Sound System at the beach?

gypsylynn2005

Hey all!
So we are having a short and sweet ceremony on the beach in front of our house. It's really staying very simple (besides some military traditions) and I don't wanna pay a bunch of extra $ to have a sound system for just the walk down the "aisle" (sand path).

Any of you been to a beach wedding? Was there music? I was thinking of setting up an iPod and docking station and having my family or someone in the wedding party press play at a certain time. It's not very waves crashing type beach but I wonder if that will be ok. Also someone mentioned before on a different site that they couldn't hear the vows. Is it really necessary to get mikes or can we just talk maybe louder? Lol.

P.s. there will be plenty of music at the reception! it's a different site at a venue up the road.

ZeroOrchestra

Is it a private or public beach? We attended a beach wedding last year, I'd say maybe around 100 people and couldn't hear a thing. It was pretty windy out which is a huge disadvantage for carrying sound, and at one point a jeep or something drove by blasting music. 

gypsylynn2005

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_outdoor-weddings_sound-system-at-the-beach?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:666Discussion:e7aca402-fe3d-4525-81b1-11c3b1a66f56Post:84a419d8-7e40-4c4e-ae09-171538bb969e">Re: Sound System at the beach?</a>:
[QUOTE]Is it a private or public beach? We attended a beach wedding last year, I'd say maybe around 100 people and couldn't hear a thing. It was pretty windy out which is a huge disadvantage for carrying sound, and at one point a jeep or something drove by blasting music. 
Posted by ZeroOrchestra[/QUOTE]

It's public but literally it is my front yard. We live in a condo and it's on the beach. There isn't a whole lot of traffic of people and there are no vehicles allowed on the beach. It is about 45 guests, so not too big. Yah wind can be a bummer... blah. Well im just not going to stress too much and maybe go take an ipod and some girls out there to test it out while having some wedding planning drinks! ;)

branemily

Just had a beach wedding, exact same thing in front of a beach house.  We didn't have music and it was fine.

Doingitoutside2013

If u have a dj and if reception is just down the road, perhaps they can set up a small system for music and vows.  My sister's dj charged less than $100 extra for the small addtl set-up.  I HATE going to weddings where I cannot hear the vows. 

You could always do a trial run.  Stand out on the beach with a few friends and try-out the ipod and standard voice level vows and see if they can hear both from the farthest direction to the left, right and back.  We did not have crashing of waves, but without the system most guest would not have heard the vows.  Some brides (and grooms) voices are lower when nervous, when they are also crying, or they simply do not carry well even in an acoustically favorable environment.

ahardy34

I am also having a beach wedding in May and having about 45 guests attending.  Our Officiant gave us the option to rent a wireless might and sound system for $100 bucks.  This allows our guest to hear our music and our vows.  

Hope this helps!