We Don’t Do Requests

You have spent countless hours working on making sure your wedding goes off without a hitch, and you have done all you can to make sure that your reception is rocking, your guests are dancing, and everyone is having a good time.

Then you see him.  Uncle Floyd is heading over to your disc jockey, where he is going to request that the disc jockey start playing polka music.  Does your disc jockey have a deer in the headlights look on his face?  Hopefully not. 

In your conversations with your disc jockey leading up to the day of the wedding, you should talk to him about how to handle requests from your guests.  It is inevitable that someone will go up to your disc jockey and ask for their party favorites to be played, and you should have a plan worked out with him ahead of time so you both know what will happen when Great Grandma Joan requests they play gangsta rap.

The best way to handle it is up to you. If you don’t mind if your disc jockey takes requests from your guests, then by all means, make sure he knows he can feel free to work in the requested songs as he sees fit.  You could tell him to just graciously offer to make an effort to play the requests without veering too far off of the play list you have already agreed upon.  Another option is to see how many of your family and friends are requesting a song or a specific type of music.  If it seems that he is getting a lot of requests to play an Irish slip jig, it might just be best if he plays one.

You can set guidelines for your disc jockey to follow with regard to the type of music you want played.  If your new husband once dated Sade, and you are insanely jealous, preferring that none of her music be played, let your disc jockey know that you don’t want any requests for her music honored.  You could even have your wedding planner, like the ones at www.alohaislandweddings.com run interference for you, taking the requests from the guests and then not relaying them to the disc jockey.

It is ultimately your decision about what gets played at your wedding, although you do want to take into consideration the crowd you are working with.  Allowing a few requests will help diversity the music a bit, and should not interfere with the integrity of your wedding theme.  Have your guidelines in place, make sure your disc jockey is prepared with a polite smile and a kind way to inform guests that he will try to honor their requests without actually playing them, and let the good times roll.