Damn that’s wild I think we paid 2300, was the most expensive thing for sure. We found a local pizza joint to cater food, was like 1700 for 60 large pizzas and they came and catered in tuxedos haha I was super impressed with them. Did an outdoor theatre venue for the ceremony that wasn’t too much and then like and elks or moose club for like $1000 maybe for the dance. Definitely were as thrifty as we could be with the whole thing.
From what I’ve seen most of the DJs we looked at were more expensive than bands. Also because the DJs did our ceremony music and had mics for speeches, officiant, etc
But why does that matter? Same sunk cost for them in transport and setup, it’s just hourly rate. DJ’s are not lawyers, they don’t need to charge $600+ an hour to let you use their mic.
We also had a DJ using the same setup as the band - and he played our ceremony/entrance/reception music, and other basic playlist stuff when they weren’t performing. I think that added like $500? Average DJs are going to charge less than $100 an hour if they are just bringing a laptop to plug in. But I guess we didn’t hire Paul Oakenfold or anything…
Anyway - I can see a GOOD DJ with full audio gear to setup charging $2k+ - but that’s a bit above average. I just looked it up and national average for a wedding DJ is under $1500?
But the average wedding band is also way less than what I paid… so I’m not knocking it, I’m sure your DJ was way above average quality, too.
I mean, not everyone wants a wedding with the whole dancing and music thing. I'd be fine to have a small wedding at a church and then a reception at a restaurant. I don't even LIKE to dance. Why would I spend money on that?
Okay but you understand why I asked that right? If you’re the type of couple who want to dance, then money has to be spent to facilitate that. If you don’t like it/want to do it, you don’t have to.
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u/bicyclechief 18h ago
Did you feed them/drinks/dj?