DJ or IPod?

@DMN - How is playing the music I purchased for my wedding any different then playing it at a big house party...or is that illegal too?

@Cecila - By a friend doing the ceremony I mean a friend who is a professional musician playing the music for the ceremony.

@Alexis- Our venue coordinator created a timeline for us. Seems like you had a great DJ though!

Our venue is set up with ample speakers and a microphone. I think that would take care of the noise being able to fill the room and announcements that need to be made. As far as announcements go we aren't doing a fancy entrance and no toasting. Our first dance will be immediately after dinner and with such a small venue I'm pretty sure people will understand whats happening without an announcement, but I may be wrong. We don't want the cake cutting announced. And we're going to announce when dinner is served by giving our thanks to everyone being there and saying "now lets eat!" or something along those lines. Any that I'm missing?

Thank you for all the imput ladies! Unfortunately...it's still making my head spin! haha. I'll probably go back and forth till the very last minute.

We are using Spotify as well and think it will work just fine. I believe DJs are needed for a large crowd like some have mentioned to keep things flowing smoothly, we are only having 40 people and you are planning for 50 so I would say an iPod would work well.

A DJ! I was willing to spend more on a DJ because music can make or break a party. Well with my crowd. ETA: A DJ steers everyone and keeps the vibe going.

I'm SO GLAD we decided to spend money on a DJ. He was worth more than we paid. He read the room and really shaped the tone of the whole evening in a way a set playlist couldn't have.

FSIL had a ipod wedding reception. The speaker system decided not to work and everyone was scrambling to make it work. An hour later and a borrowed AUX cord, there was music. Just make sure if you do so, let the music PLAY. The person who had the ipod saw ppl over the song and kept changing it in the middle of the song. Some ppl were dancing. Was slightly annoying but it worked out.

We also had an iPod and it was great. One of the best things we did was ask our guests to choose a song for the playlist on the RSVP. With that and a lot of 90s jams, our playlist was eclectic and a major hit. :-)

And I also don't understand how it was supposedly illegal to play music I purchased in my backyard.

Wait, I lied, I didn't use an iPod, I used an iTunes playlist on my MacBook because I was paranoid the iPod would die!!

I was going to do ipod but we ended up with a DJ off thumbtack. It was too much stress

Gotcha!

This isn't the most novel comment, but I think it comes down to what's a priority for you. We're using an iPod but we're only having 30 people at the wedding and our guests are not the dancing crowd. If you want a wedding where people won't ever leave the dance floor, a DJ is probably the way to go. If you just want a relaxed reception with the option of dancing, it's probably not necessary.