DJ - How much did you pay?

wendz86

We are paying £325 which includes £50 for hiring a pa system to play music during ceremony and wedding breakfast . The dj will then play 7.30-12pm

angel11

The best quotes we've had so far have been £300-340 for 5 hours, including all lighting, mc, etc. One of those even includes a photographer to take photos of the party, with a dvd of all images. They seem to have a good idea about DJing too, not just someone setting up with a laptop & a couple of lights.

Tbh I couldn't believe the range of quotes, some were £550+, wud really love to know what extra this DJ would bring to the party compered to those at the lower end of the price scale

minerva_windsong

Our DJ is costing us £300 for playing from around 7 PM when the evening guests arrive to midnight. I'm not sure when they'll be setting up but for us there's no point in having them during the meal as our venue is on two levels so we'll have the meal upstairs and then go back downstairs for the party, so we'll just have background music on a CD until the disco starts. They are really good though - my sister saw them at a wedding in the same venue last year and said they were great, and they've already said they're very happy to work off a playlist we give them which is good as neither of us wanted too much of the 'traditional' cheesy wedding disco-type stuff. They're the venue's preferred DJ as well so they've done loads of weddings there and know it very well.

£300-350 for five hours seems to be a fairly standard price though based on the DJs we've looked at. Our wedding is in York though so not sure how much of that is area-dependent.

rachie29

Thank you all very much for your replies. Some interesting points, especially from a DJ's point of view (thanks ellay864!) I'm not sure why the price fluctuates so much. We were quoted £750 from one company, they were going to MC for the day as well. However, we don't need that now as the venue are going to do it.

Maybe I had unrealistic expectations as I imagined it would cost us about £300-£350. However, after seeing your prices maybe the DJ's round here are just blummin expensive!!

Frances456

We are paying £550 for DJ 6pm - 12, this include mood lighting and a bubble machine for the night! They normally work with the venue so know the space so the equipment will not take up too much room which was important for us as its quite a small place!

minerva_windsong

rachie29 wrote: »

Thank you all very much for your replies. Some interesting points, especially from a DJ's point of view (thanks ellay864!) I'm not sure why the price fluctuates so much. We were quoted £750 from one company, they were going to MC for the day as well. However, we don't need that now as the venue are going to do it.

Maybe I had unrealistic expectations as I imagined it would cost us about £300-£350. However, after seeing your prices maybe the DJ's round here are just blummin expensive!!

Where in Lancashire are you Rachie? I used to work at a hotel halfway between Preston and Lancaster that did a lot of weddings and the DJ there was decent and quite reasonably priced - about £250 IIRC for setting up around 5/6 PM and then playing from 7 PM til midnight (again though the hotel was on two levels so the breakfast normally wasn't in the same room as the disco but we could whack music of the couple's choice on the PA system). Annoyingly I've forgotten his name but could probably do a bit of digging and find out the details...

Alternatively my sister had a really good DJ at her wedding (she got married near Clitheroe) who I think was pretty reasonably priced - I'm seeing her next week so can ask her for the details if you like?

katie1812

We paid £225 for ours which looking back is a lot but then like you, everyone was really expensive! We had ours setting up from about 4 and started playing music from about 7ish I think, until midnight.

caz2003uk

We paid £180

He set up the night before (I only knew this cos we popped in with a couple of final bits needed to be at the venue) he started at 7pm until midnight

emma.b

H2b is a Dj and charges £120 -£220 depending on times and distance , i've heard some horror stories about dj's without mic's or light's research is the key if your booking someone you haven't seen work have a list of questions to ask them , if h2b is doing a pub night he sometimes lets the bride/groom know when he's there so they can come and her him work

rachie29

Thanks for everyone's help. I've decided some we are being quoted are just crazy. Could be because it's close to Christmas too and Christmas party season. I spoke to our friend last night who is the general manager of a local 4* hotel. He is going to contact his DJ's to see what they would charge us so fingers crossed he can help us out because I know they are good (used to work there years ago!) He said he thought we should be paying in the region of £250-£350. Which is what I was thinking too!!:T