Band/dj/playlist?

I would suggest splurging for a DJ.

Half of their job at a wedding is playing music. The OTHER half is being the day's emcee and keeping the event on schedule.

No need for a wedding DJ to also act as emcee if you have family members who would be willing to make some announcements. My FH is creating our music playlist and my father will be announcing us for our grand entrance, and any other little announcements that need to be made in the night.

If you have spotify and also use an apple product, look into Serato Pyro, it will help mix your songs together so there is no dead air time.

A musician friend of ours has some AV equipment so we've asked him to help out with playing music. We're loading up Spotify playlists for him- all he needs to do is hit PLAY. We've agreed to reimburse him for any rentals he needs to get and for his hotel room. All in all, less than $500.

We're not having a DJ for our wedding. I couldn't justify the cost. And besides our wedding is a very chill/low key backyard BBQ type of event. So, we're doing our own playlist and if people want to change it up...cool...if not...that's fine too. We are having one of my musically inclined friends sing and play guitar for part of the reception, but the rest will be on a playlist. There are only a few songs that HAVE to be played, other than that we could really care less. We will be too busy having fun with our friends and family to worry about the music.