3/22/13- Band or DJ

[Niveous]

Happy World Water Day.

QotD: Band or DJ?

So, I'm getting married in October and the fiance & I are knee deep in wedding plans. One of the hardest parts so far has been finding a band to play at the wedding. So my question is if you're married, did you have a band or a dj? Anyone having wedding band or DJ stories?

[roymond]

We had a small wedding on the brooklyn bridge, then a party two months later. I hired Indian musicians for the first half of the party...sitar and tabla during cocktails & dinner (my father in law is from Calcutta). And a full band for dancing later (led by a friend who put together an A-list wedding band). Live music is the awesome. Except for $$ (which I totally understand), how could you consider a DJ?

[Caravan Ray]

WTF?!?! I was married years ago.

We had CDs then. I gave the DJ dude all my CDs and told him what to play. That was the fashion of the time. Nowdays you frikking implant USBs into everybody or some fucking thing. i don't know.

As long as you pay for the piss - who gives a shit?

[Billy's Little Trip]

Generally I say a live band for all events. BUT a wedding should be total focus on the bride and groom, (mainly the bride, because let's face it, it's her day) so everything else should be just background ambiance. So I personally think a DJ is better with your special song for your first dance and a 3 or 4 hour list of songs you two provide. Plus DJs come with cool toys, like smoke machines, flashy lights and lasery beamy things. Bands only come with shaker eggs and terrible jokes. *budump-bump-tsss*

[ken]

I "hired" Glen Case to DJ my wedding. I basically made a bunch of playlists and gave him mp3s to play. I chose jazz versions of pop and metal tunes for the pre-ceremony waiting music, lounge music for the cocktail hour, and a fun mix of dance tunes for the dancing part. Glen augmented that with his own IMMENSE collection of music. I really appreciated his help and he and Rachael kept everything moving smoothly for us.

[Paco Del Stinko]

I've never been married. But besides attending dozens of weddings, my first job was at a function hall where there would be two wedding parties going on at the same time. Most had DJs, for cost, I'm sure. But the bands always sounded so much better, whether they were soft or (rarely) rocking. If you can afford it, get live music of some sort. If not, do like others here have mentioned and get you and your fiancés stuff on the playlist. Good luck!

[JonPorobil]

My wife and I wanted to do it up for the least money we could, so we rented a PA and plugged her iPod into it with a playlist that we both collaborated on for the occasion. Aside from one awkward moment when I had to show up early to my own wedding reception because no one else knew how to set up the dang thing, nobody even seemed to notice or care that we didn't have a "real" DJ.

[HeuristicsInc]

We had a DJ. I liked having my pop songs like Depeche Mode and Sumosonic and The Beatles (Niveous has seen my wedding playlist already). And he played our Dollar Bill & the Inkpoints song on his DJ rig. We had a rule when selecting DJs: if he suggests using silly hats, we do not hire him.
-bill

[jb]

We had a friend play songs from our iPod that we specifically chose. Wedding bands are a crapshoot unless you really know them, and the goal is to get ppl dancing-- which means the bride and groom must dance because if THEY don't then NOBODY will.

I say-- live music for the ceremony and cocktails. Carefully censored DJ for the reception.

Jb

[Billy's Little Trip]

because if THEY don't then NOBODY will.

"if they don't dance, well, they're no friends of mine"