DJ necessary for ceremony?

Well I believe if it's in a church The Pianist for the organist should step in and help with the music play you something whatever song you had in mind for your processional. My church said bring Cds with a song on each Cds so it can just flow

A seond setup is always going to cost more but you really do need one in most cases. Your officiant is going to need sound so the guests can hear them, and you need music to come in and out to. If your venue has a sound system, that could solve that problem if they have someone wiling to coordinate an ipad or something.

Most of my couples have either their DJ or acoustic music (in venues that have sound systems in place.

Depends on where it is. Our ceremony is outside & I would say it's a necessity. Not just for music, but also microphones for officiant. Otherwise you'll end up having to rent a mic & speaker & probably pay just as much.

My ceremony is outside of my reception venue and we're paying an extra $150 for our dj to provide ceremony music. He's also providing a mic for our officiant so people can actually hear the ceremony.

I was a bridesmaid at a wedding where the bride had a friend hit play on a boom box and had the officiant wear some mic they found on Amazon. Both were very difficult to hear. I'd rather leave it to a professional and have one less thing to worry about.

I wanted live music for our ceremony. We hired a string trio for $650. That was also for the cocktail hour too, so just for the ceremony I'm sure would be less. Ask your DJ or ask about it in quotes - our DJ provided sound equipment (mic and speaker for the officiant and readers) for our ceremony for an additional $100, which was like nothing.

At the end of the day, yes you need music for your ceremony.

We are doing music of some kind. Just was asking if there were other ways to play music. If it isn't a ton of extra money, we'll just have the DJ set up.

You don't need one. We live near a college with a strong performing arts program so we're going to email the department head and ask them to suggest staff or students who will play our wedding for cheap. My daughter wants the music "to sound like butterflies" when she and I walk down the aisle together so we're going to try to get a flutist.

Nicole, you officiant still needs sound.

No, you don't NEED to hire your DJ for your ceremony. There is always the DIY method of renting a PA system and have a friend or family member run it. With that being said if you go that route you are taking a big risk. Non-professionals using unfamiliar equipment on one of your most important days can lead to a disaster. Even if your PA system includes microphones, you have to account for interference, speaker placement, volume levels, and the possibility of equipment malfunction. It's also best to have a professional that can stall if anything arises and have the audience barely notice. There have been many times I have been the DJ for a ceremony and the parents or bridal party get off of their timing and the song ends. As a professional I can realize this is happening and loop the song without an interruption in flow.

One of the compliments I get the most is after a ceremony where people tell me they loved that they could hear everything clearly. Then they usually tell a story about a previous wedding where they were sitting there guessing what the officiate was saying. I also put a microphone on the groom so that it picks up the wedding vows clearly.

Not lecturing or trying to scare you but just giving you some insight. In my opinion if your venue doesn't have a sound system then I would spend the money and hire the DJ for your ceremony. Even if the venue does have a sound system, you may still want to consider having your DJ run it.

I've seen people try to use cds or have family run the music and it seems like the majority of the time the music cuts out and someone has to figure out why. I've seen some members of the bridal party walk down the aisle to no music because they didn't have time to fix it. Also, even in a small room, you'd have to shout your vows at each other for everyone to hear. Get a DJ

We're paying the extra money to have our DJ at the ceremony. I rather have peace of mind knowing there's a pro handling the music than leave it up to the ipod that keeps freezing the cousin who isn't sure how to work it or use the phone that wont connect to wifi the cd that starts to skip the cords that don't match. Having the officiant shout and us shouting our vows or renting a PA system that took cousin forever to figure out how to set......see we're I'm going with this.

Our DJ is doing it (outdoor ceremony and cocktail hour) at no extra charge. My venue has speakers set up outside already so all it takes is his laptop.

We did acoustic guitar players for our ceremony. I liked the live music aspect better than a dj.

One of my friends just had a wedding (it was outdoors, so probably different) but you could not hear a single word of what the officiant, or the bride and groom was saying. And it was 20 people max at the wedding so we were all pretty close together. I could hear the people that were sitting in front of and behind me complaining that they couldn't hear anything. The people that come to your ceremony want to be there to witness you get married, otherwise they wouldn't be there. Make sure that they can hear you if they take the time out of their day to come witness one of the best days of your life.

We're having our ceremony outside and paying our DJ $200 extra to have a separate set up out there and have mics and music. The cost is pretty standard and I think definitely worth it! When I was looking, hiring musicians seemed to be a little more and you would still have to get mics/sound system.

I'm really glad our DJ package includes sound for the ceremony. Even though he won't be playing music, havin his sound setup has ended up being really important. Not only will he mic the officiant so everyone can hear our vows, he's enhancing our string trio's volume as well. This is especially important, as pro string players can't play outside if it's much below 68 degrees (stiff fingers and possible damage to instruments). So our trio might have to be mostly-indoors a good distance from the outdoor ceremony area!

My DJ will be doing our ceremony and reception

The only reason my DJ isn't doing it is that my mom's husband is a professional musician who has all his own audio equipment and he'll perform before and during the ceremony. Our officiant has her own mic, which was another huge selling point for her.

We added the second setup for outdoor ceremony just a couple weeks before the wedding, and it was so worth the money. I originally was going to skip it because we had a string quartet for music and a fairly small wedding, but I think having the mic and speakers for our officiant really helped.