2 Top Wedding Fears and How to Avoid Them Happening to You

According to a recent Facebook poll, which I conducted on a multiple brides groups, many brides' top fear is that a vendor will cancel on them last minute. In second place was that the quality or services they received would not be what they expected. On this note, I have three points that we must discuss to explain how you can avoid these. Firstly, where does this fear come from? Second, what's my interest on the subject? Third, what can brides can do to prevent it?

1. Where does the fear come from?

As someone in the wedding industry, I have heard many horror stories and seen many things that tell me exactly where it comes from. The fear comes from vendors that actually did this to brides, whether on the internet or a brides' friends, and the entire industry gets a bad rep for it. I will discuss more about how to avoid these vendors in section three.

2. What's my interest on the subject?

As a wedding DJ and owner of a production company, I am a part of the industry. As discussed previously, vendors that cancel on brides or don't provide what they promised give the rest of the industry a bad rep. I want to make sure every bride feels confident that I would never cancel on them, and that I provide exactly, if not more than, what I advertise. "How can this be accomplished?" I believe the only way is to educate brides on what the red flags are from vendors they should know to avoid... and that leads us to item three.

3. How can you prevent it from happening to you?

I am using pricing examples for the RI DJ market here; be aware that typical pricing in your market may vary.

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is

Does a $500 wedding DJ seem cheap? It is in Rhode Island. Yes, I used to do weddings for $500 and I was fine for a vow renewal, but I would not recommend five years ago me to do a wedding today. I am much more experienced now, but even at that time, I had higher integrity than most DJs at the $500 price point. The point here is that experience costs money; five years and many weddings later and I would say I am cheaper and better than most wedding DJs in my area.

b. Have a realistic budget

If you have a $500 wedding DJ budget you are better off renting all the equipment and putting on your Spotify playlist. While there are some legal issues about broadcasting of music issues there, ultimately the record labels mostly don't care. But that's another topic; if you want to know contact me at the info at the end of this story. Anyway, the reason I recommend this plays in with the previous example; a $500 DJ for your wedding, if they don't cancel on you and actually show up, is going to suck, but you're also putting out a significant risk that they will cancel... and I mean a very significant risk...

c. Read reviews

You probably already will, but if a DJ cancels on someone you know they are going to have a bad review somewhere, if not everywhere, online.

d. Read AND UNDERSTAND the contract

A lot of people don't understand the terms of a contract IF they even take the time to read it. Disclaimer: I am well educated on contract law however, I am not a lawyer. Advice below is not legal advice.

Elements of a contract, what you need to look for:

Obviously, you NEED to have a contract. But you should also see if: there an exchange of value between the parties (i.e. money for services), are BOTH parties competent (in most cases 18 or older), are BOTH parties names listed on the contract, and do both have to sign? If you don't see your DJ sign... you don't have a contract with them. This is extremly watered down to basics but it gets the point across. It would take me three articles to explain everything in a contract. If you have questions about vendor contracts, my contact info is at the end of this article.

e. Are you hiring a full time professional?

Psychology is at play with this one. Pros who are full time don't have another job to fall back on if a client they cancelled on takes recourse against them (I will talk about this later). One cancelled event would destroy their sole source of income, so why would they cancel on someone? For a DJ doing it part time, they have a day job to fall back on if they f*ck up.

IMPORTANT: If someone does cancel on you, the first call you should make is to the ADJA (American Disk Jockey Association) Emergency DJ Hotline: 888-723-5776

WRAP UP

You'll notice that I discuss price a lot in this article. That's because cheap DJs are most likely to cancel on you. Even if a more experienced DJ is sick or can't perform for some reason, they typically will be able to find someone who can. The DJs and vendors that meet these criteria are also more experienced, as I mentioned, and therefore you are very likely to be happy with what they provide because they are an expert, even if they weren't your first choice.

Finally, if you are in the market for a wedding DJ, lighting, or photo booth in the RI, MA, or CT area (that won't cancel on you), think about hiring DJ Alex Brown (djalexbrown.com). I would love to get on the phone and talk about your wedding or these tips, even if you decide I am not the right DJ for you.

[email protected]

401-248-4224

Alex Brown