AlmostMrsP:
Bailey_wailey:
Have you been to any of the wedding Fayres?? There's loads of bands/djs at them.
Absolutely recommend seeing your DJ in action or even just meeting them and getting a "feel" for them before booking - we didn't and it's the one thing I would change about our wedding. Our guy wasn't even remotely interested in a pre-wedding meeting or even a chat to see what we wanted. We ended up e-mailing him a few weeks before the day (we'd booked through an agency and had never had any confirmation from the DJ himself that he'd been booked or any contact at all). On the day he turned up with 2 e-mails, one from us about our wedding on the Friday and one from some other couple for a wedding on the Saturday and had no idea who'd requested what. He didn't play one of our requests (and I don't mean guest requests, I mean from us!) and messed up the last dance for us. To be honest I had a bad feeling about it from when we first had to chase him for contact but by that point it was too late to change - so moral of the story is definitely meet your DJ before booking!
You'll find that most DJs won't be able to invite you along to see them in action, especially if they do mainly weddings. Its not fair to be auditioning for another job and inviting a potential client along to someone elses wedding when you should be totally focused on that bride and groom. Also, every wedding is different, and what you do for one couple is not what another couple would want. For example you could see me one night doing all cheese, getting people up doing silly dances and games etc, then another night I could be doing mostly rock or mainly dance club........its whatever that bride and groom wants.
I do totally agree with your other statement though..... ALWAYS insist on meeting up with your DJ. For many of my weddings I meet up prior to being booked, then have another meeting or lengthy phone call to finalise arrangements. From meeting them face to face you'll soon know whether they are the one for you and whether you can put up with them being part of your day. I love it when a bride finishes a meeting by saying 'I know we've made the right choice now'.