DJ Julie Jakolat
Raised by a tuba-playing father and a mother who sang with Sweet Adelines, I spent my childhood in Silicon Valley. I’ve been a lover of music for as long as I can remember. My brain is a jukebox with a bottomless pocket of change close at hand.
DJ Julie Jakolat
My first job was working in a record store. What a joy it was to have the opportunity to make money while standing around talking to people about music.
While in college, I received training as a radio DJ and hosted a weekly jazz show on KSJS. After moving to New York City to pursue my graduate studies, I immediately landed a job as resident DJ at the Virgin Megastore in Times Square. That gig allowed me access to a nearly infinite library of music and good people with incredibly diverse musical tastes. During this period of my life, my arsenal of sound grew by leaps and bounds.
At the moment, my music library contains thousands of records and is rapidly expanding. My first job as a DJ was for a family friend. I enjoyed the event to such a degree that weddings and parties now comprise the bulk of my business at JTD Productions. I love getting to know brides and grooms, finding out about the music that moves them, and crafting an unforgettable evening of music that leaves everyone exhilarated beyond explanation. Creating happiness through my work as a DJ is one of the most exciting feelings I’ve ever known.
Since Covid, Julie moved out west to spend more time with family but she will occasionally come back east to dj a wedding. If you are specifically interested in Julie, Check availability here.
What Our Clients Say About DJ Julie
“Julie was AMAZING. We got so many compliments from friends and family about our DJ. She has great taste in music. When we first talked to her, we mentioned a couple bands, and she immediately starting suggesting others in the same vein. That made the process so much easier. We had a lot of vague requests like “something rolling stones, for the grooms dad” and she picked all the right songs for those. She talks to all your guests during the cocktail hour and gets recommendations. Before she even started playing, one of my friends came up and said “I love your DJ” just based on their interaction. But MOST IMPORTANTLY, EVERYONE WAS DANCING. Old people and young. Also, more than one impromptu singalong with songs she played during the cocktail hour. Thank you Julie!!! It was a really important part of the wedding to me and my husband, and you nailed it.” – Emily Axford Santarella, Wedding Tyringham, MA
“We wanted to send you a long overdue THANK YOU for playing some sweet tunes at our wedding! You really kept the party going from start to finish. Many of our guests complimented your playlist and appreciated your asking for their input during cocktail hour. If it wasn’t apparent, we had a blast!”
Thanks again!” – Beth & Angel Acevedo, Wedding at Shadow Lawn High Falls, NY
“My husband and I are both musicians. At first, we were going to create our own playlist, but decided that it would be worth to money to relieve the stress of trying to read and manage the flow of the evening. I think, in hindsight, that this turned out to be the best decision of our wedding. After marrying each other, I guess. From our first conversation with Julie, we knew that she would give us the playlist that we would create if we knew more music, had more time, and had superhuman powers when it came to reading a room. It really felt like she got inside our brains and made the ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception of our dreams. Our guests thought that she must have been a friend of ours given what a good job she did representing our musical tastes. She sought out and responded to requests from the crowd, but played everything in a masterful order. She even snuck in a few special songs which were really completely inappropriate for a wedding, but mean so much to me and my husband that she found just right moment to give us the pleasure of hearing them, though no one else realized they were listening to a song describing melancholy tenderness after a breakup. She’s that good, and it brought our experience at our wedding up a million levels. You should really hire her. You will be so thrilled you did. You should also invite all of your engaged friends, so that they can hire her, too, and you can ensure that every wedding you attend will be among the best.” – Sara Cohen & Jacob Kramer, Wedding at Onteora Mountain House
“If there is anyone that is truly deserving of a 5 star rating, it’s DJ Julie. She really made our wedding a fantastic, enjoyable, and stress-free experience. Using her professional background Julie was able to make suggestions for moments that my husband and I couldn’t figure out, but at the end of the day she allowed us to make every decision for ourselves. She was very accommodating throughout every aspect of the planning and day-of activities, and I still receive RAVE compliments from our guests about how fantastic Julie was. It was great to have the best DJ at our wedding, but it was even better that she became our friend.” – Hillary, Wedding
“Julie was a HUGE part of what made our wedding a success. She met with us over Skype and in person to help craft the “feel” of our wedding, sifted patiently through our huge list of “Love to Haves” and “Nice to Haves,” and even sent us a folder with dozens of versions of Hava Nagila. Julie was extremely professional and fun throughout our planning process, and working with her felt so personalized. She had a great presence at the event, and a good understanding of a DJ’s role (it was really important to us not to have a cheesy, booming “DJ voice”, and Julie totally understood). The day of the wedding, Julie arrived early and met with the venue coordinator to make sure everything got set up properly. We didn’t have to worry about a thing. From the first dance through the (changed at the last second) last song of the night, the dance floor was packed with our friends, family, and my husband’s 95 year-old great aunt! So many of our friends have told us what a blast they had at our reception, and Julie was a big part of it. We can’t recommend her enough!” – Matt, Wedding
“We are so thrilled that we went with Julie to DJ our wedding. Initially we were both against the idea of a DJ – we’ve both experienced some that were very ‘in-your-face’ during weddings. You know – sparkly vests, slicked-back hair, flashing lights. After realizing the logistical nightmare of handling our own music, we did some research and found Julie’s website. After sitting with her in person, we were both confident that she was a perfect match for us. Truth be told – I think she can be a perfect match for a lot of people – she knows how to make herself fit in with exactly what you want. Throughout the planning process Julie was prompt with responses. She edited some lyrics out of a song we wanted to use for our ceremony, and always came back with great questions to help guide us through the process. One song we wanted to play during our reception could not be found, so Julie took the time to record it off of a DVD so she could play it for us. During the reception, we had several guests ask us if she was a friend of ours because she was having so much fun, and so many of our guests were having fun with her. She took their requests, all the while being respectful of our wishes for the day. We also wanted a friend to emcee the reception, and Julie had no problem handing over the mic and staying in the background. We obviously highly recommend Julie for your event, we are truly happy she was with us on our big day.” – Jason, Wedding
“From the moment we met Julie, there was no doubt in who we wanted to DJ our wedding. Our guests loved the music and her enthusiasm the entire 5 hours she played music. She did a fantastic job paying music that were in line with our tastes and played every single song on our “must play” list. Our guests loved being asked for requests during the cocktail hour so they felt involved in what was played later. She even selected one song that I was so convinced my sister would have requested that I ran and got her when her “request” was played. She was flexible and easy to communicate with in planning and selecting music and clearly wanted us to enjoy our day. Afterwards, she provided us the a list of all music that was played and our cocktail hour music.” – Tara, Wedding
“If we could give Julie 12 out of 5 stars, we ABSOLUTELY would (we even thought about making fake accounts to do just that! don’t worry, we didn’t though). In the beginning of our planning we thought about not hiring a DJ and having an iPod playlist…but we are both SO glad we forgot that thought! Julie really goes above and beyond for her clients in making sure that not only does the event have the feel that you want it to have (even if you are not audiophiles, such as me and my fiancé) and REALLY does her homework to cater to tastes, personalities. She is attentive and thoughtful – checking in throughout the day about requests that she is unsure about, uses the microphone tastefully, and is always there when you need her. She even paid special attention to our unique venue to make sure that music would be perfectly distributed without drowning out conversations but still inviting to the dance floor! Our dance floor was rocking, conversations were flowing, and we were both SUPREMELY delighted by her amazing work. I would have 10 more parties just to have her DJ. At the end of the night she gave us our cocktail hour on CD. We haven’t stopped listening to it since!!! Seriously. Stop looking for other DJs. You won’t find a single one better then this lady here. Seriously. ps: Julie, we love you. Never stop being awesome.” – Liora, Wedding
“Julie provided everything we asked for and then some. She also understood what we wanted for the mood for our wedding She was polite and helpful. Months after our wedding, we were still getting compliments about our DJ choice. She was essential for the success of our big day. We highly recommend Julie for any event.” – Carol, Wedding
“Julie Jakolat is one incredible DJ. She was with us from start to finish, playing our preludes before the start of the ceremony all the way through til the last dance of the evening, and she didn’t miss a beat (sorry, couldn’t help it). But her real work started well before the wedding day, as she spent hours upon hours with us via phone calls, in-person meetings, emails, and text messages. She really got to know us as individuals and as a couple, which was clear from the music she played on our big day. To top it all off, we love Julie! She’s super smart, witty, and kind…we have no plans to let our relationship with her die just because our wedding is over. The value Julie provides for her extremely reasonable fee is astounding. If you have any doubts about booking her, please take our word for it–you won’t be disappointed. Guest after guest raved about the playlist, so get ready to have a ball :)” – Stephanie, Wedding
“Julie was such an amazing DJ, many of our guests told us she was the best wedding DJ they had ever seen and we felt thrilled to have chosen the right person for the job. She was extremely thorough leading up to the wedding, even making a site visit before we met in person. When we spoke on the phone she was very friendly and easy to talk to you and I knew we would get along well. She is not bound by genre and my husband and I were both impressed with her breadth of knowledge and music selection. When we met in person she had a genuine interest in making sure our vision for the dance floor came true. She put us at ease and we trusted her completely. Once the wedding began, she was there early, had everything set up, did a sound check, met with our officiant and knew exactly what she was doing. She brought extra extension cord to make our location work and didn’t miss a beat with anything. She made announcements when needed but was never in the crowd’s face. So many guests said they appreciated her asking for requests and that it was obvious how much she enjoyed her job. She was dancing behind her table and so friendly that everyone felt good approaching her. The song list she prepared was exactly what we wanted and she guided it when needed and let us choose songs we definitely wanted to hear. She accommodated so many different tastes seamlessly and we had an amazing dance floor, despite it being really warm in the barn we had our reception in. Julie is great to work with, friendly, sincere, and genuinely cares about her clients and the job she does. We would highly recommend her to anyone who needs a DJ!” – Kate, Wedding
“My husband and I originally planned to forgo a DJ for our casual rustic wedding and just use an iPod. I can’t stand the typical loud, cheesy, and obnoxious DJs I’ve experienced at other weddings, so we figured we could do without. As it got closer, though, we realized that having someone to manage the flow of the evening, adjust the volume, and “read” the crowd could really make or break the event and we didn’t want to put that responsibility on a friend manning an iPod. SO grateful I stumbled across Julie’s website online and that she was available that weekend. From the start, Julie was the most competent vendor we worked with. She spent an hour on the phone with me talking about music tastes and how we wanted the wedding to run. I knew I had the right DJ when she sent me a file with 9 different versions of the hora (Hava Negila) to make sure she played exactly the one I wanted. On the day of, she played the perfect music at the perfect time and was careful not to play requests that she knew (or suspected) we wouldn’t like. When our caterer was frustratingly slow in pouring wine before the toasts, I let Julie know and she helped get that going. Professional, knowledgeable, personable…highly, highly recommend!” – Sara, Wedding
“I don’t have the words to describe how much Julie added to our wedding, but I will do my best to try. My husband and I are both musicians. At first, we were going to create our own playlist, but decided that it would be worth to money to relieve the stress of trying to read and manage the flow of the evening. I think, in hindsight, that this turned out to be the best decision of our wedding. After marrying each other, I guess. From our first conversation with Julie, we knew that she would give us the playlist that we would create if we knew more music, had more time, and had superhuman powers when it came to reading a room. It really felt like she got inside our brains and made the ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception of our dreams. Our guests thought that she must have been a friend of ours given what a good job she did representing our musical tastes. She sought out and responded to requests from the crowd, but played everything in a masterful order. She even snuck in a few special songs which were really completely inappropriate for a wedding, but mean so much to me and my husband that she found just right moment to give us the pleasure of hearing them, though no one else realized they were listening to a song describing melancholy tenderness after a breakup. She’s that good, and it brought our experience at our wedding up a million levels. You should really hire her. You will be so thrilled you did. You should also invite all of your newly engaged friends, so that they can hire her, too, and you can ensure that every wedding you attend will be among the best.” – Sarah, Wedding
“Wow! I’m not surprised that EVERYONE gives Julie a 5 out of 5 for EVERYTHING. She’s amazing and totally what we wanted and more. Everyone at our wedding was impressed. You want Julie to be your DJ if you live near her…she’s spectacular. Julie is awesome! She really takes the time to research your preferences, working with you to figure out the best possible mix of the bride’s & groom’s musical tastes. She tells you the “moments” you need music for, and is sensitive to whether you want to go traditional or not. And she has great taste in music so you needn’t worry that you will hear the Macarena, unless of course you want to!” – Jason, Wedding
“I genuinely don’t think it’s possible for me to have been happier with Julie as our wedding DJ. I’d had a lot of angst about how to approach wedding music– I love music but tend to like indie-pop which isn’t exactly conducive to a fun dance party, plus neither me nor my husband love to dance. Also, being from the NJ-area, I was really worried about mistakenly booking a cheesy bat mitzvah/sweet 16 DJ who was going to be yelling on a microphone all night and deploying black-clad “motivators” with blow up saxophones on our guests. Within about 2 minutes of my conversation with Julie, though, all my concerns pretty much melted away and choosing a DJ went from the thing I’d been dreading to the easiest planning decision I’d make. Julie was fun, completely understood both my husband’s and my different music taste, and worked with us to create a wedding playlist that pleased both of us AND our dance-happy guests. Julie was flexible, knowledgeable, responsive, and friendly– all you could ask for in a DJ! She readily listened to our suggestions and preferences, but never put the onus on US to come up with the playlist. Day-of, she did an amazing job. The party flowed well, people danced, and my husband and I enjoyed every minute of it. The venue operator even asked me who the DJ was– he said she was one of the best he’d seen (and he sees a LOT of weddings) and a friend of mine asked for Julie’s contact info for her upcoming wedding! In short I really cannot recommend Julie more highly– I only wish I had another excuse to book her!” – Emily, Wedding
“Julie was, simply put, fantastic. From the start of my wedding planning process I knew I wanted every vendor we worked with to align with the values and vision my soon to be husband and I had for our wedding and life together. Every vendor you work with becomes a part of the team to help you bring these to life. When researching wedding DJs with all due respect to the many I encountered online, I began to get discouraged because so many had the obvious experience but didn’t appear to embody what we wanted (good music – no cheese). I love music, so does my husband. He plays the guitar, piano and we both LOVE dancing. We knew what we we liked and wanted someone who got us and would work with us to curate songs that we loved and that BOTH our friends and FAMILY would want to dance to. Julie helped guide us to create a list that reflected everyone’s needs but also ended up being a wedding coach helping me with the flow of the day, and how music could help that along. Having planned my wedding myself this type of additional support was greatly welcomed and something I was thrilled to have found in our DJ. From the beginning of our work together Julie was fun, funny, easy-going, used Skype, email and a flexible schedule to make meeting easier as time becomes something you need to be VERY mindful of using wisely during this process. My husband who graciously let me deal with most of the vendors 🙂 was happy to take over this relationship once we decided to work with Julie and loved working with her. She is REALLY FUNNY! Just choose her. Don’t look any further. It’s a crazy enough day and you want someone who gets that but has your back and can help make it smoother. PLUS she has so much music and if she doesn’t will get it for you. Oh and did I mention is very open with all her contacts to help you plan? Choose her now before some else snags her for your day :)” – Nicole, Wedding
“Julie Jakolat DJ’d our wedding at the beginning of June at Temple Shaaray Tefila in Mount Kisco, NY, and long story short, we have nothing but good to say about her!! From the very beginning when we met her, she was a cut above the other dj’s we met and communicated with. She was in no way pushy, listened to everything we had to say and suggest, played everything that we asked her to-and well timed, no less! Although we wanted crowd-pleasing tunes, my wife’s and my taste’s are pretty non-mainstream (I’m a musician, also), so there were things that we wanted to have played that we weren’t even sure she’d be familiar with or willing to. NOT the case at all! She is extremely well-versed in all genres of music, (really, we could not stump her!) and blended them with the mainstream stuff easily. She worked with us to find out exactly also what we DID NOT want played at all, which was huge for us. She also worked with me specifically to get the exact version of three songs that I wanted for dances, one of which was the groom and mother of the groom dance. To further sing her praises, the version of the song I wanted hasn’t been released yet, but was only featured in the background of a movie soundtrack, and not even on the official soundtrack release. Well, she GOT that tune for me! She also put together an incredible edit for us of three songs for the Hora, an edit that she worked carefully with us to construct, with what parts came in when. She did multiple versions of it until we had exactly what we wanted. That’s a dedication and for that matter, a love of music that’s rare. And technically and equipment-wise, her setup sounded fantastic. Everyone had a great time, and have still been telling us so! In short, she was absolutely all that we could have hoped for and more. If we ever need a DJ for another event, we would call her without hesitation.” – Thomas, Wedding
“Thank you Julie for your amazing talents! We got so many (and I mean a ton of) wonderful comments from our guests saying how fantastic the music was! Julie’s knowledge of music is encyclopedic, and she used her good taste to extrapolate from our initial list to come up with some truly inspired suggestions. We trust her implicitly and couldn’t have imagined anyone else DJ-ing our special day!” – Ariel & Aaron, Wedding
“Julie DJ’d my college friend’s wedding and was an excellent “musical host” for the evening, ushering us, through her music, to different times in our lives and successfully kept the party going all night. Forget the glow sticks, make sure you’ve got Julie!” – Natalie, Wedding
“Julie is the best! From our first meeting, I was confident in Julie’s ability to deliver the best possibly entertainment for our wedding. She took the time to get to know my husband and I and our families. Julie also spent a considerable amount of time leading up the wedding emailing lists of music back and forth. She listened to me, my family and my friends. She made plenty of her own suggestions, and in the end, we had a tailored music list that entertained everyone. We had some weather complications on the day of the wedding. Julie was flexible and arranged and rearranged things during the day and evening to make sure everything ran smoothly. We all had a great time! We danced and danced and sang and had a wonderful time.Thanks Julie!!” – Meredith, Wedding
“Julie is not the standard wedding DJ. Julie is a crowd-rocking, get people out of their seats and on the dance floor professional; and she does it all with class and style. Our parents (and in some respects, ourselves) were a little nervous about the prospect of a DJ vs a band at the wedding. The reason is that when people think of DJs they typically think of some guy screaming into a microphone who is playing music way too loud and demanding he “needs” you to get up on the dancefloor. Julie is not that DJ. Our guests (friends, family and parents) still talk about how incredible Julie was. Not only does she play great music and rock the house, but she was clearly enjoying her job as she danced behind her table. Never once did Julie have to raise her voice to get people to move. She controlled the tone and volume of the music so well that people could just tell that it was time to hit the dancefloor or time to wind down and proceed to the afterparty. The groom is very particular about music and wanted to play an integral role in the playlist production. We met with Julie in person twice and her and the groom exchanged several emails regarding the playlist. We talked about the philosophy of the playlist, the tone we wanted to set throughout the evening (it was a bell-curve) and must-plays and must-not plays. Julie was extremely accommodating and insightful in terms of which songs to play and when to play them. She had a great mixture of music everyone knows and can dance to, new music to get people up on the dance floor, and more laid back excellent music to enjoy while eating dinner. We don’t think there was a single-song that was out of place. In addition, we had a videographer and were intent on getting the sound picked up for the video. We got married on a farm where all of the wedding events were pretty spread out). Julie prepared perfectly executed plan to set up three sets of audio equipment in 3 separate locations (the ceremony, the cocktail hour and the reception). Everything went off without a hitch and the sound was fantastic. We are rambling a bit, but only because Julie did such an incredible job for us. She is also clearly a great person and someone you would be lucky to have as a part of your wedding. She did a great job and her commitment to helping us throw a great party was very clear. We could not have asked for a better DJ.” – Acekay, Wedding
“I hired Julie to DJ my sister’s 50th birthday party and i would hire again without hesitation. Not only did Julie come prepared with a wide array of music, she really had a feel for the room and knew just when to start the dinner music and when to pick it back up and get the crowd back on the dance floor. This was a very special party for my family and the ages of the guests ranged from 5 years old to 82! I was a little nervous about music as its very important to my entire family and knowing we are quite an eclectic bunch, I wasn’t quite sure how june could please us all — but she did and happily so. It was a truly memorable night and I have Julie to thank for helping to make it so. I honestly couldn’t recommend a better, more thoughtful, DJ then Julie Jakolat.” – Marianne, Wedding
“I wish there was an option to give Julie 10 stars! We think that choosing Julie to be our DJ was the best choice we made out of all our vendors. We knew from our first meeting that she would bring the right energy and tone to our wedding. It must be great to have a job you enjoy so much, as it was evident that her personality was her own and not a persona she takes on for six hours a day. Her willingness to accommodate what we wanted, while giving us professional direction was great for us along the way leading up to and during our wedding. Julie’s services are a great value, as we thought you priced your fee very fairly. You really transformed our wedding into the party of our dreams.” – Sarah, Wedding
“When I began looking at DJs, I swore to myself that I would interview a lot DJs and pick the best one. However, we interviewed Julie first, and I knew I didn’t have to look any farther for a great DJ for our wedding. We hired her on the spot. Julie didn’t disappoint, either. She was very receptive to our music lists (including music that we didn’t want to hear) beforehand and stuck to them throughout the wedding. Although she has a crazy list of songs in her repertoire, she had a way of downloading music she didn’t have if someone requested it. She kept our guests happy for the entire wedding. My friends still talk about how much fun they had at our event, and a lot of it was thanks to Julie’s DJing. She’s a fantastic person, and I highly recommend her to anyone, especially those who don’t want the same-old same-old obnoxious cheezy radio personality type DJ that seem to be everywhere.” – Emma, Wedding
“I highly recommend this DJ for ANY event without hesitation. Ms. Jakolat was able to provide music for every age in our group, from ages 5 to 75! She kept the dance floor hopping with rock, dance, pop and somehow found, by request, some rare irish folk songs that had the whole family dancing singing and laughing the night away. She turned a family gathering into a party. One that everyone, no matter their musical taste, was able to enjoy. Julie Jakolat doesn’t just play music, she KNOWS music; that made all the difference.” – Huck, Wedding
“Julie was the BEST DJ for our wedding – no glowsticks, no fog, no chicken dance; just a memorable playlist with class and sophistication. Julie was wonderful to work with. My husband and I met with her for 2 hours to discuss our tastes and ultimate “No’s” for our playlist – she listened 100% and was able to offer great ideas. On the night of our wedding, we had terrible rain storm and our wedding shuttles got stuck in the mud! Guests were at our wedding for an additional 2 hours more than planned. Despite Julie’s contract ending at 11pm, she stayed (without billing us) and kept the party going until our guests could leave. I have never met a vendor with more customer service than Julie.
Just when she couldn’t do anything more, Julie surprised us with a disc of all of our music from the night. She is amazing & really added to our special night. I highly recommend Julie. I can’t say enough.” – Laura Ann, Wedding
“I gave Julie a song list and set her loose. She was amazing! Very easy to work with and good at pacing a dance party and working with our wedding banquet schedule. She had a detailed information sheet to fill out beforehand, and was ready with suggestions for music, and also happy to play whatever we requested.” – Reed, Wedding
“Julie was a fantastic DJ for our wedding! She was professional, not intrusive, and super fun! From the beginning of the day, she dealt with last-minute setup changes, went with the flow, and was extremely pleasant and easygoing. Julie also accommodated our very long playlist, took requests (and un-requests!), and looked like she was having as much fun as the guests while she worked. I got about twenty comments from guests during and after the wedding about how awesome she was. My only complaint is that between the time that we booked Julie and about 6 weeks before the wedding (when we started talking about playlists), she was a little bit hard to get ahold of, and wouldn’t respond to emails immediately. But when it counted, she was very responsive, and she was really an awesome DJ. She accommodated all of our requests, and really made the wedding have the ambience and vibe that we asked for. I absolutely recommend Julie to anyone looking for a fun and exciting DJ who will make your day special and respect your wishes. I really appreciated having her for our special day!” – Caroline, Wedding
