DJ - How much did you pay?

rachie29

Hi Everyone,

I'm getting a shock everytime I enquire with a DJ and i'm not sure if it's because it's for a "wedding" so the price shoots up! How much are you paying for your evening DJ or entertainment? We need ours to set up before 4pm before the wedding breakfast, but start the evening do from 7.30 until 12pm.

Thanks in advance for your help and opinions, and I hope you don't mind me being cheeky and asking!

Rach:j

74jax

I think it might be more as you want them to be there (or set up) for such a long time. is there a reason they can't set up at say 6.45?

have you tired if the venue has a DJ linked to them or one they recommend? try facebook for if a friend knows a friend of a friend.

Try gumtree?

GlamGirlie

Hi

We are paying £500 for 19:00 - 00:00.

lisajane8482

We're paying £120 from 7 until 12.

rachie29

74jax wrote: »

I think it might be more as you want them to be there (or set up) for such a long time. is there a reason they can't set up at say 6.45?

have you tired if the venue has a DJ linked to them or one they recommend? try facebook for if a friend knows a friend of a friend.

Try gumtree?

You are probably right, but we have had some crazy quotes even without mentioning this! We did have one quote at £450, they would leave the ipod connection available for us to choose our music for the wedding breakfast if we wanted to, then they would begin their set at 7.30pm. I didn't think that was too bad of a price but some just seem crazy and I guess I really don't know what is the norm!

Idiophreak

rachie29 wrote: »

You are probably right, but we have had some crazy quotes even without mentioning this! We did have one quote at £450, they would leave the ipod connection available for us to choose our music for the wedding breakfast if we wanted to, then they would begin their set at 7.30pm. I didn't think that was too bad of a price but some just seem crazy and I guess I really don't know what is the norm!

Have you thought about not bothering with a DJ?

We hired a PA system and some lights (and a microphone for speeches) for about £150 for the weekend, plugged the iPod in and off we went.

Spent a fair amount of time getting songs, arranging playlists etc, but worked out much cheaper than a DJ and we got to play exactly the songs we wanted...people were dancing all night

I think the DJ market's very different these days - my Dad used to run a mobile disco when I was young and he'd take a couple of vans worth of equipment with him - speakers, light boxes, lighting rigs, smoke machines, pyrotechnics - and put on a real show. These days, you generally get a teenager with a laptop, a couple of little speakers and a flashing light on a stick. I couldn't emulate the former myself, but the second is pretty easy to beat

Faith177

I just used my Ipod and the soundbar we have for the tv and away we went.

This was mainly because we couldn't get a dj to play the music we like

blondy24

Hello we paid £500 8pm - 12pm (Not very MSE) but a reputable DJ who always works at the venue we chose. Perhaps like others have mentioned you could use your own ipod etc. Or try googling to see if there are any bands/inexperienced dj's in your local area, perhaps a uni near you would know someone who would be cheaper. HTH's.

nightsky224

We are paying £250 for 7-12/1am, although he wont do much until 8.30ish when the Ceilidh band stops

daisiegg

Something like £1000 on the DJ and some lighting. They didn't even play for the whole evening - we had a band - they only played for about 2 hours in total. That didn't make a difference to the price though as they still had to be there all that time.

ellay864

My DH is a DJ and from a forum he uses he's become aware of the vast difference in prices. Some charge more as it's their full time job so they have to make a living from it, some (like DH) do it as an add-on so can afford to go out for less. It isn't always a case of more expensive being better. DH would probably charge around £250 for a wedding but that would include meeting the couple beforehand if they wanted, visiting the venue in advance, liaising with the venue to make sure they had everything they needed re PAT certificates, PLI etc. He finds out as much detail as the client wants to give about the sort of music they want and will make an effort to source any particularly odd requests. He'll act as MC for any announcements during the evening and generally do whatever he can to help the evening run as smoothly as possible. The important thing is to make sure you're getting what you ask for - different people expect different things