Going without a band or DJ?

Is it a budget issue? The right DJ can really make your reception amazing. Don't let the awful DJs discourage you. And setting up playlists isn't as easy as it sounds. I would be incredibly time consuming. Oh wait, I just saw your date. So do you not have a DJ yet?

ETA: Listen to Kristy below!!!

I will be honest... I was GOING to do this. I was all gung-ho about saving the money that I would have had to pay a DJ. I was brainstorming playlists, got the info for sound systems rentals and everything. I was going to save money, dammit!

I realised about 2 or 3 weeks before the wedding that it was not a good idea and I am SO THANKFUL I was able to get a good DJ at such short notice!!! I really think he saved my wedding!!!

You need more than just an iPod. You need good speakers and a PA system. If your venue doesn't provide this, you will have to rent it. Who is going to set it up and bring it back to the hotel or your house for you? DJs do so much more than just hit the play button. They keep the pace of the reception, make special announcements, etc. They also have experience reading the crowd and adjusting the music accordingly to keep people dancing. An iPod can't do that.

If you want any kind of dance party at your reception, I really believe a DJ is invaluable. I saved myself A LOT of stress!!! I was feeling SO MUCH anxiety trying to find the perfect Spotify order for my songs. Keep in mind you also don't want dead air space between songs. It will be a ton of work to mix them properly. It just wasn't worth it. And this is coming from someone who was TOTALLY SET on doing it herself. I can't even imagine how stressed I would have been had I not been able to hire that DJ. Best money I spent.

Get a good DJ.

We're doing this. We are both super into music and FH knows how to get a party going. We're sending song request cards with the invites so we can work those into the playlist and we'll be fading songs into each other so there's no awkward pauses/silences. It takes a lot of thought to time things and predict ebbs and flows but the process of it is fun and guarantees no cha cha slides or DJ banter (which I hate).

To be fair, our ceremony and reception is all happening in one location and is only 4 hours long too so there's not much room for error. We're also not getting "announced" we don't have a bridal party to introduce, or a garter toss or a father/daughter dance, etc. etc. all the things you need an MC for. And our venue has a great system that we were able to test out when we toured it.

Add in an open bar and I know people will be dancing.

ETA: It's also small wedding (35 guests), we know our audience, and the whole event is laid back.

It all depends on your wedding. Is it a large, evening affair? If so, I absolutely would not skimp on a DJ.

We are having a Sunday brunch wedding for 40 and in this case, I feel a DJ would be very out of place.

A good DJ will ask you how involved/vocal you want him to be during the reception. You can tell them that you want only important announcement and not a lot of chatter.

We're having a Sunday afternoon wedding with an early evening dinner and no dancing--there's not even enough room in our reception area for a DJ if we wanted one. I'm doing a Spotify playlist.

I am still on the fence about hiring someone for the ceremony though...It's $300 for an hour of music so that's no small charge but the idea of playing music through a laptop through their PA system stresses me out.

I think it depends on what you have envisioned for the reception. Personally we are going without one but we are having a small camping wedding. We will have a nice dinner with a playlist quietly in the background, a "first dance" for our song, and a playlist for afterward. My family did a soul train line when we hosted thanksgiving so I imagine there will be some dancing but we're going for a more laid back evening.

Get a DJ at the very least. Look and look and read all the reviews and look again. It took us awhile to find the right DJ but I will say it was worth it because he wasn't run of the mill and definitely wasn't typical. He was willing to work with us on all of our songs and kept the music to the style of the whole crowd.

I was in this same dilemma - I set up a playlist on my iphone and set up the fade function in spotify and was ready to do it on a budget but then attended two back to back weddings with no DJ and it was totally chaotic! No one knew where they were supposed to be, what they were doing. The father daughter dance didn't even happen til 11 pm! When interviewing DJ's FH and I went with one that was marketed as a DJ/coordinator and he went through a schedule of events with us and discussed how he works with other vendors and the wedding party to help make things run smoothly. I'm now super excited about our DJ decision!

At first, I was all about saving those dolla bills. Here in Utah, it's fairly rare to see a DJ at a wedding - mostly because around here everyone just invites their whole facebook friend list and says "show up whenever!" so people are coming and going constantly and there's no dancing - the bride and groom are stuck in a receiving line literally the whole time.

As we started planning our wedding, we realized that having a typical Utah reception would surely make us rip our hair out. We are going for a more traditional reception - dinner served, dancing, partying! No receiving line for us! And as we were figuring out more of those logistics, we realized that giving my sister an iPod was NOT the way to go.

Luckily our wedding planner was on the same page - if we want people to stay throughout the night, we better give them two things - lots of food, and a good DJ that can keep the party going. We went with someone recommended by our wedding venue - they've seen them in action and can tell us from lots of experience that they'll actually be good! We have a few more months to go but neither of us have given it a second thought since booking the DJ. It's the obvious choice for what we want from our reception.

Also this DJ is pretty involved - we are having a meeting beforehand to discuss what we want and don't want at the event. Which means I can VETO that stupid cha cha slide!!

It really depends on the type of reception you want. If you're thinking about an evening reception with dancing and various events (garter and bouquet toss, etc) then it might be a good idea to look into DJs.

We're having a lunch reception with no dancing, so a DJ for us. We're having some background music on an ipod/laptop with speakers. But if we had a bigger guest list or a more traditional reception, I'd be looking at DJs. Even though I've never been at a wedding with a good one. I know they exist somewhere!

We are not doing any dancing so we are making a play list of background music. FH has made it where there is almost 4 hours of music and same song isn't played twice. That is way more than we need. He also has it set up that he can turn it on and off remotely and we have a backup person to go turn it off and on if the remote fails. If your dancing I would suggest a DJ. DJ's are just like everything else, you get what you pay for.

Get a DJ. It will be SO less stressful for you and so much more fun for your guests.

By reading your description, I don't know if you should get a dj since you are in a restaurant space. Then again if you are in a large space where there is room to dance, then a dj would work. At our reception we are dancers and so are our guests so a DJ is needed. The thing I hate about playlists is that the whole song plays out. I'm not into that, but you have to know your crowd and make a decision from there.

We're not dancing, so we're doing an iPod on the venues awesome sound system while we eat.

But I think if you want dancing, you should get a dj!

I love having a DJ not just for music, but because of announcements and just time management in general. I'm relying on him to make everything flow and keep the night going.

We are not having one, we are doing a playlist on spotify! In my personal opinion its a waste of money(for our wedding) We are having 100 people and chances of any or them dancing are extremely slim.