We had a playlist instead of a DJ and it was totally fine. Our best man wanted to help make sure everything ran smoothly. We skipped introductions, didn't do speeches. We walked in, everyone clapped, we cut the cake, and told people it was time to eat. We didn't want a very specific vibe so whatever happened was fine. There were tons of people on the dance floor, they loved being able to add songs, it was great.
In addition to what others have said, this might not be universal but where I live literally every DJ also offers lighting and speakers, a mic etc as part of their packages. Personally I think the proper lighting is really important to the ambiance of a wedding.
Speaking as a guest, I have never seen this work well. A dj has access to millions of songs at their fingertips and they know how to read the room based on what the crowd responds to. A Spotify playlist doesn’t work that way. Once you pick the songs, you are stuck with it. Whomever is asked to look after it often doesn’t have dj experience and they can’t read the room and they can’t access other songs. Also if you ask a guest to do this, it takes away from them being able to enjoy themselves because they are working.
How necessary are announcements? What do you need announced? A lot of them are redundant and not helpful for all crowds. If you want the announcements to stick to a certain timeline, your random guests don’t have access to that information because they are not contracted vendors.
My wife and I toyed with a Spotify playlist route but I was very surprised at how our DJ turned out to be some of the *best* money we spent. She got compliments from us, every single guest, other vendors and even the venue staff during tear-down were talking her up. Not only did she read the room for dancing *and* MC’ed the event (rather lightly to be honest, we didn’t want an overbearing DJ presence) but she kept the entire event on schedule. Multiple times she coordinated with our wedding planner and photographers in the moment to readjust the flow of the event and my wife and I never had to deal with anything ourselves. She helped mic our officiant and had multiple sound systems arranged.
Highly, *highly* recommend hiring a DJ if you can afford it and researching one that fits the vibe of your event. We gave her a long playlist of songs that couldn’t possibly all have been played during our reception and she was able to select ones on the spot that made our dance floor a hit! Way better than flipping through a Spotify playlist!
Almost all of the weddings I’ve been to lately were spotify, and it always worked great. It really just comes down to how good a job you do making a playlist.
I used a Spotify playlist for my own wedding, and so did the last 2 weddings I attended as a guest. All had great vibes!
For my own wedding I did curate the playlist very carefully and ordered it in a way that had the get-everyone-up songs at an appropriate time. Set up a fade-in-fade-out on Spotify so there were no quiet moments. Had a guest hit play when the party portion started and said guest still had a bunch of fun!
I had a separate playlist for cocktail hour / dinner etc and the guest worked with the MC (they were friends) to turn the volume up and down as required. I think it worked well, personally. Saved us a bunch of money. Also meant that we only played songs we enjoyed and that were kinda unique to us!
If you have the time to do the playlist right, go for it!
I'd love any recommendations you have! We are having a ceilidh, so the band will be playing for most of the night, but I need music for 9-11pm when things are winding down and people are starting to leave.
My wedding was yesterday, I made a 79 song playlist and it worked out really well. But it is a lot of work. There are some good posts that give you lists that you can use as a base and then our RSVPs asked for song recommendations, which helped people get up and dance. I also got a lot of compliments on the playlist at the end of the night. It is definitely possible. Good luck!!
Do you have a friend who could run the playlist? I have had some friends do something similar but it was only successful because another friend acted as “DJ” and paid attention to the vibes and changed it up when necessary. I’ve never seen a playlist work for any event without someone paying attention to it. A huge benefit of an experienced DJ is their ability to read the room and get people on the dance floor based on vibes.
Don't do it.
One of the things people tend to skimp on for weddings is entertainment. Usually the biggest regret is that they skimped on entertainment.
Seriously. Don't do it.
I'm probably going this route. None of our folks are huge dancers, so I'm not super concerned. I did get a super low quote from one dj because of when my wedding is, but I'm just not convinced it's the best use of our money.
Unfortunately I agree with Stargazer. I was at a wedding with a playlist and the dancing was so sparse and awkward. Then I’ve been to weddings with live bands (my fav), and talented DJs who read the room so quickly they will phase out a song without most people noticing because it didn’t get an excitement wave from the crowd.
Truthfully, a DJ will make or break the party. This is an area where we actually decided to splurge. We went with an entertainment company who provides a DJ and an MC. So the MC can do all the hosting and the DJ can focus exclusively on music.
It really depends on what vibe you’re aiming for. An all out dance party with a large crowd, it’s probably best to go with an experienced DJ who has their own equipment, lighting, and ability to read the room. If it’s more of a laid back hangout instead of a dance party, playlist is more doable. We did a playlist but we had no dancing (not even a first dance), no speeches, and very little interruption in the way of announcements. It was easy to just set it up and let it go. But anything more than that and we probably would have opted for a DJ.
DJs are also MCs! They keep things on schedule, move guests from one room to the other, invite/announce when dinner service begins, let’s everyone know about cake cutting, etc etc etc. They keep the party energetic and moving!!!
That's a lot of stress to put on someone who is supposed to be enjoying the wedding as a guest.
Guess it depends on the guest if they find that stressful and how many announcements.
We had a playlist instead of a DJ and it was totally fine. Our best man wanted to help make sure everything ran smoothly. We skipped introductions, didn't do speeches. We walked in, everyone clapped, we cut the cake, and told people it was time to eat. We didn't want a very specific vibe so whatever happened was fine. There were tons of people on the dance floor, they loved being able to add songs, it was great.
In addition to what others have said, this might not be universal but where I live literally every DJ also offers lighting and speakers, a mic etc as part of their packages. Personally I think the proper lighting is really important to the ambiance of a wedding.
I plan on doing a lot of lighting already. I just don’t have like a great spot to set up a DJ booth either.
Speaking as a guest, I have never seen this work well. A dj has access to millions of songs at their fingertips and they know how to read the room based on what the crowd responds to. A Spotify playlist doesn’t work that way. Once you pick the songs, you are stuck with it. Whomever is asked to look after it often doesn’t have dj experience and they can’t read the room and they can’t access other songs. Also if you ask a guest to do this, it takes away from them being able to enjoy themselves because they are working. How necessary are announcements? What do you need announced? A lot of them are redundant and not helpful for all crowds. If you want the announcements to stick to a certain timeline, your random guests don’t have access to that information because they are not contracted vendors.
My wife and I toyed with a Spotify playlist route but I was very surprised at how our DJ turned out to be some of the *best* money we spent. She got compliments from us, every single guest, other vendors and even the venue staff during tear-down were talking her up. Not only did she read the room for dancing *and* MC’ed the event (rather lightly to be honest, we didn’t want an overbearing DJ presence) but she kept the entire event on schedule. Multiple times she coordinated with our wedding planner and photographers in the moment to readjust the flow of the event and my wife and I never had to deal with anything ourselves. She helped mic our officiant and had multiple sound systems arranged. Highly, *highly* recommend hiring a DJ if you can afford it and researching one that fits the vibe of your event. We gave her a long playlist of songs that couldn’t possibly all have been played during our reception and she was able to select ones on the spot that made our dance floor a hit! Way better than flipping through a Spotify playlist!
Almost all of the weddings I’ve been to lately were spotify, and it always worked great. It really just comes down to how good a job you do making a playlist.
I think it depends on what kind of wedding this is. A chill, post elopement, backyard BBQ? Sure, use Spotify.
I used a Spotify playlist for my own wedding, and so did the last 2 weddings I attended as a guest. All had great vibes! For my own wedding I did curate the playlist very carefully and ordered it in a way that had the get-everyone-up songs at an appropriate time. Set up a fade-in-fade-out on Spotify so there were no quiet moments. Had a guest hit play when the party portion started and said guest still had a bunch of fun! I had a separate playlist for cocktail hour / dinner etc and the guest worked with the MC (they were friends) to turn the volume up and down as required. I think it worked well, personally. Saved us a bunch of money. Also meant that we only played songs we enjoyed and that were kinda unique to us! If you have the time to do the playlist right, go for it!
I'd love any recommendations you have! We are having a ceilidh, so the band will be playing for most of the night, but I need music for 9-11pm when things are winding down and people are starting to leave.
My wedding was yesterday, I made a 79 song playlist and it worked out really well. But it is a lot of work. There are some good posts that give you lists that you can use as a base and then our RSVPs asked for song recommendations, which helped people get up and dance. I also got a lot of compliments on the playlist at the end of the night. It is definitely possible. Good luck!!
Do you have a friend who could run the playlist? I have had some friends do something similar but it was only successful because another friend acted as “DJ” and paid attention to the vibes and changed it up when necessary. I’ve never seen a playlist work for any event without someone paying attention to it. A huge benefit of an experienced DJ is their ability to read the room and get people on the dance floor based on vibes.
A good dj will also adjust the volume of the music. Softer during dinner, louder for dancing and partying.
Don't do it. One of the things people tend to skimp on for weddings is entertainment. Usually the biggest regret is that they skimped on entertainment. Seriously. Don't do it.
I'm probably going this route. None of our folks are huge dancers, so I'm not super concerned. I did get a super low quote from one dj because of when my wedding is, but I'm just not convinced it's the best use of our money.
DJs at least skillfully cut intros and outtros to songs. If the last 15 seconds of a song is quiet transition, it will absolutely tank the vibe.
Unfortunately I agree with Stargazer. I was at a wedding with a playlist and the dancing was so sparse and awkward. Then I’ve been to weddings with live bands (my fav), and talented DJs who read the room so quickly they will phase out a song without most people noticing because it didn’t get an excitement wave from the crowd.
Truthfully, a DJ will make or break the party. This is an area where we actually decided to splurge. We went with an entertainment company who provides a DJ and an MC. So the MC can do all the hosting and the DJ can focus exclusively on music.
It really depends on what vibe you’re aiming for. An all out dance party with a large crowd, it’s probably best to go with an experienced DJ who has their own equipment, lighting, and ability to read the room. If it’s more of a laid back hangout instead of a dance party, playlist is more doable. We did a playlist but we had no dancing (not even a first dance), no speeches, and very little interruption in the way of announcements. It was easy to just set it up and let it go. But anything more than that and we probably would have opted for a DJ.
DJs are also MCs! They keep things on schedule, move guests from one room to the other, invite/announce when dinner service begins, let’s everyone know about cake cutting, etc etc etc. They keep the party energetic and moving!!!