The Remix Weddings Story

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I often get asked why I became a wedding DJ and for a little company history.  To be honest, I have been working as a DJ in North Carolina for the last 30 years, but it has only been in the last 15 years that I really started focusing on weddings.  I never imagined that I would ever be a full time wedding DJ.  I always thought that wedding DJ's were old guys with music note neck ties who did't actually DJ, but rather served as joke tellers, goofy master of ceremonies, and glorified IPods.  I much preferred playing in clubs, concert venues, and bars showing off my mixing skills and abilities, playing to a slightly, well o.k., mostly drunk crowd, that was there to dance and have a good time.  Spinning at clubs is a lot of fun, it is a heck of a lot less work, and even less pomp and circumstance.  Back then I thought being a wedding DJ was demeaning or some how would discredit my reputation as a DJ.  All I could picture was being trapped at an event being forced to play Celebration, We Are Family, YMCA, and other played out tracks all night long.

Well, all that changed about 15 years ago.  At the time, most of my friends and a lot of family members were getting married and they would ask me to DJ their weddings.  I always said "NO!" because I wanted to go to their weddings, I did not want to work at their weddings.  So I went to a lot of weddings over the following couple of years, merely as a guest.  It was when I was at those weddings that I was shocked at what passed for a "DJ."  It was at those weddings that I came to the sad realization of just how bad some of the wedding DJ's out there really are.  I mean bad.  I mean way worse than I imagined wedding DJs to be.  On top of that, some of them were just so cheesy, or just so lame it hurt.  The truth of it, they were clueless on what music to play, they couldn't keep the energy going on the dance floor, they showed up with crappy equipment, cheap lighting, and on top of all that, they kept interrupting the flow of things by talking on the microphone.  

The two worst offenders I came across included one "DJ" with a horrible bad toupee that was aggressively trying to teach people the Cupid Shuffle, and no one was even interested.  Not deterred he kept pestering people to join him on the dance floor.  It was a train wreck to watch. The other awful DJ was a guy who felt the need to introduce every single song before he played it.  EVERY SINGLE SONG!  He felt it was his job to announce the song title and artist before playing each song, all night long.  It was the most cringeworthy thing I have ever seen.  

At that point I told myself, people deserve a better option.  People deserve a real DJ for their wedding, with awesome sounding equipment, great lighting, and above all, who can actually DJ and mix music, read a room, and keep the energy going.  People need a mobile DJ with a passion for great music, who will listen to their ideas, and incorporate their music preferences into events, while avoiding all the cheesy crap that is so over played by the old gaurd of mobile DJs out there.  Most importantly, people need the option of a DJ who is not cheesy, not annoying, and who does not want to try to teach people to dance, and talk on the mic all night.  

So, it was then that I started to offer my services full time as a wedding DJ creating my first wedding oriented business, Mitch Fortune Productions, and it was an amazing transition from club gigs to weddings. In just one year of business I had more couples and wedding planners knocking down my door than I could possibly handle and so at that point I started carefully adding DJs to my team.  I say carefully, because I don't put out a help wanted sign. From the beginning if I was going to bring a DJ into the team, I wanted to make sure that they were a really great DJ first and foremost.  They also had to be reliable, organized, professional, clean cut, and an all around positive person.  In my search I slowly found DJs who checked all of these boxes and I slowly started recruiting and training DJs to join our team. Some of my guys were very hesitant to come into the world of weddings, much like I was in the beginning.  I mean weddings can be stressful after all. One DJ in particular (Kipper) I chased for almost 2 years before I finally convinced him to come on board. Now, years later, Mitch Fortune Productions has grown into Remix Weddings, and I am so honored to have such a great team of DJs working for me, and thankful for the awesome clients we get to work with.  

At this point in life, I am convinced that we actually have the best jobs in the world! Weddings are a celebration, and people are ready to have fun.  For our team, our work day is showing up and keeping a room full of happy people on the dance floor, having a blast all night long. It is the best job ever and the best part is that at every show, we get to give brides and grooms the best party of their life, and all without one ounce of cheese!  

--Mitch Fortune