Have any of you tried to do your own music at your wedding reception?

Question

I'm trying to find ways to save money on my April 2008 wedding. My current budget is $8,000 but I think I can cut some more corners. Myy fiance and I will probably have 150 guests or so.

Anyway, a lot of wedding budget resources recommend having a guest manage the music rather than hiring a dj for the reception. Has anyone tried this? Let me know if it worked.

Answer 1

I have seen it done, and it did not work at all. They rented speakers and hooked up their laptop with tons and tons of songs on it. They designated one of the guests to manage the list. But of course, he was a guest, not a hired professional, so he kept wandering away to eat, drink, and have a good time himself. While he was away from the laptop, everyone kept walking up and changing the song list to what they wanted to hear, regardless of if people were currently dancing to the song that had been playing.

You can find a DJ for about $500 and even less, if you hunt around. Don't try and do this yourself. Also, don't try and have guests be your photographers, unless they are actually wedding photographers. Regular people, even if they're good at photography in general, are bad wedding photographers because they miss the key moments.

Answer 2

My fiance and I had the same idea. We had heard it was a good way to cut back and that it was easy enough to do. The big problem we had was asking a friend to be in charge of it all night. We considered asking a few people to help out, but in the end, we didn't want to take anyone away for the reception to "work" for us. Also, the DJ/MC is the one who keeps things moving at the beginning of the wedding and most of them have tons of practice in how to do this. It made be nervous to put that task on someone who's not used to it. So, unless you have a very outgoing friend who seems really excited about taking on that responsibility, I would'nt recommend it. Another suggestion would be to find someone to DJ/MC for just an hour of two until you get through all the announcements and special dances and then have a friend on hand to make sure the music keeps playing. If you do decide to do your own music, I wish you luck. I'm sure it will work out if you have the right friend in charge. Congrats!

Answer 3

I think a dj is well worth the few hundred bucks they cost. Shop around, and look for a good deal, but don't compromise on someone who's going to show up in ripped jeans.
Alternatively, you could use that money to pay someone to dj for you. Some complications you are going to run into is finding all the music you want (some of which you may have to purchase), a sound system to play it, and the fact that the "guest" you ask to dj will no longer be a guest, but will be "working" at the wedding. It's not fair to ask someone to do it for free. Someone may offer to do it as a wedding present, but you need to offer to pay them. Also, they really need to know what they're doing. Good luck, and I hope all goes well!

Answer 4

It is popular for people to ask Guests do things at the weddings, but remember that sometimes hiring someone is better. At my sisters wedding we asked a friend to videotape her wedding, but looking back she wishes she had a professional do it. You could also consider having an iPod full of music, so all the person has to do is pause an play at the same time. You can also consider hiring a student DJ at a local College, they often times are more then happy to do any paying gig for far less then a professional. Good luck with your wedding planning!

Answer 5

I'm going to try this next month at my wedding. I am burning a cd of music to play before the wedding, during the ceremony, and at the reception. A friend will operate the stereo during the ceremony and just hit play afterwards during the reception.

Answer 6

Hi,
We got married in May 2006 and we burned cds with all types of music. I had separate a disc that had the music for the ceremony on it and had a friend tend that but at the reception, I had enough discs that nobody really had to tend to it. It actually turned out pretty good. Good luck and best wishes to you.

Answer 7

i understand the budget thing as I'm in the same boat but this is one corner I didn't cut.I didn't want to put that stress on anyone and I didn't want that stress myself.but what i did do was a friend of mine has a DJ service and I talked to him about my concerns and being friends with the both of us he agreed to do our wedding he gave of a discount and then another friend offered to help pay for some of it as a wedding gift becuase we are not askking for or expecting gifts.she jsut knew I wanted domeone decent to play the music for us. just some ideas for you to think about.

Answer 8

I made a mixture. At the reheasal dinner, I had a number of metal pan band cds with the classical favorites like Hot Hot Hot and Congo. At the very starting, whilst everybody was once simply getting there--we performed ocean surf (Solitudes collections that you simply see in plenty of retail outlets like Brookstone, BedBathandBeyond and Walmart). Then because it received as much as dancing track plenty of rather preferred songs a couple of years in the past had a reggae prompted sound. Black Eyed Peas, Sean Paul, Nina Sky. "Hey Mama" stuff like that. It was once contemporary ample that everybody received as much as dance for it. We extensively utilized a few Spanish track--Flamenco stuff. Thats extra the coast of Cuba and Mexico however with tropical subject matter--the Caribbean is one ocean it doesn't matter what nation the sand is on.

Answer 9

I saw it once with an ipod but they ran out of music..... I would just bring lots and lots of extra music. I would also ask around... maybe you can find someone starting out who really wants the job like a young teenager....

Answer 10

We burned several discs of our favorite tunes in random on cd's and played them on a stereo system. It was cheap and all good tunes that we both loved.
Good luck on your wedding