You and your fiancé have planned an elegant and unforgettable Chicago wedding ceremony. Now you really want to turn up the notch at your Chicago reception. There is nothing worse than going to a dull reception. It can ruin the whole wedding experience. One of the most important aspects of the reception is the entertainment. The Knot says you should allow 9-10% of your Chicago wedding budget to go towards entertainment. If you are real budget planner, you already know that a Chicago DJ can save you an immense amount of money compared to a five-piece band.
There are hundreds of Chicago DJ companies out there, but they won’t all sell you the same thing. Of course all the DJ companies are trying to persuade you to hire them for your Chicago wedding. Whatever their price, it should cover entertainment for up to six hours, which includes cocktail hour, dinner, and dancing. Different Chicago DJs will charge different amounts obviously. What you are wondering is how do you tell the different between the Chicago DJs based on the cost alone. Wedding professionals can be hard to come by if you don’t know what to look for. You find yourself asking, “What is the cost of a Chicago DJ for a wedding?”
Let’s break it down:
That DJ you found on Craigslist/Your friend who happens to be an amateur DJ
These types of “Chicago DJs” have interesting prices. The cost ranges from a case of beer (not joking) to around 500 dollars. As a professional Chicago wedding DJ company, we urge you to stay away from this kind of entertainment for many reasons.
- These types of Chicago DJs often rely on an iPod. You could have done that yourself and saved 500 dollars.
- If they do have a system, it might be of poor quality. They usually don’t have a backup system and their speakers can sound very muddy with a lot of feedback. Not pleasant!
- A backup DJ incase something happens to yours is usually out of the question.
- Their music library is often very limited and usually contains illegally downloaded songs.
- Their experience level is very low.
- Probably won’t find any reviews of them online.
Remember, you get what you pay for! Don’t hire an unprofessional DJ for your Chicago wedding.
The “I’m almost a pro” DJ
So you decided to not go with a complete unprofessional. Thank god! A Chicago wedding DJ at this level is not totally a professional, but they are a slight step up. Their prices will range from around 500 to 1,400 dollars for their entertainment services. Here is what you can expect from these Chicago wedding DJs:
- Slightly better DJ equipment and speakers. Definitely not an iPod sort of Chicago wedding DJ company.
- These companies typically offer some kind of ridiculous discount for their services. This is a red flag. This makes a Chicago DJ company come off as cheap.
- You probably won’t meet your DJ until the day of the wedding.
- These types of Chicago wedding DJs probably don’t do this as a full time job. Just a fun hobby or a way to make some extra cash. They are not a serious part of the industry
- This Chicago disk jockey won’t be available to help you during your wedding planning.
- Most of these Chicago wedding DJs have had a significant amount of experience in this industry, but not all.
- They will have a few reviews online, which will contain a mix of positive and negative reviews.
A Professional DJ
If you decided on this type of Chicago wedding DJ, relax because you have made a great decision! There is nothing better than a professional Chicago DJ at your wedding. There is something very special about a professional wedding DJ. They are unique, intelligent, and very talented. Their pricing will start around 1500 and go to around 2500 dollars.
- Numerous stellar reviews on prestigious wedding websites like WeddingWire and The Knot.
- Their equipment is top of the line and they have numerous back up systems and DJs just incase something goes wrong.
- You will actually sit down and have a meeting with your personal Chicago disk jockey months before the wedding.
- Will use a façade during your Chicago wedding to hide all of those ugly cables and cords.
- These people are professionals, this is how they make their money and they are serious about it.
- Usually featured in some sort of Chicago magazine and will hold several Chicago wedding DJ awards
- Usually have over 20 years of experience in the industry and have entertained hundreds of Chicago weddings.
- There selections of tunes seem endless and they will take requests. If they don’t have a song you request, you can guarantee they will buy it for you.
- Employees will consist of trained professionals who see this as their career
- They will spend countless hours on your wedding and will have every detail for your entertainment perfectly planned.
- They will listen and take in your ideas for a fun reception but also give their expert DJ advice.
As you can probably tell, there are so many benefits when you hire a professional wedding DJ. At A Posh Production, we consider ourselves to be an extremely skilled Chicago wedding DJ and entertainment company. We are Chicago’s wedding DJ experts. All of our Chicago DJs are members of the ADJ, the American Disc Jockey Association. We have been published in several Chicago wedding magazines and have won countless Knot and WeddingWire awards throughout the years. A Posh Production has seventy-five perfect scores on prominent Chicago wedding websites. DJing for Chicago weddings is our passion!
