There has always been a discussion about Spotify or DJ for wedding entertainment.
A big option on saving money on your wedding can be to do lots of D.I.Y.. These do it yourself projects can definitely be a great opportunity to add some personalised touches to your day and yes it will save you some money and keep your budget tight.
When thinking of areas where you could do it yourself you may be thinking. Your table settings, the food & beverage catering and the entertainment.
When I mention D.I.Y. I don’t mean that you are running around solo but more enlisting the help from friends and family that may have experience in that particular field.
Before we get too far into this article which of the images below do you invision the tail end of your wedding reception to be. A or B?
Dance floor A
Dance floor B
The particular field that I work in is the entertainment and in my opinion, yes you definitely can go either way with this and before you think to yourself that I will list no benefits to having a spotify playlist then just continue reading and you will see this is not a blog to shine light on how great a DJ will be but a comparison as to what your expectations are for the entertainment.
What Type of Wedding Are You Having?
If you start off thinking about the type of wedding you are having, if it is a backyard close family affair or have you hired a venue with family and friends that have travelled great distances to be there with you.
Your guest list will give you an insight as to what type of crowd is going to be present and you will know if they are going to want to dance or are the more drinkers and talkers type, so step 1 is look at your guest list and evaluate.
A playlist would work fine for a backyard wedding but would be more difficult in a traditional wedding venue.
Emotional Music
The next area that you might like to touch on is the emotional connection you have with music. Do the songs that you have requested take you back to the days of going out on weekends with friends, music on repeat while prepping for the evening and then hearing your jam on the dance floor and dancing your ass off. Is it that type of emotional connection or is the music more sentimental to you for helping you through teenage years of awkward fashion and haircuts.
Everyone listens to music for their own reasons and will have their taste in music on their playlist that resonates through the years of friendships, step 2 would be is that emotional connection of the music being played at your wedding going to be giving you that same connection that you desire.
A Dj can emulate a dance floor and keep the energy to keep a crowd dancing, a playlist will play songs back to back in a set or random order.
Personally I would pick a DJ to keep a live evaluation of what the dance floor needs through out the evening.
Guest List Expectations
You will no doubt have a list of friends on there old and new and if they are on your guest list then you should know what type of person they are. If you know they will want to party and dance well then enough said.
Think about your guest lists expectations of the evening. Yes this is your wedding and your decision but you don’t want to be rocking the dance floor on your own. You will be putting great thought into the music choices and if you want your friends dancing with you the music will no doubt resonate with them and relate to your friendships together.
Bringing this into the topic of comparing a spotify playlist to a DJ. Is a spotify playlist going to be able to keep the atmosphere of blending song after chosen song to keep the energy levels up. Will spotify be able to see when R&B is getting old and some grandparents want some soul and disco. How do you mix that in with out loosing the younger generation?
To me step 3 is clearly a winner for the DJ if you want to remember those times with friends and get a taste of those memories.
Is Music a Priority?
A main concern you will have is that you want your guests to have a great time and keep them entertained so that they stay for the duration. If you are playing music that you “just want people to dance if they want to” then a DJ or a playlist will do fine, if you just want people to have a good time and not feel obligated to dance then a DJ or a playlist will do fine.
The last thing you want is karen taking over the Spotify player and putting on a song that she thinks “will get everyone dancing”. Instant mood killer!
If going for the Spotify playlist because music is not your top priority then your D.I.Y tip is to ask someone to be in-charge of the music and monitor it for the evening so you hopefully don’t run into the problem of hearing the first 40 seconds of 30 songs in a row.
Step 4 goes to both, depending on the priority that the music sits within will determine which option works best for you.
There are so many ways that you can look at the positives and negatives on each side so it really is up to you as to what you would like your outcome to be.
Being a professional that provides entertainment to guests of all different demographics, the following points are worth a read.
- A Spotify playlist will NOT control the atmosphere and mood, A DJ will
- A DJ will cost more if budget is a concern
- If you hire a DJ for $200 then you should just go with Spotify
- Will your bluetooth speaker be able to fill the room with enough sound?
- Equipment hire is part of the DJ package and its normally well spec’d gear.
- Everyone can request music with Spotify where a DJ has the choice to knock back a song request that they know will kill the mood
- Spotify gives you ultimate freedom to put on what you want when you want and a DJ is getting paid so you can sit back and enjoy the night and not worry about changing music throughout the night.
- Spotify doesn’t have kick ass lighting that emulates a dance floor
There are so many points to make and I’m not going to continue list more, but for the purpose of this debate I will say that a Spotify playlist is not a bad idea but a professional DJ is a better one.
All the things to save money on entertainment is a risky one that if goes wrong people will notice and it will bring down the vibe and have peoples memories of your wedding, Good food, bad music, we left early.
Talk to your entertainment providers that you have received quotes from and see if they have a smaller package that is more tailored towards your needs. You will be surprised at how flexible some vendors can be, all you have to do is ask.
be wary though if you are asking them to drop prices down 50% then you may be pushing the relationship too far too soon.
See you on the dance floor party people.