Where do I put the DJ at my wedding?
Wedding DJ Placement. Setting your Reception up for success.
Are you planning your wedding? Maybe you’re at the seating chart step. Are you asking yourself “Where do I put my DJ at the wedding”? If so, consider the Wedding DJ placement tips in this post to help energize your DJ experience. Many couples often overlook the importance of laying out a comfortable, sensible reception space, and just assume that venue managers have their best interests in mind. However, that’s not always the case!
Every bride & groom wants their wedding day to go smoothly, have happy guests, and be an amazing dance party that everyone will talk about for years to come.
There’s no doubt there’s a lot to consider when planning your seating chart:
- What shape is the room?
- How many guests will be in attendance?
- Is there a focal point in the room (i.e. a big fireplace or a wall of windows?)
- …and most importantly, where is the dance floor and will your venue give you flexibility to place the dance floor where you want?
Try to make your dance floor the center of attention (after the bride/groom of course)
We don’t see this too often anymore, but sometimes the venue has the dance floor around the corner in an awkwardly shaped room or even in a separate room altogether. This may cause your guests to miss your spotlight dances (i.e. first dance, cake cutting, bouquet toss, etc…). Its also a far walk for your guests to get to the dance floor which usually leads to them just mingling by their tables (no matter how amazing the DJ is).
My next point and the reason for this post….
Place your DJ next to the dance floor.
Exhibit A. The image below shows the DJ in a corner, very far away from the dance floor. DON’T. DO. THIS. “Nobody puts DJ in a corner”.
Your DJ needs to interact with & read your crowd
While you may not have opted for a interactive DJ, there is still a level of interaction that is required with any Wedding DJ. Even if it is just basic announcements and directing your guests on where to look for the next formality.
One of the best skills your DJ should have is the ability to read a crowd that is on the dance floor. Reading a crowd & their reactions to the songs being play helps the DJ continue to curate an awesome set to keep your guests on the floor the rest of the evening.
If the DJ is too far from the dance floor or worse yet, can’t see it at all, you are limiting his/her ability to provide an amazing experience for you and your guests, not to mention the energy disconnect between the DJ and the crowd.
Tables between your DJ and the Dance Floor = bad experience for guests at those tables
This becomes tough balancing act for the DJ because he/she will need to accommodate volume levels for those guests seated at the tables closest to the speakers AND for those guests the furthest away.
The most ideal location for the DJ setup is right next to the dance floor, bonus points if the dance floor is in the middle of the room! If you can, arrange tables in a “U” around the dance floor, with the head table opposite the dance floor from the DJ. This allows the DJ to cover the entire ballroom acoustically with balance. Ideally, you want the sound to be loudest on the dance floor and a little quieter out by the tables so guests can converse comfortably.
But, I don’t want the DJ in the background of all my photos.
Hiring a professional photographer will take care of this concern for you. Any pro photographer should be experienced enough to shoot away from the DJ to get some pretty amazing shots. DJ equipment these days aren’t big and bulky anymore,well ours isn’t at least 😉 .
Some final tips when it comes to reception layout
- Don’t put the BAR outside of the main room if at all possible.
- Don’t create a lounge space outside of the room.
- Don’t position guest tables too close to each other (keep them close, but comfortable).