DJ cost in Oahu

amwong22

Hi All,
I have been looking into dj's. Fiance and I were budgeting approximately $1000-1500 for a dj for the wedding, as that is average/expensive for dj's where we live.

After interviewing 3 dj's, it seems like the price is around $2700-3000 which is triple our budget! We are looking for someone to play at our ceremony, cockail hour, reception and dance. Is this reasonable? Any ideas as to how much other's paid or recommendations of dj's would be greatly appreciated, as I'm not sure we have it in us to pay 3 times what we budgeted! All 3 of these dj's offer emceeing services as well, but that is something we can go without.

Thanks in advance for all the tips!

amwong22

Sorry, just forgot something in my last post. Is it ok to try to negotiate with your dj in regards to cost? Eg. tell them our budget was $1500 and see if they can drop their price down to $2000 or is that an insult to their skill?

fizzhiser87

Hi!

That is a lot for a DJ on Oahu!!

We looked at a bunch and none were that expensive.  We ended up choosing between two, one for about $1500 and the one we got was $2000.  So I think you can definitely at least get closer to your budget!

In my mind, everything's negotiable although DJ's do seem to have more of a set cost.  We approached our DJs with our budget upfront to see what we could get for that much.

I would shop around a bit more!

FYI the DJ we went with is DJ Troy Michael and we were choosing between him and ND Mixx Productions.  

HaYnCaNdi808

Hi  - we used Wonderland DJ (although a friend of FI's we did not want to take a HUGE discount / ask for one outright anyways as that is part of his livelihood).

We paid around $950 from 3:30pm - 10pm no emcee services.They provided lighting for the dance floor, music, speaker system, microphones, etc. 3 guys and we also fed them dinner.

Email me@ mctam2012@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Thanks,
Candace

amwong22

Thanks for the tips! Fizzhizer- the first dj I interviewed was Troy Michael and he is charging us $2700 for the day? I wonder why the big price difference. I do know that our ceremony, reception dinner, and dance are in 3 different areas, but do you think that warrants that much money? If you don't mind me asking, how much did you get him for? Our ceremony starts at 4:30 and dance will end at 11:30. There might be a bit of prelude music before the ceremony (maybe start at 4).... How many sound systems did he have to bring in for you? Did you get his emceeing services as well?

Tanq&Tonic

I do think setting up qnd tearing down equipment 3 times does warrant a higher price.  That takes a lot of time and energy.   However, you should still be able to negotiate and get a much more reasonable price that works within your budget.

amwong22

Thanks for the tips all! I will email the djs I have intereviewed and be honest with our original budget and see what they come back with! Hopefully they will be able to budge in their original pricing.. 

destiny1108

Three different locations would be three different systems, and in order not to have any gaps between they would need extra labor to transport, each system while one person is behind playing for the next "part" of your reception, so I can see why pricing is higher.   

kcalonge

We are using Showtime DJs and we booked them for pre-ceremony, ceremony, cocktail hour and reception.  We also got LED lights, and paid less than $1k.  I saw the reviews and they're great, and they're recommended by our hotel, Turtle Bay.  It might be worth contacting them to see what package they can give you.