Alexis McAfree aka DJ Stoykavich
Thanks to Alexis (AKA DJ Stoykavich), the quality of the music selection at our wedding was excellent but everything else including the quality of her sound equipment and her interactions with our day-of coordinator, the guests, and the bridal party fluctuated between disappointing to downright offensive. Prior to expressing our disappointment with our DJ, we had an onslaught of aggressive responses from both our friends and family about their many negative experiences with her. Weeks after our wedding, our guests still unsolicitedly rave about what an amazing evening they had with the sole exception regarding being any interactions they had with Alexis.
Finding a good DJ can be difficult and often is not given enough forethought or in depth investigation to make sure they will be a good fit. 8-9 months prior to our wedding, we began our search. We had no idea that so many DJs (the first 8 that we reached out to) would be booked out so far for our date. Alexis was not our first choice, but being the first that we talked to who had our date available, we booked her immediately. We would quickly learn to regret hiring her. The lead up to the wedding, she was unavailable to speak with us and insisted that all contact had to be via email and could not be done over the phone or in person for any part of the planning.
When the day arrived, she was difficult to work with and began butting heads with our day-of coordinator immediately. We had to speak with her rather sternly about the need to work together with him as we would not be able to tend to details during our own wedding. The quality of her microphone and speakers were subpar and everything was very scratchy and difficult to hear. Our guests were informed that requests would be $25 per song (never discussed with us in advance that a fee would be required).
Things rose to a head when the time came for the couple's first dance and the mother-son dance. We had just finished cake cutting and when we went over to say it was time for the dances, she curtly told us that "if you are going to make me stop the music again, I am not going to stop it for the cake cutting later." She then attempted to argue with us about whether we had done the cake cutting already. I assured her I could still taste the cake because contrary to her thoughts, the cake cutting had happened. She had even paused the music and given the microphone to us for the cake cutting - I wondered even more how little she was paying attention to everything going on. She then said she we never got her the song for mother-son dance and that she was not going to be able to play it. One of us started to go through emails to prove to her that we had submitted it (conveniently as ALL communication had occurred via e-mail) and she dug her feet in and insisted verbally that it was too late because we didn't do it on time (despite confirming music plan for the day over 2 weeks prior that had originally been sent 5-6 MONTHS prior). After some tense back and forth, I asked her to look through and see if she had the song (it is a very common wedding song) and she relented and she said she had it. The challenge was not so much about whether we had told her the song in advance but that she was immediately in our face and very defensive and outright aggressive and not did not possess even an ounce of tact or empathy for us AT OUR OWN WEDDING. We made very few specific requests of her for our day, none of which were taxing, so this level of aggression was unwarranted.
As she was breaking her materials down at the end of the night she cut in to say she needed the second half of her money, which is understandable, although again not terribly tactful. She informed us how much we owed, and then said we needed to tip her on top of that. NEEDED to. We had been tipping all of our other services quite generously without prompting and planned to do so for her, but to be told we needed to tip, after such offensive behavior all night long, was bold of her. I'm disappointed to note that the examples listed above were only a few of those we experienced working with her.
We would never suggest Alexis' services to anyone. We would strongly encourage avoiding her at all costs to be honest. From beginning to end it was awful and she provided literally the only disappointing aspect of our wedding. For the sake of your big day (or any event), plan ahead and get a better DJ - do NOT settle for her as we did. read more