A DJ Costs How Much?!
We've heard it many times... "I wasn't expecting that much for a DJ!" We're hoping to offer some insight as to why maybe paying less than $1200 or so might not be the best idea. We'll speak in Wedding terms as that's what we mainly service, however it can be applied in any situation.
It's been said that a DJ contributes about 80% to the success of your Wedding. The average cost of a Wedding is about $30,000. If you're paying a DJ $1200 that's about 4% of the budget. Now I'm not saying that you should pay your DJ 80% of your budget, but you should think about what's important to you. We would suggest thinking about paying 5%-10% of your budget towards entertainment if having people celebrate is important to you.
It really does come down to what's important to you. Do you want people to dance and celebrate your marriage? Or is dancing and partying not important? We find that most people will remember the entertainment portion of the evening. This is why a DJ contributes about 80% to the success of your Wedding. Have you heard someone comment about how delicious the veggie tray was during cocktails after a few weeks have gone by? We would guess not, but I bet you do hear about how amazing, or not amazing a DJ was at a Wedding months after it's passed.
While it's not always fact, but DJ's who charge less generally offer less. They don't offer the same Professionalism as higher priced DJ's because they aren't paying into the same professional items as a true business would be. You can see some of these things to look out for in our previous post Booking A DJ. A DJ that values themselves will value your Wedding just as much, if not more!
One last thing to think about is how the DJ will look on your Wedding day. DJ's who charge less generally won't have a professional look. They haven't kept up with the latest gear and usually won't care as much about how they appear in a room. Here's an example of what a cheaper DJ could look like. As you can see in the photo the power cords are just dangling down and look quite messy. The speakers aren't raise up to ensure everyone can hear what's happening. While you might think this is exaggerated, it does happen. While looking at DJ's try to find some photo's of their set up to see if it fits with your overall look and feel of your Wedding.
A DJ which costs a little bit more will invest in their gear to keep up to date. They will also generally care about how they fit into your Wedding. You can see from this photo that you can't see much at all! The gear is covered up with what's called a "table topper", the speakers are raised so everyone can hear what's going on. Do you see any cables hanging down? This happens to be one of our set ups. We have both lighting and sound in this set up but it's hidden as best as possible so we aren't the eyesore in the room.
Hopefully this has given you a few things to think about while searching for a professional DJ. Remember like most things in life, you get what you pay for.
