Rough time DJing a Wedding Social... need advice
Rough time DJing a Wedding Social... need advice Posted on: 11.11.2013 by Gwenda Busbey Hello,Last evening at 8pm I got called in to DJ a 600 wedding social for 9pm because their DJ did not show up. I decided to accept because I wanted to help out, and if I am not at a gig, I want to be doing a gig. I do not have any wedding social social type music, luckily my light guy had a playlist of social type music ready. So as per request of the couple getting married, we started with older music, had a couple excited old people on the floor, slowly moved forward to time. And then after a bit younger people started complaining, and the couple let us open it up... So I started with some top 40s, a little bit of rap, and some electronic stuff mixed in. Got some young people on the floor and then after abit they scattered as well. We then moved to some rock stuff, classic social songs like journey, acdc, shit like that... Got some really excited old people who also scattered after about 15-30 minutes. We then switched back to top 40s, mixed in some trap and electronic stuff, and got a lot of young people for a while, and then they slowly started to scatter as well. So I decided to try some different things and I played some raggae and soca. And got a few people who also scattered after a while. At most the whole evening I did not have more than 40 people on the dance floor at any point, out of 600 people I was kind of disappointed . The average age of crowd was probably late 20s to early 30s. I tried every style to see if it would pull anyone to the floor and it just didn't. Any advice? Don't want this to happen again. I'm used to DJing at clubs where everyone wants to get on the floor but there is not enough room. This was my first wedding social. Thanks for any help. | |
| Hellen Mindrup 11.11.2013 |
Originally Posted by LXJ
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| Gwenda Busbey 11.11.2013 | Hello, Last evening at 8pm I got called in to DJ a 600 wedding social for 9pm because their DJ did not show up. I decided to accept because I wanted to help out, and if I am not at a gig, I want to be doing a gig. I do not have any wedding social social type music, luckily my light guy had a playlist of social type music ready. So as per request of the couple getting married, we started with older music, had a couple excited old people on the floor, slowly moved forward to time. And then after a bit younger people started complaining, and the couple let us open it up... So I started with some top 40s, a little bit of rap, and some electronic stuff mixed in. Got some young people on the floor and then after abit they scattered as well. We then moved to some rock stuff, classic social songs like journey, acdc, shit like that... Got some really excited old people who also scattered after about 15-30 minutes. We then switched back to top 40s, mixed in some trap and electronic stuff, and got a lot of young people for a while, and then they slowly started to scatter as well. So I decided to try some different things and I played some raggae and soca. And got a few people who also scattered after a while. At most the whole evening I did not have more than 40 people on the dance floor at any point, out of 600 people I was kind of disappointed . The average age of crowd was probably late 20s to early 30s. I tried every style to see if it would pull anyone to the floor and it just didn't. Any advice? Don't want this to happen again. I'm used to DJing at clubs where everyone wants to get on the floor but there is not enough room. This was my first wedding social. Thanks for any help. |
| Leatrice Jerry 18.11.2013 | Weddings are different. You have to remember that you have a whole melting pot of people there. Different age groups, music tastes, etc. Not everyone is there to dance. Some people are there to eat, some to catch up/socialize with family, etc... The most you can do is cater to the bride and groom's request. As long as you satisfy them, you're doing a good job. If this doesn't satisfy you, hopping on the mic and playing a lot of songs that involve group dances (Cha Cha Slide, Cupid Shuffle, Wobble, etc...) always gets the crowd going. You don't want to play them one after the other though, because it can get boring an redundant. Make sure you play Michael Jackson. His songs never fail at weddings. Other than that, don't be so bummed out if you don't get the dance floor crackin like a club. Some families just aren't dancers. I know this from experience, because I've played 2 weddings back to back with the same set as an experiment. The first wedding was a dud. The second wedding, with the exact same set had everyone going crazy on the dance floor. There are a lot of factors, but weddings vs. clubs are totally different and should be measured differently. Hope this helps! |
| Gwenda Busbey 16.11.2013 | Good thing I'm actually a club DJ lol, I just showed up to this one because their DJ didn't show up so they needed someone last minute. I'll probably be doing more in the future though. |
| Vito Chesnut 15.11.2013 | ^^^ Agree with both, I do mobile so I can pay my bills working 1-2 evening s a week, I do my radio show for my passion of djing. |
| Lannie Kutay 14.11.2013 | haha welcome to the world of mobile dj'ing, the money is good, but the crowds suck..... |
| Brunilda Kora 14.11.2013 | I've been to weddings where NO-ONE has danced all evening
. Consider yourself lucky, mate - at least you got some people up at some points in the evening ! You'll have to get used to it if you're going to be a mobile jock. Some evening s just never get started. This can happen at ALL gigs (from weddings, to warehouse raves). The good part about these crap wedding gigs, is that no matter how much or little fun you have, and/or the crowd has, YOU STILL GET PAID!!! |
| Iraida Linihan 14.11.2013 | Welcome to the world of being a mobile DJ! Pretty typical croud/reaction at a wedding or wedding social. People have fun in different ways. Some dance, some don't. Some drink, some don't. The dance floor at events like this is a constantaly changing and evolving environment |
| Deloras Daisley 13.11.2013 | Yeah from my experience Cha slide, wobble etc would get everyone on the dance floor. Other than that people are their to have a good time. But people are seeing families they may not have seen in a while two families merging together can be a little awkward lol. Some weddings are like family reunions. You did well dont be discouraged. |
| Gwenda Busbey 12.11.2013 | thanks. appreciate |
| Teresia Janusch 12.11.2013 | You can't please all of the people all of the time…especially with the vast diversity of people found at a wedding Ive DJ'd at 3 weddings, for close friends, and after each one I've said 'never again' |
| Yong Aptekar 12.11.2013 | There's a reason a lot of djs won't do weddings. You are there to be a jukebox, unlike at a bar/club, where you're there to keep people on the dancefloor. Don't stress, if the bride or her mom didn't come and yell at you, you did well. |
| Gwenda Busbey 11.11.2013 | yeah i just talked to my friend who does wedding socials and he said that a job as a social dj is to make people spend money for the bride and groom. If he sees people nodding their heads , buying drinks or 50/50 then he is doing his job. And I did notice people doing that, and some old people screaming for excitement if a classic rock song would come on. Don't feel too bad about it now, thanks guys. |
| Charline Dye 11.11.2013 | Some weddings almost no one dances except for the Cha Cha Slide, Wobble, etc. and a slow dance or two. Other weddings you have 15-20% of the crowd on the floor the whole time. So just depends on the group. Doing different audience participation things like a Soul Train line can help with the right group. It sounds like you did fine mixin it up for the different age groups. So good job! I don't do a lot of weddings, but the guys who make it their profession (and get paid the most) can be extremely good at getting people involved and on the dance floor. There is a whole different set of skills than a club/bar requires. |
| Hellen Mindrup 11.11.2013 |
Originally Posted by LXJ
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| Rodger Seferovic 11.11.2013 | You can't see wedding in the same light as clubs or raves. The people are there to celebrate the wedding, socialize, and not necessarily there to dance. You can't measure your quality of performance by the % of people dancing in this circumstance. |
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