When planning your wedding day, one question that might arise is the question of where should to set up your DJ. Here are a few things to keep in mind when discussing your floor plan with your wedding planner and venue regarding your DJ’s set up location .
Power location and requirements.
When you are planning your layout for your wedding, one of the main things that needs to be addressed is the power outlet location in relation to where you want your DJ set up. This goes for both the ceremony and reception locations (if these are taking place in two different areas of the venue.) You should want to have the DJ’s setup and equipment as close to an available outlet as possible. While most DJ’s come prepared with extension cords and gaff tape, if needed, it’s a less than ideal situation to have wiring run all on the floor of a beautiful venue if it is at all avoidable.
Also, make sure to ask your venue if those outlets are free of other items that might become a problem on the load of the power when the DJ turns their equipment on. Loudspeakers, amplifiers, and equipment in general pulls a good bit of power from a circuit, especially at louder volumes. If the one outlet the DJ has available is also on a circuit with a larger piece of equipment (for example, a cooler or a lot of string lights), you run the risk of tripping breakers throughout the night. All of these situations are easily avoidable with a conversation with the venue as well as the DJ to find out what their power load requirements are.
DJ Location in relation to the dance floor.
Sometimes this is unavoidable, but when possible, you want the DJ to set up as close to the dance floor as possible. There are a few reasons for this. If the DJ is far away from the dance floor they will have 2 options when it comes to the sound.
The first is they will have to place speakers close to the dance area, which requires more wires run throughout the venue. Speakers generally have 2 wires to make them work. One wire is the signal (speaker wire), which is run from the DJ’s equipment to the speaker. The second wire is the power wire (If they are powered speakers). This means that extension cords that will need to be run from the speaker to the nearest outlet. Even with gaff tape keeping all the wires taped to the floor to prevent trip hazards, it still can be unsightly at your wedding.
The other option your DJ has if they are located far away from the dancefloor is to have the speakers near the DJ and just “turn the music up”. The further away from the dance floor, the more that volume level must increase to travel to the dance floor. For obvious reasons, this is less than ideal for the guests that might be trying to hold conversations with each other off the dance floor.
Seating location of guests.
When creating your seating chart and room layout, keep the DJs equipment and speaker location in mind. Sitting people in front of speakers should be avoided, when possible. Sometimes in smaller rooms this is unavoidable. The idea here is people that are sound sensitive (for example, older people with hearing aids) should not be seated in front of the speakers. When this happens, it not only can make for a less than enjoyable night for the poor grandparents sitting directly in front of the speakers all night, but it also can keep the DJ on eggshells all night as they attempt to keep the volume levels down to not offend those guests. It is much easy to address this in the planning phase and seat those guests across the room away from the sound system to avoid a bad experience for all.