Do you want your dance to go the best that it can? Your wedding DJ placement is an important element to having things go well and your DJ will greatly appreciate being put in a good spot. The best placement allows for the sound and lights to hit squarely on the dance floor.
Pictured above is a very basic example of the best floor plan for weddings as far as the dance is concerned. A room configured with the head table on the long wall of a rectangle room and the DJ directly across. This puts the DJ’s speakers right in front of the dance floor allowing for that part of the room to be the loudest and where you want the music hitting. This gives guests that chose not to be on the dance floor (lame) a better shot at conversing since the music shouldn’t have to be turned up as loud. This will also allow for any lighting the DJ might have to hit the dance floor, right where you want it.
In the second image (pictured above) we have probably the most common way that rooms are set up. First I would say that if a venue wants to naturally set up their room this way, see if you can get them to think outside the box a bit and configure it more like the first picture. If a room has to be set up in this configuration or that is what your vision is, it’s not a terrible way to do it. As long as there are not tables set up in between the DJ and the dance floor. This still gives a pretty good shot of music and lights hitting correctly on the dance floor but it might not be perfect.
Finally, we have the dreaded floor plan (as seen above). Please put some thought into what makes sense and what doesn’t for a dance floor. I would say that more often than not, floor plan issues are put on the venue or possibly planner and they should know better. In this scenario your DJ is going to have to crank up the music to make it reach all the way out to the dance floor and those tables in front of them will not want to be there! In these rare situations I don’t even bother to use any lighting. It is possible that if nothing else can be done in these floor plans that your DJ might be able to set up the booth in the corner and run cables to set up the speakers behind the head table. You’d have to discuss that in advance and those speakers will be in your pictures.
I write this blog entry with only the DJ placement in mind and realize there are lots of factors but try to remember one simple rule: Put the DJ in front of and as close to the dance floor as possible. I know that wedding venues can come in all different shapes and configurations and sometimes that is easier said than done. When picking a venue, if a packed dance floor and while keeping the overall volume of the room down is important to you, please keep in mind where the DJ will be set up and how the room will be configured.