There's a lot to touch on and I want to be very fair. First some context: We did not have budget to hire a coordinator. The reception venue did not provide us information regarding wifi and we assumed the DJ would be ready to go with or without... internet connection. I also had my own preconceptions that the DJ would have a table/booth, turn-tables, etc. placed right on/near the dance floor for better crowd engagement and communication.
The DJ and assistant(?) who met us at the reception venue then (1) did not have wifi access and (2) had poor cellular data reception, but (3) and I feel most importantly, did not have the set lists downloaded prior to arrival. This caused a lot of issues with their sound system, announcements, playing assigned songs for dances, and keeping an even mix of cocktail and dinner music. We basically heard the same six songs on repeat with little variety while feeling very confused and frustrated.
I'll say this, the DJ and assistant were not taking these issues sitting down and clearly in word and body language felt awful. Thankfully, we had several savvy guests who were good with both technology and PR who took the reigns for my wife and I to worked with the DJ to get things back up and running. I still don't know all of what happened, but they fixed the problems and music for the rest of the night flowed much smoother and everyone was able to breathe easier. However, this also meant they were physically restricted to one spot rather than an ideal space near the dance floor.
As far as the DJ's crowd work goes, I expressed a few things in my booking. I wanted the DJ to work through and get creative with the set lists I provided in hopes they would read the room well to keep a steady vibe. During cocktail hour and dinner, there was the aforementioned tech issues, but we also provided a general idea of music to play from some of our favorite movie soundtracks. We hoped they would look through the playlists in advance to choose songs fitting for the atmosphere, but instead it seemed like they hit "shuffle all" and let things go, which let songs play that didn't always fit the low-key atmosphere we were hoping for during cocktails and dinner. This remained true during the dance time, and I had to at times prompt the DJ to switch up songs. The DJ and the assistant didn't lower music volume while making announcements, choked up on the microphone and sounded muffled, and really did not engage with the crowd during dancing.
Booking and communication prior to the event were great. Albert was prompt and clear and professional. But there seemed to be some communication lacking between Albert and his team with certain details (the length of parent/child dances, which songs belonged to which set, etc). Now, we have to give the team credit where it's due: they seriously turned it around and by the end of the night, everyone was having a great time and spirits were high. But it took a lot of stress to get there that we wish we didn't have to deal with or have our guests intercede for us to make the music happen.
