We are having our ceremony outside on an island at a hotel. It is a quiet area, no hotel patrons would be able to get close enough for a lot of noise/background chatter. We met our officiant and he suggested based on having 100+ that we should have microphones for him and our readers.
I asked our hotel contact and the hotel's partner will charge $1,000 for power and 2 microphones (one on the officiant and one on FI). I about fell out of my chair at that cost, which is simply not in the budget that my parents have put together.
Our DJ can add this to our package for $250, plus the hotel's estimated $300 power charge. We also have friends (my MOH and her DH) who have a professional audio system since they host trivia at restaurants and have graciously offered to let us use their equipment free fo charge and we would just have to pay the power charge to the hotel.
Do you even think it is necessary?