Reception Entertainment Recommendations

[Dagny]

Aloha!

My DD is getting married in WDW on 1/2/15

For her reception (held at the GF White Hall), we currently scheduled a DJ, however, are considering other alternatives.

Her wedding is fairly small (approximately 40 people). In reviewing the guest list, I doubt there will very many people rushing to the dance floor to do the Cha Cha Slide

We have been looking at our other options, but haven't been able to find any noteworthy recommendations for entertainment. And of course, everything is fairy tales and pixie dust when you ask the Wedding Planner for advice.

I like the idea of having the DJ "personality" to keep things lively so if anyone has any suggestions, i am all EARS (yes, pun is intended)

TIA

 

[alyaki]

I have no suggestions, but I'm going to follow along with this and see what ideas people give you - we're around the same guest count (actually, a little lower), and while I'm sure some would be all for dancing, that isn't necessarily something either DF or I are big on. We really only went with the DJ because we wanted someone to MC.

 

[justlook3]

I had a jazz trio for my VR reception (though I wish they had planned actual jazz, instead they played instrumental Disney music, which is fine, but not what I had in mind. If I ever have the money to do it again I'm going to stress that I want more Glenn Miller and less Sherman Brothers) at Whitehall. We had the dance floor put out and a few times people took a spin. But we didn't have as much MCing as goes on at a typical wedding (that being said at our actual wedding, we had a boom box and a friend changing up the mix tapes, LOL, we were 22 and poor as church mice).
I went to a wedding also in that room with about your guest count and she had a DJ. The group was more into dancing then mine was.

 

[alyaki]

I had a jazz trio for my VR reception (though I wish they had planned actual jazz, instead they played instrumental Disney music, which is fine, but not what I had in mind. If I ever have the money to do it again I'm going to stress that I want more Glenn Miller and less Sherman Brothers) at Whitehall. We had the dance floor put out and a few times people took a spin. But we didn't have as much MCing as goes on at a typical wedding (that being said at our actual wedding, we had a boom box and a friend changing up the mix tapes, LOL, we were 22 and poor as church mice).
I went to a wedding also in that room with about your guest count and she had a DJ. The group was more into dancing then mine was.

Sounds like you did what we really want to do - though I'd probably ask about a ragtime trio (though we're good with either). Good heads up though about the music, because I'd be sad if it wasn't actually jazz and swing music. How much MC'ing did you get, if you don't mind me asking? The only thing we really need is announcement of us/first dance and letting people know that dinner will be served. We're having a character for cake cutting, so that will be it's own introduction.

 

[lurkyloo]

I think it really depends on the character of the group, and the tone of the event, more than the size. A DJ can keep a group of 10 people on the dance floor all night if they are party people.

We had 32 people for a casual brunch, so that wasn't the tone we were going for. We played bossa nova on an iPod as background music, cut the reception by an hour, and just did the first dances. The rest was eating and chatting.

I know a lot of brides feel that guests have to be entertained every single second, but don't forget that some of these people haven't seen each other in years and others have never met, so they'll want to spend some time catching up/getting to know each other.

If you're really worried that your group will be bored, Disney has all kinds of "alternative" entertainment, from performers (magicians, musicians, acrobats, actors who pose as wedding crashers, a clumsy waiter) to interactive entertainment like caricature and silhouette artists, face painters, animal handlers (OK, yes, maybe it'd be weird to have a lemur at your reception in Whitehall, but not at, say, Animal Kingdom!) and balloon artists. They can also work with you to create a character (one couple requested musical pirates). And of course there are always Disney character appearances.

 

[justlook3]

Sounds like you did what we really want to do - though I'd probably ask about a ragtime trio (though we're good with either). Good heads up though about the music, because I'd be sad if it wasn't actually jazz and swing music. How much MC'ing did you get, if you don't mind me asking? The only thing we really need is announcement of us/first dance and letting people know that dinner will be served. We're having a character for cake cutting, so that will be it's own introduction.

Keeping in mind this was 10 years ago, so my memory is a bit fuzzy. I'm pretty sure there wasn't any MCing. At least not from the band. We didn't do a first dance since we were already married. We did do a cake cutting but I honestly don't know who handled that, possibly my mother. I think unless you have a DJ you have to have someone handle those sort of things, often a bridal party member, we did fine with that at our actual wedding.
I do kinda wish I had a caricature artist or something. I had only 10 guests, so conversation kinda ran out (I think with a bigger group, people do better with convo). We did have an outstanding bartender who was quick with the jokes and even did a few magic tricks.

 

[huskies90]

I had a jazz trio for my VR reception (though I wish they had planned actual jazz, instead they played instrumental Disney music, which is fine, but not what I had in mind. If I ever have the money to do it again I'm going to stress that I want more Glenn Miller and less Sherman Brothers) at Whitehall.

If you don't mind me asking what instruments did you have in your trio? I thought of doing this too but when I think of jazz trio I think of piano (or jazz guitar), stand up bass and drums. Something tells me this configuration is not an option.

I think it really depends on the character of the group, and the tone of the event, more than the size. A DJ can keep a group of 10 people on the dance floor all night if they are party people.

We are having brunch with approx 40 people in a pretty small space (resort location) so we don't anticipate much if any dancing. We were thinking of just doing the iPod set up. I am looking at the Passporter book and it says a DJ is $1650 with lighting package $1000 without. So is it our call to not include the lighting package and thus can we get the DJ for $1000? Because we certainly don't need or want lighting and for a few hundred more over the iPod, it is worth not having to worry about manning the system and finding someone to emcee. I think I may be missing something.

 

[justlook3]

If you don't mind me asking what instruments did you have in your trio? I thought of doing this too but when I think of jazz trio I think of piano (or jazz guitar), stand up bass and drums. Something tells me this configuration is not an option.

Actually that is what we had. I didn't remember but low and behold there actually is a photo of them.

 

[OrlandoDJChuck]

How much MC'ing did you get, if you don't mind me asking? The only thing we really need is announcement of us/first dance and letting people know that dinner will be served. We're having a character for cake cutting, so that will be it's own introduction.

Some people may assume your Disney Wedding Coordinator or banquet staff will make announcements, but that is not the case (they are not part the entertainment department), so it really doesn't fall under their job description.

Without a DJ/MC, there is no announcing from Disney Staff, you simply assign one of your guests to take care of it. However with the cake cutting, a banquet server WILL walk the bride and groom through the steps to cut the cake, but they won't announce it to the guests, for example.

Hope this helps!

 

[carlosssteven]

Let's make wedding memorable.....

 

[alyaki]

Some people may assume your Disney Wedding Coordinator or banquet staff will make announcements, but that is not the case (they are not part the entertainment department), so it really doesn't fall under their job description.

Without a DJ/MC, there is no announcing from Disney Staff, you simply assign one of your guests to take care of it. However with the cake cutting, a banquet server WILL walk the bride and groom through the steps to cut the cake, but they won't announce it to the guests, for example.

Hope this helps!

Yep, knew that, which was why I was checking. Honestly, the trio is more money anyways (especially since we'd likely add the major domo if we dropped the DJ), so we really are just going with what we have.

On a funny note Chuck, you were one of the two DJs my planner suggested that would mesh well with the style of music me and DF want.

 

[TiffinyKaye]

Lots of great suggestions here. Lurkyloo is familiar with the myriad of options you have, given the book she's written. I found it particularly helpful myself. It's what helped me choose my caricature artist, in addition to the Mickey and Minnie we'll have show up.

Additionally, sometimes your venue can be entertainment in and of itself. We're having our reception and Living Seas Salon. Having the aquarium there seems like a great way to engage guests. That's not everyone's thing though.

Tiffiny

 

[Lindsay22]

I had a rather large wedding (100 people) and opted not to have a DJ. We had a jazz trio and they notated the type of music and instruments we wanted in my BEO when I had my planning session. Our wedding was 5 1/2 years ago and I still get compliments on the jazz trio.
In terms of announcements, we didn't have any other than the two of us. I, personally, don't like to be announced as a bridesmaid so I wasn't doing that at my wedding. We had a choreographed first dance and invited our instructor to come. He announced us and said that we were having our first dance. For parent dances, I told our WP when I was ready and she put the iPod on. She also walked us thru the cake cutting.
If you aren't a dancing type I would skip the DJ all together. Most people have been to a wedding and know what's going on without an announcer.

 

[mintd]

My DD is getting married on 1/3/2015 We re having the jazz trio, for the reception and ceremony, we have a DJ, Major doom will make the announcements, and we have a soloist singing and playing piano for the key moments, like the first dance, cake cutting, etc. We are expecting @150 and we will have a photo booth also. There is a lot involved and we have extended the reception by an hour.

 

[Sleepybeauty]

Major doom I didn't know he was an option but I dig it! Kidding we would totally hire major doom, though! We have a similar guest count and chose the dj largely for the "flow" of events. We have a Whitehall ceremony and are doing a dessert party and Sago cay for fireworks. We are tentatively doing a string trio at the ceremony and then for cocktail/wrangling all our crazy family in one space time. We were talked into the dj by df's 7 year old son, however we are forcing that he play no music requests from such said 7 year old..."I can't wait til they play thunderstruck at your wedding..." Oh boy...
I'm excited to hear what you go with and how it plays out- we decided we would never regret having the dj but could see regretting not having one....