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My FI and I had the same issues. Although our place had the space to accomodate a DJ it was all about budget. In the end we decided to make room in the budget for one because when we thought about who in our family to leave in charge of an iPod or be on a microphone to MC we quickly changed our minds. Along the way I did think of alternatives like musicians - depending on the number of musicians they may possibly take up more room than a DJ would. I also looked around at pianists who could play not only 'dinner' music but also some up beat stuff. Most already own their own keyboard to have with them in cases of moving to different rooms in the venue or space issues as you may have. Maybe musicians and then iPod would be a good compromise with your FMIL. If not, maybe you need to find out what her 'real' issue is with not having a DJ.
How many of your guests do a lot of dancing? If there aren't a lot of dancers and you want a more laid-back reception, you may be wise to just go with an ipod and save some cash. If you ipod, don't forget about the microphone for announcements and speeches (unless it's a smaller wedding).
If have a lot of people who dance, or if you want to encourage people to dance, a good dj can really make that happen in the way a pre-programed ipod can't. DJs can also act as mcs, too, which is nice if you don't want to ask a guest to (wo)man the microphone. If you're worried about how the set-up will look, ask to see pictures. Not all djs have cheesy-looking equipment.
We are saving money in this area as DJ's can tend to be expensive, and rather obnoxious at that. So...my Fiance has a friend who is an artist and he is going to bring his equipment and play songs off of our Ipod (which is nice because we get to hand pick every song that will be played at our wedding). And he will also sing acoustic randomly throughout the night! :)
Oh..just gave me goosebumps thinking about it! I can't wait! One month to go!
We're doing an iPod reception (though running the music off of our laptops using iTunes with iPods as a backup), so we may be biased. :) For us, we love music and have a had a great time crafting a playlist. Things to consider:
1) how tech savvy are you? can you set up the connections and/or troubleshoot (or designate someone to do this on the day of)?
2) what is your desired effect? if you want people dancing, music is key - if you're not used to DJing for dancers (or putting together dancable playlists), you may want to opt for a DJ.
3) who is going to make announcements/signal the start of various activities (cake cutting, first dance, etc.)? usually this falls to the DJ, so make sure you have sometime on deck to do this if you go the iPod route.
Also, do a search on iPod wedding - there have been a couple of threads on this site that have excellent information to help you weigh the decision. If you go iPod, make sure you have backup music in multiple formats (CD, iPod, additional iPod or computer + iTunes) and have someone help set up, deal with any volume issues and press stop/start. For playlists, if you have specific music for each section of the reception (cocktail music, dinner music, first dance song, cake cutting song, whatever other thing you can think of), separate out into multiple playlists. That way, if the timing is off, you're not still eating dinner when your first dance song comes on. Also, be sure to listen to the entire playlist(s) several times in advance of the event. This will help give you a sense of the energy/flow and if there are any super long pauses or an odd fade out or abrupt transition.
Thanks for the advice everyone! We are having about 90 guests and I think maybe half of them will dance but the venue is not really "dancing friendly" as there isn't that much space to do so. Our DOC already offered to act as an mc in the event that we do decide to go the i-pod route.
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Hi Everyone- I am torn between whether or not to hire a DJ for my May 09 wedding. Our reception is taking place at a really nice formal restaurant. While we'll be the only ones there, I originally decided against having a DJ since there isn't that much space for one, the restaurant already has a very nice sound system that I could use with my i-pod and lastly, I just thought it would look nicer. I'm starting to get second thoughts that this will look strange. My FMIL has also made comments that I should "reconsider" my decision- what do you all think?? I was thinking of maybe a happy medium like hiring a musician to play music during dinner and do the ipod thing afterwards but I'm not sure. Any suggestsions??