Sandysounds (or any other DJ's welcome).... a quick question :-)

I'm not a DJ ?, but we found ours at a wedding fair. He had all his equipment with him, and was playing music at the time too.

Are there any wedding fairs near you that you could look at?

Nikki

xx

Shame... i would have booked you up straight away! ? I never even thought about wedding fayres! im going to the Birmingham one next weekend. Thanks very much!

Can your venue recommend one?

Hi S-K, they said that they can provide a DJ but at a cost of £350 for the night. this is a bit more than what I wanted to pay tbh. I believe that the 'going rate' is around £200-£250?

Hi Ya,

It might also be worth contacting your venue (not sure where your getting married?) they may have some they can recommend you. Also check to see if your venue are doing any open days or wedding fayres of their own as this is where we met the one we are really thinking of booking.

Good Luck!

We paid £350, foudn that to be the going rate (Essex, peak Saturday).

Another way may be to ask other venues for their recommended suppliers list?

Oooooo maybe I ought to reconsider my budget then! i'm from birmingham so maybe its cheaper for us commoners! ? If it does end up being £300 quid plus I may have to consider just bringing my ipod!

It must be a lot cheaper in the east mids ?. We're paying £160 for ours from 7 til midnight and then extra if we wanted (which we don't) is £25 a hour. He will set up a client bit on his website too where we can select songs from his data base we like and also each guest can select 2 songs and they will be added to the "playlist" for the evening.

xx

Knickers_twickers that sounds more like it.... does he fancy travelling over to Brum? ?

? well he did mention that he's doing one in Cornwall sometime soon! From his website it seems if you are over 25 miles from Grimsby he charges 40p a mile which roughly for you would work out at £90 on top of his fee, so £250 in total by my estimate. Which is still better than you've been quoted!

That said though we're 58 miles from Grimsby and he's not charging us anything extra.

If you want his website details I'll post them, may be worth a try?

xx

Moonpig, we are paying £180 for ours and he's been recommended by two djs and our hotel, I can give you his name if you like. He's been really nice every time I've spoken to him and he's based in Madeley, Telford so I'm sure he'd travel to you

If you could that would be great. Do you think he will be at the NEC show if you saw him at a fayre? Maybe I could keep an eye out for him.

Thanks Jem (I'm sure this is your dogs name??? lol), that would be good if you could give me his name.

Lol it is!!! I really should have used a different name methinks...bit late now lol

It's AJ Discos, I'll find his number for you when I get home if that's ok?

Thats great thanks, if you don't mind :-)

Hi Moonpig

Firstly....be a bit cautious with a venue recommending a DJ...sometimes they recommend because they have a monetry arrangement with them and not because they are good. Saying that...I do have venues that recommend me because they like what I do. Its difficult to know which camp they are in.

What might be helpful is knowing the questions to ask a DJ....and there might be things you haven't thought of. Here's a linky to some useful booking advice. From talking to past and future clients there are two things that worry them about booking a DJ. One is reliability....not just will they turn up, but also their equipment (a DJ can't perform if his mixer blows up.....and believe me it does happen.....hence I carry a spare one with me everywhere!) Ask them 'what would happen if....') The guys in the WDJA have a network of excellent colleagues, and all carry spare sound and lighting back up equipment. Also, have everything in writing, signed by you and the DJ, and keep a copy for yourself.....and insist on a receipt for any monies paid. The second worry is will the DJ play the music I want....or will he play what he played last night, last week? A good DJ accepts playlists, takes requests on the night, asks you what your prefered genres or decades are.....and most importantly what you DON'T want played. So.....don't be afraid to ask......and don't assume all DJs have the same standards.

On the WDJA site you can put in an enquiry form and the members of the wedding DJ Association will contact you with details of their service and fee.....then you can browse through and make an informed choice. They are all professional guys (yep....I'm still the only girl!!!) and have reached a certain criteria to be accepted so you know they are the cream of the crop and you're getting a good DJ.

On cost.....I'm afraid you do get what you pay for. A DJ who is going to thoroughly prepare for your event (such as sourcing songs specially for you, checking out the venue, adding the little extras to make your evening unique and personalised to you, basically going the extra mile, having all appropriate certificates etc that don't come cheap) is going to charge more than £200.

Hope that helps. Give us a yell if you have any other questions.

Oh gosh Sandy, i think you've now made me realise how important it is that i get the dj right! Definitely going to have to think about stretching my budget for a dj.

Thanks for your advice, and I will have a look at the website. Its a shame you dont live in Birmingham ?

Jealous of your DJ budgets; mine's £600!

It is our local radio "celeb" DJ though... I think half of that's just for his name!

Oooo check you out! That will be a talking point!

?? Blimey!! I was reading everyone elses prices and thought gosh my DJ is expensive in comparison, £350, and im un sussex, but 600! My word! I hope hes good!

Ooh might I know him?

My DJ budget was £650, but that's mainly because I was/am clueless about that kind of thing and thought £50 per hour is a fair amount for that kind of thing, so was pleased with what I paid and soon found something else to eat up the spare £300!

He is. And will hopefully continue to be so! ?

My boss had him at his 40th house party. The makeshift dance floor was his small (ish) conservatory and it was packed all night. When that got full people were dancing on the patio outside.

He also got my boss an ASBO as the music was too loud and a neighbour complained to the local whatever people they can at midnight (rather than knocking and asking for it to be lowered!)!! Quite a funny story to tell him when we saw him a few weeks later!

Of course you will! Breakfast show...

Friends with Su?

Lol....I was operating in the Birmingham area up to Feb this year! I had quite a thing going with the Sutton Coldfield area!!!!!! (Did one in the town hall and then got loads of referrals afterwards) Last place I played over in Birmingham before upting sticks was the Paragon.

Moonpig, I filled in the enquiry form that sandy was talking about and some people did get back to me with quotes aroud the £200-£250 mark but then both said their equipment was too big to go in my venue and recommended the one I decided on. I also called my venue (they are probably sick of me but they did offer to help if I wanted it!!) who said he was good. When I had the booking form there were boxes for specific requests and he was able to answer all my questions on the phone...The first ones that contacted me from the wdja also seemed good and were really helpful...

Here's the number if you did want to talk to him ****, mobile is **** and its Tony (just looking at my paperwork from him it's £185 not £180...he did tell me £200 on the phone but the forms all came in at £185)

No celebrity DJs here though I'm afraid.....

Yep!