Wedding with no dj - want to hear from Brides/couples who did not have a dj

We’re not having a DJ either. I’d love to know how to set playlists to go during the reception without having to tend to it.

Good luck 🍀 I hope you find positive responses.

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Me too! I know there are brides that have pulled this off successfully!

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Laura - I will attach some of the articles I have read helping with these sort of things.

We are definitely going to have a friend watch over the playlist. It will help stop people from coming over and changing things and help with transitions.

We plan on having our friend 100% man the ceremony (so no playlist there) then separate playlists that are timed (with a few extra songs if needed) so a cocktail hour, dinner, then probably two or 3 mockups for dancing that we can switch around if needed.

https://www.snixykitchen.com/dj-your-own-wedding/

https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/finance/scratch-dj-diy-wedding-music/

https://asongblog.wordpress.com/2011/01/08/dj-your-own-wedding/

We went to a wedding that was not DJ'd, and this advice is based on the bad experience: make sure you task ONE person with it (an they know it). They had people randomly who would come and mess with the playlist (while people were dancing) and the person in charge would wander off and things would freeze [I am not sure how much effort they put into planning it though! ]. It was frustrating for those of us who enjoy dancing. Make it clear NO ONE ELSE IS ALLOWED TO TOUCH IT! This is all I have for you! Good luck!! It sounds like you have/are thinking it through and it will come out wonderfully!

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Thank you so much for the kind words and advice! We are definitely planning on having our ONE friend man the playlists/station. He will also make announcements. He knows about it and we will go over the playlist with him a few times before the big day - he is also helping us set up all the sound equipment (he owned his own venue for 5+ years - huge help) at the rehearsal so we can go over it a last time there. I am definitely going to have some sort of signage up about not touching any of the equipment. I am hoping that because it's rented/professional people will just stay away out of respect (we shall see). I admittedly am nervous about everything being ~perfect but I also have to remind myself that a few mistakes are no big deal, it's ONE day, and our friends/family are laid back folks - as long as we have our open bar they will be happy to party!

I went to a wedding this past summer that was outside and didn't have a dj or light set up, just speakers. The music was great and everyone danced and I really didn't think a dj was necessary AT ALL. The more non-traditional weddings I attend the more I think you really can do whatever you want, as long as the music is great, who cares?!?!

We're getting married Saturday with no DJ! I couldn't fathom paying for one since our event is simple.

We have a specific person manning it during the ceremony and she is in charge of switching between songs for who is walking down the aisle, etc.

One of my bridesmaids agreed to announce us into the reception and start our first dance. After that, we're on our own. Not many people coming, so it'll be fine. We just went to a cousin's wedding who didn't have a DJ and it was awesome!! Totally not needed in my opinion.

Best of luck!

Also, thank you for posting this. Made me feel better about not having a DJ. I have also been victim of people bride shaming for not having a DJ. But meh. Do what you want. Its your day

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Thank you for saying this! Definitely makes me feel better about my decision!

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Girl - it's crazy! I hate feeling shamed for not wanting to do a typical DJ. It's sort of expected when DJs get on forums and have something to say but it's unfortunate when brides do it to other brides.

We didn't have a a DJ at our wedding and the music went really well. We had a playlist for cocktail hour, dinner and then dancing with each playlist being a little longer than needed for the time slot to be safe. We used Spotify premium, so had the playlists downloaded to the device as well as on multiple backups. Make sure you lock the device so people can't try to change the music, we had a few people grab it to try search for their favourite song but couldn't get anywhere. We also had the data and WiFi switched off and flight mode on so that it wouldn't be interrupted by any notifications or calls.

It's a very time consuming job though, we spent so many hours getting the music right because you can't just press shuffle and hope for the best as it'll just sound like a mess and people won't stay dancing for long. You have to look at the flow for the whole reception and make sure the songs are working well together.



Know your crowd and cater to them. We asked for a few song suggestions from some of our friends/family and used that as a guideline to help us get a good mix and cover our bases. We cut anything not well known because it would've just cleared out the dance floor. Just because we love something doesn't mean it will play well for everyone else.

We also made sure we listened to the whole playlists through at least once to make sure all the versions were good ones (no random talking, long quiet intros, extended versions etc). If you put the work in, it can turn out great. We had so many compliments and a few people actually messaged us asking for the link to it afterwards. But if you don't take the time and care to do it properly, it will be a huge failure.

We did not use a DJ and we do not regret it at all. I handed my cousin my phone and she handled it all. We did not do a big introduction of the bridal party, so we did not need a microphone or speaker for that. It would have been a waste of a few thousand dollars to have a DJ just for that.

I use Apple Music. I had specific playlists made for everything

Ceremony

Cocktail Hour/Dinner

First Dance

Dance Music

And I arranged them in the order that I knew our crowd would like. That was it. There was no need to shuffle. I had them in order. It took me a bit to make the playlists. I would add songs here and there. I researched wedding reception playlists and picked what we would like the most, along with other songs and it was great.

I had them downloaded to my phone, so no waiting for them to load due to a bad internet connection. And I had my phone on airplane mode, so no other sounds/texts/calls came in. Worked perfectly.

As for speakers, we have 2 Wonderboom speakers that wirelessly pair together. They were perfect for both the ceremony and reception.

I had friends who didn't have a DJ and as suggested they designated a friend (sounds like you are all over that). They also added a line to their invite asking people to request a song (they did something cute like what song gets you to the dance floor or something like that, I forget the exact wording). They used that to create their playlist so they knew they would have songs people would like/dance to. That's a suggestion if you need any help creating the playlist.n Good luck!

I am so glad you posted this Caitlin! This is what my fiancé and I plan on doing as well. I just think DJ's can be so cheesy sometimes and I want full control of the songs plus want to avoid the expense! I had no idea so many people were not receptive to the idea though, that's surprising. My only concern is how to make sure people know when the reception is over. Our venue is a barn, so we can't exactly just turn the lights on, and we have a strict "music off at 10 pm" rule in our contract. I guess we'll just have to make an announcement at that time, and we'll probably also have a wedding day timeline written on signage like a chalkboard out in front of the barn so people will see that the sparkler send off (aka ya gotta go home after this) will be at 10 pm.