Everyone has seen the DJ that not only seemed like an unprepared MC, but also hacked up practically every single name in the bridal party.
It is a common practice for DJ companies to have their clients turn in a list of bridal party names, and then hand them over to the DJ to pronounce on the night of the wedding. While this practice seems easy and error-proof on the surface, it has actually proven to be the recipe for screw-ups on the night of the wedding.
If you read a name that you are unfamiliar with, your brain automatically “picks” how you feel it should be pronounced. There are thousands of names with even more pronunciations, and no one individual can possibly know how they are all pronounced by appearance alone.
The best tried and proven practice for getting names right… don’t peek! Have a conversation with the bride and write them down phonetically. Here’s another shortcut to avoid: Having the bride write them down phonetically for you. Every DJ has their own phonetic alphabet, and no two DJs understand phonetics in the same way. What works for one person, may not work for another.
Even the best TV and radio guys in the world have to practice. In fact, that is how they got where they are right now. It takes a lot more than a good voice to be a great MC!
So while spending a good ten to fifteen minutes with your wedding DJ to recite the names may feel like a nuisance at first, hearing you and your friends names pronounced properly on the night of will definitely make up for it!
Hint: A good wedding DJ will also reconfirm names with the bridal party as he lines them up for the grand entrance. This is another way he can reconfirm that he has been practicing them correctly.
Also, you’d be amazed by how many brides have been mispronouncing their own friends names, or are unfamiliar with their fiance’s bridal party name pronunciations. It happens to a DJ somewhere every single week!
