Party-day guide
Ten minutes of prep protects five hours of party. Most music disasters are logistics, not software — this list kills them in advance.
1. A DJ, or your own music?
A DJ reads the room and can rescue an evening that is dying — worth the money if the budget is there. Your own music costs nothing and sounds like you, but someone has to watch it. Jukefloor does not force the choice: in DJ mode the DJ takes guest requests through the system and plays them from their own gear, while the big screen, voting and moderation carry on as normal. Without a DJ, Jukefloor plays from the host's laptop itself.
2. The day before
Run a full rehearsal: open the console, scan your own QR, request three songs from your phone, and let one track finish on its own. Print the QR sheets. Charge the laptop.
3. Laptop setup
Plug into power. Disable sleep and screen lock (Jukefloor holds the screen awake, but belts and braces). Close every other tab and app. Turn off notifications. Use Chrome or Edge.
4. Getting the big screen onto a TV
Picture and sound travel separately, and that is deliberate: the big screen goes on the TV or projector, the music goes to the speakers. The big screen page plays no audio at all — cast or mirror that tab and you send the picture only, while the console keeps playing out of the laptop and into whatever you cabled it to. Cast the big screen tab, never the console tab. Casting mutes a tab on the laptop itself, so casting the console would take the music off your speakers mid-party. If the TV is your only speaker, don't cast at all — run an HDMI cable from the laptop and it carries picture and sound in one go. On a Mac, AirPlay to an Apple TV does the same without the cable.
5. Sound
Use a cable to the speakers, not Bluetooth — Bluetooth drops are the #1 party killer. Set system volume to 100% and control loudness on the speakers. Test at party volume before guests arrive.
6. Sound through the venue's speakers (AirPlay, Sonos, mixer)
On a Mac, AirPlay is the easy win: click the sound icon in the menu bar and pick your Sonos, HomePod, Apple TV or any AirPlay speaker — everything the console plays goes through it. Keep the laptop and the speaker on the same wifi. On Windows there is no AirPlay. Use a cable: 3.5 mm into the amp, or HDMI into the TV the room already uses. A Sonos with a line-in port works too. Bluetooth is the last resort — it can stutter, and every drop is silence on a full floor. Playing a venue with a mixer or PA? Ask for an “aux in” and bring a 3.5 mm-to-jack (or RCA) cable. One cable, one test at party volume before guests arrive, done.
7. Internet
The venue's wifi is a rumor until proven. Test it in the actual room. Have your phone's hotspot ready as backup — the console reconnects by itself.
8. Set the moments
Pin the first dance to its time. Write your pause message for the speeches. Set the fallback playlist so the room never goes silent.
9. The night, hour by hour
Most weddings follow the same rhythm, and the music has to follow it. Welcome drinks and dinner: quiet background music, requests closed — people need to hear each other. During the speeches, pause the party with a message so the big screen explains the silence instead of just going dark. After the cake, open requests; that is when guests start looking at the QR code. In Denmark the bridal waltz lands just before midnight — pin it to the clock so it cannot end up behind fourteen requests. After the late-night food the floor is warm and the queue runs itself for the rest of the night.
10. During the party
You don't need to touch anything — the queue runs itself. Hand the co-host link to a trusted guest if you'd rather dance than moderate.