Not having a DJ, announcements?

Re: Not having a DJ, announcements?

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  Casadena member

  

  January 2019

  I did this and had 4 separate playlists.  One for cocktail hour, one for dinner, one for spotlight dance songs and one for dancing.  We didn't do the big bridal party walk-in/cheesy dance thing - I personally think it's quite obnoxious anyway and hate doing it as a bridesmaid. We cut the cake, but it wasn't a big "watch me cut the cake moment".  Here's how the timing went down: 

  - While we were taking pictures, a friend (that we paid) went to the cocktail hour a little early and started the cocktail hour playlist. 

  - We got to cocktail hour about halfway through. When the buffet dinner was set up (cocktail/dinner/dancing was all in the same space) my sister grabbed the microphone and announced that the buffet was open.  At that time my friend (who we paid) switched the playlist to the dinner one. 

  - When it seemed that most people were well into dinner, H and I thanked everyone for coming, etc. and introduced our own bridal parties, MOH, B Man, my dad gave short toasts (this all took maybe 5-6 minutes).  Then we went straight into the spotlight dances (my friend again changed the playlist) for another 7-8 minutes. 

  - At that time everyone was pretty much done eating.  I announced that dessert was ready in the back and we were opening the dance floor.  We changed the playlist to dancing and ppl started dancing immediately. 

  - After that, our photographer told us we hadn't cut the cake (we had tons of cupcakes and our cake all available) so we did that quickly, no one announced it or really watched - totally fine, no one needs to watch me cut a cake.

  All our playlists were definitely longer than they needed to be just for some leeway in timing, but overall it was really smooth and seamless.  We didn't do a lot of announcements or anything and everything was in one giant room so it was pretty obvious to people when things were shifting and we took it upon ourselves to grab the mic and tell everyone the information.

  All the playlists were on my laptop and we used the iTunes fade feature so they went smoothly from one to the next.  They were backed up by identical Spotify playlists. 

  Also should add that we did a receiving line at church so we didn't need to do table visits - that would have made timing difficult in my opinion. 

  Let me know if you have any other questions, happy to give suggestions.
  

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  knottiea7c559f4e249058a member

  

  January 2019

  Thanks for the long response! That was really helpful. 
  Yeah, I think the bridal party walk-in is really cheesy as well and I don't want to do that per se, but really want to be introduced as the new Mr. and Mrs. Groom's Name at some point during the day. Can that be done at the end of the ceremony (thinking after the kiss, right before the recessional) instead of at the start of the reception? 
  
  I just don't want the reception to be disorganized and have people confused or miss something that they want to see. We have pretty traditional family members that I know will want to see the cake cutting, etc. I plan to do a bouquet toss as well, so some guests will need to gather for that. So it would be ok to have a friend or family member casually do those little announcements? 
  
  Did you rent amps and the other equipment for your music? 
  Thanks!

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  maine7mob member

  

  January 2019

  My husband (FOB) did the announcements at our daughter's DJ-less wedding.  The wedding coordinator had a time table (cake-cutting, etc.) and when it was time for something to happen, she'd go up to my husband and tell him, and he'd make the announcement as soon as the band (Celtic music) finished a song. It went really smoothly, although I missed the cake cutting because I was chatting with someone and I'm used to ignoring my husband
  
  The venue coordinator can do this job if your parents don't want to. Keep the announcements very brief and only do a few. I think we did 3, one to announce that the hot food was ready (it was a buffet, and they'd been eating smoked salmon and bagels up to that point), one to announce the toasts, and another to announce the cake-cutting. The venue lady offered, but DH loves this type of thing, so he did them all.
  
  
  

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  Casadena member

  

  January 2019

  knottiea7c559f4e249058a said:

  Thanks for the long response! That was really helpful. 
  Yeah, I think the bridal party walk-in is really cheesy as well and I don't want to do that per se, but really want to be introduced as the new Mr. and Mrs. Groom's Name at some point during the day. Can that be done at the end of the ceremony (thinking after the kiss, right before the recessional) instead of at the start of the reception? 
  
  I just don't want the reception to be disorganized and have people confused or miss something that they want to see. We have pretty traditional family members that I know will want to see the cake cutting, etc. I plan to do a bouquet toss as well, so some guests will need to gather for that. So it would be ok to have a friend or family member casually do those little announcements? 
  
  Did you rent amps and the other equipment for your music? 
  Thanks!

  
  The venue we chose actually had an installed sound system.  I had to buy a specific cord, but then just plugged it right into my laptop. 

  I think it's totally normal to be announce as the new Mr. & Mrs. at  the end of the ceremony - so I would just do that! 

  As far as cutting the cake and stuff I think it depends on how you're doing dinner for when you should do it.  We had cupcakes that were already displayed and out when ppl walked in for cocktail hour - meaning that we didn't need to do the "cake cutting" and then have the actual cake taken away and cut and plated.  If you need that, then I would cut the cake as soon as ppl sit down for dinner (if it's plated).  You could also do it as the signal to start the buffet dinner or move into the dinner room (again, just depends on your setup). 

  We didn't do the bouquet toss and stuff, but I think it would totally appropriate for you or your H to do a quick announcement, or have a friend/family member do it if someone enjoys that kind of thing.  PP suggestion of the venue coordinator would also work (depending on what your venue setup is). 

  I would just specifically time your playlist for the additional things like bouquet toss.  OR have separate ones for dance1, bouquet toss, late dance or something so you absolutely know when you're doing those.  That way you don't have to just play it by ear if you don't want to. 

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