I'm Matthew Cope, and I've been DJing weddings in Sacramento, Elk Grove, and across Central California since 2001 — in vineyards and barns, ballrooms and backyards, on patios under string lights and in venues that didn't technically exist before the bride got creative with her parents' lawn.

Ilearned the trade in the Bay Area with Sound In Motion Entertainment, where I started on college and house parties and worked my way up to corporate events, weddings, and high-end celebrations. That's where I figured out the difference between playing songs and running a room. Then I moved to Sacramento, picked up a Philosophy degree (concentration in Linguistics) at Sac State, and launched Cope Entertainment as my own brand in 2011.

But none of that is what you're hiring.

You're hiring a person who's going to spend six or seven hours paying very close attention to your day. To your aunts you haven't seen in two years. To the friend who's nervous about her toast. To the cousin's kids who are about to lose it on the dance floor. To the two of you — and the look you give each other when your song comes on.

That's the part of this work I love. The mic, the music, the timing — those are tools. The craft is reading what people need before they do, and giving them the room to feel it.