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Any vinyl nerds in the house? If you and your partner are New York-area music geeks, I think we just found your wedding DJ!
If you're looking for a loud MC, smoke machines, and line dances, look elsewhere. Our sponsor DJ Ali Gruber keeps it simple, using her degree in music history, along with her analog equipment and amazing vinyl record collection, to provide the eclectic soundtrack to your wedding.
To learn more about our girl, watch this video and read these words…
That right there, is a video of errybody getting down at a wedding — parents, kids, friends — the entire guest list grooving to Ali's tunes. Or as Ali put it, “a bumpin' dance party that spans generations.” Or as one of her colleagues put it…
DJ Ali's spinning is like a family dinner where all the crazy uncles, hopped up cousins, and wise grandmotherly types gather in your ear. The songs she selects are like old familiar relatives you didn't even know you missed, but are so glad they showed up. Her mixes have all the fixin's, and you leave her parties fully satisfied. -Juan Estrella of “Bad Princess,” New Paltz, NY
Wanna sneak peek of some of those “mixes with all the fixins”? Here are some of Ali's choices from her “songs I'm dancing to right now” list:
Mexican rap and line dancing: how to rock offbeat wedding music without alienating your guests
At our wedding, I wanted country and my groom wanted Mexican rap. Obviously, we had to make some compromises as neither are big crowd-pleasers. But... Read more
- Be My Baby, The Ronettes
- I Was Made To Love Her, Stevie Wonder
- Ain't That Peculiar, Marvin Gaye
- Do Me, Jean Knight
- Gimme Your Love, Sisters Love
- Iko Iko, The Belle Stars
- I Got The…, Labi Siffre
- September, Earth, Wind and Fire
- Don't Leave Me This Way, Thelma Houston
- He's The Greatest Dancer, Sister Sledge
- I Can't Wait, Nu Shooz
- Groove Is In The Heart, Deee-Lite
- Wanna Be Startin' Somethin', Michael Jackson
- My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It), En Vogue
- Family Affair, Mary J. Blige
- Around The World, Daft Punk
- Whatta Man, Salt ‘n' Pepa
- Galang, M.I.A.
- Murder She Wrote, Chaka Demus and the Pliers
- American Boy, Estelle
Killer taste, ammaright? From the Motown sound to a Tribe Called Quest, and all of the french pop/disco/afro-boogie/girl groups/dancehall tunes you can think of, Ali's probably spinning it. She curates her collection specifically for each event, with (as she puts it) “the purest intentions of inspiring a really sweaty dance party.”
So if you want to let the music take the lead, without hiding behind flashy lights and loud MCing, then you want to have a sweaty dance party with DJ Ali Gruber!
About the Author: Megan Finley Horowitz
When Megan's not writing, traveling, and sleeping, she's eating like the fate of the world depends on it. (You're welcome, world!) You can snoop into her personal life over on her website The Dash and Dine!
Yay!! Alternative music peeps are my favorite kind of vendors. I know that when I (one day) marry, I won’t be seeking out your standard top 40-playin DJ!
I recently booked DJ Ali for my wedding in October 2015! Quality music was very important for my fiance and I and we think we lucked out by finding someone like Ali.
yay @Dakota! I’m so excited to be part of your wedding day!
Wow, a lady after my own heart. *Swoon*
Also, The Sisters Love ‘Give Me Your Love’ is one of my favorite songs of all time.
Spot on article/promo review. She did everything she claimed to do in that article at our wedding last year. EVERYONE got on the dance floor and it made for such an inclusive, fun party, just the way we wanted our wedding with people from all walks of life and eclectic tastes like us. Thanks again Ali!
I don’t even know where to begin, because there are too many wonderful things that need to be said about Dj Ali. First and foremost, dj-ing aside, Ali is an amazing woman! From the second I met her, I loved her! I think it’s pretty safe to say that anyone who has such an amazing RECORD collection must also have an AMAZING spirit.
Hands down, DJ Ali is by far and away the best Dj EVER!!! As promised, Ali goes above and beyond, delivering a fantastic mix of music from the BEST DECADES to create the PERFECT atmosphere and a SLAMMING dance party! No cheesy, played out radio songs or run of the mill wedding songs that we’re all used to hearing, just pure originality! EVERYONE at our wedding danced the night away…including my 88 year old grandmother and my husband’s 90 year old grandmother. DJ Ali definitely made our wedding the most memorable night ever, and words could never express our gratitude!
You’d be an idiot not to hire DJ Ali for your wedding! Well that is, unless you love Pit Bull…
Dakota- rest assured, you DEFINITELY made the right decision!
more to come..
montauk for-eva! thanks @jennifer, you and matt are the cutest! i can’t listen to Hall & Oates without thinking of you two. i wish you could get married again!
I just emailed Ali! Hall and Oates <33333
If you are looking for a DJ for your wedding look no further! DJ Ali is the best! Before my wedding, I had been to many parties where Ali DJ-ed. I always danced the entire time and loved every song, so when the time came to chose, it was a no-brainer. Everyone at our wedding danced – the older guests, the children and everyone in between – and that was just what we wanted. She spent time with us before hand, asked all the right questions, helped us plan so the event flowed well and came prepared to serve it up right. On your wedding you don’t want to worry about anything. If DJ Ali is at the turntables, you will not have to worry about the music or people having a good time. That’s a promise! 5 stars for sure!
DJ Ali is absolutely amazing! We booked her for our wedding in the Hudson Valley, NY, and we had such a positive experience. We were able to meet with her only once since we are out-of-towners, but she took the time to go over all aspects of the night with us. From entrance music to the ceremony, to dinner and cocktail hour, she made the whole evening so incredibly special. She was open to collaboration but really shone when we just let her do her thing. She started out the evening with lots of easy crowd-pleasers (Jackson 5, Motown and others) and was so great about reading the crowd and getting everyone up out of their seats to dance. By the end of the night we were dancing to ’90s hip hop and some newer hip hop/pop music. Absolutely nothing about her playlist felt tired or boring or conventional, but it was all accessible music that our friends and family loved. We have already had a friend talk about flying her down for a wedding in Florida – she’s that good.
Not only is she an amazing DJ, but she was so helpful with suggesting how the evening should flow and how we should structure the timeline of the reception. We did so many “different” things at our wedding that made so much sense and made the night feel memorable and very special, and much of that was thanks to Ali.
We love Ali Gruber!!! She helped make our wedding seamless and stress free. Ali’s a great MC and made all the transitions from the cocktail hour to the cake wedding smooth as butter. Her musical selection was fun and kept everyone on the dance floor all night long. If you want a hip, unique and funky DJ for your wedding we recommend ALI!
Dj Ali is AWESOME! My husband and I love to dance and we try to make it to every event she DJ’s, because we know it is going to be the hottest thing going on that night. We were so blessed to have her DJ our wedding – all of our friends and relatives had such a blast and even the more self-conscious at our party made it onto the dance floor at some point that night. I would recommend her to anyone planning an event or looking to throw an unforgettable dance party!
We hired DJ Ali for our wedding because we wanted to dance and party all night long! Her musical stylings were perfect for our event. We wanted a little bit of this (soul music) and a little bit of that (hip hop/pop/rock/jams). DJ Ali was a consummate professional and was exceptional at communication. She encouraged us to create our own playlists which were a huge hit at some pretty pivotal points during our party. She listened to our needs and took our wants into play. And she plays vinyl!!! Super incredible time with DJ Ali! Highly recommend hiring her for your event!
Ali is the greatest DJ around. We met her months before our wedding and knew that she was finally the right fit for our day. We had interviewed so many DJ’s and bands that wanted to do our wedding their way and it just did not feel right. Ali wanted to do our wedding our way, she was perfect. She didn’t want to MC our wedding as if it was a highschool dance, she wanted to feel the crowd and keep the energy right where we wanted it to be.
Ali was great about responding to my emails and questions and she took care of all of the details, I didn’t have to worry about a thing!!!
Without a doubt our wedding was a perfect balance of background music during dinner and a get on your feet party after. She did not play a single song that we didn’t want to dance to. Ali was the answer to our music woes.
Thank you sooooo Much!!!!
Ali just DJed our wedding and we had the. best. time. Ali took a lot of time to get to know us before the wedding and really took our interests and concerns to heart. She also provided sage advice regarding the timing of various elements of the ceremony/reception, no doubt guided by her many experiences at many different kinds of weddings. I had more people than I can count come up to me to ask where I found a DJ who spun sets as fun as Ali and who asked me to pass along their compliments. Thank you, Ali, for making our wedding so much fun. We loved every second of it!
Ali Gruber is the best! It was an overwhelming task to find a “cool” DJ for my upstate New York wedding, everyone seemed out of touch and cheesy. The moment someone recommended DJ Ali Gruber to me I knew she was the one. If you are a bride or groom who loves to dance, loves good music, but hates the chicken dance, Ali is the DJ for you. My guests love to dance and they were dancing animals that night, young and old. I can’t recommend her enough. Don’t give it a second thought…hire her…now!
We got married this past April and Ali was the most amazing person to work with! She was so warm, even from our first meeting, and dealt with a lot of questions from us throughout the whole process.
Her music choices and timing were awesome, and everything she said she’d do, she followed through. We were able to bring a box of our own records and she played them, which made the day even more special. She provided song recommendations for our parent dances and helped us figure out our reception schedule as far as first dances, toasts, etc. which is above and beyond. Ali is your girl!
This girl is one of the most wonderful, music-loving humans on the planet. DJ Ali was my saving grace, being a tattooed, old-timey bride who was sincerely dreading having to fight a (less amazing) DJ to play 1940’s-1980’s jams and leave their fedoras, fog machines and hideous laser lights at home. Ali was my dream DJ from the very start. I still can’t believe she goes through the trouble of lugging a massive collection of well-loved vinyl to her events!!! Having vinyl spinning at our wedding was right up our alley (pun intended), and I can’t tell you how fascinated our guests were to see that we had found such a unique DJ for our offbeat wedding. You have to appreciate a girl who loves her music this much — enough to help this emotional, very-attached-to-music bride work through her song choices and the soundtrack for the night’s overall mood. As a first (and only) time bride, I love that she doesn’t let you flail and/or make terrible music choices — She has fantastic taste and a true understanding of how music works and flows, especially over the course of a special evening.
DJ Ali is a quirky, badass human, and we are so lucky to have met her. If you’re going to spend money on someone, do yourself a favor and invest in this girl and her turntables.
Dj Ali DJ’ed our recent wedding in the Hudson Valley. Let me tell you – she is incredibly skilled at what she does, and got nearly every single person up on the dance floor – and they stayed there. The guests at our wedding were diverse in age and backgrounds, but every last one of them wound up shaking their groove thing. From motown to 80s to hip hop to reggae and even a little reggaeton, Ali weaved it all together beautifully. As the bride, while greeting guests during the reception, I found myself quite often apologizing to say “I’m so sorry – I have to go dance to this song!”
Further, she is extremely professional, easy to work with and has great experience with how to make wedding receptions flow seamlessly. I wish I could have her DJ a party every year. She’s truly the best. Hire her. Seriously. You don’t regret it.
Choosing Ali to be our DJ was one of the best (and easiest!) decisions we made throughout the entire wedding planning process. I knew as soon as I read about her and her work that she would be a good fit for our style. Of all the vendors and details to stress over, it was the most confident decision I made, and my mind was at ease right from the start with Ali. Many fun and awesome emails were exchanged before we met in person (we live a couple of hours away) which paved the way for a great, laugh -filled meeting. Ali read us extremely well, it felt like we were just old friends getting together to talk about music. She is totally bad ass, yet super sweet, kind, and fun. She gave me truly great advice when I couldn’t make up my mind about what songs to use for our dances, and they turned out perfectly. I knew she was being sincere and not just telling me what I wanted to hear. She really cares about making you happy and about you and your guests enjoying themselves to the fullest!
I was very excited about having a woman who spins vinyl at our wedding, and she did not disappoint! Guests were intrigued and impressed by a DJ spinning vinyl. All of my friends thought she was great and some were already trying to book her for their weddings/parties before the end of the night! She took care of the ceremony music I requested, the cocktail hour playlist, a fabulous dinner playlist, hours of crowd-pleasing (of all ages) music to dance to and even included all the songs I had requested to be played. Her and her assistant were friendly, fun, and required zero attention from us. Ali is a true professional, a music aficionado, and lovely human being. I highly recommend her and her services to anyone who wants something fun, funky, personalized and curated by a lover of good music!
To put it simply…Ali is the best! From the beginning she was super helpful, responsive and friendly. Not only did she provide us recommendations with regard to music but she made suggestions for the ceremony and reception timeline and was overall a great resource for the wedding planning process.
With regard to the music — it was phenomenal. So many guests (young and old) complimented us on our DJ selection and the dance floor was packed the whole night. Ali’s ability to read the crowd and play what people wanted to hear/dance to was beyond our expectations. I cannot say enough good things about her!
Ali is AWESOME! I would not look any further for your wedding DJ. In the past, I have had a bad connotation with wedding DJs – I think of middle aged men with goatees and shiny vests who love to talk loudly into the mic and interrupt good songs, tacky purple laser lights, and the ruining of songs I love with obnoxious techno beats layered over them.
When I met with Ali for a consultation, I knew she was the opposite of this. I had found what I was looking for, Ali and I clicked right away. Ali is cool and truly knows and loves music, and really listened to what we liked and wanted for our wedding. Throughout the process, Ali was extremely responsive, organized, and great to work with.
At our wedding, she made classy announcements, but mostly just kept the music bumping and the music flowed in a logical fashion – classy early Ella Fitzgerald type music during dinner, 70s soul to get the older folks up and dancing, and then a seamless transition to the 90s hip hop and current dance hits that I told Ali I loved. It was like every song was exactly what I needed, an amazing dance party. We had many guests comment to us how much they loved the dancing at our wedding, and a few guests ask for her contact information so they could hire her.
Many wedding guests also loved Ali’s partner, who sat next to her and just sang every song that played – he was loving the music just as much as we were! A classy touch, the microphone that Ali brought was this vintage microphone that looks really beautiful and vintage in our wedding photos.
Ali also made our after party playlist, which was so great that I still listen to this day. The fact that Ali also spins vinyl made the event that much more memorable and unique. I am so grateful to Ali for making our wedding the such an amazing dance party. She is truly the best DJ in the Hudson Valley area.
Spoiler alert: if you’re looking for the perfect DJ to help you create an epic dance party at your wedding, Ali is your girl! After browsing through the long list of lame DJs in the Hudson Valley, I came across Ali’s page and was refreshed by her style and taste. After exchanging just one email with her I already knew she was the one (due in large part to our shared love of Dirty Dancing). She is incredibly friendly (seriously, you’ll want to be best friends), has a wide range of music knowledge, really cares about what you want, and man oh man is she talented. She was one vendor we knew we didn’t have to worry about- and if you’re planning a wedding you know just how important that is. We knew Ali would do a phenomenal job on our wedding day, but she exceeded all of our expectations. She started with some classy Motown favorites and eased into some soul and funk, and then turned it up with some 90s hip hop and R&B later in the evening. It was amazing to see all of our guests on the dance floor – from the kids to our grandmothers – and Ali even played some Bollywood jams, which was really important for our family. We literally did not leave the dance floor the entire night, and every time we tried she’d put on another song that we couldn’t help but stay for. The icing on the cake was when she DJ’ed our after party – since my husband also DJs himself, she was kind enough to let him use her equipment to do his own set dedicated to me. It was such a special moment, one that I’ll never forget. Aside from marrying my best friend, Ali was hands down the best part of my wedding day 🙂
When my musician now-husband and I were looking for a DJ, we were looking for someone who wasn’t into crazy lighting, awkward announcements, or Top 40. It was also important that our DJ work closely with my husband’s band and our friend who played ceremony music.
DJ Ali checked off all of these boxes and more. Spinning only vinyl, and having a keen understanding of what we were looking for, DJ Ali fulfilled all of our musical dreams for our Catskills wedding. There was never a moment that people weren’t dancing! Her energy was perfectly matched for ours, and we really jived with her from our first Facetime call!
In addition to spinning a very well-curated list of songs PERFECTLY, she helped us a lot with our day-of timeline. We didn’t hire a wedding planner, so this was extremely helpful for us as far as understanding how the reception interacted with toasts, first dances, etc. She was also really empathetic when it came to the paradox of the father-daughter dance. She suggested some really wonderful songs for me and my mom to dance to, and even suggested other alternatives to ensure everyone was comfortable and joyous in this shift from tradition.
DJ Ali knows what she’s doing, which is so important when it comes to hiring a wedding vendor. Though she had not yet worked at my venue, she navigated the space and the schedule very easily. She worked closely with us on when to move equipment, coordinating with my husband’s band, and ensuring that our guests had an incredible experience.
I would highly, highly recommend DJ Ali. She is not your typical wedding DJ by any means at all. She is easy to work with, communicative (and she even had a baby while I was wedding planning!), and just gets it! I really wish I had another event coming up, because I would 100% hire DJ Ali!