Couple pays a 'solid chunk of change' for wedding DJ, 'he used AI the ENTIRE TIME.'

"We paid a solid chunk of change for a DJ who used AI the entire time..."

I will openly admit that I am, at my core, an AI hater. I think it is damaging our world creatively, culturally, ecologically, all of it - so it's safe to say that I would not knowingly welcome the use of AI for my wedding celebration, especially if I am paying someone to provide a service like DJ.

My wife and I had our elopement celebration/reception this past weekend, and we hired a professional DJ to handle the music throughout the night as well as provide sound equipment/lighting for the dance floor. Overall our impression was great...

He provided an app where we could upload the songs we wanted to play, as well as fill out questionnaires on music genre/style we liked vs absolutely did not like. In retrospect, I can see that we were just feeding info to the AI system, but at the time we thought it was a way for him to better curate a playlist and plan.

The start of our reception was great. We had requested country love songs and provided a list, and he was playing all of them. For hours, we barely paid attention to the music or were running in and out of the venue socializing and didn't notice anything too odd. By dinner time, however, we began to notice two things:

1.) he was playing a lot of songs we did not put on the playlist while barely playing songs we did. There was a half hour of songs where we didn't recognize a single one, nor did it match the themes we'd suggested. and:

2.) The songs would transition to the next in weird, unnatural, terrible ways. It would be mid-chorus and we'd be singing along and very suddenly the song would do a 'remix' style stutter before transitioning into a slower song we didn't know. It was truly such a vibe killer.

The most egregious example was when my wife and I were dancing and singing along with Ingrid Michaelson's "You & I," a song I've always wanted to have a big stomp-clap wedding experience to, and in the final chorus at the most magical moment it suddenly stuttered into a new song mid-sentence. Not even at the end of the chorus.

While we were eating dinner, the moment we realized something was truly off was when the DJ played, for NO explicable reason, the Broadway version of "A Friend Like Me" from Aladdin and then LEFT. Just vanished. That is an EIGHT MINUTE SONG from a musical neither of us like or have seen playing out fully (no funky transitions away!!!!) while everyone is eating dinner.

My wife and I are just looking around in almost a panic because what the f lmao. This will be (and honestly already is) a hilarious story to look back on, but in that moment we were freaking out a bit and could not find the DJ.

What's especially funny/traumatic about that song is it has so many moments where it sounds like the song is winding down only to jump back in with big energy. Eventually the DJ returned and I asked him straight up if he was using AI, which he happily affirmed.

When my wife asked why her music wasn't being played he spoke in a very friendly (read: condescending) way as he told her she didn't provide enough music to fill the hour so the AI would swap every other song from hers to one it found that was similar.

My wife absolutely put enough music on the playlist to fill that time, so idk what he was talking about. I also asked how the hell the Broadway version of a Disney movie fit our "oldies/love song" vibe and he said "oh that was on me, I put Broadway in as a prompt."

We were riding our mid-wedding high and we often lean towards benefit of the doubt with people, so we just asked he play more of her music. He was like "will do! But it's not enough so the AI will fill it in." Sure, man.

The night continues, my wife's music starts showing up more so we feel better, but the DJ is clearly not curating even beyond the music. At one point the dance floor was full of dancers only for the song to transition to one that no one seemed to vibe with so the entire dance floor cleared, and the DJ played that song fully.

From start to finish. He was behind the booth and presumably saw everyone leave but kept on trucking, no funky mid-song transitions here. At this point I was fed up and let him know that he needed to only play my wife's songs from then on, nothing else. Strangely enough, as soon as her curated music started playing the dance floor filled up and didn't empty until it was time for us to do our exit. Isn't that something.

Our day was beyond belief incredible, genuinely the best day of my entire life, but that DJ was one of our only negatives. If I could go back in time I would be more direct with him about using her music and allowing songs to fully play, but ultimately this'll just be a funny story about a torturous Broadway song on what was otherwise a perfect day.

Here's what top commenters had to say about this one:

Sukuristo said:

I've been a wedding DJ for nearly 30 years, and this baffles me. Why would anyone go into this line of work if they have so little interest in curating a playlist and creating a great experience for the guests?

asietsocom said:

I would absolutely write the pettiest review I have ever written and ask for some money back, idk if it would work, but that was definitely not what you paid for. Literally just using Spotify would have worked out better.

Radiant_Maize2315 said:

I’m sorry, I can’t stop laughing at the Aladdin thing. I’m imagining trying to eat dinner at a wedding while the genie goes “BA-DADA” followed by jazz horns “wah wah.”

eleldelmots said:

I'm glad that your wedding was still great, but reading this pisses me off like, second-hand. Is there any way to ask for a refund or something? You basically paid for a service that he didn't give you and got treated like an idiot for his shortcomings.

Jolly-Accountant-722 said:

I'm so sorry but I did laugh at the absurdity. Where the hell did his idea of broadway come from. I can't believe we have to check if people use Ai for everything now

Gold-Comfortable-453 said:

I'm not a dj, but I work in the wedding business so I'm at weddings every weekend and I can say that each dj is very different. Some barely say a word to the group others talk and try to get everyone involved, and AI is definitely used more and more, so your dj was just doing what he does.

You should ALWAYS go see a dj in person before you hire them and see if their style is a good fit before booking them.