Ipod instead of dj

I have to agree with all the ladies as well !

Good point about the MC. Thanks Lisa.

Thats a good point actually, thankyou!

I agree with the ladies previous posts. It's a lot of work. If dancing/entertainment isn't a large component of your wedding then it might work. Another large component of what a DJ does aside from playing music is MC, and keep everyone interacting and participating in the event. So if that's important to you then you may want to find a way to cut costs somewhere else. Good luck!

Hey Rory, I'm glad you already got such great advice on here! I totally agree with the other ladies, it's doable but in order to make it good, it really demands time-investment and ideally someone in charge of the playlist on your big day to get everyone dancing.

You can take a look at the vendors here to see if you could find some good options for you:

Wedding Music British Columbia

You also see Amanda's post on making her own playlist:

How many songs does a reception need?

What type of songs did you have in mind for your big day?

I agree with Melissa and Chelsea. Doing it yourself CAN be done... but it is A LOT of work ahead of time, A LOT of upkeep during and takes your attention away from being able to just relax and enjoy the day. I fully get keeping costs low, but I would personally try and find a cheaper DJ and make cuts elsewhere if need be.

I planned on doing MP3 player until a friend offered us an amateur DJ as as wedding gift... We will have a Playlist as a backup just in case either flakes... it's a viable option as long as you have someone you can put in charge of the music and not have to worry about it yourself.

Hi Rory, I agree with the ladies on here. I think that having iPod for a DJ is good but it's the work and constantly watching for gaps and the little things. For dinner and cocktail hour would be ideal but for the rest of the evening, I recommend a DJ. The DJ can assist you planning your playlist and the best part you can let them know what do and don't want to have played at your wedding.

We considered running this but you would need to plan out the entire playlist before hand for the number of hours you need to cover. I think it would work but was going to require more work than I wanted to put into it. I also think there are other benifits to a DJ such as a larger song library and the patter than they create between songs. Having said that I think that for a backyard wedding it might work really well because of the more relaxed and casual mood that is going to create. But it all depends on what type of party you want!

I think that an ipod playlist could work for the cocktail hour or dinner portion but I agree with Melissa and Chelsea that you might want someone more hands on during the dancing portion of the night. Maybe you could find someone just for the dancing portion to help cut down on costs?

My friends just got married in August and they just had a laptop plugged into some speakers... They rarely had anyone on the dance floor, sometimes after the whole playlist had been played, the same songs would just come on again and someone would have to run over to change the songs. If some songs didn't have the swearing taken out of the songs - again they would have to run over and change it.... The flow of the wedding seemed very off!

I don't want to scare you away from the thought of doing the i-pod or laptop but this was the only experience I have had with this!

I think for a back yard this might be a great option! You might want to borrow/ rent/ buy some good loud speakers to set a party mood.

My venue offered this option, but we did decide against it because we were concerned about gaps in the "flow", timing, and keeping people dancing. One of my biggest worries doing a playlist would be....if no one is dancing, who will hadles the song selection to get people moving? If you have a friedn willing to pitch in to help- this could really work and save you a bundle!