Band or DJ

Pesapenny

What's a reasonable price for a DJ and a band?

Also, anyone have any good experiences with either?

ctag416

We hired a DJ.  Prices vary we looked at people who ranged from 1000 to 1600. We hired Mark Cherone from Curtis Knight  after getting lots of great recommendations from this board.  We met with him and clicked right away. 

vtbm

We hired a DJ (Nuimage) and are paying $3,000. They are on the high end but everyone we know who has used a DJ used and loved them.  I would have loved a band but the ones I looked into were $7,000 and up and it was more than we were willing to spend. If a band is in your budget check out Wilson Stevens Productions. They manage most of the good ones you will hear mentioned. Good luck!

Lildaisy628

We went with a DJ (Greg Capozzi from C Zone).  We are paying $1,245.  That includes 1 hour of him on sax and a musician playing acoustic guitar during the cocktail hour and 4 hours of the reception.   We got prices that were all over the place... from $800 to almost $3,000.

LyssaBella

In my opinion...I think a band is better in a large room. If your wedding reception is in a large Ballroom a band will sound great. When a band is placed in a smaller room it is way to loud and overpowering. I think a DJ is better suited for a smaller space. There are plenty of great DJ's out there. Mine is Dj Spitileri and he is not expensive and gives you allot for his price. Shop around for sure, go see some DJ's perform so you can actually see what they do. My couisn's Dj for her wedding this past weekend was AWFUL. Totally unorganized, not to mention his assistant was grinding up on a guest at one point on the dance floor....CLASSY! But she chose him cuz he was part of her package I guess...

bostonbride214

a good band is an investment --- in the $5K - $10K range for a Saturday night, I'll second the Wilson Stevens rec --- check them out if you are interested in looking into bands

we wanted a band --- and went to see over a dozen of them --- in the end I'm so glad we did, it was well worth the expense and really made our reception

vtbm

Lildaisy..I've heard great things about Greg Capozzi and his prices are good! The DJ was one thing I let fiance make ultimate decision on otherwise I would have saved some $ and used him!

lucyslove

I vote for a band!  We had a band at our wedding and they were amazing!  DH and I love live music, so it wasn't ever really a question.  I have been to lots of weddings, some with DJ's and some with bands, and there are good and bad with both.  However, if the band is good, then I think the reception is so much fun!  I highly recommend our band, Soul Revival, they are based in NYC but travel to Boston frequently.  

www.soulrevivalband.com

HTH!

Lucy

Karen's MOH

We are using a DJ and got prices between $1000 and $1500. We were undecided on the band/DJ thing, but since the cost difference is so much, we decided we should be really gung ho on a band if we were spending so much, and we just didn't care that much.

My thinking is, there really is nothing better than a great band at a wedding. However, a mediocre band kind of sucks. Whereas, a great DJ is still really great, and a mediocre DJ is still good. The other thing is bands usually have certain styles that they excel at and anything outside that genre is just so so. But, we are not busic buffs by any means, we just want people dance.

october010bride

Dj's range from cheap, 500 to expensive... over 2k. I'm paying 900 for my DJ. I went with Curtis Knight, specifically DJ Jeanie because we clicked right away and I had a great feeling from her.

As for bands, I've seen ranges from 3k to over 7k. We would have gone the band route if it was in the budget... but I am very happy with my Dj choice.

jesibel14

Band was out of our budget, though I love them.  We are using NU Image, which is a bit $$ at $2500 for DJ, but they are amazing (I've been to 6 different weddings with them and all were a blast). 

killian09

Our band absolutely made the party for us.  They were awesome and kept the dance floor packed all night. Pricing varies a lot with season and day of the week, so I would just contact a few to get a quote for your night.  Obviously, costs more than a DJ.  For me, I would much rather splurge on the band than almost anything else.

We had this band:

http://nightrhythm.com

Shazzie116

We had DJ John Cristoferi and he was phenomenal. Great guy, he's fantnastic at what he does, and the price was right at ~$800 (we got a discount for the off-season).

sboston06

I would rather have gone with a band but it was not in our budget.  We went to a wedding where Rare Form played and it was so memorable!  They are fantastic.

We went with Curtis Knight Entertainment, and we're using DJ Mark Cherone.  We booked in 2008 and locked in their price of $800.  I've seen good DJ's from 800 to around 2500.  NuImage is one of the higher priced DJ's in the area but they are very very good.

SummerBoston10

We had a band and they made our wedding.  We used Rare Form and they were unbelievable.  The dance floor was packed all night long and our guests are still raving about them.  My mom ran into the FOB from the other wedding going on at our venue (Belle Mer) after our wedding that night.  He said that their guests were going up to the fence to listen to our band they were that good!! 

I agree with a PP though.  A mediocre band has the possibility of ruining a reception so if you can't afford a great band, go for a DJ. 

We were married on a Sunday so we got discounted pricing but good bands are around $7K+ for a Saturday night.  We paid $5750 for a Sunday. 

ebigelow

We had a band at our wedding andthey were amazing!  They kept the dance floor packed the whole night and everyone keeps telling us how great they were.  We had Kahootz and paid $6750...they can also play anything from sinatra to lady gaga and sound incredible no matter what!

swarleyknitter

Quick question for people using Curtis Knight-  on the info form online there's a choice of different packages with prices.  Do they include music for the ceremony in the wedding reception packages?

Thanks-
DJ research is hard work!