Josh E.
3/5
We had On The Mark Productions provide DJ services for our wedding last week. To be clear, we did not have Mark himself DJ for us.
Our experience was unfortunately not great. While our guests did mostly enjoy the music choices and the atmosphere for the reception was good, it wasn't without issue.
While communication on our end wasn't perfect, we struggled to even get in contact before our wedding. I reached out about 10 days before our wedding asking how to pass off information regarding songs and other elements to the DJ as well as to confirm the outstanding amount due and how to make the final payment. I did not hear back for 5 days after voice calls, emails, and messages on wedding wire. He did get in touch eventually and provided us a form to complete regarding songs and the balance. I then tried to confirm the best way to make the final payment, but received no response for the 2-3 days leading up to the wedding day.
Even on the day of the wedding, I didn't feel like I could depend on them to even show up for the wedding and asked my mother to confirm if a DJ had shown up. Thankfully, the did arrive and we were able to pay the remaining amount before the reception.
While we did send the worksheet with our music to the DJ just a day before the wedding, I feel communication from On The Mark earlier regarding their needs and suggestions would have lead to a smoother experience in this regard.
During the reception itself, the DJ unfortunately screwed up our entrance song. We wanted to Rick Roll the bride's mother and play Never Going to Give You Up by Rick Astley before cutting to the song. The DJ instead just played a different Rick Astley song. Not a big deal, just something to note.
The DJ we did have seemed wholly uninterested in the wedding. He was always on his phone and didn't seem to put much care into mixing or easing transitions. The first dances were the biggest disappointment as we had asked the DJ that we wanted to begin the dances. Perhaps we needed to really spell everything out well beforehand and there was miscommunication, but in my experience at every prior wedding I've been to, the DJ usually can create a nice transition and introduce the first dance while asking the guests to gather around or take their seats. Our DJ just cut the music and waited for us to cue him, despite the fact we were clearly waiting on the dance floor for music to begin. He never introduced us or the first dance or gave any cue to the guests that the first dance was starting. Perhaps we needed to really spell this out well in advance.
I had asked that following this song, he play a third song and to then invite all of the guests to join us on the dance floor. He failed to do this and I had to yell out to everyone that they could join us.
Again, all of these things aren't major and didn't ruin the night, but it was frustrating for us to have to hold his hand through these things and for a DJ to put minimal effort and interest into creating a good experience for the bride and groom.
Throughout the speeches and dance, the DJ was glued to his phone and it was fairly evident he wasn't interested.
While some of these issues could have likely been cleared up by us beforehand by reaching out well earlier and providing a very exhaustive list of requests, we really didn't know many of these details were important to mention as every DJ I've experienced prior has done these things. As a wedding vendor myself in a different category, I always tried to communicate with the couple ahead of time and point out certain questions or suggestions I had from my previous experiences. A bride and groom are doing their wedding for the first time and relies on the vendors to communicate their needs in order to provide the highest level of service on the day.
Overall, the night was fine and the wedding itself was amazing. But we didn't enjoy the service we received and would have opted with a different provider if given the chance to do things over again. We got bad vibes from the DJ and the effort put in was bare minimum.
