Is my DJ too cheap!

I doubt it. I'm having 3 hours of live music in the form of an acoustic duo band, and the lead singer is also going to be our DJ for the evening.. it's costing us a total of £500. My venue has an in-house DJ for £250 for the evening. Hope that helps.

I don't think thats cheap at all. If they're recommended by the venue then they won't be terrible because otherwise it would damage their own business. Is there anyway for you to google and see if you can find reviews?

We're thinking of using a dj who will cost us £150 for the night but we know he's good because we've been to parties he's been dj-ing at before including my SIL's 18th birthday.

Nooo, I would say don't worry at all! My DJ is one we had a few years ago for a birthday, and he was great; he'll be just under £300. I'm sure 'wedding dj' pushes the price up loads, but we know ours is good from our previous event, and what he charged then. But if your venue have recommended him I'm sure he's fine. Although a bit odd he doesn't want a deposit?

Hi, I havent booked mine yet but the person im looing at booking is going to cost me around £350. I dont think thats cheap. But he does ask for a £60 deposit. If hes recommended by your venue thats a good sign though ?

Our dj is charging £250 and he's really good. Have you heard him dj before?

Nope mine's £150. Bargain!

No that isn't too cheap but there are some who charge a lot more. Mine was about the same as yours but with the extras like uplighters, sparkle cloth it bumped it up a little more.

Sounds good to me.

Ours is £200 and is our venues resident DJ, so we've heard him play before at work do's etc. He also doesn't need a deposit and he knows he is guarenteed to get the booking and have us there as we are all linked via the venue if that makes sense?

If anything I wouold say ur Dj is quite expensive! Ours is costing us £175 this includes him aranging the music for our wedding breakfast as well.

280 for 2 people (one is a DJ, one for the lights) - I thougth that's expensive...

I have googled Him with no success, and no I haven't heard him dj. What also worries me is I get the feeling he won't be doing it himself. Think I may ring and ask for a meeting with the person who will be doing it on the night, that may reassure me. Thanks everyone for reassurance about the cost though!!

Ours is £500 but we are getting him for the full day to do the music for the ceremony, helping out during photos and speeches, music for the breakfast, disco at night and uplighting of the evening reception room.

I think you have a good deal there.

We have to book ours through our venue, the cheapest is £300 and it ranges to about £700...apparently the £300 DJ doesn't have as much charisma as the more expensive one. We haven't chosen ours yet, but the boy was saying just last night that it might be worth splashing out on the expensive one as it is a HUGE part of the day really. But then, expensive doesn't always mean better does it!?

Its not about price...its the service they provide thats important.

Some checks you can do:

Ask for testimonials from past clients.

Ask him if it will be him on the day. I have a real problem about DJs who take on a wedding....then pass it to anyone who is a available and cheap enough to leave them with a cut....in fact I have a massive problem with this practice. I also have a problem with venues providing the DJ.... mostly because if they are charging you £300, the chances are you are getting a £150 DJ. I have no problem with venues recommending a DJ, then you deal directly with that DJ.

Have a face to face meeting....you can guage a lot about someone when its in person.

Contract....CONTRACT.... please ensure you have a written contract signed and retained by both of you.

For some more guidance on choosing a DJ... take a look heary http://www.weddingdjalliance.co.uk/selecting_a_wedding_dj.php and heary https://partydjdisco.co.uk/selecting_a_mobile_dj.html

Not sure it's necessarily "cheap" - we've been told it can vary between £350 - £500 depending on various things - we also went with the venue's recommendation and it was £375 for the evening we got quoted. our venue is a stately home and they say they have used this DJ many times before - Sugar Cane House - but can't find anything online about them???

That's a very useful link, Sandy! Thanks!

I think £350 sounds about right.

So far out of the 9 wedding venues around about 4 have offered their own DJ, and the prices have ranged from £250 to £350 night.

It will depend on what you get (not just gear!). If the DJ is experienced and organised, then £350 can be considered cheap for an entire evenings work.

Consider that most good DJ's won't simply turn up on the night, they will have some prep work to do (even if its answering emails and phone calls).

For me, this can be often at least a days work (in total) before the day of the Wedding.

If they are full time, then they will need to run their business and show a profit for typically 2 gigs a week. Fuel, Music, maintenance, insurance etc add to costs.

Anyone can pick a price, so the only true way to check is to chat to them and find out their experience, and simply make sure they know what they're doing.

Jason

I had rushed to reply before but since Sandy's reply I have received ten replies from various registered DJs following my enquiry through the second website Sandy provided and we have now emailed our venue to hold their fire with the recommendation they made as we found an even better DJ, £30 cheaper than the one the venue proposed, and this is a really experienced guy, who used to be a Children's CITV and BBC Radio Presenter and owns his own mobile disco business, and had the below testimonial on his website.

That's why I love having various HIBs on this forum - you can always rely on their sound advice - and Sandy and Jason Clark DJ are always good with their advice, impartial and knowledgeable.

"As the Associate Producer for YTV, when we need a professional DJ for our end of show celebrations I insist on booking XXXXXXX. The last “Frost” wrap party we had at Harewood House in Leeds was fantastic. You are officially David Jason’s favourite DJ! I am more than happy to give any personal recommendations"

Thats brilliant VP. We have a lot of really good guys with us and the system does cut out a lot of leg work as in you make one enquiry, and then get between 10 and 15 replies to choose from. And of course, I'm on hand too if you want to pass anything by me when making your choice.

Ooh, Sandy - you have no idea how much I wanted to do just that but I figured it would be too cheeky of me to do that!!! We have now got a shortlist of 4 DJs and I was trying to get opinions as sometimes everyone has good testimonials on their site - who would put bad feedback there???

xxx