DJs serve as the big day’s maestro By Brandon LaChance
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here are a lot of puzzle pieces to work with when planning a wedding. But the major components of a wedding include the bride, the groom, the wedding party, the venue, and, of course, the DJ. DJs help pull together the whole reception, ensuring everyone has a great, memorable time. “We have a lot of passion for weddings. We do a few corporate events and school dances, but primarily weddings are our business,” said JC Heerdt, owner of Guys On The Radio, an Illinois Valley business. “When you look at a wedding, especially with having our other services now, they look at it as an event and not just music. Music is a huge part of what we do and making sure a dance floor works. I can’t say it is not. I believe there is a science to a dance floor, so asking the right questions and helping them with timelines is a huge part of what we do. “There are a lot of moving parts to a wedding, and when you’re the DJ and the entertainment, you have to make sure that all of those things are going to flow throughout the day. Planning and working with the couple to prepare for their big day and being part of that process helps us be very successful and makes sure a wedding goes extremely smooth,” he said. Heerdt, 43, is originally from Rock Falls but has lived in Spring Valley so long it has become the town he tells people he is from. He was a co-owner of Guys on the Radio with John Shapiro when the duo played their first wedding in 2001. After Shapiro stepped down in 2020, Heerdt took over as the sole overseer of not only the music part of Guys on the Radio but of coordinating with Sisters Stress Free Planning and capturing special moments with Flash Photo Booth. As Heerdt will tell you, it’s not only the music, it’s about making every moment magical for the couple and their guests. “We’ve kind of expanded. We started primarily as a DJ business, but over the years, we found there is a need for different services besides just DJs services,” said Heerdt. “About four or five years ago, we created Sisters Stress Free Planning where we offer a day of coordinating with fantastic people who will handle all the little details of your day. “We found there wasn’t a whole lot of day-of coordinators in the area. Especially during Covid-19, we were doing a lot of background, smaller, private events that when we would go to people’s houses, it helped out tremendously
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/LEANNE PALMIERI
Cody Guynn, 32, who resides in LaSalle, has averaged eight weddings a year and currently has more than eight booked for 2022. Guynn has been a DJ since he was 13 but didn’t take on a wedding until 2015. to have almost a venue coordinator who could take care of all the little details from running rehearsals to making sure there was enough toilet paper in the Porta Potties to making sure the caterers knew where to set up,” he said. Guys On The Radio has a full staff. Peggy Pappas runs the coordinating, local musician Kevin Kramer is the live music director, and Tyler and Amelia Kern are contracted for videography services. With the help of his team, Heerdt is able to spend more time focusing on checking the online portal, which puts wedding day timelines together and has Spotify integration to load playlists. Wel-
come emails are sent when brides and grooms sign up for Guys On The Radio services. They’ll also get reminders of the planning process as well as guides and videos to help with the proceedings and scheduling sit-downs, whether virtually or in-person, to make sure everyone involved is on the same page. “Connecting with the client and the guests is it – that’s the biggest part. Music in itself provides an emotion,” Heerdt said. “We all have connections to music one way or another. If you’ve ever watched a movie without the sound See DJ page 22
A Shaw Media Publication | Illinois Valley Weddings | January 2022 21
