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If you have a friend that is outgoing and would make a good emcee (announcing the bridal party and first dances and such) then i would def go ipod. My FSIL did an ipod an it turned out really well, i think it is important to have someone get everyone else pumped up so an emcee is needed in my opinion.
We are going with a DJ because having someone emcee is really important to me, and since her brother is my FI's best man i cant use him :( and i really cant think of anyone else that would do as good of a job as him.
I think Ipod is great IF you put enough work into it. Although with your having to rent a sound system that might be too much work for me for not enough savings. We're doing ipod because our venue is already wired to hook up to an ipod with speakers all around, and has wireless mics. To make it work, we're:
1- Making lots of playlists, each event will have its own (cocktail hour, first dances, cake cutting, dinner, dancing)
2- spending a lot of time on the playlists to make sure they flow well, are dance-able, and fade into each other
3- asking a friend to MC. He will have a script with a timeline so he'll be making all the important announcements and he'll be in charge of changing the playlists.
I am confident it is going to go great, but it is definitely worth spending the time to do it RIGHT because crappy music can really kill a party!
My uncle is being our emcee. He did this for my parent's wedding too :) You could totally find someone like a friend or relative to do the annoucements etc. I think because of this we're going with an ipod :)
It cost us about $40 to rent our system (we also had lighting, and the lighting guys also did sound, so it was part of that), and we used it for both our ceremony and reception (our cocktail hour room had speakers built into the wall with an iPod hookup already there). It took more time to make the playlists, but seriously - SO MUCH CHEAPER. For the price of a DJ, you could do iPod plus lighting. For real. Our ipod reception went SO smoothly - our good friend MC'd, the dance floor was packed all night. It was awesome.
I had an IPod and it was perfect. We had a very small wedding and did not want or need an emcee, and we had a great time putting the playlists together. Our venue had a sound system so we did not need to rent speakers. People danced all night, and I am very glad that we did not spend the money on a DJ.
I had a DJ but besides the lighting he brought with him- I really felt that we could have saved ourselves the money and done the ipod route and had the same result.
Try calling local senior centers, YMCAs, churches, and schools (bonus points if you went there) and ask if you can rent the mic and speakers for a small donation.
And it really isnt that much trouble for someone to make announcements and switch playlists. Its a good job for someone who really wants to help but hasn't foudn a way yet.
also- most DJ's won't play anyhting with foul language and let you specify which genres to play or not play. so don't worry about that.
I say ipod if you're picky about the music, and DJ if you want one less thing to worry about.
We actually did both. Our ceremony was in a theatre with it's own sound system, so we ran the pre-ceremony, ceremony and cocktail hour music from my iPod. Then, we had a DJ for our ceremony.
Honestly, we could have used the iPod for the whole thing with no problem.
@PaperCrane: I'd say the exact opposite! DJ if you're picky about the music, and Ipod if you're not! A great DJ is something DH and I absolutely wouldn't budge on as they really set the tone of the entire reception. A good or bad DJ/Ipod/music/entertainment can completely make or break a reception, IMO.
In real life, I've never heard of an Ipod reception going well (only on the Bee have people said it actually worked). I think it is very difficult to pull of well so if music/entertainment is important to you, go with a DJ all the way!
I'll also add that any DJ worth anything will not play explicit language and will avoid any music genres you don't want played. They're working for you and you get a lot of control over what is and isn't played.
When we started planning, we decided that we would splurge on entertainment!! It is the life of the party. My fiancée is Serbian Orthodox so we are also having a Serbian Wedding Singer along with a DJ. I can't wait. This is one the things we booked first!!! Good luck in your choice!!
I think the right DJ can make or break a wedding; not just from a music perspective but also when you think about flow and overall entertainment. A good DJ will take your music selections into account and also help with the timing and planning of your reception. It's nice to have an MC to announce cake cutting, father/daughter dance, and even general information like making sure everyone's glasses are full when the toast is approaching. I wouldn't recommend hiring a cheap DJ without being really confident in his work; make sure you do your homework and get recommendations from real past clients (not just the web site!) if so. We're planning a really informal afternoon wedding and will most likely have an ipod set up for background music, but I don't think we'll have dancing at all. We will have a speaker system and a friend available to narrate/MC where needed. Depending on what you have in mind for your wedding though, I think a DJ can be super important when it comes to making sure everyone has a great time!
We are having an iPod because my fiance is a total control freak. I've definitely heard many times of DJ's playing songs on the no play list, usually the "wedding classic" type stuff. Since my fiance has a really wide ranging music collection and is looking forward to spending hours and hours putting together the playlist, going the iPod/laptop route was a no-brainer. We have a friend who DJ's occasionally who is going to be in charge of making sure things go smoothly and will probably have someone else emcee.
We're going the DJ route, no question. Entertainment is too important for us to risk using an iPod. Like you I weighed the pros and cons of both and hiring the DJ was the obvious choice for us. Besides I want karaoke at our reception so we kind of need a DJ for that.
Unlike many who go with DJs, music is so important to me that I am avoiding them like the plague! I have a friend who I asked to cue certains songs during the reception and be sort-of part-time Emcee, and in the end he went into full-on DJ mode. Yay for me. So I get total control over the music and someone I can trust to show up and sincerely want to make me happy :)
@Green Apple Bride: If you want a DJ, try looking around places where they are just not wedding DJ's. My friend hired a guy who was a DJ at a bar they went to all the time and he was awesome and HALF the cost of a wedding DJ.
Our DJ was a god-send. She kept us on track all afternoon and handled some bumps along the way seamlessly. So seamlessly that people thought they were planned. What was even better, was that I didn't have to think about the entertainment at all that day, except to see everyone having a nice time.
@Mrs.KMM: I completely agree. A good DJ will ONLY play what you tell him/her to play and nothing else.
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D.J. vs. Ipod
My latest big decision is whether to have a D.J. or use our ipod or laptop. As a bride trying to do things as inexpensively as possible, eliminating the D.J. seems like something that could easily cut costs. However, it does seem problematic not to have a DJ. First of all, even though my fiancé and I have large collections of music in our itunes we would, without a doubt, have to purchase more. Which might not be that bad because it’s not like we won’t listen to the music after the wedding but that is an additional expense. In addition, we would have to rent some kind of PA/speaker system and I have no idea what that may cost. I’ve done a little research but so far I haven’t found the information I was looking for. If it costs $300 to rent the system, to me that’s not really worth it to ipod it instead of just looking for an inexpensive D.J. The last reservation I have about the DIY music entertainment is who is going to control it? Obviously someone will have to start the music, stop it when people are giving toast, and change the playlists from dinner music to dance music. Someone will have to announce us and the wedding party. And of course I’m the “what if?” type of person. I worry about problems that could arise since an ipod or laptop isn’t as reliable as a professional D.J.’s equipment.
At this point I’m about 50/50 on a D.J. vs. ipod. I don’t want to go out and hire the cheapest D.J. out there either. I really like the idea that with an ipod or laptop I can have complete control over what will be played. I really don’t like the idea that at D.J. might start playing country or rock music since I’m not a fan of it. Or, the latest rap song with explicit lyrics that make my parents and older relative cringe. Any ideas?
Green Apple Bride