Should you hire a live band or DJ? A guide to choosing the right musical entertainment for your wedding

​Hey guys! Okay, so I wanted to take some time today to get a little real with you all and chat about my current experience within this wedding planning process. While it may seem like I have it all together, I can assure you I am extremely worried/anxiety ridden about EVERYTHING. But my ultimate stress you ask? Making sure that my guests have a great time! I can’t think of anything that haunts my dreams more than a dead crowd and no one on the dance floor. So, choosing the correct entertainment was the highest priority on my list.

Knowing our budget and what Josh and I were looking for, we decided that a DJ was the best way for us to go, so I sat down at my computer and got to work. Being in the wedding and event industry, I’ve seen so many different DJ’s and live bands that I had to take a step back and really look into their services to make sure that their vibe matched what we were aiming for. Our families are vastly different, so we needed to make sure that we had someone who could read the room and play songs that everyone would enjoy!

Step One: Research. I started with their websites and looked at their packages, listened to the demo’s (if there were any), and then linked over to their social media accounts. Finally, I wrapped things up with online reviews from Yelp and The Knot to see what people thought of their experiences. I personally felt that the Yelp/Knot reviews and Instagram pages were the BEST sources of information. The reviews were of course insightful and offered both the good and the bad information, but I LOVED the videos on Instagram! It gave me a sneak peek into their past weddings and really displayed their variety of music and how the MC interacted with the guests and got them up and moving!

Step Two: Narrowing down the options! After getting carpal tunnel in my wrists from hunting on the web for hours, I made myself an extensive pros and cons list and was able to narrow down my options to 3 amazing DJ’s. I reached out to each individually to check and see if they were free for our big day and then set up initial phone/Skype calls. This helped us get a better sense of the DJ’s personalities and have a chance to ask them some questions we had regarding their packages and overall style. After speaking with all 3, now we’d have a choice to make…

Step Three: Decision Time! Okay so here is where my trouble began. I thought that we would have known exactly who was the perfect fit after speaking to them, but my goodness I was wrong. Josh really was leaning toward one, and I was caught between two. I struggled for a solid 10 days and all I could say was that my heart hurt with indecision!! I was so scared to pull the trigger and choose. I know that all 3 of the contenders were highly recommended with awesome reviews, so I have no idea why I was freaking out?!

I decided to grab some opinions from my closest peeps (one of whom planned her own wedding this year too!), but I found that I was overwhelmed with different opinions and it actually complicated my thought process (too many cooks in the kitchen!). I took a step back in order to clear my head and went back and watched the videos on Instagram for the 800th time, and discussed my fears with Josh. I did not want to disappoint our families and friends with bad music/energy and I was just so afraid of making the wrong choice. After some reassurance, he told me to go with my gut and there was no way that anything could take away from our day. SWOON, I just love him so much!

So I put on my big girl panties, poured myself a glass of wine and followed his advice. I made a decision and I am so happy that I can now relax! And ultimately look forward to the next big freak out haha. Don’t be afraid of your choice once you’ve found a great vendor and go with your gut! It’ll never lead you wrong. Well I hope all of you have a great holiday weekend, tah-tah for now kittens! xxx ​​

photog credits :: Landino Photo // Jeremy Torres // Monika Photography