Wedding and Reception Tips

1. Q: How long should we hire you for?

A: The average wedding and reception takes 5-6 hours. You should have me start an hour before the wedding ceremony in order to provide the proper musical setting and coordinate with the Pastor or Minister the ceremonial events. This includes the processional and recessional music and microphones. If you need me only for the reception I should start as soon as the ceremony is over, and preferably, 30 minutes before. Again, setting a proper musical background and greeting your guests sets the atmosphere of the event. ^

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2. Q: What things can ruin my reception?

A: Long delays in the wedding party arriving at the reception hall.

THIS IS THE BIGGEST COMPLAINT! This not only irritates your guests, but also the catering service who would like to serve the food when it’s ready. Ideally, the wait for dinner should not be more than an hour after the guests arrive. More often than not, these delays are caused by the photographer taking pictures. If possible, try to get as many of your photos taken ahead of time to reduce the delay in arriving at your reception.

Here are some tips from a professional photographer on how to minimize this problem.

-Photographing the wedding party and taking group portraits can often delay arrival of the couple and family at the reception. There are several ways to reduce these delays, allowing all participants to enhance their enjoyment of the day. The wedding photographer should arrange with the couple, prior to the wedding day, ways to reduce the time needed to take these pictures, including the following:

Prior to the wedding, meet with the photographer to create a smooth and efficient flow of pictures. Get a list of common poses and note the ones most likely to cause delays. Pre-plan the list of individuals for group portraits, rather than make these decisions during the wedding day. When the time comes for group portraits, these people can be quickly organized to have pictures taken. Consider all times that groups may be photographed that will create the least disruption of the day.

Take as many formal shots as possible prior to the ceremony. Shots of the groom and his men, or close relatives with the bride or groom may be taken while others are preparing for the wedding. Knowing the size and composition of groups to be photographed, the photographer should find and set up the portrait area before people are gathered for pictures.

Find a friend to be an able assistant who is not part of group photos. Allow that person to identify and organize all of the people into the desired groups.

Let the photographer do his or her job. From behind the camera, a capable wedding photographer will create an image that will enhance the appearance of the group, while accepting input regarding who should or should not be placed together in the picture.

Lack of air-conditioning on warm days.

Unfortunately, the air-conditioners in some buildings do not contain the capacity to cool them adequately when occupied by 100 or more people on a warm or hot day. The resulting discomfort causes guests to leave right after dinner, and some before. For summertime weddings, I recommend you schedule your wedding around 5 PM. Then your reception and dancing will come during the evening hours when the temperature starts to cool down. If this is not possible, then try to insure that your hall has a big enough air conditioning system to keep your guests reasonably cool.

Hall too small

If you are forced to rent a hall that is not big enough to handle all the events at once, you must plan to have certain people designated to set-up, take down and move chairs and tables. Make sure that the designated crew quickly makes the set-up adjustments so as not to inconvenience the guests and cause delays. This includes moving tables and chairs out of the way to clear an area for dancing. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Q: What about the dancing atmosphere?

A: The dancing atmosphere is an area that is seldom thought of ahead of time. It is not an item that will ruin your reception, but, it is certainly an item that is worthy of your attention and certainly enhances the dancing. There is nothing you can do about the atmosphere during a daytime reception, however, you can easily create an inviting atmosphere during night time receptions.

Turning off the main lights is a start, but you should have some type of indirect lighting for the safety of your guests. The easiest and most inexpensive way to create an atmosphere is with candles on each table. They are inexpensive and create a very pleasant dancing and party atmosphere. They, together with my DJ lights, will create the proper atmosphere for dancing. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Q: What time should I have you start if I want you for both the wedding ceremony and the reception?

A: For the wedding ceremony itself, at least an hour before the start of the ceremony. This gives me the opportunity to provide appropriate background music to set the mood for the ceremony and coordinate with the minister, ushers, photographer and your wedding coordinator to insure we’re ready. Please remember that I can’t be in two places at the same time. The wedding ceremony and the reception must be at the same location in order to cover both events.

I will provide the minister with a lapel wireless microphone so that your guests can hear the wedding nuptials. I will coordinate with the wedding party to insure the timing of the processional (entry) and the recessional (exit) and the proper accompanying music. ^

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5. Q: What time should I have you start if I need you for the reception only?

A: At least 30 minutes before you expect your guests to begin arriving. This gives me the opportunity to provide appropriate background music, meet and talk to your guests and keep them entertained before the wedding party arrives. I also meet with the caterer, cake servers, photographer and other providers to coordinate announcements and events. ^

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6. Q: What happens when we (wedding party) first arrive at the hall?

A: I will meet you outside the main entrance to organize you for the grand entry. Once I have you in the proper order, I will step inside the hall and get the attention of your guests and then begin the grand entry by introducing the names of each member of the wedding party ending with the introduction of bride and groom. As the wedding party is introduced and applauded by the guests, they take their places at the head table.

The sequence of events after seating is entirely up to you. The normal sequence is as follows.

1. Most photographers like to take pictures of the toasts before the head table is cluttered with dishes and food. I will coordinate with the servers the placing of champagne/cider/wine bottles on the each table before the toasts begin. When ready, I will announce the toasts and introduce the members of the wedding party that wishes to propose toasts starting with the Best Man. I will provide each person with a wireless microphone so they can be heard while the photographer takes pictures.

2. Dinner is next. If it's a sit down dinner, the food servers will serve the head table first followed by the guests. If it's a buffet, I will organize the and will organize the order of approach starting with the head table followed by the tables farthest from the buffet table.

3. Shortly after everyone has finished eating, the cutting of the cake takes place. I will make the announcement and coordinate with the photographer your and guests the taking of pictures while appropriate background music is played.

4. The garter and bouquet toss follow. I will position the bride with her bouquet in the center of the floor and ask for all single ladies to form a group approximately 10 feet behind her. Then on an orchestrated count of 3, the bride tosses her bouquet over her shoulder to the ladies. Tradition has it that the lady that catches it will be the next to marry.

A chair is then brought out to the bride for her to sit on while her garter is removed by her new husband. The knee of the best man can be substituted for the chair. I then invite all the single men to form a group behind the bride as the single ladies did for the bouquet toss. Once everyone is in place, I start an appropriate musical selection at which time the groom carefully removes the garter from his wife's leg and flings it over his back to the waiting single men. Likewise, tradition has it that the single man who catches it will be the next to marry.

5. The special dances follow starting with the bride and groom and their first dance as man and wife. This dance is usually followed by the father and bride dance, and/or, the groom and his mother which are usually combined. Then the wedding party dance. All this is followed by dancing for everyone. I will announce and coordinate all of these dances.

6. Usually within the first hour, if the bride and groom want one, the money dance is conducted. I will stop the music and ask the bride and groom to join me on the dance floor. I will make the announcement and encourage as many guests as possible to dance with the newlyweds and donate money for their "honeymoon". Following the money dance, it's back to dancing. I will break from time to time for specialty dances like the Chicken Dance and the Macarena and demonstrate how these dances are done and encourage your guests to participate. They are crowd pleasers and a lot of fun. ^

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7. Q: Do you take requests?

Yes, and if they are appropriate and not on the "Do Not Play" list, I play them if time permits. ^

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8. Q: Is the music listed on your Top 200 list the only music you play?

No. The Top 200 list just gives you an idea of what are the most requested songs played by DJs across the country. It's only a small portion of the nearly 32,000 songs in my musical library. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9. Q: What if I want a friend or family member to be the Master of Ceremonies?

A: No problem! Just let me know that and I will be prepared for the dancing only. ^

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10. Q: Who will be my Disc Jockey on the day of my event?

A: I will! I handle all of my bookings personally. No substitute or contracted Disc Jockeys. ^

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11. Q: Why don't you use substitute or other DJ's?

A: I prefer to work alone in order to ensure the quality of each performance and it affords me the opportunity to give personal service and ensure the quality of the performance. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

12. Q: What if you become ill and unable to perform and/or equipment failure?

A: I have established professional working relationships with other professional DJ services in this area. We have in place arrangements to cover for each other in the event of illness or equipment failure. Should such misfortune occur, your event will completely covered by another professional DJ meeting my high standards. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

13. Q: Do you offer a pre-event meeting with the bride and groom to go over the events?

A: Yes! We should meet and plan the music and events approximately 2 weeks before the wedding.

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14. Q: Should we invite you to have dinner with us?

A: This is your choice. It is not required. ^

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15. Q: What time do you set up your equipment?

A: If at all possible, early on the day of the event. There are two main reasons for this. It gives me time to correct any equipment problems that may occur before the event starts, and it is not proper, or professional, to start setting up equipment while you and your guests are present. It’s just poor taste. ^

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16. Q: Is there an additional charge for mileage if the event is outside of Stanislaus County?

A: There is a small mileage charge to cover the extra miles. ^

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17. Q: Do you charge extra for setting up or tearing down your equipment?

A: No! ^

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18. Q: Do you have special effects lights and fog?

A: Yes, for a small additional charge. Be advised that most venues will not allow the use of fog because it can set off fire alarm sensors. And bubble machines can be dangerous because they can cause a slippery surface where the bubbles hit the floor. Just about the only place you can use fog or bubble nowadays is at outdoor venues which greatly reduces their visual effect. ^

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19. Q: What kind of music to you play?

A: The stock answer to this question is..."anything you want me to!" That's true! However, a more precise answer is...."what you and your guests want to hear!" Simply put, "what people are dancing to."

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20. Q: What if you don't have the song(s) we want played?

A: I'll get them! Although I have a very large musical library, I don't have everything ever recorded. If you have the selections in your library I can borrow them from you for the event. ^

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21. Q: Can I check you out on the Internet?

A: Yes! www.drccdj.net ^

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22. Q: What is your email address?

A: chuck@drccdj.net ^

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23. Q: What if I have more questions?

A: Just contact me. 209-541-4362 or email

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