[title maintitle=”” subtitle=” Gay-friendly Scratch Weddings brings the marquee DJ experience to the wedding industry”]
You’re wearing the fairy-tale dress or suit, the decorations have surpassed your vision, and the food is mouthwatering. It should be wedding bliss, but without proper entertainment, no amount of aesthetics is going to make people get up out of their seats and onto the dance floor. Ironically an afterthought for most couples, music can make or break a wedding. It’s the heart of the celebration, with bass beating to keep the evening alive, and can have guests twirling on the dance floor—or twirling their thumbs.
Unfortunately, professional wedding DJs do not have the best of reputations, toting a formulaic playlist consisting of the Chicken Dance, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, and the Y.M.C.A. While these clichéd songs certainly have a place, customizing weddings has become the norm, and couples have a certain vision they want to portray, right down to the tunes.
Most understand and accept the financial investment for items such as the dress and venue. However entertainment is often one aspect that receives the budget cut, with the misconstrued assumption that anyone with an iPod is eligible. But your wedding entertainment is so much more than a playlist—it is piloting the vibe for the entire night, for a crowd ranging from adolescents to octogenarians, so it’s certainly worth a little splurge.
Thankfully, one of the most unprecedented choices for disc jockey services also is extremely affordable. Scratch Weddings is part of Scratch Music Group, a high-growth music and technology company, co-founded in 2002 by Jam Master Jay of Run DMC and home to the Scratch DJ Academy, the world’s leading DJ learning center. The company has executed 15,000 events and weddings for high-profile clients such as Google, Pepsi and HBO.
Their exclusive group of spin masters consists of some of the world’s best turn-tabling talent, giving betrothed couples access to hiring seasoned DJs who have collaborated with the likes of Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson, and The Black Eyed Peas. “Our DJs build the energy and can read and work off of the crowd,” says Eva Boker, VP of marketing for Scratch Weddings. “They are able to see what’s working and what’s not, and give the crowd what it wants.” Largely thanks to their experience working at high-end events, as well as the extensive skills test required by Scratch, the DJs have an uncanny ability to get even the shyest of family members onto the dance floor.
And their talent is just the icing on the cake. Scratch Weddings is committed to marriage equality, having taken part in a celebrated Pop-Up Chapel this summer in Central Park in NYC, following the Marriage Equality bill passage, where dozens of couples exchanged vows.
Along with their unprecedented talent and support for the LGBT community, the company’s service to couples far surpasses expectations, which is music to brides or grooms’ ears. Scratch Weddings understands the importance of not only having a disc jockey who can deliver, but one who understands the vision you want to portray, which is why it pairs couples with its award-winning artists, based on a conversational questionnaire. “The selection is constructed from your particular taste, style and vision for the night, says Boker. “Music is very personal. It can trigger emotion and memories, so we always make sure we trigger the best memories, while creating new ones that last forever.”
In order to make this meticulous match, specialized music managers talk with couples to get an understanding of what they’re trying to achieve. “We ask them questions such as what songs they like and dislike, what CDs do they bring on a road trip,” explains Boker. “Based on their answers, we match them up with three different DJs to choose from, and then the chosen DJ creates a very customized playlist.”
The communication between booking and the big day is as detailed as desired. Music managers deal with the venue, ensuring that all of the details are finalized, but grooms or brides who want to keep a connection for any last-minute changes, suggestions, or simply peace of mind, can do so.
“Couples can interact with their music manager or DJ as often as they need by phone, email, or text message,” says Boker. Scratch also takes care of the minute disc jockey details that are often overlooked in the whirlwind of wedding planning, offering a 72-hour, no-questions-asked refund policy after signing, as well as DJ insurance. “And, God forbid that anything happens with the DJ, we will have a replacement ready,” adds Boker.
With a variety of weddings under its belt, from same-sex to intercultural to straight couples, Scratch Weddings will undoubtedly bring out the inner dancing queen in all of your guests, while providing you with a memorable soundtrack to document the biggest day of your life.
Photo credit: Scratch Weddings
