At a glitzy ceremony in London last night (Wednesday the 17th of January), Andy Murphy was announced as the Wedding DJ of the Year 2018 as part of the national Wedding Industry Awards. Beating off stiff competition from the other regional winners in his category, Andy's win was announced in front of a large crowd of wedding industry professionals.

Recognising excellence across all types of wedding suppliers, the Wedding Industry Awards use a combination of client voting and industry judging to select the winners. The competition begins with nominations from suppliers, followed by a period of voting where their clients from the past year are encouraged to not only rate their performance but submit written testimonials. Each entrant’s application – along with their clients’ votes and testimonials – are then reviewed by a judging panel who select a winner for each area of the country ahead of the regional award presentations. A further stage of judging then takes place, with the panel revisiting the applications and testimonials of the regional winners, to establish an overall national winner.

This year’s regional winners in the DJ category were Andy Murphy (North West), WDC Entertainment (Yorkshire & North East), Vintage Wedding DJ (West Midlands), Dream Wedding Entertainment (East Midlands), Ian Stewart AKA Euan Bass (East of England), Alan Marshall (South Central), Brian Mole (South East) and Celebration Roadshow (Bristol). The judging panel for the DJ awards was made up of Pro Mobile’s Editor, Eddie Short, as well as past national winners Mark van den Berg and Terry Lewis.

Based in Manchester, Andy Murphy is a full-time professional wedding DJ who has built up an enviable business while earning the respect of his peers as well as other local wedding suppliers. A regular participant in the Wedding Industry Awards, he has taken home the regional title in the North West every year since 2014, however this is his first national win.

“Well what can I say?”, was Andy’s response when we asked him how it feels to receive this coveted award. “It’s such an honour and real career high to be awarded National Wedding DJ of the year for 2018. The wedding industry awards recognise and reward excellence within the wedding industry and that never sounded so good. The unique way that people vote and the awards are judged really make these awards a kite mark for the industry. My business and bespoke service will continue to grow thanks to the awards, and I can’t thank my couples enough. Each couple will have spent a fair amount of time going through the voting process and for that I’m truly thankful. These awards are a credit to this amazing industry!”

In addition to the main Wedding DJ of the Year award, South Central regional winner Alan Marshall was also presented with a national Highly Commended award. This was in acknowledgement of the quality of his entry and the feedback submitted by his wedding clients. Andy Murphy had previously been Highly Commended at the national awards back in 2016.

“To say that we [the family team behind Alan Marshall Celebrations] are blown away doesn’t do it justice,” Alan told us. “After years of working on my self-development through attending workshops around the country and in the States all the hard work paid off. Although it’s also true that my real award is the amazing testimonials I receive from our clients in the knowledge we made a difference to their once in a lifetime celebrations. The awards over the last five years have motivated me to think outside the box as to how I can develop the services I provide for all our clients. If there is a bitter sweet to this, and any award, it is that those that I was up against are all very talented DJs and some dear friends, who are not only regional winners but guys within the industry that I have an immense respect for.”

Damian Bailey, the wedding photographer who founded and runs The Wedding Industry Awards, will be one of the guest speakers at this year’s Pro Mobile Conference in April. Damian will share with delegates his tips for making awards work for you as well as giving his perspective as a professional photographer on what he looks for from a DJ to make his life easier, make a wedding more successful and, ultimately, make him want to refer them to future clients.