What If a Wedding DJ Gig Gets Canceled?
by Chris Brower
Last Updated: March 29, 2022
You’ve booked a wedding. Money’s coming in. And you’re excited…. But then, oh no, you find out the wedding has been canceled. Ugh!
Maybe the couple broke up or they decided to elope instead. Or, yikes, maybe the wedding is still happening, but they decided to go without a DJ or, gulp, hire a different DJ instead!
Are you still entitled to collect what was owed to you? Do you have to refund any payments they’ve made already? How do you take care of your business and its financial needs without coming off as heartless or too strict about what’s in your contract?
While there’s no single right or wrong answer, there are some best practices that can be fair to your clients while also helping your wedding DJ business not get totally screwed if a cancellation occurs.
You Deserve to Keep At Least Some of the Payment
Most vendors charge a deposit or advance payment retainer. Think of it like a down payment. To book you, the couple makes a payment now that is a portion of the total amount owed. This secures your services.
For most vendors, this payment is non-refundable. Aka, if the couple cancels, you get to keep this.
Every DJ chooses differently what their advance payment retainer will be. I opted for half the total amount. If the wedding is $1,000, the advance payment retainer is $500, as in, couples have to pay at least $500 to book me. And then the remainder is due by the day of the wedding.
Couples seem to like this.
If they balk, that may be a sign that their finances are already not in great shape and that they could even have trouble paying you the total amount by the day of the wedding.
That said, the more and more you charge for your services, the more you might need to lower the advance payment retainer. If you charge $5,000 for your services, asking for $2,500 down front may be a bit steep. You could have a set amount (say, $500) if you prefer that rather than a percentage.
Don’t book a wedding until you get that advance payment retainer! Couples will often try to string you along if you’re not careful. “Can you hold the date for us? We’ll get the money to you soon.” No! Many of these couples end up flaking anyway. Remain open to other bookings until you get a signed contract and advance payment retainer.
So okay, if keeping the advance payment retainer following a cancellation makes sense, what about the remainder of what was owed to you?
What Does The Contract Say?
Anytime anyone books you, you should ask them to fill out and sign a contract. You will then sign it too. This contract should cover the terms of what you expect from them in regards to payment, particularly if they should cancel the event.
You must cover cancellation policy in your contract!
That way, if the couple cancels, it’ll be much easier to expect them to follow those terms.
Your cancellation policy should not be small print or written in confusing legal jargon. It should be clear to the couple what your policy is, and it should be something you discuss with them when you meet or talk through email.
In my case, my contract states this in very simple language.
Should the event be canceled or this contract be terminated by the client, advance payment retainer will be retained by [my company]. Cancellation of this contract within 90 days of your event date will require full payment of contracted amount.
Easy and clear!
As my contract states, I ask for an advance payment retainer of half the total amount. So if the wedding is $1,200, then half would be $600. If they cancel their wedding 91+ days before, I keep that, but they don’t owe me any more. If they cancel within 90 days, I would then ask for the remaining $600.
Why do I do it like this? Short answer: That’s what the DJ who taught me did, and it made enough sense! And most people agree this seems like a fair policy.
Remember, if the couple is canceling their entire wedding, they’re likely dealing with several vendors. It’s doubtful you’re the only one who has a policy that requires at least some payment, if not all.
What If The Couple Argues With You?
Of course, the couple may still argue with you, even if they did sign the contract saying they agreed to your cancellation policy.
The couple may have canceled their wedding due to financial difficulty. They may also have broken up, so they’re both hurting and embarrassed. They may plead on your sympathy to make an exception.
At the end of the day, you are running a wedding DJ business, not a charity service. If the couple signed a contract reserving your services, they should be expected to follow the terms of that contract. If they weren’t going to follow the terms, they never should’ve signed the contract.
It can be beneficial to explain your side of things. At the meeting with the couple where you discuss the terms of your contract, including your cancellation policy, it’s a good idea to explain why you have this cancellation policy. I typically say that as a solo DJ I can only DJ one wedding a night. When a couple books me, I expect that they’ll use my DJ services, and I then turn down other inquiries for that date. And when the date gets closer, it becomes harder and harder to book a new wedding that night. So the cancellation policy offers me some protection.
Thankfully, couples seem to totally understand this. Plus, many, if not all, of their vendors likely have similar policies, so they shouldn’t be baffled by this.
Now, it’s worth noting: just because you put something in your contract and the couple signs it, that doesn’t mean it would necessarily hold up in a court of law. That’s why it’s recommended you have an attorney review your contract.
Most couples, however, who cancel their wedding won’t try to take you to court unless you try to pull something really unusual. (Requiring full payment in the event of a cancellation probably won’t get you taken to court.)
Ready for the complete guide to becoming a wedding DJ? Here you go.
But Have Sympathy for Special Circumstances
At the end of the day, you still have to be human. If the wedding got canceled because the soon-to-be bride or groom died, then you look heartless if you don’t refund the money. That’s an unspeakable tragedy.
I heard of a wedding venue that refused to refund the couple’s deposit after the soon-to-be groom died, and yeah, the reaction was unsurprisingly very negative toward the venue.
So of course you can make special exceptions to your policy.
During the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when weddings weren’t allowed to happen or it simply felt unsafe to do so, many weddings got canceled. Because this was an extraordinary time, with these things out of the couple’s control, I didn’t enforce my cancellation policy for a while.
If they had to cancel, okay, I refunded them any payments they had made so far. Trust me, it was a bummer! But it felt only fair when it was nothing the couple had done.
Similarly, other “acts of God” may be justifiable for refunding any payments. For example, if a tornado or other natural disaster makes it impossible to have the wedding, then it would make sense to refund the couple.
Of course, in some of these situations, hopefully the wedding still happens but at a later date.
Consider Offering a Credit
I’ve heard of some DJs offering a “credit” of sorts when a couple cancels. Say the couple cancels, and instead of refunding any payments, you keep that money (and anything else that was owed to you) but let the couple put that money toward another wedding or event in the next year or two (or whatever time limit you decide).
After all, just because the wedding’s canceled doesn’t mean they might not have another event they could use you for. Or maybe a wedding does happen but it’s in two years with a different bride or groom. If so, you could allow them to put the credit toward that.
But on the other hand, if the two years pass and they haven’t used the credit, then that’s it – you keep the money and are not expected to DJ for them unless they hire you again with a separate payment.
If They Canceled Your Services Because They Hired Another DJ Instead
Certainly if this situation happens, the same cancellation rules apply. And you really need to find out why they cancelled your services.
Did you do something wrong? Was something about the process bothering them and they had had enough? Had they lost faith that you could do a good job DJing their wedding?
Similar to when you’re not booking wedding DJ jobs, it’s worth it to find out why. That way you reduce the likelihood of this happening again.
That said, it might’ve had nothing to do with you. Maybe the ever-present “cousin who recently started DJing…” offered to DJ instead, and they decided to go with that even though they already booked you. Still, maybe there is something you could learn from this to stop this from happening to your wedding DJ business again.
What If the Wedding Is Rescheduled?
Sometimes the wedding isn't totally canceled but rather rescheduled. My policy has been:
- If I'm available the new date, okay, we'll just move it to then. No additional payments are needed. (I don't believe in charging fees for rescheduling.)
- If I'm unavailable the new date, then this is like a cancellation of my services. Therefore, I keep the advance payment retainer. And if it's within 90 days of the original booked date, then I ask for the remaining amount owed me.
Try to Book Another Wedding!
Where you can really hit the jackpot is if a wedding gets canceled and you get to keep the advance payment retainer and maybe even get full payment AND can then book a new wedding for this night. Now it's almost like you booked two weddings in a day (but only had to DJ one). Cha-ching!
Once a wedding gets canceled, get back in touch with any weddings you turned down for the date because you were booked, and see if they're still looking for a DJ. One time this happened to me, and I was quickly able to secure a new booking, and thus, make it a very profitable day!
Do Cancellations Happen a Lot?
In ten years of business, I think I've had between 5 and 10. Not a ton. I rarely know why the wedding was cancelled, but I assume in most cases the couple broke up.
A few years ago I had a wedding get canceled six days before, which was the soonest for me. I've heard of other DJs who have showed up at the venue, set up their equipment, and then were told, "Uh, wedding's off..." So it does happen!
Conclusion
In most cases, cancellations are obviously very embarrassing for the couples, so you need to remain sympathetic and understanding, while still enforcing your policy except for special circumstances. You deserve to get paid based on what your contract states. And if you're lucky, you can book a new wedding that night and make even more money.