Wedding DJ or Live band? Finding it hard to decide…. Here’s all you need to know to find the right music provider for your once in a lifetime wedding.
Wedding DJ or live band? There should be absolutely no misconceptions, about the fact that music can make or break your wedding reception. Music is the heart and soul of any wedding. It can cause your guests to go home at the end of the reception happy with aching feet or your guests might go home early with faces of displeasure. The choice is yours!
Wedding DJ or live band. Finding the right one is a matter of asking friends, searching google and generally shopping around. Making a move very quickly is normally a good idea. Usually the best bands get booked a year or two in advance, this is similar for Irelands best wedding DJs.
What style of wedding entertainment best expresses your personality, your budget, space allowance and guest logistics? Always be open minded and give consideration to these issues when you start to search for your perfect wedding entertainment.
Vibe
The style of music you finally decide on will more than likely set the tone of your wedding. This will also reinforce a theme. Don’t forget this is the thing people remember the most. Think about the genres of music that express both your personalities and use this to create your perfect ambience. Jazz swing or chilled out ibiza? Latino or indie rock? The way this music is delivered by either a wedding DJ or live band will more than likely dictate the ambience. It’s highly likely that your choice of music will determine your choice of wedding entertainment — The sound of a big band would generally look and sound better live. However chilled out ibiza would lend itself better to a wedding DJ.
Variety
Are you a little bit funky soul, while she’s a bit indie rock? Whether you chose a wedding DJ or live band, make sure they can play songs that are fast and slow. Also they should be able to play new music as well as old classics. Remember this is a wedding and you need to cater for all your guests if you want them to enjoy themselves.
Budget
If you are comparing like to like quality. wedding DJ vs live band, then DJs normally cost much less unless you book a celebrity DJ. It should not be too hard to understand that bands cost a great deal more, this is because most bands normally have a minimum of five band members to be paid!
Space
Don’t get too excited about booking an 8-piece funk soul band before you check with your chosen wedding venue whether they can accommodate them. Quite a number of venues have various restrictions that you will have to adhere to. These can include the type of equipment you can bring it, noise limitations is a big issue.
Some venues will not even allow live bands (as even acoustically the drum kit will set off the noise limiter, causing much disruption, unhappy neighbors and possibly a visit from law enforcement) One such wedding venue is Cambridge cottage in Clare. It’s not always live bands that have issues with noise limiters, many DJs struggle with them also. Pelham house in Cork is a great example of this, definitely a venue to avoid if you want a slamming party! So you should most certainly do your home work before booking your wedding entertainment.
Wedding DJ or live band?
Band!
There’s nothing quite like a high energy band full of super talented musicians and singers to get the wedding party started.
Pros:
Live music is what it is, it’s live, you and all your guests will have lots of pleasure listening to a band. There are so many aspects of a live band to be enjoyed, the band would obviously like to see you dancing on floor. However there’s no pressure as most band members normally vibe off each other while performing. Therefore it’s not awkward like when a wedding DJ is playing great music and no ones dancing. Sometimes during the evening guests don’t want to dance, they just want to sit back and enjoy the music.
Cons:
Bands are nearly always much more expensive than wedding DJs. No matter how talented and amazing the band you choose is, they will not be able to match the diversity and flexibility of an expert wedding DJ.
Also please please be very wary of those bands out there that offer a free DJ service when you hire them. Sorry to say this, but they do not have your best interests at heart. Sometimes you might get lucky and they actually provide an event DJ as apposed to an Ipod. If you do get a DJ they will not be expert wedding DJs so beware. Personally if I was spending a large amount of my wedding budget on a band, then i would think nothing of spending an extra €500 to hire an expert wedding DJ that can really take your special day to the next level.
When it comes to high end party bands, there’s not that many in Kerry, you will more than likely have to look at booking one from Dublin and that will probably incur extra charges for travel arrangements.
Ireland wedding DJ!
Have no fear the Ireland wedding DJ is here! The days of huge speaker stacks and old skool traffic lights are gone. Many of today’s wedding DJs are talented artists in their own right, they provide DJ sets perfectly mixing many styles of music for people of all ages. The songs they play will be exactly as you remember them, certain songs they play will encourage sing alongs.
Pros:
You have lots of songs you want to hear at your wedding? This won’t be a problem for your expert wedding DJ. It will be a different story with bands, they will more than likely have to charge you extra. Therefore the price will increase depending on the number of song you want. An expert wedding DJ with MC skills will know exactly how to set the mood and keep the dance floor busy all night. It’s much easier to find an expert wedding DJ than an amazing Band. This is especially true in Kerry and Dublin there are a good number of very talented, highly skilled wedding DJs.
Cons:
If you pick a DJ who has no personality, this is not going to add to the party experience. If your DJ is arrogant and not inclusive to most of your guests needs, this will not be helpful either. Sometimes your guests want more than just a DJ playing great music at your wedding! They need a visual on stage performance that is something DJs cannot do as such!
Audition
Many people and so called experts will say, make sure you see the band or DJ in action first! In the case of bands, yes this could be a good idea. But in the case of DJs? NO! Because what music set works at one wedding will not work at another wedding. By allowing a potential client to come and see the DJ perform at another wedding, where the guests are more reserved and there is not a great deal of action on the dance floor, will more than likely puts the client off booking this particular DJ.
The client goes away and observes another DJ playing safe cheesy classics with full dance floor and books them…. later when it comes to their wedding the DJ they booked fails to create a party! why? Because there guests required something a little different from your typical cheesy wedding songs and the DJ was limited in his skills. This is one big reason why we will not allow it! or even provide examples of DJ sets. If you want to find the right DJ or band then referrals are the best way of doing this.
Before you sign the contract.
All the best professional DJ and bands should respect your likes and dislikes. Provide them with your personal request list, songs they must play and perhaps more importantly, a do-not-play list. If your worried that you’ll hear Dancing queen at your once-in-a-lifetime event, then specifically ban any song you feel strongly about in your contract.
MINT DJ provide Irelands best wedding DJs in Kerry, Clare, Galway and Dublin. contact us through our contact page and we will help you to create the wedding party of a lifetime.
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