No doubt you’ve heard the complaint. It costs how much to hire a wedding DJ? Grooms and brides are already spending a pile of money on the food, the venue, the dress … they just can’t figure out why the DJ has to charge so much for something as unimportant as the music.
Uh huh. Well, I guess that’s the issue right there. The music is just as vital as the food, the venue and every part of that special day. We’ve all heard the stories of disastrous weddings where the couple decided on asking Uncle Harry or Cousin Joe’s friend of a friend to staff the decks.
Music and the DJ sets the tone for the whole evening. Those two factors work together to ensure that as many people stay at the party for as long as possible, that those people have an awesome time, and that the dance floor is occupied from the moment that dinner’s over until the end of the night.
A wedding DJ shouldn’t just show up at the time of the event and start spinning his tunes. The professional DJ is going to want to meet with the couple ahead of time to understand their needs. There are operational costs to consider as well. DJ companies have other DJs employed; there’s equipment to maintain or replace, and there are operational costs, like office space rental, and website and license fees.
So, when a couple expresses shock at how much you’ll charge them to DJ their wedding, itemize for them how professional your services are. Tell them how you select the music especially for them and create edits and remixes unique to their wedding. Don’t tell them about all the operational costs. That’s your business, and the cost of doing business. Just sell them on how vital your services are to the success of their special day.
Tell me your own stories of DJing weddings.
8 comments
$600.00 to $750.00 for a well put together list of wedding and dance songs..
$600 i will take $500 if its one of my old client that refere you to me cuz i gotta send them a lil gift ??
With how much planning, work, music searching, meeting, reviewing, venue touring, itinerary building and monitoring, etc etc that goes into weddings. My base rate is at least 950 for 6 hours. That doesn’t include if they want a lighting truss, need multiple setups for a ceremony and then reception, special editing, more sound that basic tops. then distance is another factor in possible charges or even hotels. It’s not that simple and so many people fail to realize how much work truly goes into weddings. You are the night…you keep the timing, you announce everything, you control the vibe in the room….people remember 2 things when going to a wedding: the food and the dj/party. If they suck, the wedding sucked. If they were both good…the wedding kicked ass.
I provide not only great sound, but I have a light show, accent lights, gobo projection and many more features that make a wedding uniquely distinct. But they think all I do is play music. I charge $400 for a basic wedding without the extra. My light package is a different job.
Haha some people way undercharge. Minimum for audio and DJ services for wedding ceremony and reception start at $1850 with no lighting. Then again, all I do is high end Indian wedding.
I charge a minimum of $1000 and $1250 for ceremony and reception. That’s just a base price for a normal wedding
My rates start at $950 for a basic 4 hour reception with other package options including uplighting, moving heads and ceremony at $1450 and $1950. I do have a little wiggle room, but in all actuality I am charging for my time and knowledge. I meet with my bride and groom’s at least 3 times to help plan their event after filling out my online forms. i have found that I have to charge a real rate because I am not just the Dj at a wedding, I am also the event coordinator helping them plan for their event, the emcee hosting the event and the producer if I have to make a custom dance track along with being the Dj. My rates are completely justified, this is my profession, and as far as I am concerned they are too low, but the guys charging $500-600 for a wedding are why we make less than what we should as professionals.
Its all according to your State,or area because my Area you might get about $400 or $500.