wedding wednesday: band vs. dj

ahh, the age old question band or dj, band or dj. some couples struggle with this choice, we however did not. don't get me wrong, i love music, but husband and i knew we could party like rock stars and keep some pennies in the bank while doing it. i have enjoyed many a band and many a dj at many a wedding. either can be done really, really well...and of course you have the other end of the spectrum. both can be bad, real bad.

we chose a dj over a band for a few good reasons. money would be the first. djs are nine times out of ten more cost effective than bands. we even offered to pay cash and received a chunky discount for doing so (do this with a lot of vendors... you would be surprised how many will take you up on it). our djs played music at our ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception. they even provided a sound system and audio necessities for the ceremony.  it was a total package deal.

this leads me to my next point. we got a lot of bang for our buck with the amount of tunes our djs played over the expanse of our wedding day. the variety of music was key to set the tone the tone for the evening. we had our hands in the music mix and were able to choose genres, musicians and specific songs for all points in the evening. our dj had a wonderful online system for setting up our choices. most importantly, we had a very specific do not play list. they graciously obliged.


>> some of our music selection <<

ceremony
prelude: a ton of vitamin string quartet
processional: the piano guys- a thousand years
recessional: stevie wonder-signed sealed delivered

cocktail hour
variety of indie and folk music

dinner 
big band, croonies and oldies

dancing
first dance: ryan adams- i love  you but i don't know what to say  (amazing song!!)

 

father/daughter: tim mcgraw-my little girl
**chosen by my dad (so sweet and really brought on the tears in many. i still well up when i hear this)
mother/son: louis armstrong- what a wonderful world

these openers lead into some oldie, but goodie classic wedding jams...and it got progressively more popular and louder as the night progressed. we finished the night with frank sinatra's: new york, new york  (we got engaged in nyc!) 

i swear...husband and i barely left the dance floor. it was just as we had planned. my last piece of advice is to make sure you check out a specific band or dj prior to committing. the djs we chose played at a wedding we attended, so we knew they were good people. husband and i were also particular about having a dj that wasn't annoying with the mic or overly talkative. our dj was very receptive to this and performed just as we requested. they even left us with a parting gift that evening...a collection of cds with all the songs from the entire day. score.

happy dancing.