I think many DJs make the mistake of catering ONLY to the young folks who hog the floor. I make a point to never do more than 3 songs of the same genre in a row, so I can involve the entire room, and not just the barefoot, red solo cup crowd that would dance to the beat of a freight train, given enough chemical stimulation. The old folks like to dance, too and it's sad to see them huddled in the back, stuffing napkins in their ears to drown out the din while the boom, boom, boom rules the room. Weddings are for all generations ... not just the bride and her friends. It takes a watchful eye (and ear) to connect the generations on the floor, but if you can ... the room will truly come alive TOGETHER.
DJ Pet peeves:
1) using WAY too much bass
2) playing 10 minutes or more of any one style, especially a non melodic type (EDM)
3) not including songs for all the generations present
4) failure to "connect" the crowd with minimal banter, witty intros, and special dedications
Just my thoughts.
My wife and I attended a wedding reception recently and the DJ would have been on UD's 'S' list ...
1)He got the special dances - bride and groom, bride and father, groom and mother, etc. out of the way right after the bridal party came in
2) During those dances he never coaxed the guests for a round of applause for the dancing couple during the dance ... another guest and I started to applaud and then the rest of the guests joined in
3) All his speakers were facing the dance floor so IF he did make any kind of announcement during the evening you really only understood him if you were on the dance floor
4) During the serving of the dinner he played about 30 minutes of slow tunes, and I later heard the groom comment to a table of his friends that he had the DJ play all of their wedding songs ... it would have been nice if the DJ announced that while he was doing it
5) While the music was loud throughout the room, on the dance floor it was deafening !!! ... Having been a musician all my life, mostly working in bands, I could tolerate it, but I know a lot of other people couldn't
6) The groom is a fan of Doo-Wop, and he and many of his male friends are good dancers, so there was a good mix of upbeat Doo-Wop, and Disco tunes, but the last 45 to 60 minutes was NON-STOP ear splitting, bass thumping EDM ...
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