DJ in Jax?

mcollins2

I am in the process of finding a DJ.  Our photographer highly recommended D'Land Entertainment (Jeff Bell).  I also sent inquiries to Unique Dj Entertainment and McGee based on quite a few positive reviews I read for both online.  I have heard back from D'Land and Unique DJ Ent.  D'Land is $1495 for 5 hours and Unique is $650 for 5 hours.  I have read here that McGee is somewhere in the $650ish range as well.  This seems to be a pretty big difference between D'Land and the others. 

$1495 is not necessarily out of my budget, but I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience with D'Land, and specificially Jeff Bell, to comment on their services... as well as Unique and McGee.

Thanks!

Navywife310

Wow that is a pretty large price difference! Have you asked D'Land why they are so much more than the others? Sometimes they offer more services, which would be a valid reason for the increase in price. Curious to see what others think because I haven't started looking for a DJ yet 

JillianL22

I am using Paul Deland from d'land and he is great! Definitely pricey though, we are paying 2500 but ive heard that Jeff Bell is great and definitely well worth the money. I went to a wedding that Unique was at and we had a blast. The dj was fun and energetic and played some awesome music. Im sure whoever you go with will be great though. Just ask for references first!!

mcollins2

We are meeting with Jeff of D'Land next week and I'll certainly get the run down of his services then.  I have heard that he is great and really gets the crowd going.  But then I have also read great things about Unique and McGee.  I guess it all comes down to that "feeling".  We have a really lively group of friends and having fun at our reception is very important.

juicy318

We used Unique, buut we had a few issues...  like playing the wrong version of the song I walked down the aisle to, and keeping that wrong song going longer than needed, our FIRST DANCE being cut off, and then they threw in some advertisements for themselves as well (and they didn't play anything off of our requested list... but I don't actually think they had it.) Also, my grandmother accused the MC of being raunchy, but we were a pretty young crowd overall, so they might just have been playing to that.

BUT, we didn't have DJ Willie, who my husband and I both really liked, we had his "replacement," due to DJ Wlilie having a family emergency. We did, however, have a super fun reception, it just wasn't the wedding of my dreams. I would hesitantly recommend them, only I would redraft the contract, stating that YOU must be able to meet with any replacement, and may approve or deny them, and expressing very clearly to anyone working with you EXACTLY what you want your wedding day to be like.

And as a side note, give them your cell number, not your FH's. For all vendors. No matter how much he begs to help. It's not worth the surprise on the day of.

lifeizbeachyWed82375

Our DJ was $1900. for the reception in Pensacola. He was so worth every penny though. 

After seeing them at another wedding we cut our decor budget, & I worked overtime to pay the extra. (We hadn't expected it to be that much either) I can't speak for Jeff, but I have been to several weddings up here & there is a night & day difference between what my DJ did & what the $750 guys up here do

Also as Juicy said make sure your contract specifies who your DJ is & details about replacement if there is an emergency. 

NYHarleyBride

We used Charlie Roberts. He not only DJs, but performs live. He was there early, set up, played everything we asked, when asked, played requests from the guests and wish we could have stayed longer. We had a lot of compliments from our guests. We were from out of town and didn't get him our list until the day of (husband's job...) and it was not a problem. Here is his website: http://www.yourweddingdj.us/

lifeizbeachyWed82375

I called our DJ & he says all the guys with D'land are awesome! They said they are worth their price, & you would not be disappointed! I asked him about the difference in pricing. He said, a proper DJ is also an MC & offers so much more then a guy who shows up on time & plays the right music. 

Talk to him ask for specifics. The biggest question I asked was How? So many people say they will do this or that but I asked for how, I wanted examples & it surprised me how many couldn't give me an answer. Their websites all had the same claims, but if they couldn't explain what they do that makes them the best or gets everyone involved etc... I wasn't interested.