watch their video of edited and hand selected clips. This doesn’t show any level of consistency in anything he does, since looks can be deceiving. Don’t let a video dazzle you and end up forgetting about the other more crucial information. Doesn’t it ever occur to people that this DJ may had been an hour late to this wedding, or that the music heard in the video were songs the couple had on their no-play list, or that this DJ booked two weddings that same day and sent a DJ-in-training to the other unsuspecting couple’s wedding? Through the years I’ve seen many DJs of extremely low quality and dependability put out attractive videos as bait in order to hook unsuspecting couples.
Meeting
Some couples get confused and think that if they have a meeting with a DJ they can see if they “click," "have a fitting personality,” or some similarly odd concept, as if they’re going to be hanging out with their DJ at their wedding. Wedding Secret: The DJ does not hang out with the bride and groom at the wedding. If the DJ’s hanging out with the bride and groom at the wedding that would mean he’s not doing his job, and that in fact would be a problem. What the couple needs is a DJ that’s dependable, knows what he’s doing, does the job and does it right, and not someone to hang out with.
Wedding Secret: A good salesman will always leave the impression that you click or have a fitting personality when you meet them and make no mistake, when a DJ has a meeting his number one objective is to sell you his service. He’s not there to inform you if he’s not dependable, blows the coordination, often plays the wrong music, or some other major ways of ruining weddings. I personally know DJs that push for meetings with couples, because they know from experience that when they use their charm and salesman’s ability they can win them over. It’s very effective for them and clever, since it’s how they get brides and grooms to overlook other problem issues they may have.
Venue Recommended
Many venue or location managers meet DJs they like, such as myself, and for absolutely no other reason start recommending them. It’s possible the venue manager might know that a few couples were happy with the DJ, but that’s it. You’re 100% better off relying on your own brain and not using this type of recommendation, because I’ve found it gives a false since of security on how good a DJ really is.
DJ Often Works Your Venue
Brides and grooms sometimes use this as part of the decision of who will be their DJ. Whether a DJ has performed at a venue one time or 1000 times, it really doesn’t matter. If it really did make a difference I couldn’t guarantee my work since every few weddings I’m at a venue I’ve never been before. A DJ can work the same venue every week and still ruin every so many of those weddings one way or another and you would never know it, so using this as part of your method is not effective in any way other than giving a false sense of security.
This is How
It only takes one time of a serious mistake from poor quality or poor reliability to destroy a wedding, and these methods do not show consistency and will actually cause couples to make a calculated misjudgment of hiring a DJ that ends up being nothing like they were expecting. So if none of these methods work to show consistency, then how do you know if a DJ is consistent at providing great work and you have made a wise choice? The following sections here will help it all come together for you and reveal the Wedding Secrets that you need to know to make a wise choice.
The Big Secret
Working Under Them
Most DJs know that the absolute best way to “cash in” with their business is to book a lot of jobs. That’s the main goal! Book a lot of events and weddings! So, since they know a low rate will get a lot of brides and grooms to book them and overlook other things, they intentionally keep the rate low in order to book a ton of weddings, have some other guys go out to fill in for them, and give each of these guys around half the money paid by the brides and grooms.
What a great idea, since the work is seasonal and that only leaves so many weekends per year that events such as weddings actually happen, so you have to make the most out of those few days! This is the best way to make more money in the DJ businesses, so that’s why approximately 98% of the DJ businesses are run this way.
Perfect, except for one problem, brides and grooms better not know this. DJs know what to say, “we have only experienced professional DJs, or me and my business partner do the DJing,” or they just don’t bother mentioning any other DJs so you could end up getting a big surprise down the road. Couples have told me even when they have the DJ’s name written into the contract as the DJ for their wedding, their DJ just calls them and tells them an emergency came up, so he is having his best DJ fill in for him.
This is a big problem for you. These DJs they send have no real vested interest in the business, are getting paid only a fraction of what you’re actually paying for your DJ, and are always less experienced and professional. If they weren’t it's likely they would have their own DJ business.
On The Side
Nearly all DJs do this work on the side of already having a “main job”. I’ve never have found a DJ that actually did just DJing for a living as I do. You should be able to get an extremely low rate using them, since they’re already pulling down a paycheck from their week day main job, and this is just extra money on the side so they don’t have to depend on their DJ work to make a living. But that’s the problem.
This work is not a priority for them; you and your wedding will not be a priority. They may not feel like doing your wedding by the time the weekend rolls around and really they don’t have to since they are still going to collect a paycheck for the week. It’s very likely they will be exhausted by the weekend. They also know some couples might find this a problem, so they typically do not let anyone know that this work is just a second job. Shhh.... this is a Wedding Secret!
Looking At The Generic DJ
The question goes out to you; do you want a wedding DJ or a DJ that does every type of event? This is your choice. But do you think it really matters?
DJs are DJs and do all types of events and club work. On the other hand I only DJ weddings and that’s all. After 20 years of exclusively performing weddings I can tell you it makes a difference. Why would you want a guy that works on Go Carts, Lawn Mowers, Tanks, Trains, and Plane engines to work on your car engine? Why would you want a guy who DJs Clubs, BBQs, Mitzvahs, Quinceañeras, Birthdays, Company Parties and Picnics to DJ your Wedding? I know some DJs attempt to play down the other types of events they actually do perform on their websites to get couples to feel like they just do weddings, so I understand how this can get blurred for couples.
Disc jockeying a wedding is like nothing else, and having a DJ such as myself that is a real specialist will make a difference like nothing else. Just the way I approach what I think is ethical and tasteful is radially different than these other DJs. As you work your way through the different sections of this Wedding Secretes page, you will fully understand the significance I’m talking about.
Zero Reliability
This is very important and something you don’t want to miss, since it’s something no one talks about and you will not hear about this anywhere else but here.
This may be hard to believe, but it’s 100% standard practice for DJs to squeeze two weddings into one day. Many hotels and resorts have both Luncheon Receptions and then Evening Dinner Receptions. This gives DJs the opportunity to book two wedding per day. Luncheon Receptions are more popular than ever, mainly because venues often charge less for Luncheon Receptions.
The Big Secret
Literally every single DJ out there books two weddings per day if they can get it, but won't say a word about it to anyone else but other DJs. This is a extremely serious problem, because with limited time between, DJs risk arriving late to the second one from delays like traffic, their vehicle breaking down, or numerous other possible delays. They also sometimes have to cut out early from Luncheon Reception to try to make it to the Dinner Reception on time. I've personally had many people tell me how upset they were because their DJ showed up late to their wedding. Even years later they still didn’t realize the reason their DJ was late was because he had Luncheon Reception before theirs.
Even if you’re planning a Luncheon Reception this is still a serious problem, since I’ve had many DJs tell me they intentionally play music that will drive guests away so that they leave early. I’ve also had people tell me their friend’s or family’s wedding DJ shut down early and left their Luncheon Reception before they wanted him to, and they never could understand why.
Why Two Weddings?
The only reason DJs book two weddings per day is because they can offer lower rates. DJs would rather attract more bookings with lower rates and in the end make more money, than if they only did one wedding per day. Like the saying goes, you get what you pay for.
Just Your Wedding
It's very apparent to me that I'm the only DJ that will not under any circumstance book two weddings for one day. I really care about the couples that entrust their wedding to me. Even with the opportunity to make more money, I would never treat someone this way. If you decide to have me help you with your wedding, you will be treated honestly and fairly and as if you’re a best friend or close family member. You and your wedding are my one and only priority!
How To Get The Right Music
Not Customized After All
It’s common for guests to come up to me when I'm working a wedding and tell me about their own personal wedding DJ horror story. The most common is that their DJ ruined their wedding by playing music they told him not to play. They all say nearly the same thing. They say our DJ seemed sincere, professional, honest, and promised he would definitely only play the music we wanted off our list, but he didn’t! They often say they even gave him a No-Play List, but he played many of those songs too. Then they tell me that no matter how much they pleaded and demanded he play off their list, he still just kept going back to playing music they didn't want.
Still Recommended
Also they usually say he came with good references, or that he came recommended, or something similar that lead them to hire him.
Do Other Type Events
Yes, it’s really this common, but one reason I know why this is common is because DJs play other types of events like clubs, business parties, BBQs, and teen dances where they have the latitude to play whatever they feel like playing. At those events DJs aren't tailoring the music to a couple's taste. This is what they then end up doing all the time, even when at weddings and even when they say they will stick to just your music.
DJs Drink
A big contributing factor is that every single DJ I’ve ever met drinks while they’re working weddings. DJs that I thought never would be the type to drink while working still do. Some say they drink to take the edge off and loosen up, since they have to talk in front of a crowd. Still others I’ve heard say, “hey it’s the weekend, it’s a party, and why shouldn’t I have fun too!“ Also let’s face it, people mainly go into this type of work so they can be at a party while they work. Some hide a small ice cooler under their table and some bring a flask for making drinks, while others drink directly from the bar or ask guests to bring them drinks from the bar in an exchange for playing their request. This is one of the single biggest contributing factors to DJs playing music they weren't suppose to. Also after drinking, some DJs have been known to do such things as become rude to guests or say things they shouldn't over the microphone. It’s great if wedding guests drink and have a good time, but if a DJ drinks his timing, accuracy, focus, and good judgment are out the door. Running and performing a wedding and drinking just do not mix.
I Only Customized
Unlike other disc jockeys I only perform weddings, so every single time I go out I'm customizing the music to a couples playlist, so I don't get out of the habit of doing the music this particular way. Additionally, I never drink when working, since your wedding means too much to me to take such a risk. Like mentioned, drinking will effect timing, accuracy, focus, and good judgment when working, and without these your wedding will not turn out very well. Wedding Secret: This is how to get the right music!
The Life of a Professional DJ
What Is It Really Like
I know it’s hard to believe, but I get tired. I have to wear many hats in order to run my wedding service, and it’s a lot of different hats at that. I have to work many hours through the weekend DJing and MCing often very late by the time I’m finally packed up to go home. Then I have to work all week during the week prepping and planning for the next weddings, I have to manage all the new emails and calls from couples looking for information on my service up to 15 new couples per week, consulting with them on the phone, my follow up upon follow up and reply upon reply to their emails. I have to manage calls during the week all day often as late as 8:00 p.m. and emails till even later.
Then perfroming the wedding! Professional sound equipment is very heavy. When calculating the number of times the equipment must be loaded and unloaded out of my vehicle, lifted on and off the dolly (hand truck), then the equipment setup and broke-down, it all totals over 3,750 lbs lifted for the day. This is just one single equipment setup and often a wedding requires more than just one! Then there is running power and speaker cables, taping them down, and sound checks. Moving and setting up and breaking down sound equipment for a wedding is a physical workout that can be felt days later. It’s crazy and a ridiculous amount of work and very exhausting, but thank god I really love what I do and so do the couples that hire me, which makes it all the worth it.
Extreme Sacrifice
It first was necessary for me to become an accomplished and skilled professional at performing weddings. To do this, it was necessary that I spent many years performing weddings on weekends often very late into the night. Talk about a great sacrifice and dedication when considering that’s when “life happens.” All these twenty years I’ve had no choice but to turn down invites to birthdays, BBQs, ball games, christenings, funerals, friends and cousins weddings, - you name it, I’ve turned it down over and over just so that today I can offer myself as an expert. As you can see, most people would logically consider this too extreme of a sacrifice for any job.
Since couples book me anywhere from 12 to 3 months before their wedding, I’m locked into their wedding date and have to turn down personal invitations to everything else that comes up on that same date. When I’m performing a wedding, it’s very possible I am missing out on something very important. Wedding Secret: Performing weddings comes at an extreme sacrifice and social cost.
Ultimate in Stress
This work is a very high stress job, since I have the responsibility of running someone’s wedding, which is someone’s most important event in their life and their once in a lifetime event. There is the knowledge of the time, work, and money put into it by the bride and groom. There is all the time, work and cost in order to make it there that day by all the friends and family member of the bride and groom. There are many details, some small and some large, some seen and many unseen by the bride and groom, that I have to keep on top of - but in all an incredible amount of details to manage if the job is to be done right and an incredible amount of stress from it if the wedding is to go well. Any DJ that doesn’t feel this extreme stress isn’t doing their job.
Entire Day
A wedding in effect takes up a whole day from everything that’s involved - all the prep, organizing and loading up all the equipment, travel to the location, setup, running cables, testing, sound checks, performing the wedding, break down, load up equipment again, and then travel home. I even go to the nearest place where I can sit and have a coffee or soda 4.5 to 5 hours prior to music start time, then I arrive to the venue 4 to 3.5 hours prior to music start time to ensure punctuality. By the time I’m done, I’m really done, since I’m going all day - the entire day!
Behind the Scene
Even though performing wedding takes an enormous amount of hours on the weekend and energy, I also must put in approximately thirty hours a week during the week working behind the scene. Dealing with calls and emails from new brides and grooms looking for a DJ (averaging 15 new couples per week), follow-up and reply emails, working with couple before their wedding with planning and music and consulting, purchasing songs and putting together playlists, and managing and updating the music library, putting together contracts and sending them out, maintaining and testing sound equipment, replacing sound equipment, bookkeeping and accounting, and managing my marketing. It cracks me up; people think I only work a few hours on the weekend.
The Shocker
I’ve had friends say after getting to know me, “wow, when you told me you were a DJ for weddings I had no idea how much work you put in to it and how much it costs to run your business. I just can't believe how much money you have to spend on your business; I never would have guessed.” Friends are shocked when they see what it takes to run the type of service I do and the money and time I have to put into it, so that I can provide a real quality service where couples will have the opportunity of having their weddings turn out great and the way they want it to.
Just one pro wireless mic costs over $800. That just one single mic, and they often get broken since people drop them. There is the cost of maintaining and replacing quality professional sound equipment, constant update of music library by purchasing music, merchant account, office equipment, computers, software, advertising costs (over $10,000 per year in adverting and marketing cost alone just so couples like yourself can find me), paying for my own health care, dental care, and of course business taxes. Very little if any left for me.
Limited Days for Bookings
There are only so many days per year that weddings happen when considering this work is essentially seasonal and almost always weekends, and 75% of the time on Saturdays. That doesn't leave too many days to make much of an income with a DJ business, so that’s why all other DJs send other lower level DJs to go out and perform at some of the weddings they’ve booked, and also work two weddings per day. If a DJ is to work within the strict ethical parameters the way I do, they would be extremely restricted and limited on how much they can make per year. This is why the other DJs do not work the way I do.
Kind of Funny
Funny after all this though, people think, ‘wow, what a cool job you have, you just show up to weddings with your equipment and play music and do some announcing.” This is not at all the case! All this work and all my overhead is why I have to charge a certain amount. Wedding Secret: couples not knowing all what’s required to DJ a wedding is one reason why many think a DJ shouldn’t get paid much and why most DJs resort to unethical practices to keep their rates low.
Risky Short Cuts
DJs take many risky shortcuts and operate in many unethical ways as I’m covering here, solely to be able to quote a lower rate that will result in many more bookings. Like the saying goes, “you get what you pay for,” and this is definitely a good example of exactly that.
Where Couples Go Wrong
People ask me what type of weddings I perform. I tell them I perform all types; big, small, casual, nontraditional, lounge style, formal, elegant, multicultural, and some with large budgets, but most with moderate to small budgets. It should come as no surprise that no matter what type of wedding someone is having, there is no barrier to the fact that brides and grooms don’t want their most important day of their life wrecked by their DJ.
Largest Impact
Clearly your budget should be created in a way where you put funds where they matter the most and make the largest impact. That would be the intelligent way to create any budget. But most couples forget this important rule when it comes to their DJ. Before they even begin looking at DJs and before they have any idea of what they’re doing and what’s out there, they already have a preconceived budget set in their mind for their DJ for some strange reason.
The music, announcing, and coordination from your DJ MC’s performance covers more time than anything else; literally your entire reception. What he says over the microphone, what he sounds like, acts like, what music he plays, what he looks like, and how he coordinates and keeps your wedding on track will be experienced by your guests more than any other single thing involving your entire wedding. The combination of things your DJ MC is responsible for will permanently be branded in the minds of your guests forever as what your wedding was like. Who will handle this part of your wedding is the most critical decision you will be making. Clearly it is the one area that absolutely must be a priority when it comes to your wedding.
Prioritize
I know money doesn’t grow on trees and the last thing anyone wants to do is blow money on something that’s not worth it, especially when you can only budget so much. But in this one area there is a reason to pay for quality and dependability to keep your wedding from literally being wrecked.
Unlike your DJ, there are other things you can cut back that won’t wreck your wedding. Things such as flowers, open bar, horderves, dining food, deserts, number of pictures, cake, video, decorations, open bar, or number of guests without compromising your wedding. None of these things will matter if your wedding is ruined.
The Wrap Up
I can’t help but feel sorry for all the many people I meet that tell me of all things having to do with their wedding, their biggest mistake they made was to not put enough importance on their DJ and to not get informed enough about how to make the right choice. They tell me they just don’t understand why it’s not more widely known that weddings can be so harmed by someone’s DJ, and why it’s not more well known just how many weddings really are completely ruined by them.
What To Do
It takes a lot of time, money, energy and extreme sacrifice to offer a truly dependable and quality service, and that’s why other DJs don’t offer this type of service. Now that you know these Wedding Secrets I’ve revealed to you, you can see it just isn’t possible to somehow someway “get lucky” and pay the average going rate for a DJ and not end up with the real possibility of your wedding being wrecked. Ultimately it’s your choice, but still you will have to live with your choice and after all that has been said and done, I know you don’t want your wedding wrecked.