As a bride-to-be, Jessica Spence was taking extra care to note the details at a friend's wedding recently.Two good ideas here. 1) Go to a wedding or to, take notes on what you liked and didn't like so you have a good idea what you want when your big day comes along. 2) Use an iPod not some other iRipOff MP3 player.
One thing that stood out to her was an idle-looking DJ who hit a few buttons on his laptop and appeared to take the rest of the night easy.
"I swear to god, the DJ was playing Solitaire throughout the dinner and cocktail hour," Spence noted in an online forum at wedding-planning site TheKnot.com. "It seems sort of silly to pay someone a lot of money to sit at a laptop and put on songs when we can do the exact same thing."
With their confidence in wedding DJs dented, Spence and her fiance are counting on their iPod to provide the musical entertainment at their wedding reception in Minneapolis later this month. They're among a growing number of couples making personal music players a central part of their big day.
Saving money obviously isn't the only motivation. Many couples view their wedding music as an opportunity to express themselves and put a personal stamp on their event. A digital-music player seems to set a more relaxed tone, too, one bride-to-be said.Heh. Getting hitched in Florida eh? Just remember they are crazy down there, although the wedding I went to in Orlando wasn't bad at all. Leave it to Florida to through you for a loop."I think it will really add to the feel of the night not being so staged," said Emily Mighdoll, who is planning to use an iPod at her wedding next year in Delray Beach, Fla. "There's music, but no one will be telling us what to do the whole night. It's also sort of neat being able to control a piece of how the party goes."
"My fiance is definitely an audiophile and has tons and tons of music--anything we'd want a DJ to play and more," she said. "He's definitely selecting the playlists." (Mighdoll, however, said she's retaining veto power over the song selection.)Ahhh... The whole reason for this post! This my friends is 100% confirmation of my theory that the only say the guy has in his wedding is "Will you marry me?" Which is always followed by a concerned face on his bride to be. To which the remedy is pulling out the
But do-it-yourself wedding music is not as simple as it might sound. For one thing, most couples find that they need to borrow or rent a sound system, including speakers, amplifiers, cables and a microphone. Rental costs can easily exceed $100.Maybe, but that's not been my experience. You see I played the music at a friends wedding, right from my PowerBook. Just ran it through the sound system in the room were the reception was taking place. I guess renting the church may have cost more than $100, but the do-it-myself wedding music was very simple. But then iTunes is very simple.
Couples may also want to ask a trusted friend or family member to play MC and manage music transitions from dinner to dancing. Others advise using a laptop to sidestep some of pocket-size players' limitations, such as some iPods' 2- or 3-second pause between songs. Backing up music to a CD in case of a technical malfunction is also not a bad idea.This is interesting. Could it be that the iPod is so popular that its now being used in the generic to describe all MP3 players? I'm testing my iPod to see if there really is a 2- or 3-second pause between songs, which I don't recall and after listening to a few songs, don't hear. Slight pause maybe, but not in the 3 second range. I'm not sure if I like the generic use of "iPod" when referring to some other iCrapTastic MP3 player that's impossible to use and has 3 second delays between songs.
Music selection can also be tricky, a former radio DJ writes on IndieBride's online forum. "From a DJ's perspective, the music is not for you," she writes. "You are not playing your favorite songs. You are playing songs people want to hear and that people want to dance to."
She recommends sticking to crowd pleasers like "YMCA" by the Village People and "Whip It" by Devo.
That's an interesting though. As I've been to several weddings recently it seems to me that the main point of the wedding is for the bride and groom to entertain their guests with a second very minor point being the actual getting married. So when it's suggested that the DJ play music for the guests not the bride, it makes sense. But then it is her big day and she has veto powers over everything so that DJ better play her favorite love songs or else its her high-heeled shoe through his neck (which by the way would be rather entertaining, thus the whole point of a wedding).
Professional DJs say all of this detail is too much for most amateurs to handle. That's why the technology isn't putting any DJs out of business, said Jim Tremayne, editor of DJ Times magazine.
"A good, experienced, professional mobile DJ will offer more than music selection," Tremayne said in an e-mail interview. "That DJ will offer the timing that an iPod can't. He'll do introductions. He'll play the music at the exact time that you want. He'll offer the expertise of someone who's done this hundreds of times."
Or he'll just sit and play solitaire while collecting his $600 ;)
PS
If you are looking for a wedding photographer check out excelsiorphoto.com. Aside from entertaining your guests and signing the paperwork, photos are the most important part of your special day. Make sure you get a good photographer, because pictures are forever.
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