DIY wedding music ultimate checklist
Spotify Wedding Music List - Things to consider
As your head is spinning with all the options and possibilities for your wedding day, one of the things that’s a must for your wedding day is music. Perhaps you decided on a Spotify list with your favourites or have a relative or a friend take care of entertainment for you, or your venue might even have music or entertainment included. In this post I’d like to talk a little bit (well, a lot really, because there’s a lot to it) about things to consider if you decide that Spotify DIY wedding music & entertainment is the way to go and why hiring a DJ for your wedding day will save you a lot of time, trouble and in some cases save your event from a disaster. Well, disaster may be too strong of a word, but when you’ve been planning your day at a gorgeous Nova Scotia wedding venue for months on end, you want your day to go without a hitch.
On the day when everyone’s emotions run high, any deviation from the plan may seem like a disaster!
Things to consider if you decide on a Spotify list, relative or a friend to take care of the music/entertainment for your wedding day.
While today’s technology certainly makes it easier to plan the DIY wedding without the help of a professional, doing it all on your own can certainly overfill your already full plate. As you dig deeper into creating that popular wedding music Spotify list and considering a friend who promised you they’d take care of the music on your wedding day, you realize there is so much more to it than just creating a list, hitting play and fuggedaboutit!
Spotify list seems like a no-brainer - with bazillion of songs, you’ve compiled a list of songs that you absolutely love. While Spotify list is a great way to stream your music in your car, in your home on your desktop, or as you go for a run with your headphones, how does one play it at the wedding?
This is where it starts getting complicated and involves way more logistics than originally thought. In order to go the Spotify route, consider the next expenses and time involved.
(Please ignore this list is your friend or a relative is a professional DJ or has access to all these mentioned below, and entertainment is their gift to you on your wedding day.)
Top 12 things to consider when organizing your wedding music list yourself
Save money, spend Time— Before the wedding day and the ceremony
Your friend or relative that will be taking care of your Spotify wedding music list will be more of a vendor than a guest as there are several points throughout the day where they must devote their full attention to their DJ duties.
Your guests won’t be able to hear music very well or dance to it if it comes from your laptop so you will need to rent a professional equipment
Spending time to find a vendor that carries and has audio equipment available on your day
Renting audio equipment - you’ll need about 4 speakers for a 100-guest wedding
Renting a van to transport those speaker if your car doesn’t fit them
Making sure you rent the speakers a day or more ahead
Possibly purchasing insurance for the equipment —weddings are fun and some guests have too much and insurance is a great way to not incur extra expenses if something gets damaged and you must pay out of pocket.
Finding and spending time to pick up the speakers the day or so before the event or designating a person to be in charge of that.
Setting up the equipment on the day of —
allocate a few hours to set up your equipment, and set it up early - if your guests start to arrive at 3, and you have your wedding venue in Halifax for the whole day, you don’t want to be jiggling cables and sound checking it as the guests make their way to the seats.
Is your reception next to the venue or did you decide to get married on top of a hill 1000 feet away from the closest electrical outlet? You might need a generator for that. And now that you have a generator, consider how to set it up so it doesn’t overwhelm your ceremony with its noise—extra cords, extra cords, extra cords!
Soundcheck, double soundcheck it, and then check it again a few hours before the wedding as you (your designated person) set it up.
Test the equipment right before the ceremony — is the microphone on? Is the Spotify list in the right order? No one wants to walk down the aisle to The Final Countdown! - Actually, we did, but back then we were too self-conscious to do that, hah. Too bad, it could have gone viral!
12. If you rent a microphone, consider renting a wireless - no tripping hazards and it looks better in photos.
Top 5 things to consider when organizing wedding music yourself
During and after the ceremony
Designate a person to hit play at just the right time for your processional music.
Have a stand-by person during the ceremony to make sure your equipment works well during the ceremony.
You have a Nova Scotia beach wedding of your dreams - you’re about to start exchanging your wedding vows and all is well, except no one considered the wind. Even though you have a microphone that you rented so that everyone can hear you, it makes things worse now, because your guests can only hear static and half words, so instead of exchanging vows you now play “Can you hear me now?” game.
If you had your ceremony outside, you will have to move the equipment inside and set it up for proper sound.
Have a person who will announce you to your guests as you enter the venue as a newly married couple and play the appropriate music for your entrance.
Music that will appeal to everyone—
Your guests have been fed, you laughed and cried at everyone’s speeches, you had your first dances and now it’s time for the party to hit the floor. Except for everyone is looking kind of bored. Even though your Spotify list has dozens of songs, you forgot to include the music for your older or younger guests, so they’re not really feeling it.
One of the solutions is to ask your guests what kind of music they would like to have as you send out your invitations months in advance. And if you got kiddos attending your wedding, Baby Shark will do the trick for sure and will even get adults doing a silly dance.
Okay, so I said Top 5 things, but I totally forgot that you’d need to set the time aside to drop off the audio equipment after the wedding day is over, so #6 to consider is:
As your wedding day is wrapping up and guests are leaving, make sure you designate a person to gather all of the equipment and return it.
Why hiring a Wedding DJ will save your wedding day from a disaster.
They will pull on your heartstrings and play with your emotions
Music brings us together and for a lot of us, music is what starts our long-term relationship in the first place - whether you met at a concert, at a local bar where a band was playing, or realization that you love the same kind of music. Music is one of the few things that make our world so beautiful and emotional and pulls on our heartstrings, making us stop whatever we’re doing and dance without a care.
You will probably never forget the music that you chose for your first dance as a couple and music that helped you build that dream as you walk down the aisle, or wait at the aisle for your soon-to-be spouse.
Most of your guests probably won’t remember the food they ate or the speeches they heard, but what they will remember is your venue and how much fun they had. Hiring a DJ to take care of wedding entertainment for you will solve that problem — these guys and gals are professional entertainers, (just like your wedding photographer 🤗 is your professional memory keeper). It is their job to know what music your guests ages 2-99+ will love and dance to.
They are experts at creating fun memories
It is their job to know what music your guests ages 2-99+ will love and dance to.
They know how to crank it up, make the guests hit the floor, and keep them there. If all of a sudden you find the top 100 songs played at weddings that you carefully googled and packed your Spotify list with is not working for your guests, do you really want to be running around asking guests what song they want to hear next? DJs have an extensive knowledge of different genres and artists and they can help you discover new artists that you never knew existed. What’s better than to hear a new song on your day that will transport you back to your wedding every time you hear it?
A good Dj knows how to get people dancing. A great DJ knows how to keep them dancing
A DJ can also step in as an MC if yours goes missing for some reason. They are experts at dealing with guests who had a bit too much to drink; know how to deal with that one guest who will keep asking for that song you absolutely don’t want to hear without making a big deal out of it.
If you’re considering hiring a band vs DJ - consider that bands usually have a limited repertoire and won’t be able to switch from Drake to Pachabel to Michael Jackson to Bruno Mars. They have a ton of music they can play at moment’s notice - something a band can’t do. Even if you find a great band that can do it all— they will still have the same sound - whereas playing the original song will keep your guests dancing because their favourite song sounds exactly like they know it.
Oh, and did I mention that not only will they create a soundtrack to your fairytale day, they can also make it look like a dream?
DJ’s carry video and lighting equipment
DJs carry not only audio equipment, but also video and light equipment — so many couples turn to streaming their wedding for their loved ones who couldn’t attend due to Covid restrictions. If you’re looking to play a slideshow of your lives leading up to your wedding day, DJs have the right equipment and they can customize their packages to include those services for you. So now you can party, have the time of your life, and truly fuggedabout all the logistics that go into it!
Some of us are planners and thrive on getting all our ducks in a row.
After having moved provinces four times in the past decade, and helping multiple couples plan their wedding logistics, I am pro at getting things organized, getting quotes from different vendors, getting on the phone, asking the right questions, booking the right people, and dealing with the logistics of it all.
Some of us would rather not do any of that and letting a professional do it. Even if you’re excellent at organization and planning, your wedding day is one of those events that ranks super high on the emotional scale. You want your wedding day remembered as the most fun and spending your energy on making sure your guests are having fun is a big ask of yourself. You spent months and months researching and hiring vendors, so let yourself relax and have as much fun as your guests as you hire a DJ to keep everyone entertained.
Here is a couple of DJs that will make your wedding an unforgettable day and will make you grateful you decided not to worry about extension cords, rental vans and cordless microphones:
Daniel, who goes by DJ Danimal thrives on creating an atmosphere that will be remembered by guests young and old, he prides himself on creating a personal experience for each event and his ability to get people moving on the floor. He turns “I don’t feel like dancing” into “ I feel like dancing…YEAH!”
DJ Danimal at work - HOW STYLISH IS HE?
These Halifax DJs carry dance/party lights and will make any venue look magical — and don’t we all deserve a little bit more magic in our lives?
Jasko Razic from Pure Quality Productions has a few people in his company, including event planners and a photobooth operations specialist.
If you still rather do it yourself, but worry a bit less about setting up and testing the equipment or tearing it down after the wedding, both Dan and Jasko offer a DIY package.
Happy planning and Happy dancing!
