Two Wedding Belles: Notes From a Newlywed: The DJ {John Romani}

I've been in the band vs. DJ conversation too many times to count at this point. It's just like choosing between chocolate or vanilla. Pepsi or Coke. Leno or Letterman. Ben or Noel. There's no right or wrong answer, it's just a matter or preference.

Wait. Except for that last one. Although I love Scott Foley, it's Team Ben 4eva. It just is. But now I'm babbling about beloved WB television shows and not focused on weddings. So let's get back to weddings before I just break out my Felicity DVDs and call it a day.

We decided on hiring a DJ early in the planning process. For the type of songs we wanted played during the ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception, not having live music made sense for us. But like I always tell people when I am asked to weigh in on this debate: I've seen good DJs and bad DJs, and I've seen good bands and bad bands. You aren't guaranteed anything by simply choosing one or the other.

Choosing to go with a DJ was the easy part. Choosing the actual DJ took so much more time than I originally thought it would. There were several weeks of discouraging emails being exchanged with some DJs and cheesy press kits arriving in the mail from others. Finally I stumbled upon this post in the Weddingbee boards from local bee Mrs. Cupcake and it led me to our DJ salvation: John Romani.

From our first meeting with him, I knew John was exactly the DJ we were looking for. He was incredibly receptive to our requests and flexible enough to work within our day's timelines. He listened to our "must play" song list and followed our "do not play" list just the same. John kept everything flowing smoothly from the start of the ceremony to the end of the reception, and had people dancing with a great mix of songs in between. He also didn't keep the music too loud, which was actually something we had specifically asked of him. We hate going to weddings and not being able to talk to the person sitting right next to you when you're at your table.

John's not the type of DJ that's there to put on a flashy show for the crowd or promote his name in between songs. He doesn't bring along crazy strobe lights or fog machines (score!), but the equipment he does bring is reliable and he brings back-ups just to be safe, too. He's super prepared, extremely professional, and incredibly easy to work with. I'd recommend him to anyone!