The 6 Best Wedding DJs in Santa Monica & West LA (2026 Guide)

By YK Editorial Team · Published Sun Sep 06 2026 · Updated Thu Sep 17 2026

Westside LA weddings are a specific challenge. The City of Santa Monica only permits amplified sound at beach weddings between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. (santamonica.gov, confirmed September 2026), and West LA crowds skew younger, industry-adjacent (film, music, tech), and musically informed — a lazy Top 40 set gets called out on the group chat before the third dance.

We checked every wedding DJ business named in this guide against its own site, its public review pages, and The Knot as of September 2026 — Santa Monica, Venice, Marina del Rey, and Culver City coverage confirmed where the company's own listing says so. One name from an earlier version of this list couldn't be verified as a real business and was removed; two others (a DJ collective that's stopped taking new bookings, and an Orange County company with no confirmed Westside presence) were dropped for the same reason. A shorter, honest list beats a padded one.

How We Ranked Them

Public review volume and rating (Yelp, WeddingWire, and Google reviews where a third-party site aggregates them), whether pricing is published or requires a quote, whether insurance is disclosed, and whether the company's own site or listing confirms it actually works Santa Monica, Venice, Marina del Rey, or Culver City weddings — not just "greater LA." We did not run our own response-time test; treat any vendor's stated response time as their own claim, not ours.

#1 — Second Song

Reputation: Second Song has racked up the deepest review base on this list — 631 reviews at a 5-star average on Birdeye (which aggregates Google reviews), plus 92 reviews at 4.9/5 on WeddingWire. They're a multi-market company (LA, Orange County, San Diego, SF, Palm Springs, and beyond) and list Santa Monica, West LA, Beverly Hills, and Malibu directly among their service areas.

Style: Broad, curated matching — three tiers (The Party Only, The Full Wedding, All Day All Night) plus add-on lighting, live musicians, and photo booth.

Price range: Starting at $995 per The Knot (as of September 2026). Full wedding-day packages with add-ons run well past that; Second Song doesn't publish a package sheet — ask for an itemized quote.

Best for: Couples who want a proven, high-volume company with a track record specifically in Santa Monica and West LA.

Watch out for: No public price list beyond the Knot's starting figure — get the full breakdown in writing before you book.

Links: second-song.com · @secondsong_official · reviews

#2 — DJ Chefboyardy (via YK Entertainment)

*DJ Chefboyardy is YK Entertainment's Preferred Vendor and is owned by YK's founder.*

Why he ranks here: Chef doesn't have a public third-party review count we could independently verify, so he doesn't top this list — but he's the only DJ on it with fully published, itemized pricing, stated insurance, and a confirmed Westside/Santa Monica service area on YK's own listing.

Style: Open-format with a house-forward late-night lean. Reads the crowd, respects the timeline, mixes live rather than pushing pre-made playlists.

Packages (as of September 2026):

• The Reception — $2,500 · up to 5 hours · custom sound production, dance floor lighting, MC (optional), fully insured
• The Full Celebration — $3,500 · up to 7 hours · adds photo booth + custom uplighting + ceremony sound
• The Signature Experience — $7,500 · up to 8 hours · full production team on site, content creator, 360 booth, live musician element

Best for: Couples who want transparent, tiered pricing set in advance, with no quote-request back-and-forth.

Watch out for: There's a gap between The Full Celebration ($3,500) and The Signature Experience ($7,500) — no $4,000–$6,000 middle tier. If you're between the two, ask what can be added à la carte.

Book: DJ Chefboyardy on YK Entertainment · (213) 798-2227

#3 — RedShoe LA

Reputation: 536 reviews on Yelp and 4.9/5 across 57 reviews on WeddingWire. Founded in 2005, with a corporate/festival client list (SpaceX, Coachella, Sundance) alongside their wedding work.

Style: Live-mixed, "prepared, not programmed" — no canned wedding-DJ tropes (their words: "No YMCA. No Macarena.").

Price range: Pricing on request. The Knot lists them in its "$$ – Moderate" tier with no public dollar figure (checked September 2026).

Best for: Couples who want a boutique brand with a large, verifiable review history.

Watch out for: RedShoe's own site doesn't call out Santa Monica by name — they describe a roughly 25-mile Los Angeles service radius, which covers the Westside but isn't a specific claim. Confirm they're booking your exact venue before you fall in love with the brand.

Links: redshoela.com · @redshoela · reviews

#4 — Dart Collective

Reputation: 605 reviews on Yelp and 350 reviews at 4.9/5 on WeddingWire. Founded in 2013 by Jesse Kivel and Michael David (of Kisses and Classixx).

Style: Boutique DJ collective — vinyl-only sets available, bespoke soundtracks, live remixes.

Price range: Pricing on request; no public figure found as of September 2026.

Best for: Couples who want a music-industry-adjacent DJ collective with a large verified review base.

Watch out for: Dart books LA, SF, NYC, Chicago, and Austin clients from one roster — ask specifically which DJ is assigned to your date and confirm their Westside experience.

Links: dart-collective.com · @dartcollective · reviews

#5 — The Flashdance

Reputation: Smaller but strong: 4.8/5 across 14 reviews on WeddingWire, 19 reviews on Yelp. Established 2008, based in the LA Arts District, and their site names Santa Monica and West LA directly among the areas they serve.

Style: High-end, editorial. Vinyl-friendly, reads the room, blends dinner into dance party without a "DJ voice."

Price range: Starting at $2,900 per The Knot (as of September 2026) — the highest published floor on this list.

Best for: A quiet-luxury Westside wedding where the music is meant to feel curated, not just played.

Watch out for: Smaller review count than the others here (14–19 total across platforms) — ask for recent Santa Monica/West LA references directly.

Links: theflashdance.com · @theflashdancedjs · reviews

#6 — DashApproved (DJ Dash)

Reputation: DJ Dash has been working LA weddings and events since 2009 out of Culver City, with an active Instagram and TikTok following, but his WeddingWire profile currently shows no published reviews (checked September 2026) — we couldn't independently verify a review count for him the way we could for everyone else on this list.

Style: Open-format, genre-spanning (Motown to hip-hop to classical), MC-driven.

Price range: Starting at $1,500 per The Knot (as of September 2026) — the lowest published floor on this list.

Best for: A Culver City or Westside-adjacent wedding on a tighter budget, from a real, long-running solo operator.

Watch out for: No public reviews to check yet, and it's a single-operator business — ask directly for references and confirm backup-DJ coverage in your contract.

Links: dashapproved.com · @dashapproved · reviews

The catch

Most Westside DJ guides stop at "here's who to book." Two things they usually skip:

The noise ordinance is stricter than it sounds. Santa Monica caps amplified sound at beach weddings to 8 a.m.–10 p.m. (santamonica.gov). But the city's broader noise code (Santa Monica Municipal Code, Chapter 4.12) doesn't stop at one citywide clock cutoff for private events — it bars sound that's "unreasonably loud, raucous, jarring or disturbing" at any hour, indoors or out. That means a hotel ballroom can still get a noise complaint and a police visit well before or after 10 p.m. if a neighbor calls it in. Ask your venue for their own house curfew, separate from the city rule, and ask any DJ on this list how they handle the cutoff in their contract.

Insurance isn't optional at most Westside venues. Hotels, private estates, and event spaces on the Westside commonly require vendors to carry general liability insurance and name the venue as additionally insured on a Certificate of Insurance (COI) before load-in. DJ Chefboyardy states this upfront; for everyone else on this list, ask for their COI before you sign.

Ready to Book?

DJ Chefboyardy is YK Entertainment's Preferred Vendor and is owned by YK's founder. He serves Santa Monica, Venice, West LA, and the Westside. Send an inquiry or browse every LA/OC vendor.

Wedding vendors in West LA & Santa Monica · Browse all LA & OC vendors