Should Wedding DJs List Their Prices?
by Chris Brower
Last Updated: Jan. 10, 2026
Something pretty much every wedding DJ disagrees on is whether you should list your wedding DJ prices on your website/promotional materials or create a custom quote for each situation.
If you list your prices, do you get stuck in situations where you would’ve charged more if you had had the opportunity to create a custom quote? After all, you probably want to make as much money as possible (and that seems reasonable).
If you don’t list your prices, do you frustrate couples who went answers as soon as possible?
There’s no perfect choice either way. But let’s dig into a few considerations so you can decide what’s the right fit for you.
What Does It Mean to “List Your Prices”?
First, let’s talk about what it actually means to list your wedding DJ prices, in case it’s not clear. This simply means that on your website you blatantly state how much it costs to book you. You can list an all-inclusive price, such as “Wedding DJ services for $2,500” or break it down by hours or other specific packages.
This is instead of not listing your prices and thus, requiring couples to contact you to get a quote.
The Benefits and Drawbacks of Not Listing Your Prices
Benefits
Many wedding DJs don’t list their prices at all. Instead, they encourage potential clients to contact them to get a custom quote.
In theory, this opens the doors for customers with all kind of budgets to contact you. You’ve gotten them potentially interested in your services – after all, if they weren’t, they wouldn’t have contacted you.
And even if their budget was, say, $1,500, after you respond to them with a great sales pitch and opening email (or whatever way you contact them), they might be more willing to stretch their budget to pay you $2,000 or whatever you quote them. Whereas, if you had blatantly said you charge $2,000 on your website, they might’ve immediately thought, “Nope. That’s outside our budget,” closed your website, and not given you another thought.
By not listing set prices, you make it much easier to give a custom quote with whatever price you want it to be. You’re not locked in to a price chart. If you feel like charging more or less, depending on specifics, how busy you are, time of year, day of the week, your mood, or whatever, you can! And it won’t look like your website was false advertising (if you had listed prices on your website). Of course, that doesn’t mean the couple will say “yes” to whatever price you quote, but still.
Drawbacks
Some couples have very tight budgets, and thus, if you’re outside of it, they won’t even consider you. So if you don’t list your prices, you may get lots of inquiries from people who will never book you once they hear the price.
So you may waste a lot of time creating custom quotes and trying to sell to people who simply won’t book you because of price alone. If you had listed your prices, they wouldn’t have contacted you and wasted your time.
Plus, from couples’ perspectives, you not listing your prices can be a real annoyance. Let’s face it – planning a wedding sucks. It’s a long, tiring process, and it’s frustrating! Talk to any couples planning a wedding and they’ll tell you – wow is it a lot of work and often very, very frustrating. One big thing couples craze is things being easy. Getting answers as soon as possible! No tricks! No shady business stuff!
So when you don’t list your prices on your website and they have to contact you first to find out, it’s a barrier to getting answers, and that’s frustrating. Anything that slows down people getting answers is annoying.
If couples find two appealing DJs, and one lists their prices and one doesn’t, well, as long as the prices are reasonable with the first DJ, there’s a good chance they just go with that person instead of wasting time jumping through hoops with the second one.
People hate misleading prices or having to work hard just to find out what the cost is – not listing your prices opens you to the possibility that some will just skip you entirely, because they don’t want to deal with the hassle.
Ready for the complete guide to becoming a wedding DJ? Here you go.
The Benefits and Drawbacks of Listing Your Prices
Benefits
If you list your prices, couples get answers as soon as possible. You don’t waste their time. Fitting within a budget is a huge concern for most couples, so if they see ASAP that your prices work for them, it can earn you the job quickly and with less effort on both of your parts.
Custom quotes aren’t necessarily bad, but they can over-complicate things. Couples don’t like being nickled and dimed for every little thing – every piece of equipment, five hours vs. six hours, a Friday vs. a Saturday, etc. It can make things easier for both you and the couple to have simple, straight-forward pricing.
I myself have very simple, straight-forward pricing. I don’t break it down by hours or a lot of specific things. And one of the biggest compliments I get is how simple my pricing is, instead of the wedding DJs who tie themselves into knots charging for every little thing.
Listing your prices and keeping it simple is a great marketing tool.
Drawbacks
But then again…
Listing your prices kind of locks you into charging that, even when the situation may not make sense anymore.
For example, the wedding is 100 miles away from your town, thus your gas expenses are much higher. Or you’d like to raise your overall price for weddings two years from now, so the price on your website isn’t actually accurate unless it’s a wedding this year or next.
You could still try to adjust the price a bit from what the website says under the guise of their wedding having special circumstances, but they might think your website had false advertising and not want to work with you.
As well, your price may be only slightly outside someone’s budget. And thus, the second they see that, they cross you off their list and you don’t have a chance to still earn the sale, which you might have had if they had contacted you for a custom quote and you had gotten to sell your services a little more.
The Compromise
One solution is to list your prices but with some very clear print that "Prices may need to be adjusted due to travel distance, hours, or other circumstances. Contact for a specific quote."
For example:
- "Prices start at $2,500. If more than six hours, each additional hour is $300."
- "Wedding DJ services for $2,500. Note: Prices are adjusted for weddings more than 50 miles outside of Seattle."
- "Prices start at $2,500, but please contact me to get a special, customized quote."
This gives you a little wiggle room. But only so much.
Don't use this as an excuse to list $2,000 on your website, then quote them $2,700, unless you truly have a lot of very obvious, rational reasons why the price needs to be raised that much.
You don't want to be like those concert/event ticket sites that list one price, then throw in a bunch of bogus fees, increasing the price by 30% or more. Don't deceive people. It's not good business!
In my experience - because this is what I do - most couples won't be upset if the price you quote them is $100 or $200 more than what the website said, because I make it clear on my website that the price may need to be adjusted.