3 Steps to a Happy Vendor Relationship, from a Wedding DJ's Point of View
Every relationship could use a pointer here and there. Today, we'd like to talk about some wedding vendor courtesies and offer a few tips on how to keep a good working relationship with the DJ going strong! Of course, our scope of understanding is limited to our own experiences, but we believe we've been in this industry long enough to comfortably speak on behalf of most professional wedding DJs. So, this is us, highlighting a few courtesies that we really appreciate from other vendors!
1.) "Tell me Somethin' Goooooooood"
We've heard a million bad DJ stories from photographers, videographers, and planners - the 3 vendors we tend to work closest with at weddings, but it's not often that a vendor comes up to us and tells us a great DJ story. (We definitely encourage this if you have one!) Talking bad about other vendors is like wearing vertical stripes - it just makes you look bad, unless you're Beetlejuice. We know it's tempting, and we can't believe he played the wrong first dance song either. But, we believe in the power of forgiveness, positivity, and speaking life into the industry - and hey, you don't have to talk bad about your other relationship in order to make us feel better about this one! (See our Kiss them with Kindness blog post.)
2.) "R-E-S-P-E-C-T....Find out what it means to me!"
We love when our photographer and videographer friendors are respectful of the timeline! When you guys finish up cocktail hour on time, it really tickles our fancy and makes a huge difference for the rest of the night. Don't worry, we understand that there are certain circumstances beyond your control that push the time back (ie. if the bridal party is late), we just like to know that we're both mutually trying our best in this relationship!
3.) "Everything You Own in a Box to the Left"
To our favorite photographers and videographers, thank you for not sticking us with all of your baggage! No really, thanks for putting your House of Flynn bag and your pelican cases in the other corner, or tucked away behind the booth, out of sight from our clean setup. It takes extra time, money, Gaffer's tape, and trips to the truck to get our setup as decluttered as it is, and we love when you respect our effort. We did not wake up like this. You should see how much equipment we really have! The picture below is basically our "goal shorts".
Hopefully this was helpful (or at the very least, entertaining!) On a serious note, we're constantly learning and evolving and we'd love to hear what love language our other wedding vendor friends speak! Maybe we can all tweet Gary Chapman, author of The 5 Love Languages and convince him to write a version of his book for relationships in the work place!
