Lets face it there are good and bad wedding DJs. Often you hear of the young pimply-faced DJ who hit a few buttons on his laptop and appeared to take the rest of the night easy.
Do it yourself wedding music is on the increase even at a french wedding. Even rock star Alanis Morissette, who is engaged to actor Ryan Reynolds said during a recent interview that she may use an iPod at her wedding.
And comments like “I swear to god, the DJ was playing Solitaire throughout the dinner and cocktail hour,” Spence noted in an online forum at wedding-planning site TheKnot.com. “It seems sort of silly to pay someone a lot of money to sit at a laptop and put on songs when we can do the exact same thing.”
With the credit crunch upon us, some couples are counting on their trusted iPod to provide the music at their wedding reception. They’re among a growing number of couples making personal music players a central part of their big day.
Keeping wedding budgets under guard is one reason couples are going the digital-DJ route. Professional DJs charge an average of $600 per wedding and a live band can run upwards of $1,000 at a french wedding. If a couple has already plunked down $300 or so for an iPod and spent hours refining their digital-music collection, it is totally understandable why the iedea of a DJ may get the heave-hoe.
The wedding couple can bring it, program it, and fingers crossed it will sound great for them.
Do-it-yourself wedding music has emerged as a popular discussion topic on wedding websites. In another signal that the trend is on the rise, the latest edition of the best-selling book “Bridal Bargains” features a section on “the iPod wedding.”
We are sure that more celebrities will look into iPods as DJs, too.
Indulging your inner DJ
Saving money obviously isn’t the only motivation. Many couples view their wedding music as an opportunity to express themselves and put a personal stamp on their event. A digital-music player seems to set a more relaxed tone, too, one bride-to-be said.
“I think it will really add to the feel of the night not being so staged,” said Emily Mighdoll, who is planning to use an iPod at her wedding next year in Delray Beach, Fla. “There’s music, but no one will be telling us what to do the whole night. It’s also sort of neat being able to control a piece of how the party goes.”
But do-it-yourself wedding music is not as simple as it might sound. For one thing, most couples find that they need to borrow or rent a sound system, including speakers, amplifiers, cables and a microphone. Rental costs can easily exceed $100.
Couples may also want to ask a trusted friend or family member to play MC and manage music transitions from dinner to dancing. Others advise using a laptop to sidestep some of pocket-size players’ limitations, such as some iPods’ 2- or 3-second pause between songs. Backing up music to a CD in case of a technical malfunction is also not a bad idea.
