Should I have a live band or DJ at my wedding?
A really good live band is almost guaranteed to make your evening reception a great success. When they are playing you will be dancing your socks off and in-between their sets, you will have the opportunity to recharge your glasses, delve into the buffet and chat to your guests. A professional wedding band should be able to learn requests especially for you and if they play your first dance, it can be quite a magical experience.
Live music had the element of spectacle. You will find that guests who are less inclined to dance will enjoy watching the band play...and that by the end of the evening (and after a couple more drinks), even they will be playing air guitar to Sweet Child of Mine!!
It can often be difficult to find a suitable opportunity to watch a wedding band play unless you are lucky enough to see them at a wedding. However, all good bands should have videos and recordings that you can listen to. I recommend placing more faith in videos that have been taken live (at a wedding) rather than videos that have been staged by an agency in a video studio. You should be able to read through testimonials and build up a picture in your head about the band.
The main "downside" of booking a live band can be the cost if you have a tight budget. Professional wedding bands will pay each musician between £150-£300. If you multiply this by the number of musicians in the band then you can be absolutely sure that it will cost more than a DJ!
When hiring a live band for you wedding, it is important to make provisions for the gaps in-between the bands sets. Some bands offer to provide a play list of dance/disco music whilst others allow you to plug your ipod into their PA system. If your budget has enough room, then you could even book a wedding DJ to keep the evening going at full swing.
A practical consideration is the size of your venue and whether or not it has a sound limiter. Some venues have had to install sound limiters to appease complaints from neighbouring residents. You can be certain that a live band will trigger the sound limiter at some point in the evening - and this means that all of the electricity in the room will go off!
I have read horror stories on the internet from brides who have booked a live band and have hated how loud and painful on the ears it sounded. A decent professional band will value the quality of sound of the music it is making and will either come with a sound engineer who will sit behind a mixing desk at the far side of the room or will be in a position to be able to regularly check the sound that they are making. I once worked with a band and their guitarist had a wireless audio transmitter. This meant that he could wonder out into the room and have a good listen to the sound before going back on stage and adjusting the sound on the mixing desk.
A wedding DJ offers a completely different set of benefits to a live band.
A DJ can play non-stop music from when they start (7pm) right up until the end of the night and a good DJ will be able to select and play a mixture of the varied styles of music that your guests enjoy. When you book a DJ, you are buying the opportunity to turn your wedding venue into a nightclub that plays your favourite music. I am sure that you can remember many-a-night in your local club where you have made a request and NEVER heard it. Well, when you book a professional wedding DJ you should get all of your requests played.
It should make no difference to the DJ you choose if you want to request a handful of songs or a huge list - a professional wedding DJ should be committed to playing the music that you want. Your DJ should also act as a compare for the night. They will be able to announce your cake cutting, first dance, other evening entertainment, buffet, give a countdown for your bouquet throwing, remind guests to write in your wedding book, and help the venue staff announce last orders and bring the evening to a close.
When you book a DJ, you are inviting one person to be in charge of your evening entertainment, and in a sense the success of the evening will be down to them. It is vital to find out as much as possible about the person who will be DJing at your wedding. Read through testimonials, chat to them on the phone and try to gain a sense of trust for the person you choose. You are placing the evening in their hands.
The most important part of a DJs job is to have an extensive selection of music and know how to choose the right songs to make people dance. It is also pretty vital that they have a reliable and professional sound system so that this music can be heard and enjoyed. You will then have the choice of the lighting that the DJ will bring. This can range from a small collection of lights right up to full rig with venue lighting, lasers and pyrotechnics.
It is pretty fair to say that the difference in price between DJs is often down to the amount of equipment that they bring to your wedding - although this does not necessarily reflect how many people will dance. I have seem some wedding DJs with really impressive light shows including video screens and the latest laser lighting effects with only a few people dancing and I have seen DJs who turn up with a handful of lights and have everybody in the whole room dancing non-stop for the whole evening.
If you have not already been to a wedding and met the band or DJ of your dreams, then I would recommend asking your venue for a list of trusted suppliers. Use this as a starting point for your decision making process. Call up everybody on the list and have a good chat about how they can help make your wedding really special and ask them for a quote. When you have compiled a short-list of bands/DJs then you should type them into Google and look to see if anybody is talking about them on facebook or one of the many wedding forums. Look for brides who are praising or cursing the suppliers that you have chosen - you may find that you have discovered an absolute gem or perhaps you have just saved yourself from a potential nightmare!!
Good luck choosing.
Author: James Hughes PianoDJ.co.uk
