Complete Weddings + Events Madison

oked with CW because the reviews were fantastic and because we loved working with the operations manager, Cassi, in our initial information calls, but it seems like we were assigned a DJ with little-to-no experience (which our guests and other wedding vendors remarked on after the ceremony and during the reception). My husband and I prepared a full timeline and provided it to the DJ in advance via email and we talked about it at length with him in a Zoom meeting prior to the wedding. The DJ contacted our day-of coordinator days before the wedding to ask where he could keep his backpack at the venue even though we told him that her number was only provided for use on the day of the wedding for logistical questions or emergencies. He did not do a sound check when he arrived to set up before the ceremony, and he was on FaceTime asking someone how to set up his equipment in front of wedding guests. My mother asked him to turn the background music up a little bit before the ceremony started because it was hardly audible, and he told her that it was just windy outside and that there wasn’t anything wrong with the volume, even though there was hardly a breeze. We printed out a script of the entire ceremony for the DJ and provided a copy for him with highlighted sound cues, and he missed all three of them. The processional music was very quiet and he didn’t turn it up until halfway through the line of attendants. Our officiant was holding the microphone close to her face as instructed, but the sound kept cutting in and out. Eventually, she gave up on holding the microphone by her mouth because the DJ was not making a clear effort to fix the sound, and he told her that the only reason for the sound mishap was that she was not correctly holding the microphone, and then he told my husband that he didn’t have the correct wattage going through his sound equipment. At our reception, guests noted that the DJ was on his phone, and it looked like he was sleeping behind the booth at other points. He did not follow the timeline or directions that we gave him during the final details meeting that were also provided to him in written form. We asked him to dismiss guests for dinner table-by-table, beginning with my husband and I. Instead, he told everyone that dinner was ready and that they could go eat, and we had to wait in line to get our food after guests even though we wanted to eat first so that we would have ample time to walk around and visit with our guests during dinner. The DJ did not announce the toasts or the cake cutting. He frequently abruptly cut off the background music instead of fading it out and left long and extremely awkward silent pauses. We made some welcome remarks after our entrance and after we finished speaking, he just didn’t do anything and it was silent. He also never prompted the guests to sing happy birthday to one of our family members as we requested. In the end, I’m grateful that we prepared and submitted playlists with suggested songs for dinner and the dance floor that the DJ could press play on, because I genuinely do not know how he would have done if he were responsible for picking music on his own. If you plan to book with Complete Weddings, you should ask for an experienced DJ, and I’m sure you’ll have a positive experience.