Wedding - Band or DJ?

I had to go to one of my wife's more choice cousins wedding a while back and they just had a boom box and some metal CDs. If ever I needed an invitation to drink too much, that was it.

We had a band at my wedding and while they were good, in retrospect a DJ as well, or may be even instead of, would have been good. It's hard though you have an audience from kids to close to death at most weddings.
 
dowie said:
Could you not have the ceremony at the local Cathedral and the reception at another venue?

(am assuming here that the Cathedral has been picked primarily as a nice venue for the ceremony?)
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No the ceremony will be held somewhere else (she's catholic and there's only one church near us). It just so happens the cathedral is available for receptions and has a rather nice setup there.

Skidder said:
It's hard though you have an audience from kids to close to death at most weddings.
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That's certainly the case for us ages 1-91! I think if you have a band people will be little more accepting of something that is not necessarily to their taste. That was certainly the case for the wedding I went to. They had some form of jazz/swing going on. If they had that on a self made playlist I'd ask wtf they were thinking!
 
When one of my mates got married last August they had a band (who were very good) with a DJ afterwards and that seemed to work very well. It was quite amusing seeing the under-5's sitting along the front of dance floor staring at the band whilst they were playing :)
 
I went to a wedding (albeit a Jewish one which was probably v. pricey) but they had like a Jazz Band with guitar/bass/drums etc which played some classics and also commerical pop songs like "I've Got a Feeling". Absolutely great.
 
Dimple said:
I've played in wedding bands and I would go for a top class DJ who will play exactly what you tell him/her to play and what lights to use eg do not use strobes.
I've been in bands with a lot of different songs to choose from different genres but it is never enough.
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This all the way.

The amount of weddings i've photographed I'd say 98% have been DJ's. Better variety of music, no breaks in the set, can go all night and can alter the music to what works and what doesn't.
 
Wedding DJs are atrocious. Just put some foresight into making a playlist that will evolve throughout the night. Everyone will thank you.
 
Save the money on a band, hire a killer PA sound system and put together a playlist of both your favorite music. Hand over responsibility to your most tech savvy groomsman. Job done.

You do not need a DJ in the day and age of computers. An MP3 player plus a PA will do the job just fine. If you want flashy lights or what ever just include them in the hire.

What ever you decide, do not hire your aunt and uncle who are flashy on the keyboard to belt out some classics. Went to one of those last year.... Interesting. It was kind of rescued by the authentic Scottish dancing afterwards though
 
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I was married last October and we hired a DJ. If I could do the wedding again I would still use the DJ as I think that the guests should be allowed to do what they want, chatting, mingling or dancing (DJ) rather than feeling "forced" to listen/dance to a band because they are playing.
 
Still nobody as actually answered the OP :D

It all depends on the venue and the band who you want.
How many out of 10 do you like the venue and how many out of 10 do you want a band and that will be your answer.
 
If it comes down to having a band or the Cathedral, i'd go with the Cathedral. When you have a band performing, it always feels like you have to listen to them, or at least clap at the end of every song which later on in the night gets tedious.

Looking at your age, chances are you've got a few mates like me who are into proper clubbing and like good nights out (maybe you're one yourself) and in this case, at about 10/11pm, they're going to want to dance around like lunatics to the songs they like, and not what a band is playing (dependant on what the band plays of course).

What my mate did for his wedding was ask everyone who he invited for a song recomendation to add to the song list he gave the DJ so that at least for part of the night, people were getting the music they liked, as a good DJ should have a good selection of music that complements other songs so that a slow song isn't randomly put in the middle of a r'n'b heavy set.

TL;DR version.

Cathedral > Band. Your choice of music with the DJ in the venue you want, or music which won't be all your choice in a venue which may not have been your first choice.

Obviously, some will disagree with all of that, but that's my view.
 
my partner and I are tying the knot next year and over the next few weeks we are going to look into hiring a jukebox......

We looked into it briefly last year and you can hire them with around 40,000 songs on them!
 
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