How to Find a DJ That Doesn't Suck?
My fiancee and I are starting the process of planning our wedding for next year, and the music is something that is pretty important to me. I'm concerned because over the last few years I and other people I know have noticed a trend with DJs at the weddings we've attended. More and more DJs seem to insist on DJing a wedding like its an EDM show. Every single song is mixed with a dance beat behind it, only playing 30 seconds to a minute of most songs, mashing two songs together, etc. This is great for a club, and I'm sure some people love it it, but everyone at the weddings I've been too hates it, myself included. I've seen dancefloors cleared because the DJ insisted on playing their mashup of "Love Story" and "Rasputin". I've seen brides cry because they put their favorite song on their must play list and the DJ only ended up using 10 seconds of the beat as a transition.
I don't want to have complete control of the music, and I want to be able to tust someone to read the vibe of the room keep the dance floor going, and I definitley want some transitioning between songs, but ideally I'd love to find someone who pays attention to our requests and plays the majority of each song, without too much mixing. How I would I go about this? I've asked people who hired these DJs and they said some of them were highly rated/expensive, so it doesn't seem like something you can avoid just by making sure you're not cheaping out.