Venue Music - What are you doing for Ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception.

kapkap113

I am getting married in April and know that we cannot afford a band for the reception so we are definitely getting a DJ, but, I am curious about music for ceremony and cocktail hour.

What did you do for your ceremony and cocktaik hour music?
How much do musicians run? Did anyone have a DJ do either ceremony or cocktail hour?

Can anyone recommend a ceremony musician?

Lauren6277

We had our DJ do the music for our entire event (it was all at the same hotel location). We picked specific music for our ceremony (including prelude, processional, bridal march, etc...) then flowed into jazz music for our cocktail hour and dinner followed by the usual dance music. During the ceremony, the DJ booth was hidden behind curtains.

We used DJ Ryan Foley from BE weddings and LOVED him. He kept our dance floor packed all night and he was great to work with on the planning side. We paid $1200 for 6 hours.

ctag416

We are also using a DJ for our whole event and it is all at one location.  We haven't decided on all our specific music.  We're using Mark Cherone from Curtis knight, I think it is 1100.

arp815

We are using NuImage Entertainment for our D.J.  They will be doing our ceremony, cocktail and reception.  It will be $2500 for I think 8 hours?

bmoruzzi

I have a DJ for my reception-$800 for five hours.  I'm thinking of hiring students to play at the ceremony.  I read about this somewhere as a way to save money.  You could ask high school or college students.

love2nap

I'm also getting married in April! I am doing a harpist for ceremony, I think it's $350 and $50 extra if she stays for the reception. I'm paying $850 for a DJ for the dinner... I haven't decided yet if I want the harpist to stay for the cocktail reception or not since there will be 10 minutes or so lag time without music!

eeyore4771

We used Aaron Topfer for our wedding.  He plays the piano, so we had him play for our ceremony, and then he arranged for a jazz trio (him plus a saxophone player and a bass player) for the cocktail hour and the first hour of dinner.  I think we paid $500 for those two hours of jazz trio.  If you want more info on what songs we had on our reception must play list, you can see my bio.  Here's Aaron's website (I also have a review in my bio)

http://www.1877yourmusic.com

Angrytomato

I guess I am the only one planning on using a macbook hooked up to speakers >.>

(My budget is small, and I'm having less than 50 people at my wedding (it's all family) so I thought a DJ was an expense I didn't really need.)

rockstar8575

Our DJ is included in our venue price, but we are using a harpist for the pre-ceremony, cermony and cocktail hour. For the two hours it is $400.

TeresaB2011

Our DJ is doing all 3.  He will be playing certain music for each part. 

emma5500

Our ceremony and reception are at different venues (outdoor ceremony, reception at a restaurant) so for the ceremony we hired Dwight Phetteplace to play the acoustic guitar.  We haven't gotten too far into planning but we so far he has been great to work with.  I think his rate was $350 for the ceremony with no official time limit or travel fees.  For the reception we are using DJ by Jake, who is charging us a total of $725 for 5 hours including separate setups in two rooms at the venue.

GinaBabe3

Hey Kap,

    My husband and I actually did something a little different.  We actually hired an accustic guitarist for both our ceremony and cocktail hour.  He learned the song we walked down the aisle to and also the song we walked up the aisle to after we were married (I was obessed with having Sign, Sealed, Delivered by Stevie Wonder after we were married).  His play list is pretty extensive.  We actually heard him one night at a bar in Worcester and found out he did weddings.  SCORE!  It was something a little different and he is so talented.  His name is Chad Clements (clements.chad@gmail.com).  My e-mail is ginathompson80@hotmail.com if you have any other questions or are interested.  He was $500 a year ago.

Good Luck!

G-

2dBride

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_massachusetts-boston_venue-music-doing-ceremony-cocktail-hour-reception?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:89Discussion:37991dec-ba53-4270-962f-e91fd8a58cffPost:620c00a0-79c7-4da8-97a5-9944c538b266">Re: Venue Music - What are you doing for Ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception.</a>:
[QUOTE]I guess I am the only one planning on using a macbook hooked up to speakers />. /> (My budget is small, and I'm having less than 50 people at my wedding (it's all family) so I thought a DJ was an expense I didn't really need.)
Posted by Angrytomato[/QUOTE]We didn't do exactly that.  However, we had only a dozen guests at our ceremony.  We used a CD we put together for our ceremony music.  The music we used can be found at <a href="http://sites.google.com/site/2dbride/ceremony/music" target="_blank">this link</a>.  The luncheon after the ceremony had no music at all.  Back home in DC, a musician friend played for the  60-person reception as her gift to us.