01-09-2025, 07:50 AM
Hello fellow DJs!
For those who don't know me Im a fulltime DJ. I started around 10 years ago as a fairly standard function DJ, performing at weddings, birthday parties and corporates; both in upmarket hotels like The Hilton, to back street B&Bs in Blackpool. I moved into being a bar and nightclub resident several years ago and now work most nights of the week.
Last Saturday was a rare night off, and I was invited to a friends wedding, in a fairly expensive hotel.
I'll get straight to how the night went.
We arrived about an hour after the time on the invitation said, not wanting to be the first ones there. The room layout was pretty standard to a normal hotel wedding function. 10 tables with approx. 10 chairs around each, a dancefloor at the front and a full DJ setup.
The DJ setup from the front was first class. Two moving heads, two barrels, two scanners, and two colour changers. These were on a large goalpost which was tidy, no sign of any cables. In the middle is what appeared to be a mixer and laptop setup on a table.
For the first hour of being there, background music was playing out : fairly standard. It came to "first dance" time. The best man went behind the DJ setup and dipped the music himself. He shouted (without a mic) to everybody in the room to announce the first dance. Everybody applauded. It suddenly became apparent to me that there was no DJ. I had simply thought they were hiding somewhere during the background music / buffet period.
The best man faffed about on the laptop for a few seconds and on came the first dance. This went smoothly. The first dance ended, everyone applauded and there was a 5 second gap of dead-air. On came "Black eyed peas - I gotta feeling" and the dancefloor filled up.
I decided to have a quick nip behind the DJ setup to see what software was being used to playout songs. The laptop was running standard "Itunes" software, with a pre-loaded playlist. There was a bog standard Numark mixer system without a mic. I assume this was all dry hire and the laptop belonged to the couple.
When it came to song 3, the dancelfoor was empty. "I gotta feeling" ended and the gap in the segue seemed to go on forever. This went on for about an hour. Songs ended and there would be a big gap. The odd track however did get people up, and to be quite honest nobody commented on the fact there was no DJ, and I think everyone just accepted what was happening.
The bride would occasionally go to the laptop and choose a song from Itunes.
My first video [b]Video 1[/b]
A lot of the night looked like this [b]Video 2[/b]
Another example of a gap [b]Video 3[/b]
However! After about an hour... everybody had had a couple of sherry's and the song selection seemed to improve. The gaps in the songs did not seem to be a problem, and the dancefloor was packed. In fact, if I had been DJing this function I would have been over the moon at the atmosphere and crowd reaction.
A video: [b]Video 4[/b]
Another video: [b]Video 5[/b]
The song selection was often totally random, and it really did not blend together well - and it was due to the great nature of the couple, friends, family, and the pints of stella, that everybody had a superb night.
I for one would defend to the death the need for a DJ at any function - Im a fulltime DJ myself! But this gave me a slightly different persepctive. I would think had everybody not been so close and enjoyed being there, a DJ would most certainly have been needed to keep the night together. I think out of the 100 or so people there everyboy had a dance at some point (including me!)
Hope you enjoyed this little review of my night, any comments are welcome.
For those who don't know me Im a fulltime DJ. I started around 10 years ago as a fairly standard function DJ, performing at weddings, birthday parties and corporates; both in upmarket hotels like The Hilton, to back street B&Bs in Blackpool. I moved into being a bar and nightclub resident several years ago and now work most nights of the week.
Last Saturday was a rare night off, and I was invited to a friends wedding, in a fairly expensive hotel.
I'll get straight to how the night went.
We arrived about an hour after the time on the invitation said, not wanting to be the first ones there. The room layout was pretty standard to a normal hotel wedding function. 10 tables with approx. 10 chairs around each, a dancefloor at the front and a full DJ setup.
The DJ setup from the front was first class. Two moving heads, two barrels, two scanners, and two colour changers. These were on a large goalpost which was tidy, no sign of any cables. In the middle is what appeared to be a mixer and laptop setup on a table.
For the first hour of being there, background music was playing out : fairly standard. It came to "first dance" time. The best man went behind the DJ setup and dipped the music himself. He shouted (without a mic) to everybody in the room to announce the first dance. Everybody applauded. It suddenly became apparent to me that there was no DJ. I had simply thought they were hiding somewhere during the background music / buffet period.
The best man faffed about on the laptop for a few seconds and on came the first dance. This went smoothly. The first dance ended, everyone applauded and there was a 5 second gap of dead-air. On came "Black eyed peas - I gotta feeling" and the dancefloor filled up.
I decided to have a quick nip behind the DJ setup to see what software was being used to playout songs. The laptop was running standard "Itunes" software, with a pre-loaded playlist. There was a bog standard Numark mixer system without a mic. I assume this was all dry hire and the laptop belonged to the couple.
When it came to song 3, the dancelfoor was empty. "I gotta feeling" ended and the gap in the segue seemed to go on forever. This went on for about an hour. Songs ended and there would be a big gap. The odd track however did get people up, and to be quite honest nobody commented on the fact there was no DJ, and I think everyone just accepted what was happening.
The bride would occasionally go to the laptop and choose a song from Itunes.
My first video [b]Video 1[/b]
A lot of the night looked like this [b]Video 2[/b]
Another example of a gap [b]Video 3[/b]
However! After about an hour... everybody had had a couple of sherry's and the song selection seemed to improve. The gaps in the songs did not seem to be a problem, and the dancefloor was packed. In fact, if I had been DJing this function I would have been over the moon at the atmosphere and crowd reaction.
A video: [b]Video 4[/b]
Another video: [b]Video 5[/b]
The song selection was often totally random, and it really did not blend together well - and it was due to the great nature of the couple, friends, family, and the pints of stella, that everybody had a superb night.
I for one would defend to the death the need for a DJ at any function - Im a fulltime DJ myself! But this gave me a slightly different persepctive. I would think had everybody not been so close and enjoyed being there, a DJ would most certainly have been needed to keep the night together. I think out of the 100 or so people there everyboy had a dance at some point (including me!)
Hope you enjoyed this little review of my night, any comments are welcome.