DJ for reception?

[royalwedding]

I was just wondering if any of you went with the DJ for your reception. I want one but it just seems like $400 for an hour is such a rip off. I dont know if I should just get over it and have one anyways. Did anyone find it worth the money?

[flyerso6]

$400, which cruise line are you using?

[cruiserking]

$400 is very steep for a DJ, we're paying $250 an hour on the Noordam.

 

Cruiserking

[jsacco20]

that's how much they are charging for ours as well, RCCL so we declined. we are bringing our ipod with speakers and figured for our 2 hour reception there will be music playing if guests to choose to dance and we will still be able to do our traditional dances as well. my fiance doesn't even dance so again it seemed to be a waste of money. we decided that our "reception" is all day, everyday for the week and since the majority of our guests are cruising with us it makes more sense. most of the people not sailing are the older guests that wouldn't have danced anyway. i would love to have had one but i agree it seemed to be a rip off. especially since the $400 is for 1 hour- that would mean i would have to pay $800!!! if it would have been $400 for the 2 hours i probably would have done it but anyway, the bon voyage party starts right after that so i figured my dj comes "included," just a few hours later :)

i also thought about how people will be eating, talking and such. 2 hours isn't a lot of time as it is so i thought that once the "party" got started it would be over. sometimes i feel that way at a traditional 4 hour reception so i narrowed mine down to be more of a "lunch reception with the option to dance."

i would however love to hear also from the people that did pay the $400 to see if it was worth it. and if you paid for 2 hours? i am pretty sure carnival's wasn't that amount and everyone enjoyed their dj but would you have enjoyed it at $400 an hour? i can still change my thoughts if you highly recommend it :)

[tameka94]

I am getting married on RCCL too. We decided against the DJ due to the price. $400 per hours is pricey. We are getting a professional mix made by a DJ and put on our Ipod and will use Bose speakers. I would love a DJ too but the time will go fast. We will have music for our dances, wedding party entrance, music while guests are eating/mingling, and bouquet/garter toss> we will definitely have songs to get many guests up and dancing. I would to hear from any RCCL brides who had a DJ. I know Carnival's is cheaper.

[Prinycesa07]

We had a DJ, but it was only 125/hr. I def wouldn't do it if it were 400. Honestly, he didn't even say anything, he just played music. I could have done that by making my own cds.

[royalwedding]

I thought about just having an ipod too but there is just something kind of weird about announcing your own first dance or your father/daughter dance, its just something a DJ usually does. I just wish RCCL wouldnt charge that ridiculouse price. I probably wont get one because I'm having a two hour reception as well and there is no way I could pay $800 for a Dj for two hours just out of principle.

[jsacco20]

royalwedding: i'm not planning on having anyone "announce" the dances, i pretty much figured it would be obvious since i am the bride going up to dance with my fiance (wait...i guess at this point he'd be my husband :), dad, etc... i know that is important to some people, i just put that in the category of "not worth spending $800." LOL.

[tameka94]

We are paying the fee for the microphone set up. I am having one of my guests announce the wedding party and different activities. We will have Ipod play music.

[jsacco20]

tameka- i never even thought of that! that i would definitely do! i was just against having something scream it aloud :)

[dcdiva]

I used the DJ on RCCL on the Jewel. But the cost was a bit less than $400 per hour. I am thinking we paid $250 or $300 and hour. We both really wanted to dance and we knew our guests would too. And we really wanted to the traditional father/daugher, mother/son stuff. So for us, the cost was worth every penny.

 

Another issue to consider is the size of your group. With 60 guests, we didn't know what room we'd be in, or how the set up would be. And we were not comfortable bringing an iPod or CD set up that might or might not be adequate for a big space. As it turned out we were in a large lounge and it would have been impossible to hear dance music without the DJ and sound system. Might have worked for background music, but not for dancing.

 

We provided CDs with all the music we wanted at the reception and the DJ used them. He also introduced the wedding party at the beginning of the reception, but we didn't want him to announce any of the other stuff. We were very pleased, and extremely glad that we spent the extra money on the DJ.

[mara93]

Wow, that is a HUGE amount for a DJ.

Carnival is charging $90/hour & we don't know if we'll pay that if he just plays music. I can bring a CD for that.

[tameka94]

Good point dcdiva about the room size! I will have about 86 wedding guests and a 1 hour lunch buffet reception. I think if I had a longer reception option I would maybe get a DJ. I am going to get the microphone set up and hire the services of the sound/light techician to assist with lighting during the cermony and wedding party entrance. I will have a better feel once I do the Royal Treatment package and view the ship. Since time is going to fly by, I am planning with a local planner who will attend my wedding and assist with timing and activities.

[dcdiva]

I agree that the shorter reception time does make the DJ option less appealing. But we made the DJ work the entire time. Since we had the ceremony and the recreption in the same room, the ceremony music was also played via the DJ's sound system. It the large space, it made a big difference.

 

In the end, it all depends on what's important to you. For us, flowers, favors and and table decorations were not a priority, but music was extremely important.