"Music By Request" DJ Butlers

My husband and I were living in Grand Rapids, Michigan and planning our wedding in Cincinnati, Ohio – anyone who has planned a wedding from afar knows the challenges that come with a 6 hour drive. Each visit to Cincinnati needed to be time well spent and our meeting with DJ Butlers did not disappoint! We found DJ Butlers from theKnot.com and were immediately impressed! They were incredibly responsive to us, returning emails or phone calls promptly. They also were flexible with meeting times – we always felt as though we were their best and most important clients! We worked with Fred Caldwell – he was our DJ for our reception. During our planning appointment, Fred took us step by step of how the evening would proceed. He took detailed notes, capturing everything from how to introduce our families - to including special notations about us (my husband and I each have an Irish Twin, who happened to be our best man and maid of honor). Fred wrote words that described our vision: elegant, sophisticated, evening with friends and family, romantic and timeless. He did this to ensure he put together an event that was reflective of what Eugene and I wanted for our reception. Fred took our input and made terrific suggestions. Honestly, after the hour planning appointment, I had no worries. The evening went flawlessly – just as Fred had promised. All of our guests raved about what a wonderful job our DJ did, truly set the mood for the entire evening! We highly recommend DJ Butlers for any occasion you are planning – they will truly deliver on the vision you have! Julie (Richey) and Eugene Talbot, Wedding October 1st, 2011. The Pros: Responsiveness – promptly returned emails and voicemails. 1 hour planning appointment – very thorough. Creating a CD Mix – I thought this was silly at first, but now my husband and I listen to special songs of our reception (first dance, father/mother dances, songs we wanted included) and reminisce of that evening. WE LOVE THIS! Presentation – Fred came in a fine tuxedo and equipment was top notch! THEY LISTEN – it was OUR event, never felt like Fred had his own agenda. He was there to compliment the evening. Fairly Priced – for a perfect evening of music and dancing, price was very fair! Cooperative – Fred communicated throughout the evening with the restaurant’s manager – they worked together, adjusting scheduling, etc to ensure everything went flawlessly. The Cons: Absolutely NONE!!!

Fred Caldwell was the DJ for our daughter's wedding on 9/24/2011 and he was fabulous. From our first meeting to the meeting he held the day before the wedding he delivered everything he promised. He was on time, kept everything on schedule and played the music we requested. He balanced keeping the reception on schedule and was a lot of fun. I received a number of complements from our guests. I would definitely recommend DJ Butlers for your wedding. If Fred is available, take him. Thanks again for making our daughter's wedding nothing but perfect.

Fred was the DJ at my wedding in Oxford, Ohio, and he did a fantastic job. I went outside to have a cigar about 2 hours into the reception and I got a compliment from all four other guys outside about our DJ. Throughout all of the meetings before the wedding, Fred was always very open to ideas, and he was also very good about letting us know what would work, what might work, and what probably wouldn't work, but he was never forceful about his opinion. It was always our day. He would say he wanted to see our "fantastic face", meaning if we weren't excited about an idea then it was no longer an idea. He was also able to change in the middle of the event, because we changed our mind about one aspect and we told him, and that part was done. I would 100% recommend him and his company to anyone looking for a DJ in the area.

I used "Music By Request" DJ Butlers for my 9/9/11 wedding. Our DJ was Fred Caldwell. Fred did a great job, and I highly recommend him. We could tell from the first time we met him that he takes his job very seriously and really enjoys it. Prior to our wedding, he spent an entire evening with us going through every little detail of our wedding. He made a lot of suggestions that we hadn't even thought of. (For example: 1 - He suggested that we use nicknames when we introduce the wedding party. It helped make the wedding more fun and memorable. 2 - He helped suggest specific songs for parts of the wedding where we weren't sure what song to use. 3 - He suggested that we take a rose out to each of our mothers during the ceremony and present it to them. This was a nice touch, and our moms both enjoyed it.) Fred also made sure that the music he played was what we wanted. He did a great job of getting the crowd involved, without making anyone feel uncomfortable. He also did a great job of making sure everything stayed on track. Fred made sure our wedding went exactly how we wanted. We were able to relax and enjoy the night since he had everything under control. Fred is very passionate about his job, and it shows. We received a lot of compliments about him. Great job, Fred! John F.

Ok

We worked with Tim from DJ Butlers, and he was great. My husband worked with him preceding the wedding, and had no issues. Everyone has commented how great the music was at our wedding, and how much fun it was! Tim listened to us for our "play and not play" lists - something we heard many friends complain about, and definitely had seen make or break weddings in the past. We wanted to make sure this wasn't an issue for us, so we did pay a little more than we had planned to spend on a DJ. I think that is the only place they could improve - to be a little more price friendly to customers.

Aaron Burkhardt was our Master of service. Aaron has been a friend of the family for YEARS!! I was a little hesitant on having him DJ my wedding because I didn't want him to slack off since I have known him for a long time. He was way more professional than I could have dreamed. He worked very hard, played the best music, and all of the guests were raving about how much fun they had. He made the wedding reception perfect and memorable. He checked with us to make sure everything was going good and if we wanted a few more minutes to do something, that was fine. He would play music until we were ready. If everyone in his company is half as good as he is, then WOW, they sure hit the jackpot!!! Thanks DJ Butlers and Aaron!!! I would highly reccommend them!!

I really hate to give such a bad review because Lewis started off as such a good DJ- that is until we got to see him at work. He was always difficult to get a hold of - never quick to get back to us. He refused to give us a copy of the schedule we went over with him during our meeting even though all he had to do was scan it. We needed a schedule to give to our vendors, especially our reception hall because they needed to know when the toast and dinner were, etc. - besides the fact that Nick and I just wanted to know when things were happening. However EVERY time we asked Lewis for a copy he refused to give it to us saying he couldn't because it was handwritten. I really just don't understand why we couldn't get a scanned or typed up copy. And to critique all of DJ Butlers, I think it's ridiculous that you guys don't familiarize yourselves with a wedding until the day of - the fact that you told us you wouldn't open our file until the day of. I was worried when Lewis told us this because of exactly what happened our wedding night. He was not familiar with our schedule and kept asking us questions the whole night about what's next. Admittedly I did recreate a new, revised schedule because, out of courtesy to our other vendors, I had to give them something to go off of. I did give this to Lewis roughly 2 weeks before our wedding as well so that all the vendors would be on the same page. But since you guys don't review your clients' folders until the day of, it clearly doesn't prepare you well enough. And I may be beating a dead horse with the schedule, but that night Lewis was questioning our revised schedule and was trying to switch it back to the original one (the one he wouldn't give me a copy of) that night during our dinner, during our reception while Nick and I were trying to enjoy our first meal. I cannot believe he was trying to switch the order of events on us that night at the last minute and trying to convince us to do it his way. We were just disappointed with his overall lack of enthusiasm. During our meeting he seemed upbeat and fun, but on our wedding night, he hid behind the speakers and didn't get out there and dance with the crowd or get them dancing if things got slow. He messed up our last song and had the wrong versions of songs we wanted. I think quite possibly the most upsetting and rude thing he did that night was eat when he was not covered or told he was being fed. The DJ is only there for 4 hours and didn't start until 8 so that is plenty of time to eat dinner beforehand. I think it is so rude and unprofessional to just help yourself to dinner when it's not offered. Even if he had asked beforehand, we could have added him, no big deal. But the fact that he didn't ask is just upsetting. And the final thing that upset us that evening (we only had issues with our DJ by the way - the other vendors were great) was after we made it clear to him that my Uncle likes to play a prank at every wedding and that we DID NOT want that AT ALL, Lewis still went along with my Uncle's joke, he played the music my Uncle gave him and Lewis announced the prank. I really don't think we could have made it any clearer to Lewis how badly we DID NOT want that to happen and that it was his job to play other music if my Uncle tried to do something. He promised us that's what he would do and yet he still popped in my Uncle's CD, announced it and went along with it. We are now having to ask our videographer to edit out that part in our reception. We will NEVER recommend DJ Butlers to anyone, which is a shame because my Sister used you guys 6 years ago and had no problems. But if this is how you guys operate things currently, it's really a shame it's not what it used to be.

Aarond Burkhardt was the DJ for our wedding. He is great. We planned the wedding from Chicago and we actually did our pre-wedding meeting via Skype! He is so organized and really helped us with our music selection. And he can totally read the crowd. The first couple of songs NO ONE was sitting down. It was so much fun!

We had Tim Wolf DJ our wedding reception. From our first phone conversation I was very impressed by his knowledge, experience, and professionalism. When we met he was really concerned about our needs and wants. We really wanted someone that would keep the party alive and Tim did just that. Everyone, young and old, was on the dancing floor having a great time. He did a great job and I would recommend him to any bride!

I used Brian Benton from DJ Butlers, and he was the best DJ! He played everything that I wanted, when I wanted, and played requests from my friends. It was fun and classy - just how I wanted. I would recommend DJ Butlers, but especially Brian Benton. Thanks, Brian!

DJ Butler is great! They played a good range of music and I had many compliments during the wedding and after the wedding about how much people enjoyed the music!

Brides: PLEASE save your time and money- this vendor was a major upset!! They didnt have any of the music we wanted to hear- we had to burn our own CDs!! They didnt play any slow songs so people could slow dance. The fast songs they played were the specific songs I asked them NOT to play. The DJ messed up several announcements and actually cursed at my wedding planner when she said he would have to wait to get his dinner until after the wedding guests were served. TERRIBLE! I called to complain about it and was brushed off with a generic email. They could have cared less....PLease do not hire them. There are so many other DJ companies in Cincinnati with a great reputation. I wish I would have gone with my gut and hired one of them.

We hired Tim Wolfe from DJ Butlers to DJ our wedding!! He was a great guy, and listened to what we wanted!! We met with him a few days before the big day and let him know what kind of music we wanted and what specific songs we liked! He had people on the dance floor with the first song he played, and kept people out there all night long! He had some great suggestions when we were stuck. A truly nice, professional and great guy! Recommend him highly!!

I would not choose DJ Butlers again. The communication during planning was horrible and I did not meet with my DJ until the week of! He did a good job during the wedding but the planning process was a huge stressor.

Huge disappointment. Big regret picking them and I would not recommend them and you would have better luck having your Ipod play. Not a big selection of music to pick from and we ended up burning CD's for him to play since he wasn't aware of half of the songs we wanted to hear.

Brian was our DJ at our wedding and he rocks!!! My husband and I really liked his skills as an emcee and DJ as well as his personality. Before we signed the contract, he came to us and met us to discuss things we were concerned about. We had a great feeling right at that meeting and we were right. He gave us ideas and talked about his role, flow of things, etc. We picked out music over the next couple of months to prepare and when the wedding got closer, he called us first. We met with him and he was very thorough in the pronunciation of my family’s names (Filipino) along with going over the music. He stuck to the list of songs we gave him for our reception, etc.(and added a few ones which jibed with the mood we wanted for our wedding). He did not play things from our Do-Not-Play list, kept everything flowing right at schedule and worked the crowd well keeping the dance floor packed. He also served us drinks before our entrance, joined the crowd at one point leading the line dancing while still mindful of his duties as a DJ, etc. He really was great, professional, kind and polite. He also gave us cd’s of the music at our reception as souvenir, which was a great keepsake. During, immediately after, and now even months after our wedding, many of our guests have said our DJ and the music was great, and how they wish he was their DJ at the wedding. The music/DJ makes or break a reception, and a lot of our guests told us repeatedly they enjoyed our wedding immensely. Brian is one of our favorite vendors and is highly recommended by us!!

Our DJ was okay I mean nothing that he did wasn't something that couldn't be fixed, he played a few songs that were wrong but all he did was turn off the wrong song and put the right song on. Other than that he was great he got guest on the floor dancing and everyone had a great time.

We hired Brennan Scanlon form DJ Butlers. He was everything we asked for. We knew when we met that our personalities were similar so we simply told him to do what he would have wanted for his own wedding. Worked like a charm. Not cheesy at all, yet was very engaging. had the crowd on the dance floor in no time! Everything was timed perfectly and Brennan was extremely professional and efficient.

Fred Caudwell who is the owner was our DJ. He is full of energy and he asked us what we want to remember about the wedding. I told him we wanted to remember having fun and that we wanted to dance. He kept th4e dance floor going the whole night. He was always available. When I first called him he was at the hospital with his son but he still talked to me and then the night before before the wedding my husband called him at two in the morning thinking he would just leave a message to change one of our songs but he actually answered and was very nice about it. The only thing was at the reception there was a couple minor slip ups. It was mainly us because we were not prepared when we told him what songs we wanted, he wanted us to put the special songs on a CD and we just ran out of time and went with what he had already and it kind of messed up some. So I can blame that on us. But one thing when we met with him, I told him I didn't want to do everything back to back but at the reception he did, do the special dances back to back and then once those were done he announced the bouquet toss, I did it and then immediately after he announced the garter toss, I went up to him and asked him not to do it now and he announced we'd do it later and then I completely forgot about it. But it's just a minor slip up. He taught our families a few dances, and everyone loved that. He's got a ton of personality and I would definetely recommend him!