Note: we attempted to resolve this privately via email and nearly a week later, Dan has yet to…read morerespond.
Firstly, if your wedding is during a Titans game, you run the risk of DJ Dan himself watching the game on his phone throughout the reception, as we were informed he was doing.
Secondly, and most importantly, we explicitly asked for edited songs to be played and were assured by DJ Dan himself - both in my initial call with him and in the follow-up the days before the wedding - that he would only play unedited songs if a couple requested. And we did not. Rather, we worked to ensure that while rap and hip hop could be played later in the evening right before the send-off, that when they were played, they would only be edited versions of songs. And, yet, when rap and hip hop both played, they were unedited. This meant our 80-something year old grandparents were forced to hear "Yeah, I like to f***, I got a f***ing problem. I love bad b***ch that's my f***ing problem ... Oh baby I like it raw with a shimmy shimmy ya ... never met another mother f***er fresh like me ... Cause I'm the n****, the n**** n**** ... turn a d*ke b**ch out have her f***ing boys, beast."
This prompted not only a morning of tears from my new wife, but for us to take time sending personalized emails out to about half of our wedding party - primarily to our family members traveling from out of town - who were horrified to hear those elicit words blasted at the reception, taking responsibility for having such illicit and vulgar language to be played at our reception. Don't get me wrong. Some people want that to be played at their wedding - and that's fine if it's your preference - but if you're paying someone to be the professional and they assure you multiple times they won't play unedited music, you expect that to be followed through on.
Additionally, it was off putting to hear he played recent R&B during our cocktail hour, as opposed to our requested Motown/Big Band/Bing Crosby type music. That was not something we asked for and he took the liberty to change that without asking us.
Ultimately, if someone is charging nearly $1000 for a service and has informed a client that only edited and non-vulgar music would be played, that commitment should be followed through on so the day after their wedding isn't spent filled with tears and time mitigating relational strain with family members. And that if he is going to make an in-the-moment decision about music, even if background music, he should check in with his clients first.
DJ Dan emailed us the day after the wedding and tried to blame the situation on being up in a crow's nest. But being closer to the floor to better communicate only would have helped cut down on the number of times my wife had to climb stairs during the reception to continually remind Dan that we didn't want unedited songs to be played. But being closer wouldn't change the choice to allow unedited songs to play in the first place - which is the opposite of what we had agreed to on the phone.
During our final call with Dan, he confused us with another couple - asking me about a dance with my son. We laughed on the phone, but now I'm wondering if he confused us with another couple and may have been working off a playlist that wasn't ours (His online system is incredibly wonky and outdated. We basically built a Spotify playlist for him to play, but then didn't even get what we put on the list).
Only hire Dan if you want to run the risk of having a reception that isn't what you planned and hoped for when you paid him nearly $1000.
