♪ Wedding DJ, Sound System, Lighting Rental & Videography

Below you will find the answers to some of the most popular questions people ask us regarding our wedding DJ or live music, sound system rental, event lighting rental and wedding videography services in San Diego.

Question: How long have you been in the business and how many weddings have you done?
Answer: Golden Gate Sunrise Entertainment was founded by Charlie Walkrich in 2010. Charlie is also the owner of Walkrich Signature Events, Dirt Cheap Wedding Photography and San Diego Sound and Lighting. Charlie started DJing in the early 2000s, when he was in middle school. Shortly after, he started performing as a DJ, keyboard player and drummer at various public and private events, including weddings, live music shows, festivals, corporate functions, charity balls, nightclub parties, etc. Around the same time, Charlie also started composing music. Since then, many of his tracks have been featured in various TV shows, movies, video games, shopping malls, etc. When Charlie was still in his teenage years, he also got into event production and management, which helped him develop good organizational skills and the ability to work well with people. Over the years, Charlie has worked at hundreds of wedding receptions providing music, sound, lighting, photography and videography services. If you’d like to learn more about DJ Charlie and his background, you may check out his full biography here. You can also check out Charlie's video tutorial on how to choose a DJ for wedding.

Question: How far will you travel?
Answer: Our wedding DJ, lighting decor, sound system rental and wedding videography services are available in San Diego, Orange County, Riverside, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and the surrounding areas. Although we are based in San Diego, more than half of the weddings we do take place in other parts of Southern California. We charge a small travel fee of $1.00 per mile (round trip) from our office (92110) to your wedding location.

Question: Another DJ offered me a lower price. Can you beat it?
Answer: Unfortunately, we can't, because our rates are justified by our years of experience and the amount of time we invest to every wedding. Like every business, we have a lot of expenses and we need to make profit. Our prices are transparent and the same for everyone.

Question: What kinds of music do you usually play when you DJ?
Answer: We always fully customize your music selection and let you choose every song. You can also use our experience and ask us for theme and song suggestions for your ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner and the rest of the reception. Our personal preferences never interfere with what you or your guests want to listen to and we always try to help in any way we can. Our clients often request a little bit of everything to make sure everyone has a good time: Dance, Pop, Rock, Hip Hop, Country, Jazz, Swing, Classical, etc.

Question: How do I request music for my event?
Answer: We have a huge collection of music of all genres and eras and usually end up playing a little bit of everything to satisfy most guests while keeping the dance floor as full as possible. Based on our past experience, the fewer special requests we have, the better the outcome is as this allows us to have the most flexibility while "reading the crowd". However, if you'd like to let us know about the styles/artists you like or request a few of your favorite songs, that is totally fine and you can email us with either song titles and artist names or YouTube links. You may also include those directly on the planning form. Please indicate which requests are "optional" and which requests are "must play". Since we can only play 10-15 songs per hour, our clients usually choose just a few "must play" songs and everything else is optional (optional requests can be listed on a separate page or the bottom of the planning form).

Question: Do you offer any discounts?
Answer: Occasionally, we do offer discounts and specials to give more value to our clients. However, if you check the price of our competitors, you will find that our rates are usually much more affordable and our packages include more services. We do not offer any cash discounts, student discounts, senior discounts, military discounts or non-profit discounts, and our prices are transparent and the same for everyone.

Question: How much setup time do you need and how early do you arrive before the wedding?
Answer: Depending on the size of your wedding, your venue's policies and the services provided, we will need 30 minutes to 4 hours to set everything up and make sure all the equipment is ready before your first guest arrives. We like to arrive as early as possible (a few hours before the start time of your wedding) so that we can work with no rush in a stress-free environment, and make our setup look as nice and clean as possible. If the policies of your venue limit our setup time, we will do our best to work quickly and efficiently, but we might have to charge an extra fee for additional labor cost.

Question: What equipment and software do you use?
Answer: DJ Charlie uses Virtual DJ 7, which is probably the best DJ software for Windows 7 and Windows 8. His wedding reception sound system includes two 15'' 550-watt active Behringer speakers, one 12'' 700-watt active Electro-Voice subwoofer, one Behringer sound mixer and two dynamic Behringer microphones. Although this equipment is not likely to fail, Charlie carries backups for everything. As for wedding reception lighting, Charlie uses many different types of fixtures by American DJ and Chauvet.

Question: What do you wear as a wedding DJ?
Answer: DJ Charlie is the only San Diego wedding DJ who lets you choose his outfit based on the type of your wedding, its theme and your personal preference. You may click here to view some of the available outfit options.

Question: Do you provide liability insurance?
Answer: Yes, we do. You will have full overage if we are hired to provide DJ/MC services, photography or videography. As for sound and lighting rentals, our liability insurance is valid only when the equipment is in our care (during setup and teardown). As soon as our technician leaves the event site, the client becomes responsible for any damages or incidents. If you would like to have full liability coverage for the entire event, we can provide an experienced sound and lighting technician that will stay on site, keep an eye on the equipment and help you run it for an extra fee. Although this service is optional, we highly recommend it.

Question: Can we meet in person?
Answer: Yes, we can meet you in person for a detailed consultation at our office or your event venue. That way we can look at your room together, address all your questions and help you determine what you may or may not need. There is an extra fee for this meeting. As a free alternative, we can go over everything via email, phone or Skype.

Question: Do you a charge any additional setup, labor or travel fees?
Answer: We do charge a travel fee of $1.00/mile (round trip) from our office to your event venue. We do not usually charge any additional setup or labor fees unless your event venue significantly limits our setup time, which requires us to bring additional helpers to have everything ready on time, before your event starts.

Question: How far in advance should I book your services?
Answer: Most clients book several weeks or months in advance. The earlier you book, the more time we will have to confirm our arrangements and prepare for your event. Having said that, we do get many last-minute requests and we should be able to help as long we have the payment with a singed contract at least 24 hours prior to the service start time listed on the contract. Please note that we charge 20% extra for all bookings processed less than 72 hours (3 days) prior to the service start time listed on the contract. This fee includes Square’s credit/debit card payment processing charge, expedited processing of the contract, last-minute arrangements with our workers and expedited planning.

Question: What wedding venues in the San Diego area have you worked at before?
Answer: We have provided our services at hundreds of different hotels, restaurants, community centers, museums, churches, theaters, country clubs, boats and private homes in San Diego and the surrounding areas. If you are worried whether or not we have worked at your particular venue, we can assure you that it doesn’t affect the quality of our services, because we would visit your room prior to the wedding, get in touch with your coordinator or catering manager and arrive as early as your venue’s policies allow it on your special day.

Question: What are the main responsibilities of a wedding DJ?
Answer: Assisting with timeline and agenda preparation, consulting and helping you decide when and how it’s best to do your ceremony processionals, reception grand entrance, first dance, toasts, speeches, mother-son dance, father-daughter dance, bouquet toss, garter removal, cake cutting and other important activities. Also, making sure everything flows smoothly and your guests know what’s going on by providing clear and professional MC announcements and introductions, coordinating with your wedding photographer and videographer to make sure they're ready before announcing the most important events mentioned above, coordinating with your family and friends to verify when each person is ready for their speech before introducing them for toasts and other traditional events. Last but not least, taking the time to get to know you before the wedding in order to prepare a song list that is full of music that is meaningful to you and your guests, as well as generally being responsible, preparing in advance, testing the sound equipment and having backups just in case anything goes wrong.

Question: Do you have a preferred photo book vendor?
Answer: If you’re keen on buying photo books online, look no further than MILK Books. They have a great Design Studio where you can create your own custom photo book online. They also have a variety of photo book types from classic ones to Moleskin photo books.

Question: Can I attend one of your weddings to see you DJ?
Answer: We believe it's inappropriate and unprofessional to invite future brides and potential clients to weddings we work at. These are private events and no one wants a stranger at their wedding. As an alternative, we suggest that you check out our photo gallery, Youtube video demos, Yelp reviews and meet us in person at your wedding venue or our office/studio.

Question: When you are providing videography, how long does it take you to edit the videos and in what format are they delivered?
Answer: Our cameras are always set to 1080p MP4 HD 16:9. Unlike many other videographers in Southern California that take several months to deliver the edited videos, we guarantee to have it ready and send it to you within 2 weeks from the wedding day. The video will be provided in the same format as original footage - 1080p MP4 HD 16:9. This is one of the most common video formats and it usually works on any device. Mp4 has also become the latest standard on Youtube.

Question: Do you have any online reviews?
Answer: Yes, some of our past clients have been kind enough to share their feedback with us and publish it online. If you'd like to read our Yelp reviews, you may go to Yelp.com and type in "Golden Gate Sunrise Entertainment". We also encourage you to check out our reviews on Google, Wedding Wire, Facebook and other popular review websites.