I can't say enough about Pete, DJ John, and the rest of the crew at Big Sand Productions. We recently had our wedding at a golf club in the Chicago area and hired these guys. We ar...e so glad we did!
Months prior to our wedding, we had a call with Pete and he helped set us up with a package that worked for our budget and a DJ that suited our style (it was a multicultural wedding with family from very diverse backgrounds). He sent us a link to the company portal, which contained a couple of comprehensive planning forms that really helped set our minds and ease and get everything planned out. On the day of the wedding, DJ John was an excellent DJ, mixing well and integrating our requests with some of his own music to keep the party going. He played all of our music for the ceremony and MC'd the reception, bringing energy and excitement to the crowd. All of those things were great, but you expect these things from any wedding DJ.
Pete will tell you that all of his DJs are also wedding planners, and this is where Big Sand really stood out for us! Like a lot of people in recent years, we didn't really have a full wedding planner in our budget, so we did most of the planning ourselves. On the day of, we had an on-site venue coordinator hanging around, but otherwise no one to really coordinate between our various vendors while we focused on getting married. DJ John showed up early and set up his equipment, then worked with the on-site coordinator, florist, officiant, and our ushers to make sure everything ran smoothly. He set up all of the cues for both the ceremony with the officiant and the reception with the venue, and he was constantly checking with us, making sure our reception went just the way we wanted. He coordinated the cake cutting with the venue, managed our speeches (of course), and directed our guests toward different events and end-of-night transportation. Basically, he handled all of the little details that we would have hired a wedding planner to take care of, allowing us to just relax and enjoy our day. Our wedding was perfect - more than we could have hoped for - and that was in large part due to DJ John.
We can't express our gratitude enough towards Pete, John, and Big Sand Productions. We highly recommend them to anyone who wants great music, great MCing, and a DJ who goes far beyond the normal scope of the job to make your wedding day perfect!