+1 for DJ Street Justice. She dj'd my wedding and was awesome. We met beforehand and I gave her a cd with all my favorite music and she and her partner just expanded on that - she asked a lot of great questions to get a good understanding of what our tastes are and what we would be happy with (i.e. which awful requests from guests should be artfully ignored). She has all of her own equipment if your venue does not, and she and her partner are just all around nice people to have at a party.

I'm also in the DJ Hoffman camp. He DJ'd my wedding a year ago and he was great. When we were looking for a DJ we did a pretty thorough search, and wherever we looked the reviews were all postive.

I know it looks fishy that this is my first post, but I'm new to JC and JCList, I'm sure this won't be my last post.

It would be so fun to have all your music manage by a DJ hopefully it doesn't cost a fortune.

Why wouldn't you rent a few tents, use the bar-b-q grills at LSP, or other NJ state parks such as Round Valley, Spruce Run, Wawayanda, High Point, and do it yourself for practically free....

Bring your own ipod and speakers. Save $10k+ dollars.

The parties by me DJ promo video is hilarious. You should put it on youtube, it could go viral. You could make a drinking game out of it, take a swig for every bad NJ stereotype you spot.

Dream venue = generic catering hall = 1 swig
"Exquisite cuisine" = self serve cold cut buffet = 1 swig
Fist pump dance = 1 swig
For each person with heavy handed spray tan= 1 swig


That last one will give you alcohol poisoning pretty quickly though.

Quote:

Sorry, their video looks very cheesey. But if you want your wedding to look like a children's party I guess you should go with them.

Of course half of you recommending him also seem to have joined this site specifically for that reason...



+1 on the Chuck Russo recommendation, as far as I'm concerned. I've DJ'd weddings myself, don't do it any longer, and I know he's one of the best.

The earlier posters are right on with Gary Hoffman (DJ GAZA). He did our wedding in 2010 and was one of the highlights. None of the typical NJ DJ cheesiness. Just a totally professional guy who knows a sh!t ton about music and will throw you an awesome party. At the times the rates were also great.

There is a reason that 40% of the people who responded have recommended him.

The guys from the wedding center in nutley are the best wedding djs in nj!! They did mine and 5 of my friends weddings, great everytime!! Check them out. http://www.partiesbyme.com/njdjwedding.html

Another vote for Gary Hoffman (DJ Gaza)...He was extremely professional throughout the whole process and wonderful to deal with. He had everyone on the dance floor at our wedding and was a great MC too!

DJ Shakey! Brooklyn-based, traveled to northern NJ for our fall 2011 wedding. I can't say enough about what an awesome job she did. Not only is she well-versed (to say the least) in diverse genres of music, she's also able to listen to your suggestions and bring them to the next level, and to read your guests, and somehow synthesize all this into an awesome party. Our wedding guests ranged from music nerds to people with little interest in music, and everyone had a blast; the next day my relatives were sore from all the dancing. Needless to say, she is not cheesy at all. Check out her website for examples, http://www.campjulie.com/

DJ Blackjack did a fantastic job at my friends wedding, everything went perfect! I was involved in helping with entertainment arrangements. He was affordable, understanding of our needs, and was very dynamic. He can be a straight up party DJ or a Flashy crowd pleaser depending on what you are looking for. He is younger than a lot of the DJs that say they have 25+ years experience and brag about their abilities, but his range of knowledge and command of his music kept us on our feet the whole night. His professionalism was also beyond impressive! He is more professional than many other DJs we looked into.
www.DJBlackJack21.com

I also highly recommend Gary Hoffman. He did our wedding in 2008 in Long Island City. He was extremely professional, always on time for meetings, and open to suggestions. He knows how to read a crowd and just how to get them going. We too had a strict "no chicken dance, no electric slide" policy.

Go to LITM on Newark avenue on Friday nights. The DJ's name is Mike. You'll get a chance to hear him play. He does weddings and private events - plays what you like - not into the cheesy stuff- knows how to span the decades and is also a great MC to get the crowd moving if that's what you want.

I can attest that DJ street justice has impeccable taste that does not include the cheesy or cliche:

https://www.facebook.com/streetjusticeentertainment?sk=info

Yes- Chuck Russo- www.chuckrusso.com. We used him in September, he played at my sister-in-law's wedding, my best friend's wedding and is now booked for my cousins. He was recommended by the venue we were at (Bretton Woods) and he was great- no cheesy, affordable, did what we wanted, and we barely noticed he was there.

I used Gary Hoffman of http://www.74events.com/ for my wedding in last July. He's in Brooklyn but traveled up to Orange County NY for it so Northern NJ won't be a problem.

He was great and didn't play any of that crappy, cheesy stuff. Just played great mix of music, and will play what you want.

looking for wedding dj recs in the northern new jersey area. no electric slide, no chicken dance, no emcee duties, just play the music and get the crowd moving. soul, hip-hop, electronic, rock and discreet pop selection desired, spanning the decades.

any recommendations?