Realize this fact. Your guests may or may not remember the beautiful centerpieces on your tables. They will, for certain, remember the entertainment and music provided by your wedding DJ.
With so much riding on the wedding DJ service in MD or PA, you'll want to make sure your selection is based on what truly matters for your wedding.
Ironically, most of the "questions to ask a wedding DJ" articles and tips you'll see aren't truly appropriate. Here's what I mean...
A common recommended question is "Will I be able to select the DJ who performs at my wedding?". This only matters if your preference is to work with a large, multi-DJ company who performs several/many weddings on the same weekend. You may prefer a DJ service that uses a one-on-one approach. You work with the DJ from step one, he's the one that performs at your wedding, and the company only does one wedding per weekend. Again, it comes down to preferences you have first, before any checklist of questions will truly matter.
Another common example is "Do you have insurance?". For you, this only matters if your venue requires the DJ service to have insurance, and likely requires the venue to be added as an insurer on the policy. Typically, insurance policies for the DJ are solely to cover THEIR equipment. Do you truly care if they have insurance to protect their own equipment? Additional riders to the policy can be added for coverage on the venue. However, if insurance is a concern for you, you need to ask this question specifically. Verifying they have insurance truly isn't telling you anything.
So, let's look at the things that WILL matter to you, based on YOUR preferences for your wedding and DJ.
Before asking any questions, you first need to decide what you're looking for, from the "big picture". This will tell you what "category" of DJ service may or may not work for your needs. From there, the questions you need to ask will vary greatly. So let's first look at the different categories that wedding DJ services fall into.
This is a person/company that you pay for their help/knowledge. Typically, the planner is involved in all parts of your wedding, and they also help you select the wedding DJ.
This company has many different DJ's at it's disposal, and performs at several/many wedding receptions each weekend. They typically are tailored for higher-end weddings, and typically offer the largest selection of add-on features.
Typically one or two DJ's partnered in a company, that perform one wedding per weekend (occasionally two). Most prefer staying the size they are, to ensure the quality of their service doesn't drop by growing bigger than they can manage.
This is your "One man with a set of speakers and an iPod" approach. Always the cheapest price, the least amount of coordination, and little/no backup plans.
Again, each of these categories of wedding DJ services has their benefits, and their drawbacks. So, to determine which category will match best, you have to ask yourself three important overview questions:
For each of these questions, and your answers, different categories of wedding DJ's will work better than others.
So, in part two of this article, we'll review how well each category of wedding DJ service will match up to your wedding needs.... strictly based on your answers to the above questions. From there, in part three of the article, you'll learn the best interview questions to ask potential wedding DJ's. Hope you enjoy!