Best Reception Music: Band, DJ, Or Playlist? 🎸🎷🎧🎤💿🎶

We are going with dj. We want to hear songs by the original artists and they are pros at reading the crowd, along with access at their fingertips to millions of songs. Bands are cost prohibitive and only have one genre of music. I’ve been a guest where the couple did playlists and those backfired because the music was not danceable and there was no way to switch to other songs.


The weddings with djs have always had a packed dance floor even if a large number prefer to chat instead.

Definitely DJ. Bands won’t be able to play every single song you or your guests want to hear. Also, DJ’s sometimes accept playlists from the couple. And if you just do a playlist with no one controlling it, that could waste a lot of time with songs being fully played with no one dancing, where as a DJ will pick up on that and change songs to get the party going.

View Quoted Comment My fiance and I also booked a DJ. My fiance loves live music, so we initially looked into a live band, but ended up going with a DJ instead. The bands don't necessarily cover just one genre, though I agree that they are somewhat limited in songs them can play and can't always honor song requests. I personally would have a tough time putting together a playlist, though I have heard of some people having success with it! The upside to a DJ is that they can read the room and know what songs to play to keep people on the dance floor all night.

View Quoted Comment Totally agree with you on the benefits of a DJ! Those are all reasons as to why we booked a DJ instead of a live band (my fiance loves live music and initially preferred that option).

Reasons for both…
DJ for younger crowd, big range of music, party vibe. Band for classy or black tie affair, themed party or older crowd.

I had always been a fan of DJ's for a lot of the reasons listed above, but a few years ago at my best friend's wedding, she hired a band with male and female vocalists playing all hit, upbeat dance music. Totally opened my eyes to how fun a band could be, but I know they are expensive. On the other end of the music option spectrum, the wedding for my coworker a couple weeks ago simply used a playlist, and it's tempting me to go this direction with how fun and inexpensive it was. They collected all the guests' song requests on their OurWeddingParty.com site by asking "What song will get you on the dance floor?" They apparently synched all our requests to a Spotify playlist and had all their reception music. Seemed super easy and people would get excited to hear their song on the dance floor. It made for a really fun night of dancing!

View Quoted Comment I totally agree with you on the reasons for each! My fiance and I both partly wish we booked a live band (he especially loves lives music), but our DJ is awesome, so no regrets!

View Quoted Comment I love hearing how successful any of the three options can be! We are putting a line for song requests on our RSVP cards, and giving those requests to our DJ. That's so awesome that the live band went over so well at your friend's wedding! I think it helps to have both male and female vocalists to change up the sound a bit. Did they play their own music? Or did they do covers of other songs?

Initially i wanted playlist but in the end i opted for DJ because my venue actually didn't come with sound equipment anyway so i would needed to rent something but the DJ i found was cheap

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Just cover songs! Makes it a lot easier for people to dance to and get excited when they know the songs. Unless the vast majority of guests are really into dancing to live music that is out of the mainstream (and that they've never heard of), I find it hard to see a full dance floor with a live band that does original music. The exception would be if you somehow get a big time/famous band to play. Then original songs would be a blast

View Quoted Comment Glad you found an awesome DJ!

View Quoted Comment Totally makes sense on why you would book a DJ in that scenario! The cost of renting sound equipment might not be worth it, plus setting it all up. Awesome that you found an inexpensive DJ!

View Quoted Comment Good point about people being more likely to dance if it's to songs they already know!

View Quoted Comment Thanks! 🙂