The wife and I went to a little wedding soiree last night for one of her co-workers. The ceremony was at the church most local to our house, but the reception was a bit further away - at the Manchester Inn in Middletown.The receiption wasn't anything too spectacular - good cake, pasta buffet, partially open bar, decent folks around to hang with - but the DJ was worth watching. His musical selection was solid, taking advantage of some of the standard reception songs - "Electric Slide", "Brown Eyed Girl", "I Will Survive", "Hot in Herre", "My Humps" - pretty much all of which I'm coming to hate because of their wedding recption schlock connotations. What stood out with the DJ's performance last night was the fact that his transitions were totally arbitrary and random. Two or three uptempo, modern songs would build the mood and be followed by a slow-dance standard to get the old folks out there and chase the partiers. Then he'd go with a techno "Rocky Top" followed by "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" and then "My Humps".
Random, unsequenced, unfaded crap.
Now, I do actually know of a pretty good disc jockey service, but I think I'm leaning toward the concept of the iPod Wedding.
It's simple enough. I know the music that I like. I'm smart enough to find a list of the best party songs, and I can certainly rent or buy a speaker system and amp. And all I have to do is get a microphone to plug in. It's all set. Easy peasy, Japaneasy.
There are a bunch of articles out there to offer advice on planning an iPod Wedding:In all honesty, though, I'm thinking I'd stick with the laptop. It's what most DJs use anymore anyway, and the iPod has enough limitations from pauses between songs to difficulties fading between songs.
But you can always get a matching cake if you go with the iPod wedding.
PS - Rafael Nadal is a beast.
Hey, thanks for mentioning my article: http://www.byrequest.dj/25701/articles/ipodweddingdj.html
ReplyDeleteMy wife (who is the real DJ) will kill me for saying this, but if you have access to good equipment, a good selection of music, and insurance that will cover your event, there isn't a great need for a professional DJ. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying all DJs are useless. I'm just saying that you can have a good party without one, just like you can cut your own hair, replace your own starter, or build your own website. It simply requires the right equipment, and a little bit of knwledge. On the other hand, if your reception is going to have 300 guests in a reception hall and you want some special activities like dance instruction, a garter auction, or a dollar dance, a DJ is a must.
I've seen two or three weddings where the couple used an iPod or laptop and either botched things badly by not having the right adapters to plug in to the room's sound system, or only had music the couple liked (although I reconginzed the sounds of Captain Beefheart which is why I dropped in on their reception in the first place...lol!)
In one case, I saw a banquet room with maybe 30 people, and 5 or 6 of them were standing around a laptop that was hooked up to a home stereo reciever that probably put out 220 watts per channel at most (by comparison, my wife's smallest DJ system pumps out 800 watts per channel, and she only uses that in smaller venues. Her typical wedding setup is 1600 watts, and her setup for street dances is 6000 watts). The music either wasn't loud enough to be heard from where I was standing in the hall or wasn't even playing. That particular room rents for $1100 on a Saturday night and holds 450 people, and that hotel's catering starts at $14 a plate. Now, either the couple was just plain silly when it came to knowining how many guests they were going to have or most of their guests left. Either way it was a sad scenario, and underscores the misconception about what a DJs role is. DJ's don't just play music, they should interact with your crowd and ensure your guests aren't so bored they leave. And if your DJ isn't doing that, then they aren't doing their job...maybe you should have used an iPod. ;)
My pleasure...I'm always happy to link to somebody who knows more about a topic than I do.
ReplyDeleteI agree that DJing your own wedding or party isn't for everybody, but I think that if people do their homework and get a system that will put things out well enough, that it's do-able.