Yes or No: are you giving your DJ a playlist?

Two weddings this weekend. The first gave me ideas for genres and maybe 10 must plays and a couple of do not plays. The second one, last night must have given me 100 songs on their playlist and a dozen or so no plays. Final verdict: both weddings were amazing!

The first one I had a free hand more-or-less, and my mixes along with their list and many requests made for a =fantastic night on the dance floor- full all night long.

Last night's wedding was phenomenal as well. I had even more requests but could not get to all of them because of the extensive list. So I disappointed a few people but the bride & groom danced all night because they picked the majority of the songs.

I would rather have more input from a bride and groom than less. Many songs are fine, as I can mix and choose where to put them for the maximum effect. It is nice to be able to do requests though. Sometimes I get the best ideas from the crowd.

If you choose every last song for the night, be prepared to disappoint a good many of your guests. However it can be done without that, if you think about your crowd's likes/dislikes and demographics.

When it comes down to it, the B&G are the clients, not the rest of the guests. If you are picky about the music, then the DJ should conform to your wishes with a smile. The trouble is, many DJs think of each job as an audition for the crowd in general, and neglect the wishes of the B&G so they don't look bad to those potential clients. Avoid them. You are the number one priority of a good wedding DJ.

Personally I think the best mix for selections is about 1/3 B&G playlist, 1/3 requests. and 1/3 me putting in a song that I know will work in that moment. But each wedding is different. Good luck and happy dancing!

Yes we are giving the DJ a list so he will know what I want to hear and what I do not want to hear.

Not really a play list....when we booked our DJ, he had given us a form to fill out that listed evey music genre imaginable and asked that we checked the ones we wanted, from there it went into the popular wedding dances, which ones we wanted and if we would be participating. We don't have any MUST PLAY songs but we did tell him that we wanted a mix of everything and to allow guest requests

Our DJ has a form for 30 requests from their catalog, 10 custom requests (they will find) and 15 Do Not Play songs. I think it helps give them a feel for what you would like. 40 songs is only about 1.5 hours of music, giving the DJ plenty of time to fill with his selections.

Thanks for all the responses! Interesting thoughts. I'm thinking maybe we can cut back our list of 40 to maybe 25 and then he can have the freedom and guest requests. I know, for example, a lot of my guests like Michael Jackson, who is currently not on our list. I'll be interested to see what our DJ has to say about all this and what he recommends