Choices In Wedding Reception Music

An important decision you’ll make during the course of creating your perfect wedding is that of wedding reception music. After all, what’s a wedding reception without music? Do you hire a band, hire a DJ, or just throw on some tunes for everyone to dance to? The choice is all up to you from what type of music you want at your reception to how it’s delivered.

One possibility that a number of people opt for is to hire a band to provide their wedding reception music. A lot of working “cover bands” (musicians that specialize in performing spot-on renditions of popular songs) are available to work wedding receptions. The cost for hiring a band varies according to the experience and popularity of the band itself. A band that is highly skilled tends to be highly sought after and therefore more expensive to hire. A live band brings a certain level of excitement to the party atmosphere of a wedding reception and your guests are sure to enjoy the interactivity that comes along with live wedding reception music.

Some couples forgo the band in favor of hiring a DJ for their wedding. The advantages of hiring a DJ as compared to a band are threefold. First of all, a DJ tends to cost much less to hire than an entire band does. In addition to the monetary savings, the DJ will have access to original recordings of popular songs. Your guests can shimmy to Baby Got Back or The Locomotion by the original artists rather than a rendition performed by an unknown singer. Additionally, the DJ will have access to a far greater number of recordings than any band is likely to have in its repertoire. For these reasons many couples enjoy hiring a DJ to supply their wedding reception music.

Another option is to simply supply the wedding reception music yourself. Armed with a computer that is equipped with a CD burner you can create CD’s full of .mp3 files to play at the reception. Because of the .mp3 file compression, nearly ten hours of music can be squeezed onto one CD. You can choose exactly what songs you want, place them on the CD in the order that you like, and just pop it in to play at the reception. This is possibly the most cost effective option as it will cost very little or nothing at all to compile the CD. The downsides are that you’re left with just a group of songs and no live interactivity whatsoever and you must have a specific type of CD player in order to play a disc full of .mp3 files. You will also need to provide a decent sound system unless the reception hall happens to come equipped with one.

There are a number of options available for providing music for your wedding reception. Choosing which one is right for you is merely a matter of deciding what you want and what you can afford.

"Note To Self" -- Creating A Wedding Time Capsule

One of the wedding trends that's really revving up brides today is the addition of a time capsule to the wedding prep proceedings. Yes, the wedding time capsule is a growing trend -- to the point where you can buy a pre-made kit from many web sites.


In kit form, your wedding time capsule takes the form of an attractive tin, in which you place various mementos -- photos, videos -- as well as predictions for the future; then, you seal it all up with some festive stickers, to help discourage premature peeking. You decide ahead of time how long you'll wait until you open it again -- your 10th anniversary? 25th anniversary? And then you write a stern directive to yourself on the tin to help you keep to the agreement.


Although most people equate "time capsule" with "something you bury in the ground," burying your wedding time capsule isn't a great idea. Not only does that subject the contents to extreme temperature variations, but with the US Census recently reporting that the average American moves every five years, chances of you leaving behind a buried capsule before the hoped-for anniversary rolls around are high indeed. Instead, keep yours out of the elements and somewhere relatively kind -- avoid damp attics, but a climate-controlled closet would be just perfect.


Some of us just like to do things our own way, and a wedding time capsule is no exception. Of course you can create your own! And a great way to do that is to get close friends and relatives in on the fun. Have them scribble up some predictions -- or perhaps marital advice. Take advantage of a pre-wedding party to snap photos of your intimates, and tuck the photos into the capsule. If you really want to motivate people to get involved, hold some kind of drawing for participants, such as a wedding raffle -- give away a box of fine cigars, a bottle of bubbly or even an afternoon at a spa.


While you're letting others in on the action, there are number of ways to go about it. One is to compose a list of predictions for everyone to guess at -- the whole experience is similar to filling out a junior high slam book, and just as fun. For example, ask participants to predict:


How many children you'll have,
what kind of household robots you'll have,
how many career changes you've gone through,
what major nation we're closest to, and which one we're mad at,
what animal is the trendiest pet,


... and so on.


Another is to ask your wedding party and close friends to compose short letters to you. Give them each envelopes, and instruct them to tell you on the outside when it's time to open the envelope. Some will simply say "fifth anniversary," "10th anniversary," or "when your first child is born." Others will get more creative -- and you'll probably find it's terrific fun to stretch out the time capsule concept in this inventive, unpredictable way.