You may have heard the story about David Lee Roth and the brown M&Ms. Van Halen's concert contracts included a clause specifying that a bowl of M&Ms had to be provided backstage, with every single brown one removed. If brown M&Ms were found, the show could be cancelled with full compensation to the band.
Sounds like a rockstar throwing a tantrum. It wasn't.
Van Halen was the first band to take enormous productions into small towns that had never seen anything like it. Nine eighteen-wheeler trucks, where the standard was three. The contract rider was vast, and buried in the middle was the M&M clause. If Roth walked backstage and spotted brown M&Ms, he knew the promoter hadn't read the rider carefully. And if they'd skipped a sweet clause, they'd probably skipped the structural weight requirements too. Those mistakes weren't cosmetic. They were life-threatening.
The M&M test wasn't vanity. It was a checklist.
Why Memory Isn't Enough
As the number of things to coordinate on a wedding day multiplies, it gets easier to overlook something. Sometimes that missed item barely matters. Sometimes it's the difference between a smooth first dance and an awkward silence while someone scrambles for the right track.
For couples who book me for all-day weddings, there's a lot going on: ceremony music, MC hosting during the breakfast, coordinating with photographers, liaising with other suppliers, introducing speeches, managing transitions. Even with a sharp memory, one detail slightly wrong means arriving five minutes late for an introduction or giving incomplete information to a supplier.
A good checklist doesn't try to spell out everything. It provides reminders of the critical steps, the ones that even experienced professionals could miss. Keep it to the killer items. Brief, precise, practical.
"Tony was fantastic from start to finish. His attention to detail and communication leading up to the day was brilliant. On the night, he read the room perfectly and had everyone on the dancefloor. Several guests said it was the best wedding they had ever been to."
-- Rachel & David
Real Stories from Real DJs
I asked some fellow professionals about their experiences. Their stories say more than any theory.
Jim Cerone, Indianapolis: "Many years ago, I was hastily loading my van and forgot the bride and groom's first dance CD on the kitchen counter. Their song choice was very unique and required me driving to five different record stores the week before to find a copy. Thankfully, my wife came to the rescue, driving thirty minutes to the venue. From that moment, I made two immediate changes: I structured event days so I arrived much earlier, and I began using physical paper checklists. Before reversing out of the garage, I spend thirty seconds ticking boxes."
Peter Merry, Missouri: "This last weekend, at two of three weddings, my behind-the-scenes checklist helped us avoid an awkward moment when I noticed there was no cake knife, cake server, plate, and forks at the cake table before the cake cutting. Taking responsibility for the success of our events means being proactive to prevent mishaps, not just reacting to their aftermath."
Peter also makes a point I think about often: "This only happens if you can honestly ask yourself, 'What did I miss?' following an unexpected mishap, and being willing to accept that most of those mishaps were truly not unexpected. We just failed to properly anticipate them."
Systems, Not Heroics
Glenn Mackay, Brisbane: "Anyone who uses checklists was at some point someone who didn't. Then after forgetting something enough times, they moved to checklists. They don't move from having them to not having them, because they know having them works."
Glenn's company handles over 1,000 events a year. They have checklists for everything, from basic DJ setup to employee onboarding. His observation is sharp: "By using checklists, I'm able to focus my brain power on things that drive the company forward rather than trying to remember every little basic detail."
That resonates with how I work. A checklist frees you up to do the creative, responsive work, the room reading, the spontaneous moment, the thing that makes a wedding feel personal rather than processed. You can't be creative when you're mentally cycling through whether you remembered to check the cake table.
A Good Checklist Evolves
Version one of any checklist is always extremely different from version eight. You tweak it every time you find something that isn't explained well, or discover a new thing worth checking. My own checklist has grown over 2,500 weddings, and it still changes. Every event teaches something.
The resistance to checklists is understandable. It can feel beneath us. We're built for novelty and excitement, not careful attention to detail. The truly great among us improvise, right? Maybe. But the truly great also prepare. The improvisation works because the foundations are solid.
"Tony was worth every penny. He kept the whole day running smoothly without anyone feeling rushed or managed. His Love Story narration had people laughing and crying at the same time. By the evening, complete strangers were dancing together like old friends."
-- Rachel & James
What This Means for Your Wedding
When you're comparing DJs, you probably won't think to ask about their preparation systems. But the difference between a wedding that flows and one that stumbles is almost always preparation, not talent.
The couples who've worked with me know this. They feel it in how calm the day is, how smoothly things move from one moment to the next, how nothing gets forgotten. It's not luck. It's a checklist, refined over years, that handles the details so I can focus on what actually matters: making your day feel like yours.
If you'd like to talk through how I prepare for weddings, check your date. The lessons from getting things wrong are just as instructive as the ones from getting them right.