How much should I charge for a wedding?
Jonny_Paycheck
17,825 Posts
BAsically, I'm being given a CD of "must-plays", other than that I am being asked to spin mellow stuff during dinner and then your standard dance material, disco, classics, hip-hop...I have to bring equip (rented) and set up and take down. Rental is being paid for by the folks hiring me.Thanks...
Comments
:/
I can rent you some equipment if you need. Anytime I do a gig and have to bring my shit, $500 + transportation is a bare minimum. I would shoot for $700.
That's been my philosophy, too. I'm up to close to $2,000 for a wedding now, which means I'm probably pretty damn close to pricing myself out of doing weddings. Which doesn't really bother me all that much.
http://www.davisdeejays.com
If I should have known better, I would have charged my wife $1,000,000
seriously, break it down at at least $50/hr(or what your area will support), and figure in travel, prep, consultation, and event time. Trust me, it will come to between $600-800. That way when they ask what they get, you can show the client a breakdown. Also list what equipment you will use(sound system/TTs/CDs/Mic/whatever) and what you DON't provide(lights/table/et) so that everyone has EVERYTHING spelled out in detail.
Oh, and if they have stuff they want you to play and offer to lend you those CDs, take them up on it. You'll be glad to save that money and not have to go in search of that ONE Garth Brooks song(that isn't even available on Napster!).
LA (& NYC) will make you $$$
sorry, I gave you advice on stuff you already mentioned.
LIL DUDETTE
Make it worth your while. It's easier handling regret when you've got $1000 than when you've got $200.
$499.99
John, I would NOT go below $500 unless it's family.
Davis deejays =
yup, cuz the $$$ is usually the only fun part. It's work unless you hit a really lucky patch of guests. The last one I did was soooo strenuous, mentally, that I was really wrecked about wether I had the nerve to keep DJing, because guests can be SO RUDE. A couple club nights make you realize that it is the EVENT that makes people stupid, not the DJ.
Different crowds are completely night and day. I was at a wedding the week before, and this older DJ handled a mostly middle aged crowd(couple wed were late 30s-early 40s)without breaking a sweat, played the most obvious stuff and just blended his smooth jazz-R&B azz off, and that was perfect and I watched him the whole night, no one gave him any static. This other wedding I did was a lot of recent college grads, and they were bugging me all night long, 'play this now', do this stuff more', 'we want slow songs', 'we want fast songs', 'what about songs white people dance to', etc. Weddings can be a bitch.
A*am, you should've called me, I do this on the side...........!!!!!!!!!
I might hit you up for wedding then...stay tuned (for years)
not to scare you....
TRIPLE MONEY BACK GUARANTEE[/b]
hey paychips, why dont you take the money and ask them to have someone else set-up and break down all that shit. oh, and ask for a bottle of laphroaig 15 year single malt.
and get one for yourself too.
yeah but you're a real dj
if it makes everyone feel better I am going to charge $800 incl. "rental" and put the "rental" towards a serato package.
So I am getting something out of this.
SEE, HE DOES LISTEN TO US SOMETIMES
Seriously though, even if they don't bite for the $1,500 + then that's still a good starting point to work your way down to those smaller numbers. Also make sure to remind them again and again about how your job is such a vital part of the whole event. And of course they might counter with the argument that "We're picking the songs for you already" but it's much much more than that. In any case, even if they had not supplied you with the songs ahead of time, and professional would have compiled a list of music that would have been "must play" material. So it comes down to compiling the music as to their requests/demands, supplying additional material as to the parameters of the music that's already supplied, and (most importantly) formatting the music into the playlist for the evening so that it goes smoothly and withough a problem. Once again, I cannot stress this enough and you should not stress this enough to your client: this is a huge factor.
Jonny let me know if you got any other questions. I'll help answer them as best as I can, or maybe hit Urrrs up as well.
for me, this is always at the point when I am asked to drop funkytown, brickhouse, etc.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
Once all the family is there... best believe you'll be getting requests for "Brick House, Celebrate, YMCA, etc." no matter how good the bride & groom's taste is.