Source: Pexels/Reddit

A terrible wedding DJ can quickly turn the “happiest day of your life” into three hours of musical hostage negotiation. Nothing says romance like cringe retro hits and microphone feedback.

What would you do if your wedding DJ turned out to be a total trainwreck? One bride recently shared her wild experience with hers on Reddit. Here’s what happened.

My terrible DJ experience: playing the wrong songs & ignored our wishes

My husband and I have been married for six amazing months, the day was absolutely incredible, and I wish I could relive it every single day.

Everything went well, with no major hiccups.

Except the DJ.

Oof, well that’s a pretty big one.

Good lord, our DJ was terrible.

For context, I’m extremely shy and introverted.

I have GAD and need to take medication before making a phone call.

It’s important to have vendors that can accommodate that.

I am also on the autism spectrum.

I can handle large crowds, but I break out in hives when asked to talk to strangers or when the center of attention.

I knew that, as the bride, I would literally have to be the center of attention, but I had time to prepare and steel my nerves.

This would presumably take a lot of mental energy.

My ideal ceremony would have been with 10 people.

We exchange vows, eat, and then everybody leaves.

I don’t like to dance, and I don’t like speeches.

Many people share the same sentiment.

I think they’re unnecessary and boring to anyone outside the immediate family.

My husband, however, is a party animal, loves people, and is a social butterfly, so we had a quiet, intimate ceremony and then I let him take the reins for the reception.

We initially didn’t want a DJ, grand entrance, anything like that.

Things start to change the longer you plan.

We wanted to hook up my phone to the speaker and let the songs play.

But of course, that doesn’t work in reality, so we had to hire someone.

Our venue had a package that included an in-house planner and DJ, and that was the best bang for our buck, so we went ahead with it.

Seems like the most sensible deal.

We were told their resident DJ was already booked for a different event on our day, but they would provide another one.

A couple of months before the wedding, we have our preliminary talks with the DJ.

He’s everything one would expect—loud, hyper, etc. That’s fine.

That job definitely attracts a certain type of personality.

That’s his job.

We told him immediately that this should be the easiest job of his life: all he has to do is play the right songs at the right time, and make sure the transitions sound good.

We told him, very clearly, we do not want speeches, or any other game/event besides the dancing.

On paper, that seems like an easy paycheck.

The whole conversation, he kept asking to include all that stuff.

“What about a receiving line? Don’t you want to do the shoe game? Who doesn’t want to do a bouquet toss? Why wouldn’t you want to do a group hug?”

We shot down every single suggestion.

He doesn’t need to be the idea guy here.

When I explained I hated being the center of attention, he told me, “Don’t worry, we’ll get you warmed up. I’ll pull you out onto the dance floor myself if I have to.”

I told him if he tries, I will, unequivocally, punch him in the face.

I do not want this. Do not make me.

And that’s more than fair!

He backed off after that, though he still tried to insert “fun” ideas into the timeline.

He also said he would be making his own mash-ups of songs, and we said, very clearly, do not do this.

We want the songs as normal, he said okay.

Is that not an obvious no-go!?

We make a playlist.

We told him, explicitly, to make it sound like a frat party in 2016.

Those were our actual words. Trap, pop, etc. Just a bunch of nostalgia. He said okay. Reviewed the playlist. No problem.

You’d think that would make it an easy roadmap for a great event.

Wedding day approaches.

We walk into the reception.

We share our first dance.

All according to plan so far…

I dance with my dad.

My husband dances with his mom.

All goes well.

That’s the most you can ask, really.

Now it’s time to eat, so he sets a smooth jazz playlist.

Which was…really weird.

Just a bunch of jazz and then some old 80s hits.

Maybe he associates that with dinner music?

Neither of us requested the 80s.

We were massively confused as to where that came from.

But once dinner is over, the dancing begins.

That’s when the real show starts.

He doesn’t change the playlist.

It’s just smooth jazz and 80s hits when we requested 2016 trap house.

Therefore, nobody gets on the dance floor.

Well that’s cringeworthy to say the least.

It’s just really awkward milling around.

The DJ is the only one dancing in the booth.

The dance floor is empty.

That’s not who you’re playing for, dude.

My husband went up to him and asked him to play the playlist we had made, and the DJ finally switched, but he only played about 30 seconds of each song before switching to the next.

That finally got some people dancing, but it was hard to dance because right as you found the rhythm, he was switching songs.

It was awful.

This guy is acting like it’s his first day.

We requested “Wood” by Taylor Swift as the walkout song for when we left the reception and entered the getaway car.

If you haven’t heard that song, it is NOT family friendly.

She makes some to subtle allusions to Travis Kelce’s “wood”, so we thought it would be a cheeky exit song.

Definitely a spicy way to end the night.

Except, the DJ played it in the middle of the reception.

I did not want my grandma hearing that.

As the song climaxes, he tells the entire audience to rush in and hug us, which was also awful.

I don’t want to be hugging my cousin while listening to this song.

This guy is simply illiterate at reading rooms.

So yeah he was horrible but we felt trapped.

Everything else about the wedding was great.

I just feel bad my husband didn’t get the party he deserved.

That’s an unwelcome surprise to put it mildly. Let’s see what the Reddit community weighed in with here.

The comments section empathized with the OP immediately.

Others shared stories from their own experience.

One person shared a practical solution.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a couple who is sick and tired of their neighbor’s kids dumping trash on their patio.

Another gave the DJ the benefit of the doubt.

But some felt the OP was too slow to act.

Talk about a massive party foul…