Phoenix Wedding DJ, Joseph Ivy
My name is Joseph Ivy. That's me in the upper left hand corner of this page.
Yes, I really look like that. No, its not an old picture. Don't believe me?
Click on the weddings link at the top of the page to see a picture of my wife
and I. It's from our wedding in March 2005. We didn't take these pictures
planning to put them on the site. We were just having a good time.
I had worked with one of the best wedding DJs in the industry for around 5
years when I met a woman who I like even more than weddings. The only way that I
could spend time with her was to quit the DJ business. So, I quit the DJ
business to spend more time with her. After we were married, she said I could go
back helping people with their weddings, but this time I started my own company.
There is a big difference between owning your own company and being an
employee (most DJs are actually subcontractors). As a company owner, I spend a
lot of time and money on budgeting, accounting, advertising, scheduling, selling
and equipment maintenance. That's on top of the stuff that I actually enjoy as a
DJ like buying music, meeting with brides and grooms, organizing timelines,
programming music, participating in performance workshops and professional
associations, and actually performing for your guests. A lot of people think
that I am a 'full time' DJ. I am not. I have a day job working with teenagers at
a college where I really enjoy my work. I also get paid to teach private dance
lessons (mostly West Coast Swing), which is another passion of mine.
Occasionally, I will do contract work as a web designer or as a database
consultant, but that is only because I am good at it.
One of the great things about having job other than being a DJ is that I
don't need to book a bunch of 'gigs.' I genuinely like every single one of my
clients and they are all people that I would be happy to invite to my house for
a barbeque. My favorite things about being a wedding DJ are the memories. I
remember that Russ and Dawn nervously dancing to Waterloo for their first dance
at the Desert Botanical Garden. It looked like they may have even taken some
dance lessons. At Ron and Brenda's wedding at a local resort, everyone cheered
during their first dance. Recently, I serviced a wedding at Sassi where half the
guests were from Italy. That is the most beautiful language that I have ever
heard. These memories, and the emotions that go with them, are what makes being
a wedding DJ meaningful and important. |
