Do you have to feed the DJ at your wedding? What vendors should you feed at your wedding? Do vendors count as guests? 

These are very important questions to ask when planning your wedding, and they are sometimes overlooked. 

Furthermore, these questions should be addressed because meals for your vendors can have an impact on your total wedding bill.

Do You Have to Feed the DJ at Your Wedding?

In my personal opinion, the answer to this question is yes.

We’ve heard it so many times, “Your DJ will make or break your wedding.”

With a responsibility like this, I believe your wedding DJ deserves to be served a meal during dinner. 

Many DJs will add it to their contract that they are served dinner.

I prefer to just wait to discuss this topic until the couple getting married brings it up before the wedding. 

They usually do and if they don’t, I am almost always served dinner anyway. 

If by some slim chance I’m not served, I make sure to have a couple of protein bars on hand. It wouldn’t hurt if I lost a few pounds anyway.  

Should The DJ Accept A Meal If Offered?

The answer to this question can vary per DJ company.

I myself will accept the dinner that is offered as I will accept any kind gesture or gift offered to me. It’s my personal policy. 

However, I can also understand why some DJ companies do not allow their DJs to accept being served a dinner.

Not all DJs are created equal and some can be very unprofessional and distracted by the dinner. 

However, most couples want to include their vendors with a nice meal during their wedding and I think they should accept their invitation. 

What vendors should you feed at your wedding?

I believe that if a vendor is present during the wedding dinner, then they should be offered a meal. 

This would generally include the wedding planner, officiant, DJ, photographer, videographer, photo booth attendant and contracted bartenders.

Furthermore, I think if you serve one vendor, then you should serve them all. 

With that said, the number of vendors receiving a meal is pretty limited as most of your other wedding vendors are not present during the actual wedding dinner. 

Do vendors count as guests?

Although I believe vendors should be served meals, I think there is a limit to them being counted as a guest. 

For example, a wedding vendor should never sit at a table with the guests unless they are included in the seating chart. 

In addition, a wedding vendor should not ask to be seated with the guests as some banquet venues can charge extra for additional tables and chairs in the banquet area. 

There is usually a vendor’s table or a dedicated area during dinner. This also gives them a chance to network with each other which may lead to increasing their client referral sources. 

Vendors play a huge role in the wedding, but in the end, they have a job to do.

They should not consider themselves as guests at the wedding they are servicing. 

What is a vendor meal at a wedding?

A vendor meal is typically a simple meal like a sandwich and a couple of basic sides. 

It is a different meal than what is being served to the couples’ guests. 

I’ve DJ around 350 hundred weddings and I have been served a “vendor’s meal” once. 

It was my first year as a DJ and I didn’t think much of it.

I do remember the photographers were not happy about it, but I didn’t really care. 

Some banquet halls include vendor’s meals as part of their wedding package, so if you are ever served one, don’t be offended.

It’s usually nothing personal. 

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