Dj? Emcee?

We’re both second timers too and only doing a grand entrance and first dance (maybe parent dances). But nothing else. It’s a small wedding of 60 guests. However we’re still hiring a DJ because I do like that they verbally maintain the flow of events... even if it’s directing guests to please find their seats because the grand entrance is in five minutes, or introducing the person who will bless the food, or getting guests’ attention prior to FH and I saying our thank you’s and especially for getting the party going overall (which also includes winding the night down by expressing that the last song will be played in 10 mins).

What do you have in mind, instead, if you don’t plan to hire a DJ?

My FH and I were adamant that we didn't want a band ora DJ. We also didn't want to blast our music from a playlist on our phones. We agreed to have soft background music playing.
So we hired a harpist. I know it sounds fancy schmantzy, but her playlist repertoire consists of many up to date songs from Ed Sheeran, Adele to the Beatles and Elton John.
Her cost is a lot less than half of what you have been quoted for a band or DJ.

I think it also adds to the overall ambience, rather than music just blaring.

View Quoted Comment I really have no idea. I have heard of USB speakers, but then the coordinator makes sense to have announcements.

View Quoted Comment And it also depends on what vibe you’re going for. For example: if you only want background music without any dancing, then a DJ might not be necessary (just be sure that you have good speakers). But we like dancing, as do our guests. So we’d completely bore them (and ourselves) to death without a more upbeat dance reception. Therefore in our case a DJ is needed.

Spotify and have the best man/moh announce yall or even the parents! Oh I'd have the oarents do it!!

We made playlists and one of the staff at the venue ran it and a friend of ours did all the announcements for us.. Worked out great.

What I did for my previous wedding was rent a speaker and use a phone with a playlist to play the music. We asked a friend to do announce the wedding party and it worked out just fine

View Quoted Comment I think we might do this!

We used Pandora one and made a playlist and let guests pick some songs too, the first 30 days are free