Spinning Truths & Dropping Wedding Bombs: DJ ESG’s No-BS Guide to Your Big Day
- In a world where weddings are both chaos and perfection, DJ ESG—aka Eric Scott Gold—emerges as the wise-cracking, truth-dropping, mic-spinning legend the Philadelphia Tri-State area never knew it needed. Armed with nearly 175 thousand streams across 15 separate platforms, he’s the proud host of the region's number one wedding podcast, where advice flows freely—sometimes for couples, sometimes for vendors, and always delivered with the subtlety of a confetti cannon.
DJ ESG is not your average private event DJ; he’s a walking wedding encyclopedia with a sarcasm filter permanently set to "off." With 30+ years in the biz, over 3,500 events rocked, 1,000 glowing reviews, and a résumé so sparkly it could double as a disco ball, this guy doesn’t just sugarcoat reality—he skips the sugar altogether. Millennials and Gen Z? He sees you. He knows your flea-sized attention spans. That’s why his micro tips are short, snappy, and unfiltered, served with a heaping side of "you're welcome."
The accolades? Oh, they’re endless. Seven-time "International Mobile Entertainer of the Year" finalist. Multi-time "Best Of" winner in Philadelphia, San Diego, AND Bucks County. The nation’s loudest, proudest LGBTQ wedding advocate, and the first to hoist the Pride flags at the International DJ Expo like the hero weddings never knew they needed. Oh, and did we mention he’s officiated over 200 weddings? Including 50+ same-sex unions? Or that he had the honor of MCing THE Jason Kelce wedding with his buddy Bob on the decks? Yeah. #GoBirds indeed.
So, buckle up for DJ ESG's wedding wisdom—raw, real, and straight from the heart. Peace, Love, and God Above!
Spinning Truths & Dropping Wedding Bombs: DJ ESG’s No-BS Guide to Your Big Day
Playlist Showdown: DJ ESG's Tale of Navigating Wedding Song Requests with Finesse
Balancing song requests at a wedding is like walking a tightrope with everyone watching. Imagine creating the perfect playlist only to have it thrown into disarray by spontaneous requests from an enthusiastic groom. Join me, DJ ESG, as I recount a recent wedding tale where I had to navigate the delicate art of compromise on the dance floor. With 46 years of life experience to back me up, I found myself caught between a bride's planned playlist and the groom's parade of requests, ultimately leading to a memorable night and a 96% review from the couple.
Being a wedding DJ means living in the moment, making split-second decisions that can make or break the big day. Hear my personal anecdotes and lessons learned from this unforgettable experience, where flexibility and communication were key to keeping everyone satisfied. Whether you're planning a wedding or just love a good story, this episode offers an honest look at the complexities of balancing expectations and the power of music to bring people together. Tune in to discover how sometimes, the best-laid plans require a little improvisation and a whole lot of understanding.
Peace, Love & God Above! :-)
What's up, guys? Dj ESG on his wedding advice season number 10. And today I'm talking about what happens if the bride or the groom or the couple, or one member of that couple, overrides the other at an event. What do I do? Well, two weekends ago I got a 96 out of 100% review. Wow, 4% off. You know what the only problem with that is? We can't post it, because we can't post anything other than 100% reviews. It doesn't go to the top, it goes to the bottom, and that's just how the system works.
Speaker 1:So why did the bride and the groom give me 96% versus 100%? Well, I think it was the bride more so than the groom. She was honest and here's what happened. She had a list of songs and there was a lot of must plays on it. In order to do the must plays. Most of the time they're not something you would play at the beginning, because the elderly people are not going to understand a lot of the must plays. It's just the nature of what's asked of me. So as you get to the end of the party, like the last hour or so, you can now bang in all those must plays. So I think she had about 12 or 14 of them, okay, or 14 of them, okay.
Speaker 1:So the groom was parading people up one by one, by one in front of me because they knew I wasn't going to take their requests and asking me for songs, and the groom's like over the shoulder, like, play it. This was this big smile on his face. He was having a blast. So I was like, okay, play it. Okay, play it. Now. Am I going to stop him after the fifth person and say, listen, I got to play your wife's request. She's over there. She's going to kill me if I don't do this. No, you guys are a 50-50 split. I don't care who runs the relationship the rest of the week or who wears the pants, not saying that either one of them do, but I'm just putting that out there. If you guys understand this. It's a 50-50 split at that wedding.
Speaker 1:So if the groom walks up to me and says, listen, I want all these people that have their songs, or just parades them up to me one by one and just yeses me from over their shoulder, I'm going to do it. I don't have a choice. It is what it is. Do I think the next day that they're going to sit down for brunch, the bride and the groom or the couple, because I'm LGBTQ friendly and have a discussion about okay, I didn't play all the songs she wanted, and the groom says timeout, that was my fault. No, that conversation didn't happen. He probably said some of the lines of well, tell him, okay, maybe you should tell her that you're the one that stopped me from playing all her songs. But I don't want you to do that. It's not about that. Okay, I'm 46 years old this December.
Speaker 1:I'm going to take the hit for that. It's a spur of the moment decision that I made and it doesn't need to be discussed during the party. You know what I mean. If she's not 100% happy with the music that I played and you are if I would have gone the other way and not played the songs you wanted and played the songs she wanted, you would have been unhappy. So it's just the nature of what happened. You know I take the hit for that because I'm the DJ, but at the moment of time, I'm weighing. You know who wants it more. She's having a good time on the dance floor. She's not bothering me. You're parading people up to me as the groom, one by one by one, asking me for songs. What am I going to do? It is what it is. People were happy At the end of the day. People had a great time. She didn't get some of her songs that she asked for.
Speaker 1:I always tell people listen, you know, give me the songs that you hope to have, give me, like the wishful thought songs and I'll try to get them on as best as I can. When you have your heart set on, these songs are going to definitely get played. Yeah, there's, you know there has to have. The only way that that's possible is to have a conversation prior with either you know, with me and the other person involved in this wedding that says listen, I don't care what other people say, no-transcript. Yeah, I'll talk about it on the podcast after the fact two weeks later. If they listen to this, great, then she knows. But I'm not going to send it to her via email, I'm letting you guys know.
Speaker 1:So if you guys put together a song list for a DJ or a band or somebody else and you decide, okay, listen, we're going to play, these are all must plays and the DJ has to do it and you have to be on the same page Meaning, if I don't get to these must play songs, then you have to be like okay, listen, friends, people asking Um, the DJ will try to do what he's trying to do. He'll try to get it on for you, but he has to go through the list first that my wife and I or my husband and I or my significant other and I have approved first in order to get these songs on, because these are songs that we have to hear. So once he's done that, then we can go through and try to get your requests on. You know, you start parading them up to me one by one and ask me to play songs next. You're not giving me much of a choice, so just let you know that it's great advice.
Speaker 1:The advice is basically it's one of two things.
Speaker 1:It's either a you tell me no request at all and you stick to that, or you say no request and then you unstick to that at the party. But either way, pick one you know what I mean and be on the same page with it. And I understand alcohol sometimes will omit that will stop that from happening. But try, that's all I gotta say. Try, I'm never gonna get mad about it and I'm not even mad now, but it's one of those things where you know, understand that you put me in a bad situation after the fact or during the fact, because now I have to make a decision Am I going with A or am I going with B? And at the moment of time I made the snap decision, the dance floor stayed packed and the next day you weren't super happy. You were happy enough to write a huge review and tell everybody how great I was and how great the party was. But you were honest about the music choice. Only so much I can do Take it or leave it it.