Marriage ceremony DJ Derek Zerr desires to get individuals on the dance ground and preserve them there. This mission has helped create memorable experiences for brides, grooms, and wedding ceremony friends over the previous few years.
These experiences have been acknowledged by The Knot, a well-liked wedding ceremony planning platform, as Zerr’s firm DnA Music Leisure has been the winner of The Knot Better of Weddings for 2 consecutive years. The winners of the award might be chosen based mostly on opinions from customers of The Knot.
Zerr, who additionally works full time at City and Nation Insurance coverage in Story Metropolis and is a volunteer firefighter for the group, believes he has discovered an actual area of interest for his DJ enterprise.
Since 2002, Zerr has entertained greater than 500 weddings, firm events, anniversaries, metropolis festivals and different occasions.
“We all the time had one fundamental purpose in thoughts, to get everybody on the dance ground and preserve them there,” mentioned Zerr.
As a result of the music and leisure industries are continuously altering, Zerr stays recent and educated with instructional applications, he mentioned. One such alternative is the Cellular Beat Las Vegas DJ Convention, the place entertainers “from all around the world come collectively to alternate new tendencies and concepts for the upcoming wedding ceremony 12 months,” mentioned Zerr.
“Our purpose this 12 months, regardless of the pandemic, was to make sure that our brides and grooms had an evening they’d keep in mind and that their friends would speak about for years,” he mentioned.
Zerr began the 12 months with 42 weddings booked. He made about 25 resulting from cancellations and rescheduled occasions. There have been no weddings from March to June. Then they began once more in July. Zerr and his father, who works with him, put on masks on the occasions, however are in any other case not chargeable for the COVID-19 logs on the occasions.
“It was an fascinating 12 months however fortunately our well being was good and nobody at our occasions bought sick,” he mentioned.
Zerr has been the go-to particular person for music since his youth and helps individuals have a good time.
“I used to be the younger child who all the time made mixtapes out of radio hits,” mentioned Zerr, a 2003 Roland-Story Excessive College graduate. “Each time there was a gathering, I used to be requested to convey the music.”
Zerr heard so typically from his pals that he ought to turn out to be a DJ that in 2002 he determined to start out his personal enterprise – as a DJ and entertainer. His first paid look was at a party in his hometown of Story Metropolis. For a number of years he placed on small occasions resembling birthdays and school formalities.
In 2008, Zerr booked his first wedding ceremony gig and phrase of mouth made his enterprise develop 12 months after 12 months.
“I really like weddings,” mentioned Zerr. “The explanation I really like weddings is as a result of the individuals there are comfortable, in a extremely good temper and partying for this couple. It is a actually good setting.
“I attempt every thing to get individuals onto the dance ground.”
Zerr has a knack for studying the gang. Since 2012 he has been working along with his father Kelly Zerr, who’s the moderator of the marriage celebrations and who can be a maestro, to get individuals going.
When Derek Zerr sees the friends trying somewhat drained on the ground, he tries to alter that and get one other group of friends to bounce.
“Or we make an announcement and do a sure line dance,” mentioned Zerr. “Like, ‘Everybody will get on the dance ground. It is time for the Cha Cha slide. ‘
“Studying the gang and actually understanding what to do subsequent is vital. If I can get them on the market, I can go away them on the market. “
Zerr mentioned it was an honor to be such an necessary a part of one of the crucial necessary days for thus many {couples} and households.
“Our purpose is all the time to make the bride and groom’s evening simpler for them,” mentioned Zerr. “Weddings will be complicated and we attempt to take that away from the bride, groom, and household.”