My wife and I contracted Dave Shannon Music to DJ our wedding on Aug 15/2014. Dave responded immediately and made arrangements to meet with both of us in person to discuss our expectations. He explained that he essentially manages several people who DJ for him and because of the unusual date (Friday evening) we would have our choice of DJ's. During the initial meeting he provided us with a list of potential songs we may need (eg wedding March, first dance, dance with parents etc) as well as information his dj would need - mic required, what size space, how many people, what kind of reception the setup hall would have, that kind of stuff. From there things were very simple for us. We selected a handful of songs and listed a couple of songs we didn't want to hear at all (no one is getting the chicken dance going tonight!). On the day of the dj arrived about 10 minutes before we expected him. He had his own dolly, and even after I introduced myself as the groom and offered to get someone to help him move his stuff inside he just said, "looks like you have enough to worry about I can handle this." I was quite impressed. We had the ceremony and reception at the same place, though in two different rooms, and my best man helped get him sorted for that. The music played well for the ceremony. He had nice background music going during the reception. And provided a mic for anyone willing to sing. When my wife and I flubbed our first dance halfway through the song and we skipped straight to the parents dance in the same song he reacted well and just started playing music for everyone to dance too. Though his second choice had most people leave the floor, he was on the mic just before it ended. Said that he'd get some different tunes on to keep things moving and for the rest of the night there were people out there having fun. I didn't see anyone making requests, so I think he read the crowd pretty accurately. Everything said and done, he showed up early, set himself up, looked well presented and kept my guests entertained, I couldn't ask for more and would be happy to hire from Dave Shannon again for an event. read more

This is in response to Dave Shannon's response a year after I placed my initial review. Yes, both Michael and Candace is still a nice couple. However, that doesn't change that fact that you were completely rude and unprofessional on the day of this particular event. Your unprofessionalism is evident in your response. Instead of focusing on the issues that I personally felt should have been done better, you focus on attacking me personally. Yes, I admit, this was one of my first wedding (and since have many many more), and yes, it didn't go as how I had planned; but not because of my dis-organization, but with the last minute changes that the couple threw at me at the very last minute - to be honest, I didn't know that they had hired you until the day before the rehearsal. I am sure the plan that I had would have worked smoothly, until you starting dictating to us as to what you were going to do, not what the plan was. I have known the couple for years, while you had known the couple for a few days, and me for less than that, and had no idea of what the plan was, but you took it upon yourself to make changes to their wedding. I was simply trying to work with what situation I had, without making a scene nor ruining the day of the lovely couple. Unfortunately, you were not as professional as I was. As for your comments; I did not call randomly - I called once, asking if you would be able to come back because the couple had completed their photo session early. It was not the caterer that arrived earlier, they were cooking on site. In fact, we also asked the caterers to get their food ready earlier than agreed upon. I'd appricate that you only make comments on issues you were informed about. We all understood, that there was an agreed upon time, however, we also expected that for any event, all merchants associated with the event should be somewhat flexible if things change - you were not flexible at all. It was very evident to me, the couple, and all the guest that you were angry, and did not want to be there. This showed, again, your unprofessionalism. We also invited both you and your guest to partake in the meal as well, which was not in your contract. However, it didn't include you making your personal comments regarding my wedding planning at the table, where I was sitting at. Not only this unprofessional, but extremely rude as a human being. Also, you were provided with the specific music that the couple requested for their wedding. I understand that you had to convert them so that it could be played with your equipment. Why was it that you chose to play your own music? The music the couple requested had no vocals, which are the ones that I provided to you, but during the event you chose to play music with vocals. You never informed anyone if you had any issues with the conversion of the music, so it's not surprising that the couple and myself were extremely surprised that their wishes were not followed. I've also read other comments from others who have had negative experiences with you. You do have a tendency to do things that you know you are not supposed to. For example, you know that you are not supposed to be taking any photos or video without the explicit permission of the couple or myself. However, I happen to be going through the video and pictures of the couple just a few days ago, and in both the video and many pictures, we see you taking either photos are videos of your own. Neither the couple or myself gave you permission to do so. In your comment, you make it sound that the photographer and/or the caterer caused everything to go awry that day. If that's the case, why is it that couple have used both the same caterer and photorapher for personal events after their wedding; and I have used both the caterer and photographer for 12 weddings that I have planned for; but neither of us have called upon your services? For those considering using Dave Shannon, please take into consideration all the positive and negative comments on here; please be aware of any reoccurring themes through the comments and Dave's responses to them. I have said my peace and have since put this behind me. Dave, I appreciate what you do, it's not an easy job, and you do have a passion for it. That wedding did, over-all, go well, a few hitches along they way, it's just you didn't make these hitches any better, but made it worse. I wish you all the best in the future. :) read more

We were really excited when we met with Dave Shannon because he had a lot of experience and great reviews on wedding wire. The only major question for us come up when he started talking about all of his DJs are as good or better than him. This struck me as strange because the entire meeting so far he had been talking about his experience and his style for doing weddings. We asked for clarification about who would be working our wedding and he said he would let us know who would be working a few weeks before the date. I felt this was a little underhanded, but assumed that I had misunderstood to begin with. Now looking back at his website, he doesn't really seem to advertise that he isn't necessarily the person who will be at your wedding. He made a few off comments about difficult people he has worked with in the past and made jokes about how difficult brides can be. I felt this was a little unprofessional, but I thoughts he would be fine to DJ, even though he wasn't someone I would choose to hang out with. We decided to book with him based on his work, but stipulated that we wanted to book with him and not another one of his DJs. Initially he was totally fine with this, but he was dragging his feet producing a contract. He offered to jot a few things down at a meeting with us, then said he would text us a picture of the document. We explained that we would be more comfortable with a typed document we could review, then get together to sign. He said that it was too much trouble and he felt we were too demanding to be worth booking. In my experience with other vendors, we haven't had any weirdness around contracts, and they have been more than happy to offer them and get them signed, usually as fast as possible since that's when you make a deposit or pay. I'm glad we found out now that he isn't really that interested in following through. If you meet with him, be careful about whether you are booking with him, or if he is going to pass the job off to a friend at the last minute. I think he was probably reluctant to sign a contract because he didn't want to be bound to something in writing. His reviews on wedding websites look good, but I recently found out that on many of these websites vendors can remove negative or luke warm comments to look more attractive to customers. read more