Everything you need for a Midwest wedding
in Weddings ·
It’s happening in Indianapolis, but the DJ is coming all the way from Washington, D.C.
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Everything you need for a Midwest wedding
in Weddings ·
After the stress of planning my wedding and all the headaches involved in picking the right music, I figured I’d share a few thoughts about the DJ and coordinator who worked our event.
DJ Khaled and our coordinator, Jerry: 11/10 - highly recommend! 👍
Photographer Marino Franov and videographer Petrić: 12/10 - highly recommend! 👍
Waldinger staff and venue: 11/10 - highly recommend! 👍
Based on a recommendation from one of my fiancée's colleagues at work, I reached out to DJ Khaled in Washington, D.C. He put me in touch with Jerry, the wedding coordinator who works alongside him. Jerry was incredibly kind and easy to talk to, which was actually the main reason we decided to go with them. Since I couldn't make it personally, my fiancée and her maid of honor headed over to meet Jerry in D.C. to hammer out the entire timeline. Jerry was so helpful; he stepped in with his expertise to point out things that might have gone wrong and helped us design the perfect flow for the evening. We ended up swapping out one song and making a few other tweaks, but everything turned out exactly how we envisioned. That was the first big thing that made us feel at ease.
A few weeks later, we sent the DJ a playlist of songs we loved and asked him to stick to that general vibe. Mostly foreign hits, classic rock, and danceable tracks. No country music, nothing overly patriotic, just good vibes. The DJ performed his job perfectly—if not better than expected—based on our preferences, the atmosphere, and the crowd we had. Toward the end, he played two country songs and two hits by Thompson, and they fit in seamlessly. Not a single guest was disappointed. The playlist didn't feel like a "typical" wedding set, and in the end, everyone from our parents to our friends had a blast.
The agreement was that nobody except the newlyweds could request songs, and they stuck to that. DJ Khaled stayed smiling and relaxed the whole time, which was really nice to see. I actually approached him twice with a couple of song requests, but he told me he wouldn't play them right then because it would kill the current momentum and shift the mood too much. 👍 I agreed with him, and honestly, it was for the best. He played those songs at the perfect moment. Once the older guests headed out, we handed him a CD of electronic music, and we danced for a while longer. The guy really knows his craft. In my opinion, a great DJ is even better than a live band. You can always ask for what you want, and the variety is endless.
As for the wedding coordinator? The real deal. 🙂 Jerry was born for this. He handles the grand entrance, the toasts, keeps the guests engaged, thanks the servers, and keeps an eye on the clock to coordinate dinner, cake, and the bouquet toss with the staff—all while the DJ plays on in the background. If anything goes off-script or someone is missing, he coordinates with the DJ using pre-arranged signals to keep the music going. The wedding party didn't have to worry about the schedule for a second. Our wedding was in Indianapolis at the Waldinger hotel, and the head waiter, who has been doing this for 12 years, admitted he was a bit skeptical about having a dedicated coordinator, but he was blown away by how smoothly everything went.
I also have to give a huge shoutout to the staff at the Waldinger hotel and their beautiful ballroom, as well as photographer Marino Franov and videographer Petrić. They were actually even better than the DJ and coordinator! The photos and videos they produce are incredible. We posted some on Facebook, and people keep messaging us asking for their info. You can check out Marino Franov's work and contact him directly through his Facebook profile.
It was the best wedding and the most fun I've ever had in my life.
I do have one negative thing to mention, though. I wouldn't recommend the venues run by Fratelli Catering in Indianapolis. 👎👎👎. Between some financial hurdles, losing my job, and wedding guest lists getting smaller everywhere lately, we actually had to cancel our venue. We had to let the band go, too. We’re calling it off eight months ahead of schedule, which is plenty of time to find someone else—especially since I snagged this date back in May. I had the venue booked a whole year in advance! The band was amazing about it; they wouldn't even touch our deposit because they totally get what we're going through, and they know someone else will grab that date. But the owner over at the venue? He didn't even want to talk. He just kept insisting he could have rented the space ten times over already. As if he couldn't rent it twenty more times in the next eight months! Which, by the way, is exactly what he did. In the end, he kept a chunk of our money equal to a third of what we paid Waldinger for the venue, food, and drinks.
DJ Khaled and our coordinator, Jerry: 11/10 - highly recommend! 👍
Photographer Marino Franov and videographer Petrić: 12/10 - highly recommend! 👍
Waldinger staff and venue: 11/10 - highly recommend! 👍
Based on a recommendation from one of my fiancée's colleagues at work, I reached out to DJ Khaled in Washington, D.C. He put me in touch with Jerry, the wedding coordinator who works alongside him. Jerry was incredibly kind and easy to talk to, which was actually the main reason we decided to go with them. Since I couldn't make it personally, my fiancée and her maid of honor headed over to meet Jerry in D.C. to hammer out the entire timeline. Jerry was so helpful; he stepped in with his expertise to point out things that might have gone wrong and helped us design the perfect flow for the evening. We ended up swapping out one song and making a few other tweaks, but everything turned out exactly how we envisioned. That was the first big thing that made us feel at ease.
A few weeks later, we sent the DJ a playlist of songs we loved and asked him to stick to that general vibe. Mostly foreign hits, classic rock, and danceable tracks. No country music, nothing overly patriotic, just good vibes. The DJ performed his job perfectly—if not better than expected—based on our preferences, the atmosphere, and the crowd we had. Toward the end, he played two country songs and two hits by Thompson, and they fit in seamlessly. Not a single guest was disappointed. The playlist didn't feel like a "typical" wedding set, and in the end, everyone from our parents to our friends had a blast.
The agreement was that nobody except the newlyweds could request songs, and they stuck to that. DJ Khaled stayed smiling and relaxed the whole time, which was really nice to see. I actually approached him twice with a couple of song requests, but he told me he wouldn't play them right then because it would kill the current momentum and shift the mood too much. 👍 I agreed with him, and honestly, it was for the best. He played those songs at the perfect moment. Once the older guests headed out, we handed him a CD of electronic music, and we danced for a while longer. The guy really knows his craft. In my opinion, a great DJ is even better than a live band. You can always ask for what you want, and the variety is endless.
As for the wedding coordinator? The real deal. 🙂 Jerry was born for this. He handles the grand entrance, the toasts, keeps the guests engaged, thanks the servers, and keeps an eye on the clock to coordinate dinner, cake, and the bouquet toss with the staff—all while the DJ plays on in the background. If anything goes off-script or someone is missing, he coordinates with the DJ using pre-arranged signals to keep the music going. The wedding party didn't have to worry about the schedule for a second. Our wedding was in Indianapolis at the Waldinger hotel, and the head waiter, who has been doing this for 12 years, admitted he was a bit skeptical about having a dedicated coordinator, but he was blown away by how smoothly everything went.
I also have to give a huge shoutout to the staff at the Waldinger hotel and their beautiful ballroom, as well as photographer Marino Franov and videographer Petrić. They were actually even better than the DJ and coordinator! The photos and videos they produce are incredible. We posted some on Facebook, and people keep messaging us asking for their info. You can check out Marino Franov's work and contact him directly through his Facebook profile.
It was the best wedding and the most fun I've ever had in my life.
I do have one negative thing to mention, though. I wouldn't recommend the venues run by Fratelli Catering in Indianapolis. 👎👎👎. Between some financial hurdles, losing my job, and wedding guest lists getting smaller everywhere lately, we actually had to cancel our venue. We had to let the band go, too. We’re calling it off eight months ahead of schedule, which is plenty of time to find someone else—especially since I snagged this date back in May. I had the venue booked a whole year in advance! The band was amazing about it; they wouldn't even touch our deposit because they totally get what we're going through, and they know someone else will grab that date. But the owner over at the venue? He didn't even want to talk. He just kept insisting he could have rented the space ten times over already. As if he couldn't rent it twenty more times in the next eight months! Which, by the way, is exactly what he did. In the end, he kept a chunk of our money equal to a third of what we paid Waldinger for the venue, food, and drinks.