Colleen F. (Nov 2020)
DJ
I could go on all day about how happy I am with hiring Jimi Carter as our wedding DJ. Every time we talk about or reflect on the wedding, his name comes up as being pivotal to the success of our event.
Obviously, Covid restrictions made having a wedding at all very challenging. It had to be very small. There could be no dancing. I wanted it to be special, but wanted to spend as little as possible since we were on a modest budget. I looked around and found string quartets that wanted $1,600. DJs that wanted $1,700. Gospel choirs that wanted $3,600! Im sure there are people out there than can afford that, but I couldnt. Then I found Jimi, and frankly I was concerned about his being SO AFFORDABLE. How could he be any good if he only charged an amount I was totally comfortable spending?
We had lost our original venue and moved to the upstairs at the Wayside Inn, with the ceremony down the road at Martha Mary Chapel. They said we couldnt have a DJ because they were afraid of the noise, and we have all been to events where the music was so loud you couldnt hear yourself think, so I didnt want it loud either, but I needed ceremony music and background dinner music and and MC for the flow of the evening and announcements. I didnt want to deal with having to man my own blue tooth/Spotify situation.
Jimi was extremely responsive and put me at ease with the flurry of emails we exchanged in the beginning. I read his reviews and decided to go for it, and AM I THRILLED I DID! I explained the issue with needing to be quiet at the reception, which he readily agreed to, so I honestly thought he was going to just do a high tech version of the aforementioned blue tooth/Spotify situation.
Let me tell you, he showed up at the ceremony site well in advance and made the ceremony magical. The timing of the songs was so perfect I felt like we were in a movie. Then we went off for pictures and I didnt even realize he had schlepped down the road to the reception site at some point and also set up that area with a professional speaker. He had a microphone for announcements, but he wasnt loud at all, literally the perfect volume, playing nice background music for the cocktail hour that was great blend of song suggestions I had given him and his own choices. He made our grand entrance very special and then he was supposed to follow the timeline I had given him for the rest of the evening...except the service was incredibly slow and was taking forever. The photographer was going to have to leave soon and he wouldnt get pictures of the first dance and cake cutting. So Jimi took matters into his own hands, drawing upon years of experience with just such an issue. He approached me and suggested we switch things up in such a way that the rest of the evening flowed seamlessly. I honestly dont know what we would have done without him. He was the glue that held everything together. He made non-cheesy yet funny and minimal commentary and reminders where needed, played great music and was generally just so nice, pleasant, professional yet warm and a pleasure to work with. He stayed well past when I thought he would, and when I suggested that he might want to start packing up, he good naturedly asked where else he would be going on a Monday night, and stayed til the end.
You would do well to hire this wonderful, professional, incredibly-reasonably-priced-for-what-you-get DJ! You will not be sorry. I can only imagine what he is capable in non-Covid times when he can pack a dance floor...