dj and Live Band?

My friend actually did this for his wedding last year! he had a DJ for the open dance portion but he had a live singer and musician play a few songs here and there during the reception. i am unsure how much it cost him but it was kind of nice as a guest to see a live performance - felt like a dinner and show aha

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YAY! It can and has been done. That's really awesome it was balanced with the DJ and musician. Thanks!

I've been to a wedding that did something similar. The bad actually DJ'ed also. They sang for part of the reception and DJ'ed for part of it. I actually enjoyed it. I am typically always team DJ because I think they, overall, make the wedding more fun. But if you have the option to have both, especially in the way you are describing, I say do it! I love the idea!

Our DJ played acoustic guitar and sang during our cocktail hour! I love live bands at weddings but they are usually between 7-10k and we prioritized our budget elsewhere!

I have a band/dj- same company- coming like you said. the dj is for ceremony music and cocktail hour. the band is for sets at the reception, in between dj will also play first dance songs etc. this is if theres no covid restrictions.

Lol! My FH and I have both! I feel annoying and boujie but I wanted a band soooo bad and it was too expensive then I remembered my best friends husband is in an amazing bad and they offered to play the cocktail hour cheap! So we have band at cocktail hour and a dj for the rest!

I think it will depend what kind of live band you're looking for. All of the live bands we looked at had a 5-6 hour minimum to book a contract. You'd obviously want to find a band that has a shorter one, or that doesn't have an hour minimum at all, if you want to combine with a DJ. We opted to have a live band the whole time, but I've definitely seen the combo happen before at other weddings

That sounds really fun!

You get to do whatever you want with your wedding, it's *your* wedding. That said, I would guess this wouldn't be cheap. Most bands and DJs book for specific blocks of time, so you may have to pay for all of it, even if you aren't using the full block.

You can do whatever you want but it may be a lot less expensive to hire a soloist or trio for cocktails hour/dinner.


For our local reception, we hired a 7-piece band ($2300), and a Frank Sinatra impersonator ($1,000). I think a DJ would have cost about $1K but my hubby wanted live music. Both were fantastic. 🎙

Yes it can be done. Exactly how you said it is.

I’ve personally never seen both be hired for one wedding. I have seen people hire a live band who did both cocktail hour and the reception. Personally I prefer a DJ over a band because they can play literally anything. Of course you can hire both but it will be very expensive

I just want to say THANK YOU! I will be having a steel drum player for the cocktail hour and transitioning into the reception with the DJ for dancing. The one person live music definitely helped keep costs DOWN as opposed to a full band and DJ. You guys rock!