For reals.
Mark and I have been talking about this subject for longer than I'd like to admit (somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 months maybe?!?) and we STILL haven't come to a decision on it. Yes, that is S-A-D. I warned you...we're indecisive!
Here's the issue...I work in the music industry and Mark is a musician (well, I mean, he's a structural engineer...but he's also a musician). So....can you see where this is going? We're particular about music. Some might go as far as to call us music snobs, but the point is we like good music. Now, I don't think it's any secret whatsoever about how cheesy wedding bands can be. We don't want that. We wanted a good wedding band (is that an oxymoron?). We basically narrowed it down to either a "party band" (who plays everything....classic rock, pop, top 40s, hip hop, 80s...you get the idea) OR an oldies/r&b type band. Well, I finally found 1 band that I liked pretty well...they are more of a party band composed of Belmont (school of music) alums. So guess what? They're booked for our date. Of course!!! So now I've searched high and low again and I'm coming up empty handed.
Which brings us to our next option - a DJ. I always thought that bands were more fun at weddings than DJs. That bands were more interactive and really got the party going, whereas DJs were even more cheesy and play even worse music. I know that's not always the case...but that has been my general experiences. Plus, I just like live music. I'm at the point now where I'm considering a DJ. I'm at a loss for bands and I'm thinking that if we find the right DJ then it could work out really well. We could just find someone with a good music collection (we could even supplement their collection with some of ours) and also give them a good solid "Do Not Play List" and it could totally work out. I mean, at least this way we're hearing the songs we want to hear (b/c we're not limited by what songs the band knows) and we're hearing them as they were meant to be heard (b/c some band isn't totally destroying them in their rendition of the song) and we could still play lots of stuff to get the crowd going.
My goal basically with the reception music is just for everyone to have a good time and to literally be on the dance floor all night. I want it to be a huge party and a huge celebration and I want everyone to dance their booties off!
So....what do you think guys?!? Should we go with a Band or a DJ? If you vote Band please provide suggestions for bands! Heck...if you vote DJ please provide suggestions too!! :)
Thanks guys!! Any feedback you can give is appreciated! We're in time crunch mode on this detail now! (less than 4 months to go!!)
6 comments:
hey-- we have a friend who djs and would probably be great. He does stuff for the olive room and el rey fairly regularly, and has djd other places as well. I don't know a lot of details other than he has the biggest music collection I have ever SEEN. (it is an entire room of floor to ceiling shelves, AND shelves in the middle like a library). He also has very diverse tastes.
The only one I know is Mike Shell that Dj'd at our wedding. I know Mark said he was "cheesy," but he had a worksheet where you marked songs you didn't want to hear, some you did want to hear, and some that were OK if they were played. He also tried to get the crowd into it. Eloree had him go to Dothan in September and he was a lot of fun there too. Not sure what you're looking for, but he played a game with Eloree and Brad to see how well they knew each other. He was also cheaper than others I looked at ($650), but he could be higher now since that was a year and half ago. He also keeps a list of brides to call as a reference if you want. (someone called me a couple of weeks ago asking about him). Hope this was some help. I just don't know bands-- ya know, besides shanes and michaels. Oh, and this one called the Hotel Palatine. haha. think they'd be interested?
no, they are not a band anymore
So their sites are totally cheesy but we absolutely love The Little Kings and 4 on the Floor - Kings are in Nashville and 4 is from Fayetteville. They both are absolutely great for engaging the crowd which is the make it or break it point for a wedding band. Also, you might be snobbier than him but Sean is a music snob too and he thinks they deliver a quality product. If you have trouble finding them, let me know. I would totally go the band route if possible!
I chatted with Garza a little yesterday-- he said 100 bucks an hr, 3 hr minimum. He said that he normally asks you for a list of 10-20 songs or bands to get an idea of what you like. He starts the first hour with Jazz, or songs about love if you prefer, and then evolves into more fun stuff, depending on your taste in music and what you want. He seriously has very ecclectic taste-- I think he would be perfect.
We may have found a band- By chance we ended up getting some food and sweets from Whole Foods at about 9:00 on Valentine's night. They were having a dinner event and had a band. It's a group of older guys, some of whom I have heard of and seen play with various groups. Anyway, they play all kinds of music and can play rock and roll that's actually not cheesy, at least in my opinion. So they are going to send us price info and we'll know then I guess... yay, wedding blogging is fun...
Post a Comment