How to Get Tons of Five-Star Reviews for Your Wedding DJ Business

by Chris Brower
Last Updated: December 6, 2021

The success of your wedding DJ business is highly dependent on getting good reviews – and lots of them. Potential clients scour reviews before deciding which DJs to reach out to. Unless you live in a very remote or rural area, there are likely lots of DJ companies in your city with lots of five-star reviews (sometimes hundreds).

So how can you get tons of five-star reviews?

Let’s skip the obvious: do an amazing job and DJ a lot of weddings. Those are most important, of course. But what are some other things you can do to increase the number of five-star reviews?

Create Accounts Where People Leave Reviews

Maybe this is also obvious, but you have to create accounts at the websites where people leave reviews! Shout-outs on social media are awesome, but you need your reviews in concentrated places. People emailing you a five-star review won’t help you get future business (unless it’s from them). Your reviews need to appear on websites people visit when searching for vendors.

Here are some of the pages, where it’s a good idea to create an account, so people can leave you reviews:

There are certainly others, but those are some of the top places. If you need more ideas, do a Google search of your city plus “wedding DJs,” aka “Boston Wedding DJs,” and see what pages show up. If they’re pages where people can leave reviews (like the Knot and WeddingWire), then it’s a good idea to create an account/profile there.

Ask for Reviews

This also might sound obvious, but you typically need to ask your clients to leave you a review. Some clients know this is part of hiring vendors – leaving them reviews after the event – and don’t need to be asked. But most need a friendly reminder to leave a review.

I recommend waiting two weeks or so after a wedding before sending a friendly email asking for a review. That way, they’ve hopefully had some time to recover from the huge amount of work/stress that is weddings, and are probably back from their honeymoon.

Some things I recommend including in the email:

Your profuse thanks for them having hired you
The request for the review
Links to places where they can leave the review. Include the URL for the specific page, not just a link to Yelp.com or TheKnot.com. Make it as easy as possible. Some clients will be so awesome they’ll leave a review for you on every website you list. Awesome!

Here’s how my email often looks:

Hi Kelly,
I had a great time DJing your wedding! That was so much fun when your grandfather led everyone in that dance [or some other specific memory]. What a cool moment! I hope you had a great time too. If you did, I’d love to get a review from you that you wouldn’t mind me sharing with other people. Reviews help me get other DJ jobs.
There are a few places you can post a review. If you feel so inclined, you can post on multiple pages (thank you! That’s super helpful!):
*The Knot: [the URL goes here]
*Google: [the URL goes here]
*Facebook: [the URL goes here]
*WeddingWire: [the URL goes here]
If, on the other hand, there was anything you didn’t like, feel free to email that to me. I always want to improve my business.

Thanks again,
Chris

If a couple weeks go by, and they still haven’t left a review, you could try again. This is risky, though. You don’t want to bug them. There’s always the chance they didn’t leave a review because they weren’t too thrilled with your services and they were annoyed to hear from you. Use your best judgment.

Be the Easiest Vendor to Work With

For a lot of couples, they’re excited to get married and have an awesome party, but the endless planning (“We really have to decide which color the napkins are? This matters!?”), huge expense, intrusive/uptight family members, and the other headaches make the wedding suddenly become nothing but stress.

That’s where you can step in and be the easiest, chillest vendor they work with.

From talking to couples over the years, I’ve learned that a lot of wedding vendors are, well, not cool. They’re difficult and uptight and not fun to work with.

Some examples:

They take a while to respond to emails or calls. This makes potential clients nervous the vendor is not on top of things, or is just generally difficult to get a hold of.
They are in fact unreliable. They’re late to meetings or they frequently have to reschedule. They don’t deliver what they said they would.
They’re not upfront about costs. They quote a price, but then they add on other dumb fees. (Ever buy a new cell phone that is listed at one price but then they add on an activation fee, service fee, new membership fee, various taxes, and other frustrating stuff? Does anyone like that? No. Don’t be the DJ equivalent.)
They have lots of rules and requirements. Instead of the couple getting to focus on other things, they have to spend a lot of time fulfilling every little request the vendor has or else get a complaint from the vendor and possibly have to pay some sort of penalty or other nonsense that was buried in the ridiculously long contract.
They’re strict on times or other details. “You said this would be 5 hours long. It’s actually 5 1/2 hours long, which is a totally different price.” Or “Sorry, we agreed on 5 hours. I can’t DJ any longer than that.”
They impose lots of limits. “You get one 30-minute consultation.” “You can choose a maximum of 10 of the songs I play that night. I’ll choose the rest.” They’re rigid.
In their minds, they have it all figured out how weddings should go, so if you propose something different, they bristle. (“That’s not how most people do it . . .”) It’s not that a vendor can’t voice reasons why a client’s idea might not work, but the vendor should focus on how to make it work.
Similarly, they say “no” frequently. Certainly, vendors can’t do everything, but vendors should work to fulfill reasonable requests, not refuse. For example, one couple who hired me wanted their friend to M.C. the wedding. Every other wedding I’ve done I was the M.C. I didn’t particularly like this idea, but, shrug, whatever, sure. That’s what they want. Why not? If their friend does a terrible job, that’s on their friend, not me. I still offered input on how to make things work best, but I fulfilled what they wanted, because remember, weddings are about THEM, not me. Some DJs point out (rightfully) that fulfilling a request like this is risky, because if this other M.C. does a bad job, it makes me look bad. Guests might think he’s a part of my company and that my company is therefore bad. True. But I’d rather just take the risk and make this couple happy. You’re going to be fine.

The list goes on.

Thankfully, you can be the easiest vendor to work with. While the caterer is giving the couple grief about last-minute menu changes, you can respond to any last-minute requests with a smile and say, “Sure, let’s do it.”

I decided from the start to have very, very few rules or requirements, and it’s kept things easy and awesome for my clients – and me!

For example, my couples:

Can choose as many songs as they want. If they want to decide every single song of the night, they can. Some DJs bristle at this (“I’m not a jukebox!”). If the couple wants me to be a jukebox, sure, fine with me. This day is about them, not me. Sadly, many DJs continue to let their ego and their “genius” get in the way of the simple reason we are there: to make the couple and their friends/family happy. Similar to the earlier guest M.C. example, some DJs rightfully point out that if you play a bad playlist that your couple chose, guests might assume you chose those songs, and therefore that you are bad. It’s a risk. Firstly, you could voice your concerns prior to the wedding, while making it clear that if that’s still what they want that you are happy to fulfill their request. At the wedding, you could announce, “Tonight, I’ll be playing a playlist specially picked out by Elizabeth and Miguel.” If any belligerent guests come up to you to complain, you can gently remind them, “All the songs I’m playing tonight were decided by Elizabeth and Miguel, so that’s what I need to follow.” You could also just, yeah, take the risk. What’s the worst that happens? If you fulfill what the couple wants, the couple should be happy. And if the playlist they chose clears the floor, chances are they might say, “Uh, never mind. Play what you think is best!” That’s happened to me, and I was then able to pivot back to a much better playlist, and the couple was happier too.
Absolutely no time limits and no price increases related to time. Same price for 5 hours, 7 hours, 12 hours, etc. I just prefer to keep it simple. And the dozens and dozens of five-star reviews I’ve received have said how much they appreciated this simple pricing structure. Similarly, if we planned on ending at 11:00, but the couple decides that night they want to go to 11:30, I’m happy to do so at no extra charge. You can turn those chants of “One more song! One more song!” into gold. The truth is, most couples won’t go much past the scheduled time, and the venue won’t allow them much more time anyway. But this sales pitch alone really excites people.
Can meet with me/talk with me as much as they want. Zero limits. If they want to meet 10 times before the wedding, great, let’s do it. Many DJ companies limit consultations (“One 45-minute consultation is allowed.”), and I’ve had a lot of potential clients tell me how much this bugged them, and contributed to them not hiring those DJ companies. And don’t get me wrong, I would not be thrilled to do 10 consultations with a client (so excessive!), but no one ever asks for this anyway. I think the most I’ve ever met with someone was twice before a wedding because that was all they asked for.

The list goes on.

The point is, be as flexible, as easy, as laid-back as possible (without coming across as disorganized or sloppy, of course). Couples will love you for it.

Almost no couple takes advantage of vendors to such an extreme, like asking for weekly consultations, 150 must-play songs, 14 hours of DJing, etc. And if they do, whatever, do it, collect the five-star review, and move on. Just be awesome.

Ready for the complete guide to becoming a wedding DJ? Here you go.

Learn From Your Five-Star Reviews and Do More of That

One of the great things about reviews is you can see what your clients liked about you. You can then emphasize that in your sales pitch to future clients. That’s how I learned that clients were really responding to how easy and laid-back I was.

For example, notice some themes in these five-star reviews? “Easy.”

“Easy.”

Weddings are a ton of work and are hard and stressful for clients. So be easy.

Give Them a Gift

Some DJs further create a lasting impression by giving their clients a gift at the wedding or something sent soon after. A bottle of wine, a framed record of the song for their first dance, framed art with song lyrics*, or some other neat keepsake. Even something as simple as a physical, mailed thank-you card can be a nice thing that makes couples like you even more, and feel even more motivated to leave a five-star review.

Review the Vendors You Work With

Generally, the people who leave you reviews should be clients who hired you to DJ their event. There’s always the chance a guest could be so enthusiastic they leave you a review, but this is rare.

But what about reviews from other vendors? This is unusual, but if you worked with, say, a photographer who was so good to work with, and you saw their finished photos and were really impressed, you could certainly leave a five-star review for them. Be clear you’re another vendor though. Don’t lie or act like you hired them for your event. Rather, you could write something like:

I DJed an event with Nina Smith Photography. From the second Nina and I started talking, she was super easy to work with. I saw her eagerly taking photos throughout the night, she was really organized, and she even stayed later than she was booked to do. A few weeks later, Nina shared some photos with me, and I was really impressed. Would love to work with her again!

Chances are Nina will be so thrilled, she’ll kindly return the favor and leave a review for you. She might also refer business your way.

Again, in the review be clear you’re another vendor, and certainly don’t leave a bad review of another vendor, unless you want them to be mad at you.

Post Something Fun on Instagram/Social Media from the Wedding

Wedding DJs should be on social media, particularly for promotional purposes and networking. Potential clients can see your posts, and that can increase their interest in you. But it can also please your current clients to see a post from their wedding.

Take a good picture or video from the night, write a nice message (“Having a blast at the Fuentes/Patel wedding!”), and tag them. They’ll most likely get a kick out of it.

Remember, focus your photos/videos on them, not you. It is good to occasionally have a photo/video of yourself or your wedding DJ setup, but potential clients mostly want to see people having a blast, not endless selfies or shots of your DJ equipment. Most non-DJs couldn’t care less what a DJ controller or mixer or speaker looks like.

I’ve posted many photos/videos from weddings and not only gotten “likes” from the couple, but they also tagged some of their guests that might’ve also been in the photo/video. Those people, in turn, then visited my page and left comments and likes too.

It’s another way to make people feel special.

Send a Congratulations on Their First Anniversary

When filling out your calendar for the year, consider making a note to send a “Happy First Anniversary” email to every couple you DJed for in the previous year.

For example, if you DJed for a couple on August 21, 2021, you could make a note in your calendar to send them a “Happy First Anniversary!” email on August 21, 2022.

This email can congratulate them, thank them again for having you DJ their special day, and send your best wishes for many happy years ahead. If there are any special memories you can mention from the wedding (“I’ll never forget Rob’s dance to ‘Sexyback!’ “), definitely include that.

When I do this, I also say, “Life gets busy and hectic, but one way to keep it fun is to dance to some of your favorite music. It sounds funny and weird, but sometimes at home it can be fun to dim the lights, turn on good songs, and just cut loose.” And then I include a link to a Spotify mix I created of some good dance songs. Here it is (feel free to use it): Happy Anniversary!

It’s just a fun way to say, “Hey, hope things are well, congratulations, and thanks again for having me!” It might not lead to a review (after all, most clients have probably written their review by a year after their wedding), but you never know. Plus, they might share it with their friends and family (“What a neat thing our DJ did on our anniversary!”). This could lead to future business.

You could post a “Happy First Anniversary to Ryan and Kevin!” on social media for them and everyone to see . . . but you’re taking a real risk. Why? Well, face it, there’s always the chance they’re no longer married! So they might find this public message extra embarrassing, much more so than a private email.

DJ Nonwedding Events

Weddings are the focus of this website, but wedding DJs can certainly DJ other events too, such as school dances, company parties, bars/clubs, charity events (5K runs, fundraisers, etc.), and more. Each of these is another opportunity to get a five-star review. Everything helps.

DJ for Free

Look, I think wedding DJs should get paid! But if you're eager to get a lot of reviews, especially if you're brand new, offering to DJ weddings or events for free is a way to get some business quick. Each job you do is an opportunity to get another five-star review from a happy client.

Conclusion

First and foremost, you need to do an amazing job DJing and emceeing weddings. But doing some of these additional things can improve your business, lead to more five-star reviews, and create additional ways you can stand out from other DJs.

*If you click the product links and make a purchase, we earn a commission. This helps pay for this website and other expenses. This is at no additional cost to you.