Open mic for speeches?

If it is difficult for you to voice your opinion firmly, perhaps asking your partner or your wedding planner, if you have one, to express your decision on your behalf.
As to the suggestion made as a professional with years of experience by your dj, I encourage you to be considerate of the value of that expertise. Weddings bring out unusual behaviors, even from people you would have thought you knew intimately.
An open mic would permit people to speak at length without much guidance. It may make for an awkward situation, and your dj is likely attempting to prevent you from feeling discomfort or embarrassment if a guest should say something untoward.
Likewise, unless you do not imagine most of your guests will tire of storytelling, many guests find themselves bored of lengthy or excessive toasts.
Perhaps there is an opportunity to set up a space where your guests can record private messages to you, so you may experience all the joy of stories and laughter of jokes without risk of inappropriate exposure.
I hope that, whatever decision you make, you enjoy each moment of your wedding day!

As it has been stated on here time and time again, trust your vendors. Your DJ is an experienced professional. He knows this is a bad idea.

I've only been to 5 weddings, but at all of them no one felt the need to speak if they weren't asked to. I would be super caught off guard if someone tried to say something without being asked to! I would just tell your DJ that's fine to not have an open mic, and let him take care of guests trying to give unwanted speeches (if that happens at all).

I will specifically let my DJ know that under NO CIRCUMSTANCES is he to let anyone get ahold of that mike. There is always one in the crowd that loves to hear themselves speak, add a little alcohol to that equation, and you have at best, a very boring long speech to sit through. At worst, well...you can only imagine.

No No No to the Open Mic: You WILL have people getting up and getting X rated, telling a bunch of inside jokes that no one gets, a slew of men saying "I love you man!!!"

Tell your DJ: No one except X,Y and Z gets the mic. Period.

We limited toasts to three, all people who we knew would keep it short and sweet. It was perfect. Really, two people is good as well!

Open Mic = your tipsy second cousin with marital problems saying things that will embarrass both of you and completely ruin the vibe. Nope, nope, nope.

There are soo many tv shows that show the dangers of an open mic, haha.

I told the DJ, I don't want anyone on that mic that isn't supposed to be. My wife did object a little, saying "What if my dad wanted to give a speech?" I said, "What time of the day is your dad usually drunk?" Right then

Maybe I'm crotchety and old, but I attended a wedding where they gave a 7 year old the mic. While his parents might have thought that's adorable, it was terrible in all ways.

I also told the DJ that Celebrate and Get Low were on the no-list. One because I hate it, and the other because I really don't want to explain to Grams what skeet means.

Don't do it! It is not a good idea for everyone to speak. It takes way too long and you can't guarantee it will be appropriate and not slurred.

Absolutely listen to your DJ on this one. I've been to a few parties where they leave the mic open and I've seen awkward silences because no one wants to go up until someone felt sorry for the celebrant and ended up giving the most uncomfortable, insincere speech to waaaay too many people talking to where everyone ended up just talking over them because it was more entertaining talking amongst ourselves instead of paying attention.

We're more on the reserved side too and because of that, we're having the best man and maid of honor speeches done at the rehearsal dinner because we don't want people talking about us to everyone. That way the program is shorter at the actual reception and there's more time for dancing and mingling.

I can't imagine opening the mic. Good for you if you do. Just be careful. Know your crowd

Would you have karaoke at your wedding? I'd prefer if no one talked but us at our wedding to be honest!

View Quoted Comment Honestly karaoke sounds like fun! But I get what you mean

If you wanted somewhat of an open mic, you can have this done at the rehearsal dinner! Less pressure for anyone to do it at the reception and smaller crowds!

My fiance is very adamant about us being able to open the floor, but there will be a strict time limit because we will close with our speeches. He's not a very shy person so I know he'd go politely grab them mic from someone if he had to. 😂

I just went to a wedding yesterday and so many people gave speeches it was terrible. Everyone got so bored. Definitely listen to your dj. If more people besides best man and maid of honor want to give a speach then can do it at the rehearsal dinner. Spread em out.

It’s a REALLY bad idea to have an open mic. I went to wedding with an open mic and the speeches ended up going on and on for about and hour and they got super repetitive. It was sooo boring. But if you want to bore all your guests with way too many speeches, then go right ahead, lol.

*for about an hour (I don’t know how to edit posts on my phone)

I'm just going to let it be then. We don't have a huge crowd as is so even if we opened it up it probably wouldn't drag and we're all pretty close. No Gramma's cousins nephew extended family thing going on.

One of the weddings I was at, they had "open mic" at the rehearsal dinner but then kept to just best man and MOH at the reception. Just a thought..