Help!!

I’ve been to many weddings where they had both! You could always just have the band come in for a specific time to just do a few songs or like you mentioned to only have them during cocktail hour

You can definitely do both, and having a live band come for the cocktail hour sounds like a great compromise. We had live music for our ceremony, then switched to the DJ for cocktail hour and reception. A few things to tackle:

1. Look for a ceremony/cocktail/dinner band - consider the space and number of guests when determining what you need (a 12 piece band would be overwhelming in a small/closed venue but a duet may not be enough for a large ceremony outside). Review their packages and see what works best for you

2. Review your DJ contract/talk to your DJ - you can likely modify your existing contract to exclude ceremony/cocktail/dinner which will decrease your initial price.

3. Consider what equipment the band will provide or still needs - will the DJ still need to provide mics and speakers for the band to use during dinner or will they have all their own? When will everyone set up?

4. To make the swap after dinner, both groups will have to do a little of the mc work - the band will tell guests it's time to go to dinner, introduce you and FH to the dinner, and if cake is after dinner the band will also direct guest attention to the cake table and transition them to the reception area. The DJ will do the rest (announce first dances, exit, etc) once everyone is into the reception space

We did a DJ and a electric violinist. Our DJ MC’d our night and for ceremony played the instrumentals for our processional and recessional while the violinist played along with it.


Our violinist also played solo pre-ceremony while people were taking their seats, during dinner service, and during our first dance (along with music played by our DJ). They worked super well together and once open dance floor opened up, DJ took over the night. Both DJ and violinist were a hit! Guest kept raving about them!

If your vision didn't involve a band, nicely decline his offer. This is your wedding and while people can provide suggestions none of those are obligatory especially if its causing you more stress

View Quoted Comment That sounds great!! I would like something like that as well

View Quoted Comment Thank you for all this info- it gave me a lot to think about -but I must admit I’m not any less overwhelmed about it 😂

View Quoted Comment I agree with you... but the thing is that he is helping us a lot - he is paying for the reception and this is the one request he made... my fiancé made it seem like it would be like a slap in the face if we didn’t do this for him.... I just wish he had mentioned this earlier and not a month until my wedding

View Quoted Comment Yeah, people were surprised to find out that the DJ and violinist were from two separate companies considering how well they worked together!


I’m not sure of your budget and where you’re located, but my DJ was through VOX (Southern California) and he was one of top level DJs and our violinist was Spags. She’s amazing, travels outside of California and does a ton of events for Fortune 500 companies!

View Quoted Comment Ugh 😩 I’m in Ohio Akron /Cleveland area

View Quoted Comment Aww boo! Funny enough my husband is originally from Ohio! 50% of our guests actually were from the Midwest/East Coast region and they were getting Spags info for future events. Lol.


Not sure her travel fees, but I highly recommend her. She played a lot of hip hop/r&b and pop stuff for us, but she’ll also do classical music if that’s your thing. I personally walked down to Kanye’s “All of the Lights” and a lot of our guests went crazy for it. 😂

View Quoted Comment Hahaha that is so original!!! Love it 😍

I like the thought of having the the band play during coktail & dinner and dj during the rest of the night. Sounds perfect to me

View Quoted Comment

Me too! I agree with the others where you could have the band for cocktail hour and/or dinner, the have the DJ do the party! If the bands are pressuring you to fire your DJ, I would look elsewhere!

View Quoted Comment I disagree OP. My take on financial contributions to weddings is if you choose to contribute, it is up to the bride and groom how they choose to spend the money (within reason of course).


You have all the right intentions but your dad has also left this a little last minute and I think he’d be understanding that you’ve already got music covered. Something I am trying to remind myself in this whole wedding planning process - you won’t be able to please everyone, but all that matters is that the day is up to YOUR standards.
In saying this, it’ll be ok to have both a band and a DJ providing you have them coordinate with one another - but be mindful that both will take up a fair bit of space in the venue.

I agree with only having the band for cocktail hour and dinner, and possibly the ceremony. But for the reception, I suggest keeping the DJ. I have been to wedding's without DJ's and band's can make for a very lame reception. Not many guests want to dance to wedding band music. Plus, DJ's are good for emceeing and keeping your reception flowing.