How Close to an Event Should I Book a DJ?
When you’re looking to book a DJ for your upcoming wedding, birthday party, or any event, sooner or later you’ll be confronted with the decision of when to book your DJ. The conventional wisdom is to book as soon as you can, but there may be other things you want to consider regarding exactly when is the best time to book your DJ.
How high pressure is your event? – Immediate
If you’re planning a large production, like a wedding or gala, you’re probably going to want a strong focus on finding the best match for your event. This means you’ll want to give yourself a wide array of options when you book your DJ. Frequently I have couples call 3 months ahead of their wedding and are disappointed to find that I am unavailable to accommodate their event. Depending on the time of year, I may not even be able to refer them to someone else who has availability. It’s not uncommon for Disc Jockey Boston to receive bookings 18 months in advance for large productions. If this sounds like your event, you might want to consider booking immediately.
How likely is your event to happen? – Mid range
Nobody wants to waste money, so be sure to avoid that when booking a DJ. If you’re planning an event, but aren’t sure it’s going to happen, you might want to carefully consider how far in advance to book. Let’s say you are planning a company picnic and the sponsorship falls through, if you already put down a deposit on a DJ, you’ll be out that cash and the time you spent finding one. If your event’s date has a degree of uncertainty, you might want to put down a deposit on a DJ in matter of months out, instead of years or days.
What’s your budget? – Short notice
Other DJ’s are going to hate this (sorry other DJ’s). If you’re trying to book a DJ on a budget, it might actually make more sense to do so on short notice. If you call a DJ on Thursday about a potential booking next Friday, and that DJ knows he doesn’t have a booking that day, you as a customer have more leverage to negotiate a slightly better rate than if you booked 4 months out. When you book well in advance, you’re not only paying for the event itself, but also the privilege of that DJ not booking other business on the same timeslot. If your DJ is free on short notice, there’s usually decreased opportunity cost, so you could easily knock $50 off the price of services. The major drawback of this tactic is you will likely have to make more phone calls and could easily wind up with NO DJ if everyone you call is booked. But if this sounds like your event’s constraints, perhaps you might want to consider booking on short notice.
As you can see, while it might be tempting to want to book your DJ ASAP, that may or may not be the best option, so consider the above when you start thinking about hiring a DJ.
