Why should I hire a DJ for my wedding?

The vendor from your wedding that guests will remember the most is not the flowers or the food… it’s the wedding DJ, here’s why.

Your DJ will either MAKE or BREAK your big day

Your wedding DJ will be more involved with each moment than any other vendor hands down. From the moment your ceremony begins to your last dance, your DJ is right there hosting, entertaining, coordinating, reading your guests, smoothing out any surprises, playing the soundtrack to your big day and all around working hard to keep everyone happy and comfortable. Don’t squeeze your DJ into the end of your budget because you get what you pay for!

Hire a professional DJ today!

Everyone at your wedding will get to know your DJ

“We had a fantastic experience. DJ Intershade made the entire process very easy and was super professional. If you’re looking for a DJ, I highly recommend his services.”

Darla H.

While venues, caterers, photographers, florists, coordinators, bakers, videographers and other vendors are crucial to your big day, you don’t really hear about bad food or blurry pictures after a friends wedding, do you? On the other hand you WILL hear if they had a bad DJ. You will experience the masterful work of a great caterer when you eat dinner, you’ll taste the fruits of the bakers labor when sampling some of the wedding cake, you’ll eventually tag yourself in that fire wedding photo that gets shared on social media, but with the DJ you wont just experience their work, you get to experience their personality first hand! While you don’t get to meet the chef or the florist, or really get to know the photographer or venue owner; every aspect of the DJ’s personality is on display! A good DJ pours their very selves into interacting with you and your guests and that’s what captivates people effectively making your wedding unforgettable for them.

“My husband and I got married a little over a year ago. To this day, I continue to get compliments about how incredible our DJ and the music was!! Our ceremony music was perfect and cohesive! No awkward/obvious changes in songs- it all flowed perfectly. He provided SUCH a fun, dancing atmosphere for our guests. Aside from getting married, one of my top priorities was making sure my guests genuinely had FUN all night and Jonathan really helped by keeping all my guests on the dance floor. He also worked very well with my wedding coordinator. The night was perfect and I wouldn’t change a single thing!! Thank you, Jonathan!”

Avian D.

There are hundreds of wedding DJ companies in the Raleigh Durham, North Carolina area. I’ve heard from too many people that they went to a wedding and the DJ was #cringe. In my opinion many people WANT to be a DJ but few have the necessary skills and passion to do so. This is because DJ’s need to be good at an wide array of things in order to nail your wedding entertainment just right.

Here’s a quote from theweddingcommunity.com:

“Your wedding DJ should be a mix between someone who is considerate of your tastes, but also has a lot of wisdom and experience. They need to know what works, how to structure the dynamics of an evening, and how to work in styles/genres that will suit all the guests. If you can imagine a dinner party of eight guests discussing their music tastes – imagine the diversity in artistes that would be brought to the table. Now imagine this, but with 100 or so of your wedding guests!”

Choosing the right DJ for your Wedding

There are hundreds of wedding DJ companies in the Raleigh Durham, North Carolina area. I’ve heard from too many people that they went to a wedding and the DJ was #cringe. In my opinion many people WANT to be a DJ but few have the necessary skills and passion to do so. This is because DJ’s need to be good at an wide array of things in order to nail your wedding entertainment just right.

To be a professional Raleigh Wedding DJ you need to be able to:

• Behave like a professional (be courteous, handle problems with maturity, be the voice of reason and calm)
• Dress yourself and display your gear neatly to match a formal setting
• Know your way around a sound system (not just plug and play)
  • EQ tops and subs for the room
  • EQ mics for each person’s voice
  • EQ mix for clarity when mixing voice and music
• Be confident and outgoing with enough charisma to engage a large group
• Reign in that confidence with class as to not be overbearing or annoying
• Be able to read the crowd
  • Sense awkwardness in the guests and intervene to ease everyone’s nerves
  • Sense when a certain song or genre isn’t hitting right
• Be able to work with other vendors in harmony while taking lead from the coordinator
• Know your way around event lighting to provide the right vibe
• Know your music
  • Love and respect all music enough to passionately play for any group
  • Know your artists and versions of songs to suggest the right song to the couple
  • Be ready for any request
• Be able to mix like the pros
  • Slip Cue
  • Beatmatch
  • Beat Juggle
  • Key Match
  • Sample
  • Improvise
  • Live Remix
  • Scratch
  • Hype up the crowd with mid-mix vocals
• Play to the crowd
  • Don’t worry about being cool
  • Play what will make your guests have the time of their lives!
• Be a resourceful vendor
  • Take time to help you plan every part of your wedding music and timeline
  • Give experienced suggestions
  • Walk through the planning process with the couple
  • Reach out to other vendors to coordinate different aspects of the big day

“DJ Intershade LIT up my sisters grad party! HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!! Played great variety and all requests! He will get your party started and keep it going to the very last second! Never an empty dance floor!!!”

Kacey S.

Do you budget for your DJ?

I’ve been an NC DJ for around 10 years and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this right here:

“We really don’t have much money left in our budget for a DJ so we can’t afford your services” or “We already spent so much on our venue and caterer we can’t really afford to pay much for a DJ”.

A high end Raleigh DJ costs anywhere between $2000 (starting) and $6000 (with add-ons)

A mid range Raleigh DJ costs between $1000 to $1800

A budget Raleigh DJ costs between $500 to $800

The average wedding budget in North Carolina is $29,000 as of 2023 and most of that is typically the venue. Even if your budget is only $10,000 you should allot at least 20% for your DJ at $2000. With a DJ that knows their job and handles each detail, transitioning each moment, bringing the hype and the emotion while acting as Master of Ceremonies and music entertainer, you’ll be glad you went with a pro!

It’s totally normal for a couple to spend $8,000 on a nice venue, $1,500 on a fancy cake, $4,000 for fresh flowers, $2000 on a gorgeous dress, $6,000 on a skilled photographer, so why would you expect to pay less than $2000 for your wedding DJ who will essentially be involved in your entire day.

“Jonathan was awesome! He was very in tune with what we wanted throughout the entire wedding process! His DJ skills were on point and our guests can’t stop raving about him! I would not use anyone other than DJ Intershade!”

Taylor P.

Want your guests and family to never forget your wedding day? Then put a book a professional Raleigh Wedding DJ.

We hope this has helped you understand how important Wedding DJs are to the whole experience. It’s not just music and speakers, it’s a personality, experience and skills combined into one dynamic person who will bring your wedding to another level.