Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Covering the basics – To DJ or not to DJ

If you’re having a destination wedding with guests, you might have a post-wedding reception. Some resorts cater to this better than others (more on receptions in another topic).

At our destination, we chose to have a seated dinner in a private room. One of the options was a DJ and this led to a spirited discussion “To DJ or not to DJ.” In the end, we decided against the DJ and did it ourselves. Laura brought her iPod and we purchased a Logitech mm50
speaker at Costco. The April 2007 issue of Smart Money magazine reviews five different speakers, with the Apple iPod Hi-Fi receiving top rankings (price is $350).

Depending on where you are going, there might be a reasonable nightlife where your group can go and save on the DJ. At the Westin Our Lucaya, the resort did not have a nightclub, instead they turned one of the restaurants into a rather sedate disco (fine by us since we wanted a laid back wedding). At the Iberostar Paraiso complex on the Mayan Rivera in Mexico, they had a nice little nightclub with a large dance floor where groups were welcome. It's best to check in advance on what the facilities are like at your location.

2 comments:

playa said...

We are getting married in a chapel in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico on January, 2009. Looking for advice. Our guest count will be around 60-70 people. We will get married, go to our beach cocktail party and then have a marachi parade to our reception. The dilemma that we are having is that the authentic reception area only allows their music...which is a live latin/cuban band. The other reception place, which is a little more Americanized will allow us to have a dj or ipod...... Which one should we do? We have talked to one couple that had their reception at the authentic place and they had a blast. We have a pretty good group that loves to party but no one salsa's or knows latin/cubin music???? We want our guests to have a good time?? What would you suggest? They do allow a cd for our first dance and ect at the authentic place but that is about it.

Anonymous said...

Dear Playa-
Thanks for reading. In general, we are big fans of introducing local flare into your event. At our wedding in the Bahamas, we had a steel pan player during our cocktail hour (but opted for the iPod during dinner and dancing). For us, it was an easy choice, we want the "feel" of the islands, but knew that our guests were not big dancers.

Ask yourselves some questions:
Are you doing a destination wedding because you just want to go to the beach? Or are you doing it because you want to incorporate the local culture? If the former, get an iPod. If the latter, go to the authentic place. But you need to know how well you know your guests. You arleady know they don't salsa dance, but might they learn? If so, I'm sure it wouldn't cost that much more to hire a dance instructor as part of the first hour of the dancing. It could be fun!

Good luck! And we hope you'll post back again and let us know how it goes!