HOW TO DJ YOUR OWN WEDDING
Technology makes the job irresistibly simple, but creating a winning playlist is a challenge
While preparing for her wedding in 2009, Meg Keene considered iPods “a small gift from the wed- ding gods.” Rather than hiring a band or professional DJ for thousands of dollars, she and her fiance made their own playlist of Sir Mix-A-Lot, Frank Sinatra and Dolly Parton songs, and cranked them on rented speakers.
Today, with phone apps that let brides and grooms instantly play just about any song ever made, Keene counsels caution.
“It’s easier to screw up, honestly,” says Keene, 35, an Oakland, Calif., blogger and author of A Practical Wedding (Da Capo, 2011). “People think a great way to DJ a wedding is to set up a Spotify playlist or have a Pandora station — that tends to not work well.
“Putting a playlist on at random tends to go down in flames.”
Although professional DJs and wedding planners scoff at the idea of do-it-yourself dance-floor playlists, technology makes it irresistibly simple. Many venues have built-in sound systems with ports for phones and laptops or even Bluetooth for wireless audio connections.
For electronically challenged churches and gazebos, couples can buy or rent speakers that can be connected to a small, affordable mixer and a laptop. Google Cast and Apple’s AirPlay let you control the playlist remotely.
The trick is coming up with a playlist. There’s an art to it, as the staff at Google-owned Songza has discovered.
A year ago, in the middle of wedding season, the staff realized they had no wedding playlist. They corrected that with a dozen specialized lists, from the Marvin Gayepacked It’s Your Wedding Day! to Rustic Outdoor Wedding, filled with Avett Brothers and Mumford and Sons.
Of course, users can go off the program and add their own songs.
“As long as you maintain a consistent mood, you can mix whatever you want from whatever decade you want,” says Parry Ernsberger, a curation expert at Google Play Music, which oversees the Songza playlists. “Reading the room is important.” Those who DJ their own weddings run into several challenges. They must provide different playlists for different settings, from here-comes-the-bride tear-jerkers for the ceremony to cocktail music for early drinks to dance music for the reception.
Keene recommends crafting a fully formed iTunes playlist, with a beginning, middle and end, including a series of “big, raging dance-party numbers” followed by a cool-down song.
Pay attention, she says, to the early part of the reception, when older guests want to hear Benny Goodman’s Sing, Sing, Sing or Ray Charles’ What’d I Say.
Later, friends and family might want to hear Kesha and hip-hop. ( She also recommends using iTunes’ cross-fade function to avoid awkward silences between tracks; backing up the playlist on several guests’ phones; and, depending on a mobile streaming service only as a last resort, since Internet connections can be unreliable.)
Not everyone is sold on DIY wedding playlists. One prominent New York wedding planner sniffed: “That does not make sense at all. None of our clients have ever been interested in something like this.”
But Evan Minsker, 27, spent months making a playlist for his May 2014 wedding — then wrote about the process for indie-rock website Pitchfork, where he’s a staff writer.
The dance floor, at his wife’s parents’ house in the woods, was full for most of the wedding.