4 Things to Look Out For In Potential Wedding DJ Reviews
4 Things to Look for in Your Wedding DJ Reviews Stylus – Raleigh’s Best Wedding DJ Bride and Groom standing in front of the Stylus booth at the Forever and Co. Wedding Show with florals by Faux Real Flowers. Hanging truss and moving head lights color matched in light blush and clear white.Title the picture Making A Decision on Your Raleigh Wedding DJ – Great Reviews & How To Read Them When you’re looking at North Carolina wedding DJs, you’re trying to make a decision on one of the most consequential parts of your wedding. Whether you’re planning a Raleigh wedding reception, visiting wedding venues in Wilmington, or checking out custom caterers in Cherokee, you’re going to need entertainment at your event. This means that you’re going to be visiting websites, getting recommendations from friends and family, gleaning whatever insights your can get from other vendors, and hoping for the best.
By now, most couples know that they’re putting 75%-80% of their event in their wedding DJ’s hands. No matter how much you spend on your DJ, they’re in the driver’s seat as far as most of your evening is concerned.
Since most reputable DJs are going to be clustered around certain price points (even the more experienced and professional DJs are only a fraction of your total budget compared to a newer or less experienced DJ), that means you’re going to be trying to figure out which one makes the most sense for you.
This means you’re going to be looking at websites, reading reviews, and talking with them to learn more about their services and options.
Let’s take a quick look at the 4 things to keep an eye out for when you’re reading reviews: What To Look For In Your Wedding Potential DJs’ Reviews
1. The Real Positive Raleigh Wedding DJ Review
These should be the majority of your DJ’s reviews. DJs who prioritize client happiness are likely going to have great responses from couples who were thrilled with their service. The really useful reviews will talk about the entire experience. We’ve even had couples write great reviews for us BEFORE their event! It will give you a sense of what you might be headed into. Did the DJ communicate? Did it make the client feel heard and important? Are all the reviews detailed and talking about specific elements they appreciated? Or is it something where it sounds cookie cutter?
The flip side of this is when you have a bunch of reviews that all sound too similar. Or it’s just a bunch of 5 star ratings without any real depth. That might be a sign that they asked their friends to boost their reviews or paid for positives rather than earning them. You’ll sometimes see new DJs doing this because they don’t have enough events under their belt to have earned it organically. This particular company had their friends give them 5 star reviews because they were just starting and needed to hit a certain point before clients felt comfortable.
2. The Real Bad Wedding DJ Review
Bad Reviews are going to happen sometimes. I once got a negative review from a couple who never booked me because they were trying to write a bad review for another DJ and got confused. It’s also possible that the DJ had an off day or they did a poor job of helping a client understand what they could or couldn’t do. Some DJs just aren’t very good at their job. However, bad reviews can actually be really instructive to you as a potential client.
I’d rather see a bad review or two out of 50 or 60 reviews and look at the DJs response. You can learn a lot about your Raleigh Wedding DJ by how they approach criticism or if they can admit fault when they fall short and take steps to make it better. Let’s face it – events are complicated and it’s possible to drop the ball. Did they attempt to make up for it? Is it a client who spent too much on their wedding and they’re trying to get drinking money back by going after their DJ?
A friend of mine once had a client (a lawyer actually) sue them for the full value of their package (they are a ‘budget’ dj service) because it snowed and the DJ STILL showed up and delivered despite a really complex and potentially dangerous situation. They actually went to court before the judge dismissed their suit. The countersuit actually cost the couple quite a bit.
Sometimes it can be hard to tell.
Here’s an example of a ‘run away’ real bad review.
You’re often likely to see bad reviews on the ‘budget’ DJ services because clients can sometimes have ‘Caviar taste’ on a ‘Ramen budget’. That might not be a terrible sign if you’re trying to stay within a tight budget – it’s just telling you to be communicative and realistic about your expectations. However, you don’t get to do too much complaining when you booked the cheapest DJ willing to do your event.
We get calls every week from couples who found out their DJ ‘friend’ or ‘craigslist dj’ is abandoning them for a client who’s offering more money.
There are also situations where (usually guests) don’t quite understand what’s going on. I’ve heard guests blame the DJ for a client’s song choices (“I can’t believe the DJ played ‘X’ when the couple entered the reception”). It can be hard to navigate, but it’s less about the individual review than it is about the TOTAL of the reviews.
Bad reviews for your Raleigh Wedding DJ can be really instructive.
3. The Fake Good Wedding DJ Review
You’ll see this sometimes, often with people who are trying to get their business started. For many clients, 40 or 60 reviews may seem ‘safe’ but do a quick double check on the quality of the reviews. Are they short and formulaic? Do they repeat the same thing over and over again (and not in a good way).
“DJ BOB from BOB DJ Service did a great job.”
“We had DJ BOB with BOB and they did a great job.”
“BOB DJs did a great job with our event.”
It’s hard for new wedding DJs, even ones with promise, to get into the mix when couples are looking at a DJ company with 300 or 500 reviews (even though none of the DJs those reviews are about are still on staff) or there are lots of experienced single-op (one person) in the area. They’re trying to give themselves a chance in a very competitive marketplace. It’s usually the signal of newness and/or inexperience. However, it could be someone new to the area trying to find some way to get in front of you.
4. The Fake Bad Wedding DJ Review
You’ve seen review bombing on movie websites. It can happen in the Wedding DJ world too. We once got a negative review from another DJ in the area who felt threatened when we made a name for ourselves. Here’s an example of a fake bad review and useful response from the Wedding DJ.
The Takeaway:
When you’re looking at Wedding DJ reviews, there are a few key things to keep an eye out for: The quantity of reviews, the type of review, and the language the reviewer uses.
Remember, it’s not just each individual review, but how everything comes together. While it can be difficult to parse everything out, paying attention to how the reviews interact with the others around it can be really useful.
Reviews are a great way to get a sense of what the couples who worked with that particular Raleigh Wedding DJ valued the most. If you value communication, look to see if that is something that shows up in some reviews. If you value equipment, see if other clients are raving about their sound system.
While there’s no hard and fast rule to narrowing down your Raleigh Wedding DJ search, reviews should definitely be a part of how you do it.
If you enjoyed this article, here’s an article I found from a Boston DJ who tackles this subject differently: https://www.discjockeyboston.com/how-to-spot-a-real-review/
