Let’s talk about the ‘glamorous’ life of a ‘Mobile DJ’. Here’s the breakdown of my ‘day’ playing a Wedding.

• Load equipment, which needs to be stored safely & correctly (temperature wise). Time? 30 minutes…or so, in good weather.
• Drive TO the event. Now…’an hour’ is like ‘around the block’ for me in Vermont. But let’s say it’s an hour drive, so…sixty minutes.
• Unload/setup equipment. I’ve timed it dozens of times. 75 minutes at best, 90 minutes normal & add a half hour if setting up for separate Ceremony location.
• Now, you cannot ‘wear’ your event outfit (whatever that is) to the event & during the setup, so…I have to have time to head to a private spot, freshen up a bit, brush my teeth, and change into your ‘event outfit’.
• I ‘play’, for five hours, average.
• Now…change out of ‘event wear’. Breakdown the equipment. Load the truck. 75-90 minutes.
• Drive home.
• Unload the truck (again, equipment cannot stay out in freezing cold/terribly hot/humid weather), so add on another 30 minutes.
• So, above = 11+ hours.

For an ie: five hour $1500 wedding, folks have said, and they are allowed their ‘observation’, that ‘You make $300 an hour’. Really? Not. More like $125/hour. I believe that’s less than half of $300.

Now, make that a two hour commute. 13 hours @ ?  Sure, nice ‘per hour pay’, except…

• Don’t forget fuel
• Don’t forget insurance for the truck
• Don’t forget liability insurance for the event, we provide it, most DJ’s never heard of it
• Don’t forget cost of legal music, per month
• Don’t forget equipment cost & of course, repairs/replacement/upgrades
• Don’t forget clean, pressed clothes for the event

Not quite as ‘sexy’ as it all sounds, from the ‘outside’ is it? And lugging all that equipment into the truck, out of the truck, into the venue, setup, breakdown, lug out, load up, unload: not ‘sexy’ nor fun.

Oh, & working with the Bride & Groom on the ‘music’ for the Wedding? Well, I do offer totally unlimited access to ‘music’ but in general, I spend three hours working on the ‘plan’ with the Bride (especially if I’m involved in the Ceremony) plus the ‘Announcements’ of the Bridal Party, Parents, etc. & the MC needs re: announcement of Toasts, Speeches, Special Dances & of course, maybe Bouquet toss?

All of above: part of my service, no complaints, but best you know. And I provide the neatest ‘Wedding Ceremony + Reception Template’ for y’all to work with. Makes the ‘planning’ easier. And once completed, I share it back & forth until it’s perfect, then print a few copies & bring some for your photographer, caterer, etc.

Just figured you might want to know WHY I might charge a bit extra for ‘travel time’ over an hour, folks. And why many of my clients actually pay for a ‘room’ for me to stay over at their event, so they (1) have a real DJ play & (2) in case we party into the night…