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DIY Wedding Playlist or Hire A Professional Wedding DJ

DIY Wedding Playlist or Hire A Professional Wedding DJ

DIY Wedding Playlist: Weddings can be expensive.  Many wedding couples are trying to trim their wedding budget.  What do you cut?

Do you get your flowers from Stop & Shop?  Do you have a friend act as your photographer?  What about your aunt as your officiate?  Videographer or iphone video footage? Then, there’s always the wedding DJ – can’t you just create an ipod playlist or use Spotify?

Let’s figure out if a DIY Wedding Playlist will work for your wedding needs or if you should hire A Professional Wedding DJ.

You’ll most likely need to rent a sound system if you have more than 50 guests. Those computer speakers sound great in your bedroom but they just won’t carry in a big ballroom filled with 150 guests.

For an adequate 2 speaker sound system and a mixer and microphone, you’ll pay between $400 and $600 rental.  Don’t forget, one of your friends or you will have to pick it up, set it up, run it and dissasemble it at the end of your wedding.

Someone will also need to return it to the rental company.  That means one of your friends or family is not going to enjoy themselves at your wedding.  They will be WORKING.  They’ll have to show up a couple hours before guests to setup and test the system.  They’ll be there an hour after guests leave to tear it all down.

If your cocktail hour is outside or if you need music for your outdoor ceremony – don’t forget to rent another sound system for those or you’ll have to quickly tear down the system you rented and move it each time your guests move to a different area.

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“We chose Rob Alberti’s DJ (we had DJ Tony Simmons) based on a recommendation from a family member who had used Tony a few years ago. They had been to several weddings among their friends who used Tony and he always kept the dance floor moving! Tony met with us a few weeks prior to the wedding to go over our likes/dislikes and any song choices we had. We had our guests RSVP with a song request, which I then put into categories for dinner/cocktail hour OR dancing. I heard all of the songs I wanted to hear and everyone had a great time on the dance floor!”

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Now, creating a playlist for cocktails and dinner seems pretty easy.  You just hit play and itunes will take care of the rest (except there will be those awkward silences between songs).  OK, maybe you can live with that for cocktails and dinner.  Oops, itunes doesn’t do a very good job at keeping the same volume so someone is going to have to manage the sound level each time a song changes.  No worries – they are not going to be able to eat anyways at your wedding.

Somebody will have be ready to play your first dance and parent dance songs if you are doing that.  Who’s going to make sure your photographer and parents are in the room?  Is the banquet staff ready for your cake cutting?  Your friend is going to have their hands full running around coordinating all this.

Now, it’s time to dance.  You’ve created a perfect mix of music for dancing – except that Taylor Swift song was supposed to play when you were in the room and you got pulled outside for more photos.  That 30 minute set of 80’s tunes sounded so good at your house but after 10 minutes it cleared the dance floor and itunes just keeps playing those damn 80’s tunes.  It’s time to mix it up – so there goes your preprogramed music list.  Now your friend is frantically trying to find something else on your list that will get people dancing again.  What – you don’t have anything from the top-40 list in your music library?   No Sinatra that mom wanted?  1,000 songs sounded like you had enough music, but a seasoned wedding DJ will have nearly 100,000 songs in their music library (We get nearly 100 new songs each week of all genres!).

Hold on – those awkward silences between songs just keep killing the mood on the dance floor.  Damn that itunes.  Ooops, Spotify just played a song with a few swears and your grandmother looks like she is going to fall over and die.   Your older guests are leaving and it’s only been about 45 minutes into dancing.  I guess DIY DJing just doesn’t cut it for weddings.   Maybe it’s OK at your house party where you don’t expect people to really dance or when all the guests are roughly the same age.  It’s really not working for your wedding.

The average wedding in the US is about $40,000 and lasts about 6 hours including the ceremony.  That’s over $6,500 per hour.  Maybe your budget is lower than that, but if guests leave 2 hours early – it’s still a HUGE waste of money.

Hey, if money is your main concern and you don’t expect people to dance that much at your wedding – maybe DIY Wedding Playlists are for you.  If this does not sound like the wedding reception that you want – you should spend the money and Hire A Professional Wedding DJ to ensure you and your guests are entertained.

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DIY Wedding Playlist or Hire A Professional Wedding DJ?
Be Sure To Read Reviews Of Your DJ To Understand What You Can Expect.

“Rob not only was our DJ, but he also strung the most beautiful lights across the dance floor and dining room! It was magical! The twinkle lights crisscrossed rather than straight across. It looked fabulous! Better than we could ever imagine. let me tell you about Rob, the professional. He drove 2 hours to meet with us about a month before the wedding to finalize details, song choices, introductions, etc. He really knew how to organize all the details of intros, etc. the night was seamless and so beautifully announced. He did not make himself stand out as an emcee…rather, he made announcements with class and understated elegance. I have 3 more daughters getting married and he will be our DJ! As far as song choices, he asked for suggestions, but we agreed that he would read the crowd and play music that fit. We trusted his years of experience and weren’t disappointed! All I could do after the wedding was thank him repeatedly for playing the exact music the crowd loved and it showed by our packed dance floor. During the dinner hour, he played fantastic music by Sinatra and Buble. I know I’m going on and in, but he just did everything so beautifully…the music, the lighting, the announcing…the best! Please check this consummate professional out! Thank you, Rob, for making my daughter’s wedding a beautiful event!”

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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Rob Alberti is owner of Rob Alberti’s Event Services – Wedding Disc Jockey, Master of Ceremonies, Wedding Event Director + Custom Wedding Lighting Designer rated by local brides + voted as “The Knot – Best of Weddings”, Bride’s Choice Award Winner from Wedding Wire + his work has been featured in Martha Stewart Wedding, CT Bride, VT Vows, + on numerous national wedding blogs such as Style Me Pretty, Wedding Chicks. Be sure to check out his blog, pinterest boards, Mixcloud account + on Facebook

The Berkshires & Western MA 413-562-2632
Boston MA 617-778-6510 – Hartford CT 860-631-7754 – Newport RI 401-367-0375

“People who hire DJs for their very expensive, once-in-a-lifetime events deserve to hire people who take their job as an entertainer seriously, and who understand the power of a great performance – how it can bring people together, change perspectives, touch peoples’ hearts, and provide new meaning to someone’s life.
Couples, avoid DJs who tell you how easy their job is and/or how they can “do the same thing for less money.” Wedding Author – Mark Ferrell

#djrobalberti, #CTWeddingdj, #CTweddinglighting, #weddings, #photooftheday, #picoftheday, #WeddingInspiration, #WeddingDecor

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