To dj or not to dj

I was just in the same boat as you and asked my local Facebook wedding group. They totally sold me on a DJ. If you like to party and want your guests up dancing, it seems like a DJ is the way to go. Shop around - they vary hugely in price I have found!

A lot lot of people also warned me with a Spotify playlist that people would constantly come up and change the song before it was over!

With everyone’s suggestions we decided to hire a DJ and have booked one, thank you everyone!!

Dj is the way to go.. you have someone taking care of the.music if it stops. Do u have a M.C ? The dj can be your m.c

We had a DJ well worth it for a small wedding. He also was the MC as there was no program for family to do.

We're planning on hiring a DJ just to take that pressure off of us. We attended a friends DIY wedding where they had no choice but to use an IPod after their musician friend didn't show up. It was still a good time but there was some scrambling to be done.

We have decided to hire a DJ after all, for the ceremony, reception and MC, we have spoken to many, and finally meeting with one this Sunday

We are not hiring a DJ. We decided to use Spotify and have a couple people take turns to make sure everything runs smoothly. We are downloading the important songs and for the dance, I think it will just be a playlist (I don't actually know how Spotify works!) We are renting a sound system from our venue, along with a mixer board that the laptop will be hooked up to.

I personally want a DJ, but for everyone using their own system, DOWNLOAD THE IMPORTANT SONGS! (First dance, father daughter dance etc.) I went to a wedding where it was streaming and it just stopped part way through the first dance. Everyone was good about it, but you could see the bride’s face fall a little.

We got a DJ/MC, they were a bit on the pricey side i have to say, we shall see how that goes.

We are having a small breakfast wedding and we are going to use and iPod for music or maybe a Bose / iPhone music like Spotify. We aren’t spending money on a dj or on booze. 😊

All very valid points, thanks everyone!

Maybe we will just hire a DJ, there's another thing, if i hire one, i don't want to spend more than $1000.00 on one, but what if they are completely terrible?? I was at my friends wedding and her DJ was HORRIBLE, and there was barely anyone dancing and she spent about 1200.00 or something on them.

We hired a DJ. I thought about doing the music ourselves but by the time we rented all the equipment our DJ is providing we wouldn't be saving much. Plus, he is our MC and I don't have to worry about the music or the crowd and the flow of the evening, he will take care of it and I can just have fun.

Another big factor for deciding to hire a DJ was I was at a wedding and the Bride had made playlists for everything and asked a friend to be the DJ. Everything was all good until the party got started, and the friend bailed on her DJ duties because she wanted join the party. Since it left the Laptop unmanned people took it upon themselves to chance the music, even changing to a new song halfway through the current song playing. Needless to say it was annoying and the Bride was not very happy, I think it ruined part of her night.

We did our own music for our wedding and it was great! We had a good mix of popular wedding music and music that we both like. I would suggest making a playlist in iTunes or something instead of using something like Spotify. With a playlist you can control the flow of the music before the event not during it and you are guaranteed to love the songs that play. We had everything ready to go and just let our MC know which playlist it was and when to hit play. We had tons of fun putting together the playlist and it worked really well and saved us a few hundred dollars.

We are considering just renting equipment and playing our own music on Spotify. Only thing is we will need someone to act as "DJ"..make sure songs play, take requests, keep an eye on the music as well as MC. So that's the only downside to doing it yourself. When you hire a professional they take care of all of that for you.. so we are still on the fence about this one!

My FH wanted to take care of the playlist and save money. I, on the other hand, do not feel comfortable with it. I was worried about not being able to read the crowd and the music falling flat. I was also worried about our whole system not working AND guests sneaking around and playing with the playlist. For those reasons, we'll be going with a DJ a friend hired for her wedding. I'm just glad I won't have to stress about it.

We got a DJ because they will do music for the whole day and will Mc which is a big help to us, they will also provide all the sound equipment for speeches and bring lights to help liven up the dance floor as well. Overall we thought it was worth it. Also this will allow us to enjoy the night and not have to worry about our playlist ending and people can make song requests with the DJ as well

My FH originally wanted to do the music himself but we decided on a DJ as we figured they would be able to read the crowd better and help pump up the party. Then we don't need to worry about anything such as set up, making sure the system works properly or tearing down/returning equipment.

We will have a DJ, FH's family has used the same DJ for multiple occasions (weddings, b-day parties) so I know how he works. He reads the crowds well, he plays all type of music depending on your requests:

1) he was playing at at a wedding a Egyptian family marrying Irish, he played a mix of English and Egyptian music

2) he was playing at my FSIL wedding someone wanted Techno music he played it for about 50-55 seconds when he saw NO ONE was one the dance floor he switched it something else (Backstreet Boys, I think?)

It also allows the rest of your guests to enjoy the evening along with yourself. You don't have to worry about fiddling with songs/music equipment. The DJ we hired will also have his live band play during our cocktail hour.

Ahhh yes! we did speak with them about renting their equipment, another one of my issues is I have no one to be an MC, so who then would i get to make announcements if not the DJ? Gah

My fiance and I are renting a professional sound system that works with an ipod! We had the same feeling about our reception and decided that the sound system would be the best course of action. It is also very cost friendly!
We are going through Revolution Entertainment in Alberta for the sound system. It's worth checking out!