I-Pod reception? Any tips from brides?

denverbride84

Hello! I am planning an August 2010 wedding here in Colorado...we are getting married at the Botanic Gardens at Chatfield State Park, I'm so excited! The one aspect of our wedding planning that I'm really struggling with is music, and I would love your help. Hiring a band is unfortunately out of our price range. In an effort to save $$ (and be able to choose our own music) I'd like to do an iPod reception. But I've read all these horror stories online! Long pauses between songs, wrong song playing at the wrong time, poor sound quality, overall bad mood on the dance floor, etc. etc. For the brides that did an iPod reception, do you have any tips? Did you hire a friend to manage the tunes? How did you coordinate when certain songs needed to play (like for the couple's first dance)? Did you have any problems? Thank you in advance for your help! Katie

skiingstark

That are quite of few things you need to think of one of my friends was about to do it and done not because of these reasons:Think about set up, you need to get speakers all set up correctly, normally need a mic, etc... If you have a friend who has all the right equ. in might be okay, but if you do not and have to rent or buy eq.u it would be cheaper just to get a dj. And when you use a friends equ. instead of proffesional there is a good chance it wont work and do you want that kinda of headache on you wedding day?Flow, a good dj keeps things flowing, he announces with things are happening, and keeps gaps from happening.If you did do it, I would have coordinate by play lists, like this play lists has all the special dance songs like first dance, father and bride, etc.. Then party songs, and songs to play while everyone is eating etc... You would still need some one kinda of directing it though.I bet budget board could also help. But I think there are better ways to save on the budget then by ipod. Like center pieces, wedding dress, etc..And here is my dj who is affordable and has a great personality called DJ Knights. He is also a firefighter too so we liked that about him.http://www.fullblownevents.com/dj_knights_mobile_music.htm

mandalay_415

I just got married on the 18th and used a laptop and iTunes for our ceremony & reception. There were absolutely no problems. I'd do it that way again in a heartbeat. I would recommend using iTunes over an iPod because iTunes cuts out the lag time in between songs; it blends them together more like a DJ does. My brother had an amplifier and I bought him new speakers off ebay for $140 and these speakers are ridiculously great sounding! For the ceremony (since my brother was a GM in the wedding), we had my MOH's husband start the ceremony music. For the reception, my brother was in charge. To keep things simple for him, I made multiple playlists. Example: Wedding #1-Processional (2 songs inside), Wedding #2-Recessional (1 song inside), Wedding #4-Dinner, Wedding #4-Father/daughter (1 song inside), Wedding #5-Mother/son & Wedding #6-Dancing. That way he didn't have to keep a list of what song to play at what time; he just moved to each playlist. It really was extremely easy and it kinda baffles me when people say it's so awful and to steer clear of them. I'm sure people have had problems with it but it was awesome for us. My brother did the MC-ing...we didn't need a DJ announcing things for us. We did bring the iPod along, just in case. I probably spent 4 hours total (over 1 week) on putting music together...not very long IMO. Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any questions about the specifics of what we did and I can give you more details.

denverbride84

Thanks so much for both of your replies! I think the idea of using a laptop and creating short, specific playlists is a great one. That way, there isn't too much shuffling. If I have any questions, I'll definitely let you know. Thanks again! Katie

jforeman5

We are doing this for our wedding next weekend. We are using FI's laptop, and the online music subscription service called rhapsody ($13 a month, unlimited music on fre downloadable sofware similar to itunes). There are a few things that made this the best option for us:-We don't like DJs because of the cheesey jokes the type of music they typically play.-We wanted to choose our own music-FI owns a PA system with a mic and speakers-FI's good friend agreed to set up and supervise the music-We are very laid back and don't mind the prospect of having the occasional break between songs, and other minor mishaps that could happen.I already listen to rhapsody at work everyday, so I just started making the playlists for the wedding a few months ago, adding one song at a time as I was listening at work, and FI did the same, it was actually really fun.Granted, we haven't actually pulled it off yet, but I have read many more success stories than horror stories (maybe it's the type of blogs that I read?)Here is a great tutorial/success storie from one of my favorite blogs:http://www.apracticalwedding.com/2009/09/djing-your-wedding-with-ipod.htmlIf you are the type of couple who can be ok with little mishaps and would rather DIY than hire someone, I say go for it! Also, there's nothing wrong with hiring an aspiring DJ at an art school if you want to hire but don't want to pay a lot. Either way, you should definitely choose what makes you most comfortable, so you aren't stressed out about the music during the wedding.GL! let me know if you have any other quesitons

alora365

We also went the itunes/ipod route in an effort to save money. DH has a PA system so that was easy. About a month before our wedding we sent out an email to several of our friends with especially awesome taste in music asking them to compile about 10 songs for us on a cd. The cds were great and it was a fun way to include people. I think they had a lot of fun compiling the songs, and each cd was specific to the person who gave it to us, our relationship with them and the time periods we were close to them, My only suggestion is to run through EVERYTHING before hand (be it post rehearsal, earlier that day, whatever)from finding outlets that work to making sure transition times are ok to ensuring you have all the cables you need. We had a little snafu with this are and had to sent someone off to find a cable to hook into my computer between the ceremony and reception. Oops! If having an "announcer" is a concern designate someone, or multiple people. I find that every crowd has someone who secretly ( or not so secretly) wants to be a DJ, a bartender, caterer or florist. Find them! P.S. We loved that venue and it is such a great bargain!!! Enjoy!

denverbride84

jforeman5, thank you SO much for the link to Practical Wedding! I have been hunting online for this very thing! But i kept stumbling across websites saying how impossible it is to do an iPod reception, and it made me nervous I'm so happy to hear that other brides had success with an iPod reception. My FI and I are both very into music and would prefer to play songs we know + love (plus, I also hate DJ's that are super cheesy!) alora365, thanks for your helpful suggestions! Are you a Chatfield bride too? If so, could I email you sometime with questions? I'd love your advice! Thanks again. katie

theartofliving

Similar to mandalay, we also created around 4 or 5 different playlists. Our venue, Space Gallery, included a stereo an speaker systems and iPod plug-in, so we got really lucky there in that we didn't have to buy or rent equipment. We used an iPod Touch, and one of our guy friends was happy to help press play at the right times. We didn't have any official announcements or anything- didn't announce the bride and groom, we just casually walked into the reception room, we didn't do an official cake-cutting, didn't have our bridal party dance with each other, and when it was time to do our first dance one of his groomsmen kind of casually announced it after dinner. I don't think this casual approach is for everyone, but it definitely fit the vibe we were going for, so it worked well for us! I don't feel like we missed out on anything by not having a DJ announce things- but our original goal was to have our wedding be small, feel less like an organized formal affair and more like a huge party where we just happened to get married and kiss in front of everyone.Our pseudo DJ's role included pressing play pre-ceremony, processional, recessional, during dinner, and transitioning to the reception play list post-dinner. We also took the approach of the person above who mentioned that they just went into this knowing that they were saving $ and accepted ahead of time that there may be some imperfections. We experienced a few snags, but it was worthwhile to us to get to save money and pick out all our own tunes. I'm sure there was a delay between songs, but I honestly didn't notice- people still danced like crazy! As for the snags, somehow our DJ accidentally started playing a fast song briefly, rather than the slow song we'd picked out for father/daughter dance, but he quickly recovered and we just kind of joked and laughed it off. Overall, if I had to do it over, I would do the iPod thing again. I might do a walk-through a few weeks in advance with our friend- we just winged it on the day of. When we planned our wedding, we had really cut our budget everywhere we could think of- it wasn't like we could cut down on flowers in order to get a DJ. We didn't have flowers in the budget in the first place! It's a great option if you're kind of in the same boat.

mandalay_415

Ditto about doing a walk-thru beforehand.  My brother (who was our DJ) came with us to the final walk-thru so he could see where the outlets were, what he'd need for extension cords and where he'd set up.  That way he wasn't scrambling the day of.  I also had him make sure all his equipment worked long beforehand and had him run the speakers we bought him so we knew they worked too.  Once I had all my playlists set up on my laptop, I had my brother go through them all so he'd know what he was looking at.  If you have someone who can be your designated DJ, doing these types of walk-thrus can help prevent problems the day of...we had none!And as far as announcements go, my brother did those...and only for the father/daughter and mother/son dance.  We didn't need someone announcing every little thing: cake cutting, dancing begins, etc.  We had a very relaxed and smaller wedding so we just strolled into the reception with no announcement.  Doing your music for your wedding can be very easy.  It was for us; we didn't make it complicated at all and yes it did require some prep work but what aspect of your wedding doesn't!

smitley112487

I would say no way dont do it, if it means waiting longer for your wedding so be it. My friend used her i pod for everything including the ceremony. The person running it for the wedding didnt put the right song on at first for them to walk down the aisle, didnt put on the right song for the candles, didnt put on anything for the recessional. Then at the reception most of the people were older and they didnt like the music being played so they left. 2 hours into the reception everyone was gone but the bridal party and their family. People kept changing the music, there would be the normal pause between the songs that are on i pods and so all of a sudden it was dead silent. I talked to a bridal coordinator and they said they will never encourage it because a DJ knows how to keep everyone entertained, an I pod doesnt

smitley112487

Also I want to add that a DJ doesnt just play cheesy music, they play what you ask them too. If you dont give them a list of play or dont play they have to work with what they have. My location includes a DJ in the price so I dont have to worry about it.