Diy sound

Are you having anyone make announcements then? My DJ was the one who made the important announcements throughout the night.

If you insist, look into renting at least and they may be able to give you suggestions.

We are having my fiances brother make announcements and things like that and are using a guitar amplifier hooked up to a laptop for the music. The amp also has a microphone port so we can use that for announcements as well. We aren't having a huge wedding so it will be plenty loud for our needs

If you are wanting an actual dance party vibe, I would recommend against it. We did that for my niece's wedding and it was a FREAKING NIGHTMARE. I was mostly in charge of the music, but I was helping with a million other things, and the minute I walked away some jackass would change the music mid song to another song, or put on the raunchiest one they could find, even if the bride didn't want that one.

If you are just making a playlist and mostly just letting it play, like a dinner party vibe, then it could work, but I have no suggestions for the speakers, sorry.

Check with your reception venue - they may actually have speakers or a system that you can connect an ipod/computer to.

But as @cantwait said this is a recipe for disaster if it will be in an area where people will be able to walk up and change the music and/or if a battery dies/cord gets pulled etc etc.....also, you'll have to decide if you want to forgo announcements or try to depend on a friend/family member to do this.

Cousins wedding they just hooked up an ipod and let it play, then the best man would pause the playlist to make announcements. It worked for them, so it is possible to do this....just make sure you think about all the variables.

I strongly suggest NOT diy when it comes to wedding music. People can change songs, the playlist can stop, it's better to have a professional

I went to one wedding where they did this. The bride and groom spend money renting the equipment and microphones and they ended up with a piss poor reception where most people left early. I had to stay and the whole reception was a disaster with horrible or corny intros, forgetting the timeline, accidentally playing the wrong music for cake cutting, and all in all it made the guest who was in charge of the music incredibly stressed out.

I'd recommend cutting in another area because a DJ sets the tone for the whole reception.

Hire a professional.

If you can afford a professional.. DO IT. Not worth the stress. And you're busy worrying about other things besides what people are/are not enjoying music wise.

Okay. We're using a guitar amplifier also in addition to microphones and cables we own-but we are also having this part in the backyard. So a dj would be inappropriate. But it totally depends on your vibe and what you're going for. If you're going for all out party in a hall, I'd say yes get a dj. But for a backyard I'd say don't waste the money.

Last wedding i went to the bride had a friend do the music and announcements. It was alternately blaring or not able to be heard .... we couldn't hear a word of the vows, and that sucked for the guests. I vote for a professional.

I will be doing diy sound because my reception is more of a dinner party than a dance party. My music is mostly just going to be a light background noise.

My advice is to hire a professional and then you don't have to worry about any of these things.

We DIYed with great success - but with a few advantages. DH's best man has a PA system which he loaned us and his dad set it up for us on the morning of the wedding. We only used it for music as the venue had a microphone and small speakers already set up in the dining area. In this part of the world it's very very rare to have the DJ do announcements - you have an MC who is a friend or family member; ours was my BIL who had MC'ed his sister's wedding and done a great job so we knew he'd do a good job with ours. He was delighted to be asked (jumped up and hugged me before I even finished asking him!) and did a fabulous job keeping everything running smoothly. We locked the laptop the music was playing off and no one knew the password so there couldn't be any music we didn't want.

My advice is to rent speakers, amplifier and microphone from a music store and see if they will set it up for you on the day.

Honestly; I have only seen this work out well once in dozens of weddings. Keep in mind that you need carefully cued ceremony music, a mic for your officiant and announcments and some kind of crowd intuition to keep the dance floor moving.

Thanks everyone, so my officiant is handling ceremony music and has a small PA system for the ceremony.

For the reception it's only 50-60 people and we don't have a very traditional wedding. (I.e. No wedding party) there shouldn't be much announcements but my step brother volunteered to do that. I really don't have the budget to hire someone so please just stop saying hire someone.

I definitely think you can just rent a sound system. A guitar store or music store should be able to help you out here, and possibly even talk you through how to set it up so you can do that yourselves. You'll get much more bang for your buck by renting not buying - I've rented small sound systems (which will do what you need) for $200 for a weekend.